Senate Subpoeaned In Connection With Queens Charity

The US attorney's office has served the Senate Democrats with a subpoena seeking information about the member items directed by Senate President Malcolm Smith to a controversial Queens charity he helped found, sources confirm.

The subpoena, which landed yesterday, asks for details about the more than $100,000 Smith has tried to send since 2001 to New Direction Local Development Corp., a nonprofit he and Rep. Greg Meeks founded ostensibly to provide assistance to victims of Hurricane Katrina - a goal that went largely unmet.

Senate Democratic spokesman Austin Shafran said he could neither confirm nor deny the subpoena, but Republican sources said the Democrats have reached across the aisle for assistance in tracking down information about Smith's member items.

Since the GOP was in the majority at the time Smith sought taxpayer cash for New Direction, it was also in charge of doling out the money. Another Smith connection to New Direction: His counsel, Mortimer Lawrence, is the group's chairman.

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