Skelos' members gave him a vote of confidence on Monday night, just hours after he and his son were hit with federal corruption charges by hard-driving U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara.
...
"Dean was pretty brazen when he met with the conference," one source said. "He said he is going to fight this. He said he's going to win - that 'we're going to show Preet Bharara.'"
And:
Skelos Tuesday scoffed at the charges against him as “nothing more than a press release” and defended his son.
Skelos' case seems a lot worse than Silver's case because there are wiretaps that reveal the criminal (and often idiotic) things both Dean and his son Adam were saying to each other as they worked their schemes.
It's possible that Skelos will "show Preet Barara" what's up in court, but when you look at the wiretaps and see the stuff they were recorded saying, it doesn't seem likely.
This article in today's NYTimes: http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/05/07/nyregion/big-names-in-new-york-real-estate-figure-into-skelos-and-silver-cases.html
ReplyDeleteThe article details Skelos' and Silver's relationship to Glenwood Management. There isn't one mention of Cuomo or Cuomo's connections to the real estate industry in general or Glenwood specifically. It's such a glaring absence of comment that one has to assume its intentional. Also, the article sort of posits that the real estate industry is so powerful in NY politics to counterbalance the power of renters in the state. It's also clear that the real estate developers are huge, profiteering players as well, but for the most part the picture being painted is that the shadiness and criminal behavior is on the side of the politicians, and that the industry lobbying and favor-currying are toxic only to those politicians that want to make it so.
So, no mention of Cuomo. No suggestion of Cuomo. Strong suggestion that Glenwood et. al. are cooperating and on the "good" side. I'm sure Cuomo is happy with the article. Lets hope the NYTimes has some other, more revealing, stories in the pipeline. Public opinion matters here. If the public doesn't care too much, we can' expect too much more.
Here's a counter balance to the Times article from Cap NY:
Deletehttp://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/albany/2015/05/8567425/cuomo-critic-give-glenwood-money