New York Temporary State Commission on Lobbying Investigation Files

In 2000, the Temporary State Commission on Lobbying investigated whether Trump Hotels and Resort Casinos, Ilkon Public Affairs, and the New York Institute for Law and Society violated the state's lobbying law by hiding Trump Hotels and Casino Resorts' funding of print and broadcast advertisements and direct mailings opposing the opening of a Mohawk Indian-run casino in the Hudson Valley. The commission and the three organizations ultimately entered into a settlement that did not require the three organizations to admit to any wrongdoing, but did compel them to pay a $250,000 fine and to purchase $50,000 of print and broadcast advertisements apologizing to any New Yorkers misled by the anti-casino campaign.

This series consists of digital surrogates of paper records that the Temporary State Commission on Lobbying created or gathered as it investigated the anti-casino campaign funded by Trump Hotels and Resort Casinos, Ikon Public Affairs, and the New York Institute for Law and Society. It contains copies of bank and credit card statements, correspondence, memorandums, press releases, invoices, and other records created by the New York Institute for Law and Society, Ikon Public Affairs, and Trump Hotels and Casino Resorts. Also present are transcripts of in-person depositions of Ikon Public Affairs lobbyist Roger Stone and New York Institute for Law and Society head Thomas Hunter, and written interrogatories of Trump Hotels and Casino Resorts founder Donald Trump. Series also includes amended lobbying reports submitted by Ikon Public Affairs and the New York Institute for Law and Society; the settlement agreement that ended the investigation and associated correspondence; and a plaintiff's exhibit created by the commission.

This series was transferred under RDA 22799.

These records were transferred to the State Archives by the New York State Joint Commission on Public Ethics, successor agency to the New York Temporary State Commission on Lobbying.

Account numbers included in copies of personal and corporate checks and bank and credit card statements are restricted in accordance with the Freedom of Information Law.