Checking the news for emerging or evolving scandal about a NYS pol once a day is no longer sufficient. By the time 24 hours has passed, slimy stuff just revealed may have piled up on you. Or, yet more important people who have not yet been implicated in any corruption may be moving farther along the "clean up this mess" scale, such as today's news that Democratic Party Chairman Jay Jacobs actually intended to ask Paterson to resign, but, decided to soften his words a bit, merely telling the Governor that, if true, the allegations were fatal. That, of course, was before the ball game tickets thing surfaced.
So, there is a whirlwind of bad behavior among Albany pols, most but not all of them Democrats. Any reasonable progressive would be focusing intently on two things: 1) HOW do we clean house? (check here for an answer on that). 2) HOW do we limit damage to the Democratic brand, to avoid a reflexive turn to voting Republican? Hey, if it can happen in Massachusetts, it can happen here. If you think all this is not encouraging throwing the baby (you and me, bub) out with the foul sewer-like bathwater, you're dreaming.
So, what is surely not helpful during this difficult time is public retrospection and fulminating on his fall by Eliot Spitzer. Eliot, do not give interviews where you talk about your sex life to Time Magazine. Do not make it possible for The NY Post to publish articles headlined "Eliot Spitzer: Why I liked ho's" (sic). Do not opine--
"How do you think I feel?" he said, eyes misting. "At one point, I stood for something that was important and useful.
"I was in a place in time where I had a purpose, where it mattered. And then I destroyed it."
Eliot, STFU. How you feel is not something to be considered by the public now. You have a new role, let me spell it out for you: say nothing, just collect your investment income, and send money to others who don't stain the cloth of our political system every time they open their mouth.
Gov. David A. Paterson violated state ethics laws when he secured free tickets to the opening game of the World Series from the Yankees last fall for himself and others, the New York State Commission on Public Integrity charged on Wednesday. The accusation came as the governor, already mired in scandal, met with his cabinet and insisted he would stay in office.
In addition to violating the state's ban on gifts to public officials, Mr. Paterson falsely testified under oath that he had intended to pay for the tickets for his son and his son's friend, according to the commission. Mr. Paterson had never intended to pay for the tickets, the commission determined, and did so only after inquiries from the news media, after which he submitted a backdated check as payment. (emphasis mine)
I realize Paterson has said that he's not resigning. But it's beginning to look as if he could be indicted in the very near future. I don't see how he survives until next year. Do you?
Thanks to Liz Benjamin, I have become aware that, among the many, many fundraisers that lobbyists have been invited to as they celebrate another marvelous year beginning in Albany..... is one to benefit recently-convicted "honest services theif" Joe Bruno. As if the very fact that lobbyists (one gave Liz the invite) are being hit up for funds to support the legal defense debts of a retired Senate leader convicted of corruption....
There are no disclosure requirements for legal defense funds - not even if you're still holding elected office - (see: Monserrate, Hiram; or Gonzalez, Efrain).
So, we'll never know exactly who is ponying up cash to support Bruno, who certainly doesn't lack for admirers in spite of his conviction - especially in the Capital Region.
If you got an invite and want to pay $250-1000 for me to go in your stead, lemmee know. I'm going to be in Albany that weekend, and I sure would love to be a fly on THAT wall.
So, the thing about Albany's challenged ethics is this: every time you think that you have seen somebody go as low as low can go.... they surprise you again. I hate that.
Hiram Monserrate didn't have the decency to resign his Senate seat after being convicted of spousal abuse. His fellow Senators didn't have the decency to kick him out quickly (we ARE gonna make 'em do it eventually, though). Now, word comes that "supporters" are contributing to his legal defense, but the public is not allowed to know who those contributors are, or how much they have given.
Sound fishy? Well, it does to me, and probably to you, too. But, hey, the Legislative Ethics Commission says its all good. Special rules they have approved say, as long as everything about this legal defense fund is unknown to Hiram (and the public), it's hunky-dory. Even the name of the person managing the Get Hiram Out of Jail Free fund is secret. I'm sputtering. The Times Union has an excellent article about it-- go read the whole thing.
Reform, perhaps. But reform Albany-style, which is to say that the new and, naturally, legal way of doing business is enough to make the public nostalgic for something as brazen and unsettling as indicted legislators dipping into their re-election money not only to stay in power but out of jail as well. A stunt that might have deserved the slogan "Give -- to the defendant of your choice" was actually subject to more regulation.
UPDATE: Well, the Legislative Ethics Commission is now claiming it did NOT tell anybody anything was ok, according to Cap Con:
The Legislative Ethics Commission took the unusual step today of declaring publicly that it has not been asked to provide guidance to anyone during the past two years on the setting up of a legal defense fund.
This means it did not advise Sen. Hiram Monserrate, D-Queens, on the legal way for the freshman lawmaker to set up an account to pay his considerable legal expenses from his assault trial. His attorney, Joseph Tacopina, confirmed to the Times Union the existence of the fund and said his client is being very careful.
The commission says that since it was created in 2007, having evolved from the Legislative Ethics Committee, it has not been asked to provide an opinion, nor has it provided one. It also says no current members of the commission who may have also served on the committee have weighed in on the issue.
So, OK-- the supposed watchdog is innocent of actually licking the crook.... how 'bout an itsy-bitsy bark, eh?
So we are now finding out the answers to some of our questions about which members of Congress actually represent We, the People...and which ones represent, Them, the Corporate Masters.
We have seen a Democratic Senator propose a policy that would put people in jail for not buying health insurance and a Democratic President who has taken numerous public beatings from those on the left side of the fence for his inability to ram something through a group of people...and yes, folks, the entendre was intentional.
But most of all, we've been asking ourselves: "why would Democratic Members of Congress who will eventually want us to vote for them vote against something that nearly all voting Democrats are inclined to vote for?"
Today's conversation attempts to answer that question by looking at exactly how money and influence flow through a key politician, Montana's Senator Max Baucus-and in doing so, we examine some ugly political realities that have to be resolved before we can hope to convince certain Members of Congress to vote for what their constituents actually want when it really counts.
Fark.com just directed my attention to an article in today's Daily News about Sen. Espada. Seems he got a Senator Of The Year award from some group in the Bronx. Yeah, he was put in for it before he bolted the party and held Albany hostage for a month, but the following money quote says it all:
"I would give him two awards," [79th District leader Eric Stevenson] said. "He's President of the Senate now and that's better. We get more bacon for our district."
Long-time TAP readers will remember that I have a particular interest in seeing the corrupt former Senate Majority Leader, Joe Bruno, brought to justice. The FBI is continuing to issue and deliver subpoenas in the case, including to former employees and Bruno relatives who doubtless profited from Bruno's shady dealings. For some reason, Bruno's lawyers seem to think that serving subpoenas to witnesses is, well, mean or something. They are outraged-- and have filed a complaint with the Justice Department alleging harassment. Clearly, these privileged Republican defense lawyers have never experienced a "DWB" stop or been hand-cuffed for trying to get into their own house, like Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Serving a witness a subpoena at work, or serving one to a defendant's daughter at all, are hardly misconduct.
The full letter of complaint is at the Politicker NY. They make a big deal of it that one of Bruno's top employees was served a subpoena the day after making a whine to the press that Bruno was really innocent-- but Bruno's guys have been doing lots and lots of that... In fact, their nonsense website, "Justice for Bruno" (by which they mean getting away with it...) comes up first on a Google search of Joe Bruno, ahead of the Wikipedia entry, even (and there are Google ads for it running alongside, too). Somebody is trying to try this case in the court of public opinion, methinks. Justice shouldn't be like running for election.
It's all part of a strategy to delay the trial until Bruno joins Kenny-boy Lay in the "rich old guys who beat the justice system through delay and died comfy without atoning for their misdeeds" club.
It's a bad day to be a corrupt politician (or even a corrupt rabbi) in New Jersey this morning. The FBI is arresting dozens of them in a money laundering and corruption probe.
NEWARK -- Federal authorities arrested dozens of people today in New York and New Jersey as part of a money laundering and corruption sweep. Those arrested included several New Jersey public officials and rabbis.
The suspects are scheduled to appear in U.S. District Court in Newark later today. Those arrested include Assembly Daniel Van Pelt (R-Ocean), Hoboken Mayor Peter Cammarano, Secaucus Mayor Dennis Elwell and Jersey City Deputy Mayor Leona Beldini, and Jersey City Council President Mariano Vega.
Nearly 20 people, including Cammarano, Elwell, and Vega, have already been led into the FBI building in Newark to face the charges.
This one looks big. They've got the mayors of Hoboken and Secaucus, Assemblymen, the Deputy Mayor of Jersey City and even rabbis in Brooklyn.
The mayors of Hoboken and Secaucus were among 30 people arrested in early morning raids across New Jersey this morning as federal officials unveiled a long-ranging probe into public corruption and international money laundering, officials said.
FBI and IRS rounded up scores of elected officials and several rabbis across the state in what is being described as one of the biggest investigations of its kind in Jersey's scandal-plagued history.
It appears to be a corruption-related investigation but Justice Department and FBI spokesmen would only say the corruption involved a "high-volume international money-laundering conspiracy." It is said to involve rabbis in the Syrian Jewish enclave in Brooklyn and Deal, New Jersey. The probe is said to have started when money transfers drew the interests of the feds who followed the trail back to small-town Jersey corruption.
Among those arrested this morning were Assemblyman Daniel Van Pelt, Jersey City Deputy Mayor Leona Beldini, Hoboken Mayor Peter Cammarano and Secaucus Mayor Dennis Elwell, authorities said. Several area rabbis and other community leaders and politicians, including Jersey City Council President Mariano Vega, were brought into custody in connection with this case, officials said.
I guess the FBI has been working on this case for a long time. Maybe now that they have nabbed these crooks, they'll have a little more time on their hands to focus their attention elsewhere, like, maybe on this side of the Hudson...
The probe also involves the trafficking of body parts, according to a person familiar with the matter. One of the individuals who was arrested Thursday morning is an alleged organ dealer, this person said.
Money laundering, corruption and trafficking in body parts? Holy crap!
Officials say separate from the corruption probe, some of the suspects charged today were also connected to an illegal human organ-selling ring. Investigators say some charged would take cash payments to help find organs for sick patients in need of transplants. It's unclear where the body parts might have come from or how many surgeries may have been done. The FBI, IRS and U.S. Attorney's office all declined comment saying details will be given at the press conference.
snip
Defendant Issac Rosenbaum, meanwhile, was caught up in a shady organ procurement program, where an undercover FBI agent and the cooperating witness pretended to need a human liver for the undercover's sick uncle, the feds charge.
"Let me explain this to you," said Rosenbaum on February 26, 2008 according to the court documents. "It's illegal to buy [ a liver]. It's illegal to sell.They are going to investigate him [the donor] not you, not your uncle. He's going to speak to a social worker and a psychologist to find out why he is doing it... and it is our job to prepare him."
The cost would be $160,000 for the liver donation - 50 percent up front - but Rosenbaum repeatedly made it clear, according to court papers, "It's illegal to buy or sell organs. .. . So you cannot buy it. What you do is, you're giving a compensation for the time . . . whatever--he's not working. You can't even mention."
Let the historians note that it only took 9 days for the state's highest ranking Republican, Dean Skelos' ethically challenged pet Pedro Espada, to let the power dangled in front of him take him completely around the bend. It would seem that the Il Duce of the Bronx has jumped the shark in record time. He now claims that he is the awesomest of all the senators, more equal than all the others, and that he has the power to cast not one, but two votes.
Outside an uneventful GOP-plus-Pedro Espada Jr. meeting of the Senate Rules Committee, the breakaway Democrat repeated his claim that as president pro tempore he is also "acting lieutenant governor," and therefore could wield not one but two votes in the chamber, which is deadlocked 31-31.
"I didn't invent that - it's in the Constitution," said Espada.
Espada said his only reluctance to unsheath his second vote and establish a quorum is his desire to avoid landing the Senate in an even more protracted legal battle. "We don't want to end up in court," he said.
He really believes this apparently. He was quoted saying the same thing to the Post this morning:
Renegade Democratic Sen. Pedro Espada claimed yesterday he and his Republican allies are forging an explosive new plan to give him an unprecedented two votes to break the newly emerged deadlock in the state Senate.
"I can have two votes," Espada boldly told The Post.
"We're going to maintain that, as the president pro tempore of the Senate, I am also the acting lieutenant governor, and the lieutenant governor can vote when there's a tie."
This man actually believes that he has been vested with the power to vote exactly twice as many times as anyone else in the New York State Senate. Does he also believe that he can manufacture a quorum by voting twice? What other superpowers does he believe he now has? Does he think he can fly?
More importantly, can he point a single instance anywhere in history where this has been the case for anyone else, no matter what titles they may have had? No? I wonder why that is. Oh right. It's because IT HAS NEVER HAPPENED BEFORE.
I did a brief Google search for the idea. What Espada is proposing has no precedent that I can find over the last four hundred years of Anglo-American parliamentary procedure. Not here, not in the UK, not in the Dominions.
Not anywhere, ever.
Not only is Pedro Espada a common criminal, he has obviously also lost his mind.
Remember, all of 8 days ago, when the plotters were all puffy chested about a more equitable Senate? Remember when they were hailing their revolt as a victory for "bipartisanship"? Me too.
The "coup" plotters tried to tell everyone last week that their sham revolt was about "reform" and opening up the Senate. Most people paying any attention knew they were full of shit the minute they opened their mouths. But now everyone knows it to be true. Why? Because, as we now have a 31 all tie, everyone knows that there is going to have to be some sort of power sharing arrangement. The Senate will have to be more open under any such scenario.
Yesterday, in a closed door meeting between many of the principals, the Dems offered what looks to be a pretty good deal, one that the remnants of the "reform coalition" rejected out of hand.
During negotiations, Senate Democrats proposed a power-sharing plan to Senate Republicans that would include the following provisions:
1. On session days, rotate the position of temporary president between two the parties on a daily basis.
2. The floor leader from the opposition party would be preside with opposing temporary president "to provide better balance."
3. A bipartisan committee of 6 senators, three from each party, to set the session agenda.
When asked about the terms of the proposal, a Senate Republican spokesman said that the discussion didn't go as far as a formal proposal, so it really wasn't something on the table to accept or reject.
Senators in attendance:
Democrats: Sens. Malcolm A. Smith, John Sampson, Jeff Klein and Carl Kruger.
Coalition: Sens. Dean Skelos, Tom Libous, John DeFrancisco and Democratic Sen. Pedro Espada.
Sounds awfully damn "equitable" and "bipartisan" to me. It would also have let the Senate get back to doing the work we pay them to do. But such an agreement would not do for the plotters for one simple reason. All that talk about "reform" was straight up bullshit. These guys and their new pet, the ethically challenged moral pygmy, Pedro Espada, now arguably the highest ranking Republican in the entire state, never had any interest in any of that stuff. The GOP wanted their cushy offices back and to be able to turn on the patronage spigot once again. Tommy Golisano wanted to show he world that no one could check their blackberry whilst he pontificated about something or other. They both needed someone who could be bought off relatively cheap. Pedro and his pal fit the bill perfectly. They had to know that Pedro was a two bit punk and opportunist who had been rebuffed by the Dems when he tried to funnel $2 million bucks to sham non profits he's created just days previously, something he has quite the rep for.
So they decided to make him second in line to the Governor and gave him some laughable talking points about reform. It looked like this, an image that we as a state will carry with us in shame for a long long time:
But then they had a problem. Their little coup fell apart. Hiram got a serious case of buyer's remorse and backed away from this little cabal of suckitude. That leaves the Senate all knotted up at 31 votes apiece. Neither side can do a damned thing without at least some cooperation from the other. They can't even gavel in a session without someone from the other side playing along.
This would seem to mean that there needs to be some sort of power sharing agreement, no? The Dems offered one. The GOP decided to let the rest of the world know that all their talk of "reform" was utter tripe by rejecting it out of hand and by then returning to the very court they had asked to dismiss the case and begged for "judicial intervention." Why? Because they have no interest in getting back to the people's business under any arrangement that doesn't leave them in complete control.
It was always transparently ridiculous that the very people who fought against any reform at all for 40 years had had a sudden change of heart and did so while adopting and elevating probably the single most ethically challenged person in the entire chamber. Did anyone really believe any of this stuff? It was always about power, perks and greed.
Here's some powerful video from inside the Capitol as the so called "reform coalition" made their way to the senate chamber to hold their fake session:
I'm taking advantage of how we can post more than a diary a day to take exception with this characterization of Pedro Espada, that he's a "Republican." He isn't. He obviously isn't a democrat either. He's a criminal, plain and simple.
Tommy Golisano and Dean Skelos' new pet some piece of work:
* We learned today that Pedro tried to extort a cool $2 million bucks from the senate Dems before he went home with Skelos. He wanted that 2 million bucks for two of his fake nonprofits that just happened to share the same addresses as his Soundview Scam and his personal PAC.
* Espada and two associates were indicted on charges that they siphoned $ 221,000 in Medicaid funds from Espada's Soundview Health Care Center to finance his 1996 political campaign.
* Hasn't filed a single campaign report to the BOE for his race last year. Not one. In fact he couldn't legally have raised or spent a dime to even get elected because he didn't even have a legal entity, a campaign committee, before about 3 weeks ago. He owes the BOE about $60K for campaign violations.
* Back in 2003, NYC pulled all WIC funds, the money intended for the nutritional benefit of "women infants and children", from all of Espada's sham clinics saying that the funds were mismanaged (stolen).
See what I mean? This is the man now claiming to be leading the "reform coalition" or some other such nonsense. Tommy Golisano and Dean Skelos have hijacked our democracy with this criminal's help. That's where the GOP finds itself today. They are so desperate to hold on to power that they have made common cause with a common criminal, a man who has spent most of the past two decades under investigation or indictment is now being investigated again. They really should be ashamed of themselves. Not only have the subverted the will of the people of New York, the are trying to put a criminal in charge of this circus. Pedro Espada belongs behind bars in prison, not as president of the senate. Of course this is the second time in a row that the GOP has put a criminal next in line to the governor. This makes a mockery of the empty "reform" rhetoric they keep spouting.
Reform doesn't come from a billionaire buying up crooks with a history of stealing from the poor and the sick and the weak to advance his own agenda. Reform shouldn't look so much like Florida in 2000, the last time the Republicans tried to steal our democracy. (How did that work out, btw? Oh, right. It kind of sucked.)
Attorney General Andrew Cuomo may well have hit the mother lode in his investigation of endemic corruption in the state pension funds.
The AG yesterday brought felony charges against a veteran political kingmaker, accusing him of a "pay-to-play" scheme that essentially bought an Assembly seat for felonious ex-Comptroller Alan Hevesi's son, Andrew.
According to Cuomo, Hevesi's office arranged for Raymond Harding -- onetime chair of the now-defunct Liberal Party -- to collect $800,000 in illegal fees as part of a sham pension-fund transaction in return for political fixes favoring both Hevesi and his son.
The scheme -- in which Democratic Assemblyman Michael Cohen got a six-figure private-sector job with Harding's help, and gave up his seat in 2005 to make room for the younger Hevesi -- also involved two senior aides to then-Gov. George Pataki, a Republican.
The Post's Fredric U. Dicker and Brendan Scott report the indictment's unnamed figures include Hevesi, his then-chief of staff, Jack Chartier, and Adam Barsky, a deputy chief of staff to Pataki.
In other words, the state's constitutionally designated fiscal watchdog -- the comptroller -- was in cahoots with the office of the same official -- the governor -- he was supposed to be watching.
This story just keeps getting worse.
Note: I'm on the road today. Light to no posting from me. Others should feel free to post away.
Well, one thing you can sure say about Andrew Cuomo is that he knows how to jump on a bandwagon when the public is pissed about something. Nigh on to one-upped the President in "that'll show 'em" over the AIG bonus payments, he did.
That move has Simon wondering here what ever happened to that special deal that Governor Paterson gave AIG just before the first Federal bailout... you remember, the one where they didn't have to abide by the normal regs, and the gambling side of the corp could borrow 20 billion from the side that handles your health insurance? Anybody got the follow-up file on that?
So, Simon's question got me pondering something even older than that-- a special bill that the NYS Senate passed, without a sponsor, back in the bad old Bruno days.... it would have made it illegal to disclose the names of any parties that were unearthed in an insurance dept. investigation of any wrongdoing.... you know, like, the stuff Andrew is asking for by subpoena would have been illegal to disclose had it become law...
The Governor of Illinois is not the only politician to respond to getting caught with the goods and indicted for defrauding the public by a show of unbelievable arrogance. Wouldn't expect anything but "righteous indignation" from Unc Joe Bruno hisself, as he is nothing if not a very vain man. But, did you know he hosted a party for the lobbyists and consultants of CMA Consulting (and their "friends") and encouraged them all this way?
Joseph Bruno, the former senator indicted last week, sent out a personal letter to his employees at CMA Consulting last Friday, emphasizing: "If there was ever a time to be righteously indignant, that time is now." The missive arrived by e-mail from Bruno the day before CMA's holiday party at Prime at Saratoga National Golf Club, where Bruno was spotted "laughing, joking and shaking hands like nothing had happened," another source said. About 250 people attended the 25th anniversary of CMA bash and Bruno gave a short speech.
If there were ever a time to counter the lies of those who want to maintain a corrupt and dysfunctional system of highly-centralized governance... that time is now.
Well, an indictment, following on the investigation of Joe Bruno, is inevitably coming.... but, then, so's Christmas...
However, Liz has some "Bruno Pals" leaking that it is, indeed, likely to come soon. Those of you who hold a shred of hope that law enforcement and prosecution in this country are not politically-motivated will despair about the reason for the timing, in Liz's "observsers'" estimation:
Observers surmise prosecutors want to wrap up the Bruno probe before President-elect Barack Obama takes office next month and brings in his team.
I'd observe that the decision about what kind of indictment to bring may have less to do with what the investigation found than with what the departing "team" thinks their partisans can get away with....
The USA Todaypublished a report today on the most corrupt states in the United States. Based on their method of calculating the most corrupt state, you might be a little surprised at which state is the most corrupt.
North Dakota.
That's right. The USA Today used public corruption convictions per 100,000 residents as their basis for this report and found that North Dakota with 8.3 corruption convictions per 100,000 residents is the most corrupt state in the United States. Other challengers for the title include Louisiana (7.7 corruption convictions per 100,000 residents), Alaska (7.5 corruption convictions per 100,000 residents) and Mississippi (7.3 corruption convictions per 100,000 residents).
But if you go by total corruption convictions, New York is a serious contender for most corrupt state in the country. According to the report, over the last 10 years, New York has had 704 convictions. That is second only to Florida, who had a staggering 824 convictions during the same time period. New York has a rate of 3.6 corruption convictions per 100,000 residents, but that's because we have so many people. By comparison, North Dakota only had 53 convictions. But they also have 639,715 residents. New York has over 19 million people.
Simon wrote the other day asking if we deserved to be considered one of the most corrupt states. If we go by the USA Today model, we are in the middle of the pack. But if we go by the number of convictions, only Florida beats us out. While our rate is low based on our population, 704 convictions is still a lot. That averages to about 70 per year and that's nothing to be happy about.
So what model do you go by? The USA Today model, which is based on the number of convictions per 100,000 people? Or the number of convictions? Or would you use something else?
A former Supreme Court Justice of the Third Judicial Circuit of the State of New York was charged today with attempted extortion and federal program bribery, Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew Friedrich of the Criminal Division announced. Thomas J. Spargo, 65 was charged in an indictment returned today by a federal grand jury in the Northern District of New York.
According to the indictment, while Spargo was a state Supreme Court Justice in 2003, he allegedly solicited $10,000 from an Ulster County, N.Y., attorney who had cases pending before the judge. The indictment further charges that Spargo solicited the money by causing the attorney to fear that Spargo would use his official acts and influence to harm the attorney if he was not paid and, conversely, to help the attorney if he was paid.
Is that because we deserve it - Tammany's gone quiet, as have many of its Upstate emulators - or just because we haven't held up a proper spotlight in a while?
They're discussing Illinois, Louisiana, and Alaska, with an outraged reader adding Rhode Island, which I suspect wins for the northeast. I'd add New Jersey to that mix for the northeast... and Pennsylvania's had its moments... where's New York?
So what do you think? Are we in the top ten? Twenty? Fifty?
Update: we get noticed, but I'm not sure TPM understands that "Supreme Court" means something different in New York than in many other states. Hmm...
The federal corruption investigation of former state Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno did not die with Bruno's resignation to work for a state contractor he helped prosper when he was in office.
The feds aren't looking at that, though they should.
According to the Sunday Times Union, the feds are still calling people to testify before a grand jury in Albany, focusing on Bruno's alleged profiteering from horse-breeding deals.
