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Lawyer Takes State Attorney's Office To Court

POSTED: Tuesday, May 13, 2008
UPDATED: 9:39 pm EDT May 13, 2008

A political fight involving the state attorney, his top assistant and a Nassau County attorney has made its way into a courtroom.

A judge on Tuesday heard Attorney Wesley White's request to have documents concerning Chief Assistant State Attorney Jay Plotkin's campaign finances released.

After allegedly receiving a phone call from Plotkin -- Harry Shorstein's handpicked successor for state attorney -- asking for a contribution, White has been trying to determine if any e-mails sent from the state attorney's office contain evidence showing that Plotkin made request for contributions or endorsements from the office.

White said Plotkin called him last year while on the job. He claims that's a violation of election laws.

White took Shorstein's office to court because he said his public records request was not fulfilled.

He said he wants any e-mails and faxes concerning the state attorney's race and also documents from Shorstein and Plotkin that contain the words: fundraiser, contribution, election, campaign, Angela, Corey, event and endorsement.

Shorstein's office said it provided White with more than 12,000 pages containing those words. The documents cost $4,300.

They said to provide e-mails from all 400 state attorney office employees would create a monumental amount work and be very expensive.

During a court deposition last week, Shorstein said the overwhelming request would have shut down his office and was nothing but dirty politics on the part of Plotkin's opponent.

"I am extremely upset about the impact on my office and the prosecution of crime just in the hope that it could have a political benefit to Angela Corey. I think that is shameful and disgraceful," Shorstein said on Wednesday.

"To get at the truth, to find out if the state attorney's office was in fact engaging in these activities, -- Sir, I would pay virtually anything," White told the court.

During the testimony, White said he received e-mails that he did not ask for and did not want to pay for those documents.

The judge in the case reserved the right to rule in the future.

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