 (Bloomberg) -- New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's campaign fund took tens of thousands of dollars from law firms representing clients his office investigated or accused of wrongdoing, state records show.
Boies Schiller & Flexner LLP, a New York law firm led by David Boies, gave Cuomo $35,000 this year, records show. The firm represents former American International Group Inc. Chief Executive Officer Maurice "Hank" Greenberg in a civil fraud case the attorney general is pursuing. Lawyers defending Dell Inc., Deutsche Bank AG and a former state political party chief in Cuomo cases also contributed to him, records show.
Cuomo's donation forms ask contributors to sign a statement saying they have no "matter" pending with him. That rule "does not extend to attorneys representing persons or entities with matters before the NYS Attorney General's office," the form states, mirroring predecessors' policies. The exception creates the appearance of impropriety, ethics experts said.
"If Cuomo doesn't want to accept contributions that have the appearance of being corrupting, then he would need to include those attorneys as well," said Allison Hayward, a former Federal Election Commission chief of staff and counsel who teaches legal ethics at George Mason University School of Law in Arlington, Virginia.
Middlemen, such as lawyers, are sometimes seen as a bigger threat to an official's integrity than their clients, because "they are working the political system for a profession, and the public sees them as insincere and manipulative," she said.
About $1 Million
Cuomo in 2006 and 2008 raised about $1 million from lawyers and lobbyists in the U.S., out of a total $18 million gathered in those years, according to FollowTheMoney.org, the Web site of the nonprofit National Institute on Money in State Politics, which analyzes campaign funding. For his fund "Andrew Cuomo 2010" he raised more than $10 million as of July, according to records at the New York State Board of Elections. By the next filing due mid-January, Cuomo, 51, plans to have $20 million in donations and plans to run for governor, said a person familiar with his plans.
By now, 'Andrew Cuomo 2010" has $16 million to challenge fellow Democrat, Governor David Paterson, said another person familiar with his plans. 
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