A defiant Dean Skelos on Tuesday insisted to reporters he has no plans to step down as majority leader of the state Senate, saying that he is able to negotiate the end of session issues facing the Legislature.
“It’s a very simple reason: I’m innocent,” Skelos said. “If you’re innocent, there’s nothing that you have to run away from or hide from. My conference knows that I’m innocent and we’re ready to govern. That’s what it’s about.”
Here's how the New York Daily News editorial page described the "innocent" Skelos:
Federal criminal charges lodged against state Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos depict him as wringing hundreds of thousands of dollars out of Albany supplicants for his 32-year-old son.
With damning detail, Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara’s complaint spells out a drive by Skelos to boost his son Adam’s income by abusing his vast powers as Senate boss.
Backed up by wiretaps, emails and cooperating witnesses, the facts show that Skelos put the arm on Glenwood Management, a major landlord, to hire his son during meetings in which the company lobbied him on rent regulation and tax breaks.
They show that Skelos guided $200,000 from Glenwood to Adam through a title insurance company and an engineering firm.
They show that Skelos reciprocated with legislation in Albany and by securing a $12 million contract from Nassau County. He even discussed the deal with Nassau Executive Ed Mangano at the wake for a slain NYPD officer.
As the Skeloses became worried about getting caught, Adam complained to his father: “You can’t talk normally because it’s like f---ing Preet Bharara is listening to every f---ing phone call.”
Revealed in a footnote was that the elder Skelos has garnered $2.6 million from a Long Island law firm without performing “any actual legal work” — a whole scandal in itself.
Skelos talked about the importance of having a teacher evaluation system in place in New York State that is "strong and means something," so that bad teachers will be held accountable.
Bad politicians like Skelos himself?
No accountability needed.
He's innocent of all those charges, don'tcha know...
Senator John Flanagan is steadfastly standing beside accused crook Dean Skelos. Yet, Flanagan has no problem supporting an evaluation bill that would railroad thousands of good teachers out of the profession. Flanagan is pure garbage.
ReplyDeleteOur Board of Ed President here in B-Lo Diamond Jim Sampson was caught in an audit of misusing millions in taxpayer funds when he was CEO of a home for troubled kids. Since he's wired to Cuomo there was no follow up but the crook has no problem demanding accountability from teachers.
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