NYSUT Needs To Create No Show Jobs For The Deadbeat Sons Of New York's Political Leadership

Two stories about the leaders of our state government - one current, the other former - and their sons.

First, a story about the deputy majority leader in the state Senate, Tom Libous and his son, Matthew:

The only reason a Westchester law firm hired the son of the No. 2 man in the state Senate was because the politician was “an investment” who would “send them business,” federal prosecutors said in blistering closing arguments of the pol’s corruption trial Tuesday.

“Why would you hire anyone who got drunk at the holiday party and propositioned the senior partner’s wife?” assistant US attorney James McMahon asked the White Plains jury in the case of upstate Republican Sen. Tom Libous, who is charged with lying to FBI agents.

Libous’ son, Matthew, made a salary of $150,000 at the now-disbanded Santangelo Randazzo & Mangone — $60,000 more than senior attorneys at the firm — and leased a more expensive car on the company dime than his higher-ups.

“Why pay Matthew Libous so much? Because Thomas Libous demanded it. [And in exchange,] he would send them business. Anthony Mangone knew that Matthew Libous was an investment,” McMahon said, referring to a law firm partner.

More:

Libous could face up to five years behind bars if convicted of lying to FBI agents about getting his ne’er-do-well son a job with a Westchester law firm in exchange for favors.

Matthew, 37, has been disbarred and is set to head to prison for tax evasion.

The case against Tom Libous is similar to that brought against ex-state Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos, who resigned after he was indicted in a corruption scheme to peddle his influence for cash and work for his own son.

Which brings us to the former state Senate majority leader, Dean Skelos, and his son, Adam:

The spoiled-brat son of disgraced state Sen. Dean Skelos threatened to beat up his boss when he was asked why he didn’t show up for the no-show job his daddy scored for him, according to new court documents.

Adam Skelos said he’d “smash in” his boss’ head after he was asked why he didn’t turn up for more than an hour to the $78,000-a-year gig his dad won him at a medical-malpractice insurer, according to the rewritten indictment returned by a federal grand jury Tuesday at Manhattan federal court.

The eight-count superseding indictment against Skelos and his son tacks on two counts of corruption charges — extortion and soliciting bribes — to the six both already faced.

Adam, 33, got the cushy job at Long Island-based Physicians’ Reciprocal Insurers in 2013 after his dad pressured the company’s CEO, whom a source identified as Anthony Bonomo, to hand him the gig — even though he didn’t have a license to sell insurance.

“From the outset of his employment, Adam Skelos regularly failed to report for work,” the indictment reads.

A week after starting, his supervisor called him up for some face-time — because he hadn’t bothered to show up for more than an hour in four days.

“Shortly after that phone call, Adam Skelos called back [the supervisor] and threatened to ‘smash in’ [the supervisor’s] head,” documents state.

Adam ranted that his boss would “never amount to anything” and that guys like him “couldn’t shine his shoes,” according to the indictment.

The elder Skelos called up Bonomo the same day, demanding to know why his boy was being “harassed,” papers claim.

Bonomo explained Adam hadn’t been showing up and was boasting he was entitled to special treatment because “his father and the CEO had an arrangement,” the indictment reads.

But Bonomo kept Adam on his payroll, fearing the dad would retaliate against the company and he “could lose access” to the senator, the documents allege.

The sense of entitlement these politicians and their children display is breathtaking.

So is the corruption.

Want to know how to get your agenda pushed in Albany by state Senate Republicans?

It's not by giving the campaign arm of the state Senate GOP $7,000 the way NYSUT just did, that's for sure.

If you want access to the political leaders of this state, you need to show them the money - real money - you know, like the kind Matthew Libous got paid (i.e., $60,000 more a year than the senior lawyers at the law firm he got hired at, $150,000 a year in all, so that they would have access to his father.)

Perhaps NYSUT can create a special wing of the union just for no show jobs for the deadbeat sons of corrupt politicians?

Then we're talking real access to the political leadership of this state. 

Maybe then NYSUT will live up to its moniker in the press - the powerful state teachers union.