I have said for years that it would just be easier to move our state capital from Albany to Ossining (home of Sing Sing Prison) just to streamline the process for taxpayers as our politicians move from the State House to Big House. Yes, as hard as it may be to believe, not 24 hours after I posted last week that Sen. Smith and Councilman Halloran had been arrested, another of New York's elected officials was behind bars and another had resigned. This time it was Assemblyman Eric Stevenson (D/Bronx). He was arrested by the Feds for accepting bribes to pass legislation that would limit the opening of adult day-care centers so that his co-conspirators could have a monopoly. The other politician, Assemblyman Nelson Castro (D/Bronx) resigned after he was used by the Feds to wear a wire to catch Stevenson. Castro was under indictment for a previous charge of perjury.
Apparently it is quite common in New York for politicians to take bribes to get legislation passed to benefit the bribers. Another member of the Assembly who shall remain nameless for now, is currently under investigation after he introduced legislation that would require all wine to be warehoused in New York for at least one day before being sold in local stores. I imagine that I don't have to tell you that his biggest donor is a New York beverage distributor. One would think that if these guys and gals were just a little bit smarter, they would just pass legislation that would make all of this legal.
Needless to say our Governor Andrew Cuomo is not happy. He wants to run for President in 2016 and all this corruption is really harshin' his mellow. Or in layman's speak, it reflecting badly on him since he ran his 2010 campaign on cleaning up the corruption and "business as usual" in Albany.
Oh, and this is the guy who is doing all of this - US Attorney Preet Bharara. Remember that name because he will either be running for Governor one day or have to arrest himself when he becomes a New York State Legislator.
So drum roll please as I add the latest members to the Albany/NYC Rogues Gallery of Arrested/Incarcerated/Recently Released Corrupt Politicians:
State Assemblyman Eric Stevenson (D)- Arrested for accepting bribes to pass legislation for his special interests with 4 co-conspirators.
State Assemblyman Nelson Castro (D) - resigned after turning states' evidence and wearing a wire to implicate Assemblyman Stevenson. He was compelled to help the Feds because he was under indictment for perjury.
State Senator Malcolm Smith (D) - Arrested for paying bribes to NYC Councilman Daniel Halloran (R) to secure a spot on the Republican ticket for the upcoming Mayoral election.
NYC Councilman Daniel Halloran (R) - Arrested for accepting a bribe from State Senator Malcolm Smith (D) for same.
Oh, plus "...five other politicians, three Republicans and two Democrats, were also arrested and charged with collectively accepting more than $100,000 in bribes in meetings that often took place in parked cars, hotel rooms and state offices..."
Just in case you are keeping score, here is the previous list from 2012-2013:
State Senator Shirley Huntley (D): pleaded guilty to embezzlement of $90,000 in taxpayer funds for personal shopping sprees.
State Assembly Vivian Cook (D): not yet charged; implicated in procuring funds to be funneled to Sen. Huntley and participating in personal shopping sprees.
State Assembly Jimmy Meng (D): pleaded guilty to soliciting bribes
US Representative Gregory Meeks (D): Currently under investigation for accepting $40,000 in unreported "loans" from Queens businessman Edul Ahmad. Ahmad has pleaded guilty and awaiting sentences in a $50 million mortgage fraud scheme.
State Senator Carl Kruger (D) - resigned his seat and pleaded guilty to charges of corruption and bribery. (2011)
State Senator Hiram Monserrate (D-NY) - of the 13th District, was expelled by the New York State Senate on February 9, 2010 in connection with a misdemeanor assault conviction against his girlfriend.
State Senator Efrain Gonzalez (D-NY) On May 25, 2010, Gonzalez was sentenced to 84 months (7 years) in prison, followed by two years supervised release, after pleading guilty to two conspiracy counts and two wire fraud counts in May 2009.
President of the New York City council Andrew Stein (D) - was convicted of tax evasion regarding a Ponzi scheme in November 2010.
Majority Leader of the New York State Senate Pedro Espada Jr. (D) - On May 14, 2012 a federal jury found Espada guilty of embezzling money from federally funded healthcare clinics, after 11 days of deliberation.
State Senator Nicholas Spano (R) - in 2012 Spano was indicted for Federal Income Tax evasion. Spano pleaded guilty to the single felony. He admitted that he under-reported his income — $42,419 in federal income taxes and $10,605 in state taxes — from 2000 to 2008. He is to be sentenced to 12 to 18 months in Federal Prison in June 2012.
Please feel free to talk about this or anything that might crop up. I mean, North Korea is poised to bomb us at some point this week...
You know, I was actually going to ask you about that first guy, because I saw a story on him. Out of curiosity, is there anyone in Albany who hasn't been convicted of something?
ReplyDeleteBev, This is just stunning. It's almost beyond belief. And yet, nothing seems to change. Bizarre.
ReplyDeleteThat's awesome. I don't pay much attention to local scandals, but a couple years ago a bribe taking County Executive named Jack Johnson was on tape telling his wife to flush a check and stuff 80,000 dollars into her bra as the FBI knocked on their door.
ReplyDeleteHe's still in prison, she got cut loose a couple months ago.
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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/13/jack-johnson-hid-cash-in-_n_783113.html
ANNAPOLIS, Md. — A married pair of top officials in a Maryland county is accused of tampering with evidence after FBI agents said they recorded the husband telling his wife to flush a $100,000 check from a real estate developer down the toilet and to stuff almost $80,000 in cash in her underwear.
Prince George's County Executive Jack Johnson, whose second term expires next month, and his wife, Leslie, who was recently elected to the County Council, were charged with witness and evidence tampering and destruction, alteration and falsification of records in a federal investigation.
The charges grew out of a 5-year-old investigation into allegations of real estate developers in the county offering rewards to county officials in exchange for personal and business favors.
In an affidavit filed in federal court, FBI agents wrote that they recorded a mobile phone conversation between the Johnsons after agents went knocking on their door.
After Johnson told his wife, "Don't answer it," he instructed her over the phone to go upstairs to their bedroom and destroy the check, the affidavit said.
"Tear it up! That is the only thing you have to do," Johnson told his wife, according to the affidavit.
Leslie Johnson then could be heard asking her husband, "Do you want me to put it down the toilet?"
The county executive responded, "Yes, flush that," according to the affidavit, which noted that monitoring agents heard a flushing sound in the background.
Johnson then told his wife to put cash in her underwear, according to the affidavit. After FBI agents entered the home, they searched Leslie Johnson and recovered $79,600 from her underwear.
Since this is a quasi-open thread, I'll talk a bit about the Daily Caller article about Toure's radical past. I didn't see anything damning or shocking, but I do think the tendency of privileged black kids to become radicals once they go to white schools is pretty funny.
ReplyDeleteAs a guy who went to a majority white school (40 of the 800+ students in my sophomore year were black, in my freshman year the total was maybe half that) I saw that a lot.
People either participated in wider groups (fraternities, sororities, theater, chess clubs, team sports) or they found themselves hanging out with students from similar backgrounds.
Like Toure, some of the second group would get pretty militant despite the fact that they came from backgrounds of great privilege and never ran into anything in their lives. Militancy was a comfort blanket for them.
Toure's a driven, smart, successful guy who has done some good work in the past (most notably a book ridiculing the notion that blacks should limit themselves to stereotypically black things). Its ironic that he comes down so hard on black conservatives for supporting a cause that isn't typically associated with blacks.
Hopefully some day he will stop clowning himself and see the light.
Bev, I saw an Anthony Weiner headline you can appreciate. From the New York Post: "Don't blow him off - Weiner stiff competition for Dem foes"
ReplyDeleteTryanmax - Tee-hee! I swear, the NY Post is having a competition with its headline writers to see who can come up with the best headline
ReplyDeleteFront page in giant letters: Weiner's Second Coming! Anthony: Erect Me Mr. Mayor
Page 4: Weiner's Long Hard Road Back
Page 5: Weiner Stiff Competition for Dem Foes
T-Rav - Apparently, there are very few who are honest. The system is set up so that our Leggies get their own personal taxpayer provided slush fund to dole out as they see fit. The original idea is that they could take that money back to their districts and help their constiuents, create jobs, etc. However it has turned into too many of them setting up their own tax exempt "charitable organizations" to employ their family members and friends that do nothing. And there is no oversight to make sure that these "charities" actually DO anything. NYC has the same set up.
ReplyDeleteAnd the governor is indicating that it is not a state-wide problem, it's a NYC problem since a majority of those under arrest are from the same five boroughs.
Andrew - It is stunning! As for Malcomn Smith who was arrested for trying to bribe the Republican leadership into a spot on the Repub line for Mayor. Mayor Bloomberg was very vocal about how bad this was until someone pointed out that it was exactly what HE did except with his OWN money which I guess is okay. Bloomie paid the Repubs millions of dollars and funded his own campaigns just to be on the Republican ballot line.
ReplyDeleteit seems every time Bloomberg opens his trap, he is criticizing someone for doing exactly what he does. Owning guns when he has his own armed guards; paying off people. It is just laughable now...
Anthony - In a funny way, it's kind of conforting to know it happens in other places too. Just not in the same volume.
ReplyDeleteAs for radical privileged black kids. I think there is as much "black" guilt as their is "white" guilt. I have seen first hand my successful black friends who are taunted by others in the black community for "being too white" and not understanding what it is like to "be black" just because they excel. It is not surprising that some take on a "radical" persona to survive the taunts.
Ev, I'm not sure how a good Texas girl like you survives in Yankee-land... :)
ReplyDeleteas for that list, all I got is: Whiskey Tango Foxtrot.
rlaWTX - As I have stated many times, I am a natural-born contrarian anyway, so I like being the "outsider".
ReplyDeleteMaybe that is what I should call this list "Whisky Tango Foxtrot". With all the bluster from the "outraged" fellow legislators, you'd think something would change. But as we've come to find out, it is not to their advantage to change it one bit.
You know, as a guy who feels more at home in the Mid-South than elsewhere, I gotta say, I would rather live in NYC than anywhere else in the Northeast. The rest of that whole region just had an "ick" factor when I saw it. (Especially the Albany area, incidentally.)
ReplyDeleteT-Rav - Politics and politicians aside, NYC is a great place to live if you aren't too picky about how you have to live. And since I moved here in 1989, it has only gotten cleaner and safer. You can't beat being able to go to the grocery store to buy a snack during commercial breaks and never miss the show! And if you like people watching you will never ever be bored.
ReplyDeleteThe downside is that it can be expensive to live here and is sadly full of New Yorkers...
Rope, corrupt politician, some assembly required.
ReplyDeleteBev, It doesn't surprise me in the least that Bloomberg would criticize others for doing exactly what he did. It does surprise me though that you need to bribe your way onto either party's ticket. I guess it makes sense since once you're there, you can enrich yourself beyond your wildest dreams until the Fed's catch you, but it still seems strange.
ReplyDeleteI love the headlines from the Post. LOL!
Anthony, I haven't heard about that issue... or more precisely, haven't paid attention to it. Radicals and nut jobs are a dime a dozen and don't really interest me.
ReplyDeleteK, LOL! Nice1
ReplyDeleteAndrew - The fact that there is pretty much no Republican Party in NYC (or State), but they have Republican line on the ballot. They also have NO candidates that can run on this line because I suspect that the RNC has throw in the towel in NY. Stupid considering that for the last 19 years, NYC has had a "Republican/Independant" Mayor in office. Go figure. So, because of the way elections work in this state (which I do not begin to understand), one can pretty much "buy" the line. The more lines on the ballot one holds, the more votes as they are cumulative - Independence Party, Libertarian Party, etc. all up for grabs to the highest bidder.
ReplyDeleteK - Excellent! But where are the instructions - "Part A attaches around Part B" with cartoon instructions and arrows? I am much more visual than I am verbal when it comes to understanding instructions...
ReplyDeleteSo I can't decide whether to delete "Anonymous"'s comment or not. It was so sweet of him/her to share his/her knowledge about rental properties in Plano.
ReplyDeleteIsn't that where they make Dr. Pepper?
ReplyDeleteBev, I sent to the spam box because it has a link and we don't want people clicking on malicious links.
ReplyDeleteBev, As for New York elections... ug. That's all I can say... ug.
ReplyDeleteT-Rav - Probably. They have a really cool Dr. Pepper Bottling Museum in Dallas in an old bottling plant that closed in the '80's. It bottles the original recipe made with cane sugar rather than corn syrup.
ReplyDeleteI was going to delete it, but they were so nice!
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, Andrew, someday I will write about our Board of Elections in NY. If you think that the politicians are bad, just wait until you hear about how completely incompetant the Board of Elections is!
Bev, It sounds like they should just save time and arrest everyone who has ever held office.
ReplyDeleteBev: Assembly Instructions
ReplyDeleteK: thanks! Now if I can only find a politician...
ReplyDelete