Authority Panel’s New Boss

Brooklyn Democrat James Brennan is the new chairman of the New York State Assembly’s Committee on Corporations, Authorities, and Commissions, the Assembly announced last week.

Brennan replaces Richard Brodsky, who left the Legislature last year after an unsuccessful run for attorney general. Brennan was frequently involved in hearings inquiring into the controversial Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn that includes a basketball arena and which faced court challenges over the state’s use of eminent domain on behalf of a private ­developer.

In 2009, the Brooklyn Arena Development Corp. sold $511 million of ­tax-exempt bonds on behalf of Forest City Ratner to partially finance the $1.06 billion Barclays Center, an 18,000-seat professional basketball arena. The corporation is a subsidiary of the Empire State Development Corp.

The Senate’s committee is chaired by Sen. Michael Ranzenhofer, R-Batavia.

Brennan was elected in 1984 and  chaired the Assembly committee on cities, and had been a member of the committee that he now chairs. The Assembly last week also announced that Assemblyman Sam Hoyt, D-Buffalo, would no longer chair the local governments panel.

Hoyt has been a key figure in long-stalled negotiations over laws permitting industrial development agencies to issue bonds on behalf of nonprofits. Assemblyman William Magnarelli, D-Syracuse, will chair the committee.

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