N.Y. Nonprofit Pay Study Could Put Governor and Donors at Odds

New York’s examination of executive salaries at state-financed charities could put Gov. Andrew Cuomo on what the New York Daily News terms a “collision course” with several big donors to his campaign.

The newspaper lists several nonprofit health-care executives who earned more than $1-million in 2009 and have given between $12,000 and $67,000 to Cuomo campaigns since 2007.

Three top officials at the Doe Fund, a homeless-services group that listed 20 employees earning more than $100,000 in its latest tax filing, made a combined $39,500 in political contributions.

Gov. Cuomo this month appointed a committee of top aides to investigate compensation at nonprofit organizations that receive government money. Last week the committee began to ask groups to turn over data on executive and board pay.

Susan Lerner, head of the watchdog group Common Cause/New York, said the situation reflects a campaign-finance system that “constantly puts elected officials in awkward positions.”