Ann-Margaret Carrozza, Embattled Queens Assemblywoman, Drops Re-Election Bid

State Assemblywoman Ann-Margaret Carrozza

State Assembly Deputy Majority Whip Ann-Margaret Carrozza of Queens, who faces a residency investigation by AG Andrew Cuomo and questions from the press about her self-described "abysmal" attendance record in Albany, announced yesterday that she's dropping her bid for re-election.

Cuomo's investigation centers around a $1.8 million dollar home Carrozza bought in 2008 in Glen Head, Long Island. Carrozza and her family rented out their Bayside home last year and moved to the Long Island address, which she described to the Daily News as "an investment or a second residence." Members of the Assembly are permitted a second residence outside their district, as long as they maintain a primary residence in the district and live there for a year prior to the general election.

Unfortunately for the assemblywoman, the News discovered that she and her husband signed mortgage papers on the Long Island home agreeing that she and her family would "occupy the property and use the property as [their] principal residence within 60 days," and "continue to occupy the property and use the property for at least one year."

Complicating matters further, Carrozza and her husband applied for a STAR tax break -- which is only available to married couples on their primary residence -- for both the Bayside and Glen Head houses, describing both in her applications as her "primary residence." She announced in July that she was moving back to one of her Bayside properties, although not the one she claims as her primary residence, without her family, who she said had the Glen Head house as their primary residence.

The AG's office is looking into the claim of residency on the mortgage to determine if Carrozza got more favorable terms by misrepresenting her primary residence.

The assemblywoman, who told the News editorial board that "personal issues" kept her away from to work in the Assembly 64 percent of the time in the first half of last year, will be returning to her full-time practice in elder law.