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Newsday

By James T. Madore
Newsday Staff Writer

April 19, 2006

Jeanine Pirro appears to be the only candidate for state attorney general from a field of seven who didn't deduct donations to charity from her 2005 tax bill, according to tax returns released this week.

Pirro's husband, Albert, usually includes the couple's charitable contributions on his return, which wasn't made public because he isn't running for office, a campaign spokeswoman said. He was convicted of tax evasion in 2000 for deducting personal spending as business expenses and spent 17 months in jail.

"She and her husband file separately, and as a result certain deductions appear on her returns and others on his," spokeswoman Anne Marie Corbalis said yesterday.

Among the Democratic candidates, Rockland County lawyer Charlie King listed charitable donations of $625; Assemb. Richard Brodsky, $4,157; former Buffalo prosecutor Denise O'Donnell, $12,429, and former New York City public advocate Mark Green, $6,555. All filed their returns jointly with their respective spouses. Lawyer Sean Patrick Maloney didn't release the information.

The Democratic frontrunner, Andrew Cuomo, a former federal housing secretary, requested and received a six-month extension to file his tax return. Spokesman John Del Cecato said Cuomo plans to deduct his donations.

Pirro had an adjusted gross income of $147,988 last year, with most of it coming from her salary as Westchester County district attorney, a post she left on Dec. 31. The Republican paid $40,321 in federal and state income taxes.

Green and his wife, Deni Frand, earned $386,580 in 2005. His salary as president of the New Democracy Project, a Manhattan think tank, was about $125,000. She received about $150,000 as an executive with People for the American Way, a lobby group which she recently left, said campaign spokesman Mark Benoit.

Green also brought in $33,236 from various television appearances and book writing, and $22,868 in rent from a summer house. The couple paid $111,027 in federal and state income taxes.