Federal investigators are looking into state Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos' sources of income, according to people familiar with the investigation.U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara is taking a hard look at Skelos’ ties to the real estate industry, among other areas of inquiry, the sources told NBC 4 New York.Skelos, the highest ranking Republican in state government, has not been charged with any wrongdoing.The revelation that Skelos is under investigation comes a week after Democratic Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver was arrested and charged for allegedly taking $4 million in bribes. Silver denies the charges.A spokesman for Skelos did not return numerous calls for comment Thursday.
Skelos' deputy in the State Senate, Tom Libous, is already under indictment for lying to the FBI.
If Dean Skelos is arrested for corruption as Shelly Silver was, that will mean the top two Republicans in the State Senate would be under under indictment.
Think about that for a minute.
Top Dem in Assembly arrested, second in command in Senate GOP indicted, head of Senate GOP is under investigation for corruption.
What does this mean for Governor Cuomo, who shut down the Moreland Investigation on Public Corruption at the behest of Silver and Skelos in order to get an on-time budget last year?
If Moreland found incriminating information about Silver and Skelos, there's a pretty good chance Cuomo knew about that information because the Moreland executive director was feeding him everything that was happening.
If Cuomo shut down Moreland knowing that it had found incriminating info on Silver and Skelos, that opens Cuomo up to cover-up and conspiracy charges.
Ordinarily you'd think if the heads of both the Assembly and the State Senate are arrested and forced from power, that enlarges Cuomo's power as governor.
But not if the reason they're arrested and forced from power comes from information found by the Moreland Commission that Cuomo shut down.
No way Cuomo gets out of this pit of corruption unscathed. Minimally, the bigger the stench of this, the less attractive a Presidential primary candidate he becomes. All of these trials will be happening right around the time of the next Presidential election...? Cuomo will be dragged into this muck.
ReplyDeleteHey, Preet, while you're at it...what's up with this privately funded "Regents Fellows" program that is helping steer our state public education system in a private direction?
ReplyDeleteMaybe some questions for Meryl Tisch and her rich cronies, yes?
Reports indicate that Dean Skelos authorized expenditures of NY taxpayer money in the high six figures (maybe seven figures) to fight the release of outside earnings information to the Moreland Commission. What does that tell you? I do not think he is doing that to protect Andrea Stewart Cousins--or Neil Breslin. There are a lot of skeletons hidden in the Republican caucus (Skelos and DeFrancisco) and the IDC (Klein). Look out baby--going to get interesting!
ReplyDeleteSome enterprising investigative reporter needs to start following the Silver / Tisch connection. We know that power corrupts BUT, so too does all that money that Tisch has thrown around and invested in furthering her own agenda as chancellor. It is time that the citizenry of NYS rose up to challenge the illegal and immoral behavior of our elected officials. We have been screwed over time and time again and the political machine has been allowed to run rampant and with indifference towards US, the taxpayers. I hope that Bharara keeps digging until he is satisfied that he has derailed the runaway train piloted by our POS governor. It is sickening that we have been duped time and time again. For God's sake - THESE people work for us! The chutzpah and total disregard they have for us is breath-taking. It's time for comeuppance ...
ReplyDeleteYup, El Cuomo will look like shit when BOTH the top D. And R. NYS leaders (the two of the three men in a room) are in chains....and Andy Boy knew nada...? Difficult to believe...
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