Joseph Spector

Cuomo has defended the spending%2C saying it aims to improve New York's economy

Business groups and Republican foes have panned the ads%2C saying it's a waste of taxpayer money

There's yet to be a full%2C public accounting of how the %24150 million marketing pot has been allocated

Empire State Development has not yet fulfilled a FOIL request from Gannett's Albany Bureau

ALBANY – The state's ads touting New York's economy, tourism industry and its business friendliness have been ubiquitous around the country for more than a year.

Finding out how much taxpayer money is spent on the ads isn't as apparent.

For the past year, Empire State Development, the state's economic development arm, has delayed a Freedom of Information request by Gannett's Albany Bureau that seeks details about the spending on New York's "Open for Business" marketing campaign.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo's administration and state lawmakers allocated $150 million over three years through the agency to market the state's business climate and tourism industry. The program was extended in the current fiscal year with another $50 million from the state Power Authority.

Last year, Cuomo launched a national ad campaign to promote Start-Up NY, which eliminates taxes on businesses for 10 years if they relocate to specified zones in New York, mostly surrounding upstate colleges.

In March, the state revealed it spent $15.2 million during the prior three months of the Start-Up NY ad campaign, including $8.9 million in out-of-state markets.

The Democratic governor has defended the spending, saying it aims to improve New York's economy. He doesn't appear in the ads.

"I got elected saying to the people of this state it's about getting businesses and jobs back and taxes down, and we have to get businesses coming back to New York," Cuomo said last month during a stop in Rochester. "We have to get young people coming back to New York, we have to stop young people from leaving New York. And that's the 'New York Open for Business' campaign."

Business groups and Cuomo's Republican foes have panned the ad campaign, saying it's a waste of taxpayer money.

There's yet to be a full, public accounting of how the $150 million marketing pot has been allocated.

Gannett submitted a Freedom of Information request with Empire State Development on July 9, 2013, asking for records on all the expenses associated with the state's "New York Open for Business" advertising campaign.

The request sought details that showed how much money was spent on the ads, where the ads ran, how many ads ran and how much was spent in each state on the ads.

The state authority has continually delayed fulfilling the request. The latest response from the agency, dated June 26, says in a letter that "ESD continues to gather and review documents responsive" to the request.

Robert Freeman, executive director of the state Committee on Open Government, said state law deems that a FOIL request is essentially denied if it's extended more than two times.

"I would conjecture that the kind of records requested can be located relatively promptly and that a delay of as much as a year is inconsistent with law," Freeman said.

Freeman said a FOIL request consistently delayed can be appealed to the agency and then taken to the courts if the case is unresolved.

"There is a provision in FOIL which says in a nutshell that if the time limitations that are described in the preceding provision are not met, the applicant can consider the request denied," Freeman explained. "That gives that person the right to appeal the denial."

New York has undertaken an extensive ad campaign to promote upstate tourism, including its wineries, the Adirondacks and the Hudson Valley. Celebrities have appeared in many of the ads, and the state has said that the stars didn't get paid.

In May, Cuomo announced that New York increased its advertising budget to promote the state's tourism industry by 50 percent, up to $45 million in the current fiscal year. The money is in a pot separate from the "Open for Business" fund, but it still falls under the control of Empire State Development.

The funding boost included seven ads narrated by celebrities to draw visitors to upstate, including ones by actors Robert De Niro, Meryl Streep and Steve Buscemi.

"I'm Steve Buscemi, and New York is my home," Buscemi says in one ad. "There's no place like it in the world."

"The NY Outdoors" advertising campaign has been the fourth campaign to promote tourism in the state since Cuomo took office.

Cuomo has said the effort has worked and has touted the marketing campaigns, which included The Pathways Through History, Taste of NY and I Love NY. He said at a Tourism Summit in May the campaigns helped contribute to more than $4 billion in revenue.

The state said the number of visitors to New York is estimated to have increased by 8.8 million in 2012, to a total of 218.8 million. Tourism is the state's fourth-largest employment sector, and the industry added 28,500 jobs in 2013, a 3.5 percent increase to 832,500 jobs.

The ads have become a campaign issue as Cuomo seeks a second term in November.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Rob Astorino has questioned whether the ads are a worthwhile use of taxpayer money and called for a full accounting of the expenditures and their results.

He has blasted the Start-Up NY program and the ads, saying it won't lure new businesses to a state that has among the highest taxes in the nation.

"There should be a full accounting of it," Astorino said of the ad campaign. "All the invoices from all the TV stations that have aired it should be readily available because they've been billed, and they've probably been billed monthly."

Critics have claimed Cuomo's office needs to be more transparent, and his office has been knocked over the years for its response to Freedom of Information requests, which can linger for months.

In March, state GOP chairman Ed Cox accused the Start-UP NY ad campaign of being an "election-year gimmick" and said Cuomo should release data that shows the ad campaign is getting results. Otherwise, Cuomo should refund the state for the ads, Cox charged.

"Governor Cuomo must demonstrate that taxpayers' money isn't going to waste by releasing data on inquiries from companies that are interested in relocating to New York," Cox said in a statement.

Cuomo has branded Start-UP NY as the best way for the state to improve its competitiveness. The ads promote the state to companies around the country.

He often has said that no state can compete with allowing companies to pay no taxes for 10 years. Last month, he announced the first 12 businesses to enter the program, which started Jan. 1.

"This is just the beginning," Cuomo said in a news release June 4. "We look forward to welcoming more and more businesses and entrepreneurs to the state of New York through this bold initiative."

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Findings

• The state is spending about $50 million a year through its "Open for Business" campaign to promote its business climate and tourism industry.

• In this year's budget, the $50 million is being diverted from the state Power Authority to fund the campaign.

• In March, the state revealed, after Freedom of Information requests from reporters, that $15 million went to promote New York's tax-free zones over three months.

• Empire State Development, which controls the $50 million annual pot, has not yet fulfilled a FOIL request from Gannett's Albany Bureau filed July 9, 2013, on how the money is specifically spent.