Daily News from New York, New York • 20

20 6 DAILY NEWSr -Tuesday, December 22, 1987 Campaign panel to list abuses By JOEL BENENSON Daily News Staff Writer Promising to prove its case next year, Gov. Cuomo's corruption commission yesterday called for a series of campaign finance reforms in its first report to the governor. The report strongly worded, but including no new proposalsnoted patterns of big-money contributions "shrouded in secrecy," and of "improper intrusion of corporate wealth" into politics. 'Public embarrassment' "New York's campaign financing laws and procedures are so inadequate and out But the panel did not cite abuses it had uncovered. "You'll have to wait until 1988 for specificity in that area," said Fordham Law School Dean John Feerick, commission chairman.

Beating the rules One new focus of the panel is how individuals skirt contribution limits by donating through several corporations, commission staffers said. Investigators are also looking at use of political party "housekeeping" accounts, which are exempt from most disclosure requirements. But the report appears to give Cuomo no new ammunition in a so-far futile effort to change campaign laws. Many of the reforms called for by the Feerick Commission were proposed more than a year ago by the Sovern Commission, a panel lacking the investigative powers given to the Feerick panel. The Feerick panel's recommendations included: Slashing individual-contribution limits from about $50,000 to $4,000.

Banning direct corporate and union contributions and barring government contractors from making donations. Creating public funding of statewide elections. Forming an agency to monitor contributions and spending aggressively "It's far from the end of their work," said Cuomo spokesman Gary Fryer. "They're being careful and you can't fault being careful." Senate Majority Leader Warren Anderson (R-Bing-hamton) has opposed virtually all campaign finance reforms in the past while the Democratic-controlled Assembly has passed measures beyond even the Feerick recommendations. Anderson's spokesman, Charles Dumas, said the recommendations were the result of "prodding" by the governor.

Dumas said Anderson doesn't plan to propose campaign finance reforms on his own. The report was issued at a sparsely attended press conference as the $5 million commission, which is funded through March 31, begins its quest to get money for a second year. moded that they undermine public confidence in the honesty and integrity of government, and will remain a public embarrassment unless and until they are reformed," the Commission on Government Integrity report said. condition. Strassberg was taking her final exams all day yesterday and was not available for comment, but Hofstra officials said she was "delighted" at the offers of help and By OWEN MORITZ Daily News Urban Affairs Editor In an unprecedented move, the City Planning Commission yesterday told the developer of a 72-story Manhattan skyscraper to "undo" 11 extra feet The commission, by a 5-to-0 vote with one abstention, denied a special permit sought by developer Bruce Eichner to allow his building to stand at 810.6 feet when the approval granted by the Board of Estimate limited the building to 800 feet Building is finished The building, CitySpire, on 56th SL between Sixth and Seventh is the tallest residential building in New York.

It contains mostly luxury condominiums, some selling for close to $1 million, and some retail space. The building is finished, many of the condos have been sold through a celebrity-studded advertising campaign, and the lower floors are partially occupied. The Building Department must now decide how Eichner will "undo" the excessive altitude. Among the options: Forcing him to chop 11 feet off the top as Community Board 5 has urged as a message to other builders or stripping him of the right to market one or more of the top floors, traditionally the most lucrative for a developer. Eichner has said that it would cost $10 million to eliminate the unauthorized space.

The extra height resulted, according to the developer, from a need to thicken floors to meet an unanticipated wind factor. The number of floors is unchanged, but the extra height does enhance the marketing value of the higher Eichner had offered to earmark the extra space to arts groups or make an additional contribution to the music and arts programs of City Center. Commission Chairman Sylvia Deutsch said the board did not find these suggestions "appropriate." A board spokesman said Eichner could have stayed within the 800-foot maximum by constructing one floor less, but chose instead to exceed the spe ft In ANIHONV KSCMWK DAILY NEWS terday. The boy was bom with deteriorating heart valves. Family found donor last week but Jeffrey died after transplant Saturday.

He was buried beside brother who died of similar affliction. GRIEVING PARENTS John and Cathy Iverson are consoled by the Rev. Eugene Donnelly after funeral for their son, Jeffrey, 2, at Our Lady of Fatima Church, Jackson Heights, Queens, yes- $6,100 for the new machine, was one' of many people who yesterday offered to help Strassberg after reading her story in the Daily News. Strassberg, 26, is a first-year law student at Hofstra By PAUL LA ROSA Daily News Staff Writer An anonymous donor yesterday offered to buy a new Braille computer for Melanie Strassberg, the blind woman whose machine was stolen from the trunk of a parked which was stolen from the trunk of her mother's car in Manhattan on Saturday, was an invaluable tool for her studies. The machine is a computer with a Braille keyboard and a Braille touch pad display screen that al- University in Hempstead, L.I.

happy to be getting a new ma- cial zoning limit i np inci nor ci trnr nutv trsarc rnmA i -car nanttattan..