Bruno aide took call on grant from 'impatient' firm chief
Robert Gavin
ALBANY — A former top aide to ex-Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno suggested Friday that the powerful state lawmaker approved a $250,000 grant for a Troy nanotechnology company in 2004, not because of bribery, but because its president was being a nag.
"Clint was getting impatient," Mary Louise Mallick, who was the state Senate's finance secretary, said of Clint Ballinger, president of Evident Technologies in Troy. "I called the senator and asked the senator if we could go ahead and spend the money. He said yes, to go ahead and move it."
The testimony of Mallick, who left her Senate post in 2006 and is now a deputy state budget director in the administration of Gov. Andrew Cuomo, could hurt the prosecution's case against Bruno, 85, because it offers a reason outside of bribery for why Bruno approved the money. The government is conduct a retrial of Bruno on bribery-related mail fraud charges.
Bruno approved the $250,000 grant to Evident Technologies in February 2004 — five days after Loudonville businessman Jared E. Abbruzzese hired Bruno as a $20,000-a-month paid consultant. Federal prosecutors contend the release of the grant is evidence of bribery or kickbacks to Bruno from Abbruzzese, who had a stake in Evident.
http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Bruno-aide-took-call-on-grant-from-impatient-5467377.php
