text: Ex-counsel to Senate Republicans fills seat as donor issue looms
  The eve of the state Board of Elections' consideration of the possible closure of the so-called LLC loophole brought a flurry of activity — including news that the board's Republican co-chair had been quietly replaced.
  The seat of James Walsh, the Republican co-chair of the four-member panel, will be filled by Peter Kosinski, a former executive director of the board who left in 2008 to serve as counsel to the Senate Republican majority. Kosinski was chosen by Republican legislative leaders, Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos and Brian Kolb of the Assembly minority. The appointment was confirmed by an Elections spokesman.
  The board is scheduled to meet at noon in Albany.
  Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed the documents on Wednesday confirming Kosinski's appointment to complete Walsh's term, which ends in November. Walsh missed the board's most recent meeting due to an illness.
  Democratic commissioners Doug Kellner and Andrew Spano have placed consideration of the board's 1996 advisory opinion that defined limited liability companies as individual entities, each capable of giving the maximum in political donations. Because of this policy, untold numbers of related LLC — such as those that make up large real estate concerns — are able to vastly increase their political giving.
  Cuomo has called for the closure of the loophole but is the state politician who benefits the most from its existence. Republicans have resisted any change in current practice.
  On Wednesday, Democratic politicians including Assemblyman Brian Kavanagh, Sen. Daniel Squadron and Attorney General Eric Schneiderman sent letters to the board encouraging them to reconsider the 1996 decision, and noted that the standing opinion was based on a Federal Elections Commission policy that was overturned three years later.
  "Being forced to deal with it greatly increases the chances they'll do the right thing," Squadron said of the board. " ... A rule like this can only survive in the shadows."
  Heather Briccetti, the state Business Council president and CEO, submitted a legal argument advocating for the preservation of the current definition.
  "Any action taken by the board to further limit LLC contributions, outside of an act of the Legislature, would be ... invalid," Briccetti wrote.
  Cuomo spokeswoman Dani Lever said, "Whether by legislation or action taken by the Board of Elections, the governor believes the LLC loophole should be closed."