Aide to Governor Patterson is Said to Ignore Subpoena

ALBANY — A senior aide to Gov. David A. Paterson failed to respond to a subpoena from a state ethics commission requiring him to testify about his role in obtaining World Series tickets last year from the Yankees for Mr. Paterson and others who attended a game with the governor, the commission’s chairman said in a statement issued on Tuesday.

The aide, David W. Johnson, was ordered to testify before the Commission on Public Integrity in a subpoena given to a Paterson administration lawyer on Feb. 24, one week before the commission issued a report finding that Mr. Paterson had violated state ethics laws by accepting the tickets and had lied under oath when he told the commission that he had intended to pay for them.

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Acting Sheriff Won’t Accept Subpoena From Controller

Luzerne County Controller Walter Griffith attempted to serve his first subpoena Tuesday afternoon to obtain information about sheriff’s office guns, but acting Sheriff Charles Guarnieri wouldn’t take it.

“I tried to hand it to him, and he said he was not accepting it,” Griffith said.

Griffith said he now has to ask county Coroner John Corcoran to serve the subpoena on Guarnieri because the sheriff, who would normally serve subpoenas, can’t serve himself.

Griffith said he was disappointed that Guarnieri is forcing him to involve the coroner. Guarnieri must accept the subpoena if it comes from the coroner, Griffith said.

Guarnieri could not be reached for comment Tuesday night.

County controllers have authority to issue subpoenas demanding the appearance of county employees and other outside witnesses to answer questions about county finances. People who are subpoenaed may also be ordered to produce books, vouchers and “papers relative to such accounts,” according to state law. Controllers also have the power to administer oaths to all people appearing before them, the code says.

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Alabama Oxendine contributors reject Georgia subpoenas

Ten Alabama political action committees, found last year to have funneled insurance company money to Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine’s campaign for governor, have rejected subpoenas from the Georgia State Ethics Commission.

Michael Waters, a Birmingham attorney for Alamerica Bank, where the PACs are located, wrote the commission last week that the commission did not have jurisdiction over the bank.

“The bank questions whether subpoenas issued by an agency in a state other than Alabama is a proper, lawful subpoena issued on the Bank,” he wrote.

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