A new report on expenditures incurred by New York state lawmakers shows members of the senate and assembly spent more than $1 million on legal services during the six-month period ending March 31. 

In a release issued Thursday, the Albany-based think tank, the Empire Center for Public Policy, Inc., found the state Assembly paid out $657,629 to five different law firms during the most recent reporting period, while their colleagues in the Senate authorized another $418,574 for legal work. 

Expenditure reports filed by the offices of state lawmakers do not specify the type of legal work involved. Empire Center officials noted that some of the firms listed on the most recent reports have been linked to work related to the now-defunct Moreland Commission, investigations involving sexual misconduct allegations by assembly members and the 2012 redistricting process.

The Empire Center found 12 state employees received $386,588 for their work on the Legislative Task Force on Redistricting, which 

The expenditure reports cover the period between Oct. 1, 2013 and March 31 of this year. They totaled nearly $109 million in spending for office-related expenditures, including staff, rent, personnel travel and other items. During the period in question, state lawmakers spent $6.1 million on postage. 

On the state senate side, Republican Leader Dean Skelos recorded the highest amount of expenses at $538,315. 

The office of outgoing state Sen. George Maziarz, R-Newfane, finished second the list with total expenditures for the six-month period listed at $499,864. 

Fellow Western New York Senator Mark Grisanti ranked 27th in senate spending at $375,672. He was followed by Sen. Patrick Gallivan, who ranked 28th with $372,724, and Michael Ranzenhofer, who ranked 32nd with $354,754. Tim Kennedy, another lawmaker from the Buffalo area, spent $327,906, putting him 47th out of the 63 senate members on the list. 

The average per-member expenditure in the senate was $376,761. 

Richard Gottfried, a Democrat from Manhattan, topped the list of assembly member expenses at $517,120. 

North Tonawanda’s Democratic Assemblyman Robin Schimminger ranked third on the list at $324,932. Assemblyman John Ceretto, R-Lewiston, ranked 109th among 151 assembly members with office expenditures totaling $131,000. 

On average, assembly members spent $178,834 during the six-month period.

© 2014 Niagara Gazette