State Senate Minority Leader Malcolm Smith spent $6,150 last spring on security equipment after his life was threatened, according to the latest campaign filing. The Queens Democrat purchased most of his security system from Freedom Alarms, which received $4,650 in two installments from the "Malcolm A. Smith for New York" campaign account.
A further $1,500 went to Paramount Security. The expenditures were minuscule compared with the fund's total outlay of more than $150,000 during the February to early July period. But they were noteworthy because Smith confirmed last month receiving death threats, saying it was part of being a legislative leader.
"Security - it comes with our titles ... I had to buy security cameras, the whole nine yards," he said. Smith's spokesman, Curtis Taylor, confirmed the expenditures were for security apparatus, not bodyguards. "If we tell you what it is, the equipment won't do any good," he said. A spokesman for the State Police said security escorts are provided routinely only to Gov. Eliot Spitzer and his family and to Lt. Gov. David Paterson.
James T. Madore