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Bruno Giving Tax Dollars to For Profit Friends

by: DIA

Thu Dec 07, 2006 at 08:17:12 AM EST

Not that this should surprise any of us since Joe Bruno is a criminal but the Times Union today reports that Joe Bruno has given a quarter million dollars to his friend's for profit company via "member items".

State Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno provided a pair of highly unusual state grants to a for-profit company in his district whose directors and investors have links to the Brunswick Republican.

The company, Evident Technologies Inc., has received two $250,000 grants at Bruno's direction since the 2001 fiscal year. The $500,000 in grants from a pork barrel fund Bruno controls are remarkable because for-profit companies almost never receive these member items, as such earmarks are called.

If this isn't against the law, it damn well should be.

DIA :: Bruno Giving Tax Dollars to For Profit Friends

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Bruno Giving Tax Dollars to For Profit Friends | 1 comments

un-freakin'-believble (0.00 / 0)

joe bruno is a liar. period freakin' dot.

Bruno's spokesman, Mark Hansen, said Bruno does not have personal ties to Evident. He said the senator provided member item money to Evident because he is committed to promoting job creation. The money was directed through Empire State Development Corp., the state's economic development arm.
Bruno has ties to two Evident principals -- Jared Abbruzzese and Wayne Barr -- both of whom share the senator's keen interest in horse racing.
Abbruzzese is a Loudonville resident under investigation by the state lobbying commission for providing his aircraft to Bruno for several trips, including a fund-raiser and tour of horse farms in Kentucky last year that Barr set up for Bruno. He is described by one associate as a close friend of Bruno.
Abbruzzese's wife, Sherrie, was among the buyers of land sold by First Grafton Corp., a firm in which Bruno was a 25 percent owner. She bought 12 waterfront acres in 2004 for $90,000, according to Rensselaer County records.
Barr, Abbruzzese's business partner in various ventures, was an appointee of Bruno's on the New York Racing Association Board of Trustees until earlier this year.

LIAR, LIAR pants on fire. it's high time we started calling him out on this shit.

throwing public money at for profit companies run by your friends is bad. so is lying about it.

joe bruno is a liar.

TODAY is day one. It always is.

by: phillip anderson @ Thu Dec 07, 2006 at 16:09:35 PM UTC