Following federal corruption charges NY State Senate leader Skelos (R) and NY State Assembly Speaker Silver (D) remain in elected office. The third member of the trio, NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo, hasn't been charged but has hired a criminal defense attorney:
May 16, 2015, "Capitol Scandals Raise Tough Questions for New York Governor," AP, David Klepper, Albany
"They were Albany's most powerful men: the governor, the Senate leader
and the Assembly speaker. Together, they negotiated billion-dollar
budgets and decided which bills passed and which ones didn't.
Now two face federal corruption charges, and the third — Gov. Andrew Cuomo
— appears eager to focus on other issues even as he faces questions
about his ties to a major real estate firm at the center of the newest
scandal to rock the state Capitol....
"If the charges are correct, it's deeply disturbing," is what Cuomo said
following the arrest of Senate Leader Dean Skelos on charges that he
extorted payments for his son from the developer and another business.
The Long Island Republican resigned his leadership post Monday.
Skelos' arrest comes after Manhattan Democrat Sheldon Silver stepped
down as Assembly speaker in January after he was charged with taking
nearly $4 million in payoffs. Both men say they are innocent and are
keeping their legislative seats.
In the political language of Albany, the governor, the speaker and the
Senate leader are known collectively as the "three men in a room," a nod
to the longstanding practice of negotiating the budget and other key
pieces of legislation behind closed doors. Silver's arrest came the day
after Cuomo referred to Skelos, Silver and himself as the "three amigos"
during his budget presentation, which contained a depiction of the
three men wearing sombreros.
Millions of dollars in contributions by New York City real estate
interests, mainly funneled through LLCs, have been cited in the cases
against Silver and Skelos, who received large contributions from
Glenwood Management, a New York City real estate firm headed by Leonard
Litwin, Cuomo's top donor.
Glenwood has been identified as the New York City company that gave
large campaign donations to Skelos using LLCs, allegedly in return for
helping continue tax breaks now worth about $1 billion annually to the
city's residential developers. Those tax breaks, along with New York
City's rent regulations, are up for renewal this year. The complaint
against Skelos alleges that he used his influence to pressure a Glenwood
executive to arrange payments for his son.
Cuomo received $1 million from limited liability companies tied to
Glenwood. Cuomo said recently that he never discussed rent laws with the
company. Administration records show he met with Glenwood executives
three times to discuss rent regulations in 2011, the last year they were
up for renewal.
Cuomo's spokesman said later that the governor simply forgot the meetings. "I don't believe anyone said Glenwood has done anything wrong," Cuomo said about his connections to the company.
The developer's generous contributions were scrutinized by the anti-corruption commission appointed by Cuomo in 2013 and disbanded a
year later. U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara of Manhattan, who is prosecuting
Skelos and Silver, took them over.
Glenwood did not return a message seeking comment. Meanwhile, new efforts to address corruption in state government are stalling.
The governor met with the new leaders of the Assembly and Senate on
Wednesday, their first gathering since Sen. John Flanagan was picked to
replace Skelos. Flanagan said the meeting focused on the priorities for
the rest of the legislative session.
Ethics reform "wasn't one of the topics of discussion," said Speaker Carl Heastie, a Bronx Democrat who replaced Silver.
Polls suggest voters aren't pleased. A Marist College poll released
Tuesday found that three-quarters of respondents think corruption has
gotten worse in New York in recent years. Cuomo's job performance rating
has dropped to 37 percent while ratings for the Assembly and Senate are
in the low 20s. Marist pollster Lee Miringoff said voters are looking
to Cuomo to address corruption.
"One of the pillars of his campaign was the notion that he would get
Albany working again and clean up the mess," Miringoff said....
Following Silver's arrest, new rules were passed requiring lawmakers to
identify the source of any outside income and, if they are attorneys,
disclose the identities of clients. Good-government groups say
exceptions in the rules make them only a modest improvement.
Legislation that would close a campaign finance loophole at the center
of many corruption scandals appears unlikely to pass. The measure would
treat limited liability companies like other companies when it comes to
campaign finance. Now they are treated like individuals, allowing LLCs
to donate up to $150,000 without identifying actual donors.
The Assembly passed the measure Tuesday, and Cuomo supports it. But the
legislation is presumed dead in the Senate, where a committee chairman
last week refused to consider it because of an improperly made motion.
The chairman, Republican Sen. Michael Ranzenhofer, told The Associated
Press that he hadn't read the three-paragraph bill.
"We have very, very many important bills," Ranzenhofer said. "I'm just not an expert in all of them.""
======================
In March 2014 NY Gov. Cuomo abruptly disbanded the Moreland commission he set up to root out corruption in NY State politics once and for all. The hobbling of the commission's efforts and its abrupt end led to Cuomo hiring a criminal defense lawyer:
7/23/2014,"Cuomo’s Office Hobbled Ethics Inquiries by Moreland Commission," NY Times,
======================
In March 2014 NY Gov. Cuomo abruptly disbanded the Moreland commission he set up to root out corruption in NY State politics once and for all. The hobbling of the commission's efforts and its abrupt end led to Cuomo hiring a criminal defense lawyer:
7/23/2014,"Cuomo’s Office Hobbled Ethics Inquiries by Moreland Commission," NY Times,
With Albany rocked by a seemingly endless barrage of scandals and arrests, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo set up a high-powered commission
last summer (2013) to root out corruption in state politics....
But a
three-month examination by The New York Times found that the governor’s
office deeply compromised the panel’s work, objecting whenever the
commission focused on groups with ties to Mr. Cuomo or on issues that
might reflect poorly on him.
Ultimately, Mr. Cuomo abruptly disbanded the commission
halfway through what he had indicated would be an 18-month life....
.
.
Before
its demise, Mr. Cuomo’s aides repeatedly pressured the commission, many
of whose members and staff thought they had been given a
once-in-a-career chance at cleaning up Albany. As a result, the panel’s
brief existence — and the writing and editing of its sole creation, a
report of its preliminary findings — was marred by infighting, arguments
and accusations. Things got so bad that investigators believed a Cuomo
appointee was monitoring their communications without their knowledge.
Resignations further crippled the commission. In the end, the governor
got the Legislature to agree to a package of ethics reforms far less
ambitious than those the commission had recommended — a result Mr. Cuomo
hailed as proof of the panel’s success.
While
some reports of tension between the governor’s office and the
commission surfaced in the news media at the time, the examination by
The Times provides the first full accounting of how extensively the
governor’s aides involved themselves in the commission’s work and the
level of disruption that this caused."...
===========================
Aug. 2014, NY Gov. Cuomo hires criminal defense lawyer:
8/1/2014, "Andrew Cuomo hires criminal lawyer to represent governor's office as scandal over Moreland anti-corruption commission grows: sources," NY Daily News, Kenneth Lovett
"EXCLUSIVE:
Cuomo hired prominent white collar criminal defense lawyer Elkan
Abramowitz in May to represent the governor’s office, sources told The
News. Cuomo’s top aides, Secretary to the Governor Larry Schwartz and
counsel Mylan Denerstein, have also hired their own personal attorneys,
the sources said."
"Gov. Cuomo has lawyered up in response to the growing scandal over
the way he handled his anti-corruption commission, the Daily News has
learned."...
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3/31/2014, "Capitol Corruption Panel’s Demise Angers Watchdogs," NY Times,
=========================
3/31/2014, "Capitol Corruption Panel’s Demise Angers Watchdogs," NY Times,
"Cuomo’s Push to End Moreland Commission Draws Backlash"
"It was a quiet and sudden end to what had started as a high-profile battle against Statehouse corruption."...
"It was a quiet and sudden end to what had started as a high-profile battle against Statehouse corruption."...
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