This Rose smells funny to public-corruption watchdogs.
A state ethics panel is investigating a high-end catering company’s efforts to change state law so it can serve hard liquor in an Upper East Side church, The Post has learned.
Gov. Cuomo’s Moreland Commission sent subpoenas to lobbyists working for the Rose Group — which leases space in the Third Church of Christ, Scientist on Park Avenue at E. 63rd Street — seeking information about its efforts to pass an exemption to state liquor laws, sources said.
Rose has spent $373,401 on lobbying since 2011, including $245,000 to lobbyist and chiropractor Joseph Mirto’s Empire Consultants.
Records show Mirto has sent $27,500 to state legislators and $32,500 to Gov. Cuomo’s re-election committee since 2011, with Rose adding another $5,000 to Cuomo.
A spokesman for both Mirto and the Rose Group said he could not reach his clients Friday and wasn’t in a position to respond to questions about Moreland.
A commission spokeswoman said it doesn’t comment on “ potential or ongoing investigations.”
Legislators passed a bill awarding a full liquor license to Rose in one of the last acts of the Albany session in June.
Assemblyman Dan Quart, who represents the Upper East Side, sponsored the bill in his chamber. With no Senate sponsor, the bill was introduced through the Rules Committee in an unusual procedural move.
State Sen. Liz Krueger, who represents the district and opposed the measure, said the bill was proof that “well-connected lobbyists and donors can and are buying favors.”
Krueger herself received $57,900 since 2000 from a constituent who opposes the catering facility and lives across the street. A Krueger aide pointed out the donor is a decades-long family friend.
The special bill is one of 11 measures awaiting Cuomo’s signature or veto.
The Rose Group has served booze at lavish corporate holiday parties and weddings inside the church since 2006. But the state passed a law in 2007 prohibiting liquor from being served within 200 feet of a church.
Rose Group spokesman John McArdle said the company has lost revenue and was forced to lay off workers. “The only remedy was a legislative one,” he said of the exemption bid.
Krueger, Rep. Carolyn Maloney and Councilman Ben Kallos have urged Cuomo to veto the bill.
But some Assembly members are supporters.
“It’s an effort to save what is a thriving business that was going under,” said Brooklyn Assemblyman Joe Lentol. “Who’s going to come to a party if you can’t have a drink?“