Nerves Rattled Throughout New York State Over Steven Pigeon Investigation

Bob McCarthy in the Buffalo News:

This is a nervous Sunday for political types around Buffalo and New York State.

The same pols who read the lead story in Thursday’s editions of The Buffalo News – the one reporting state investigators were mining reams of tips from the emails of political operative Steve Pigeon – must now be asking questions of themselves.

“Did I ever send an email to Steve Pigeon?” so many New Yorkers are asking today. “Did I ever ask a favor? Did I ever write something to come back and haunt me?”

It’s a nervous Sunday all right.

That’s because Pigeon, the former Erie County Democratic chairman and self-appointed power broker, has been wheeling and dealing around these parts for 25 years. And whatever he has conveyed via email during much of that time now rests in the hands of state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.

“This thing has an unbelievable number of tentacles,” said one source familiar with the situation.

Maybe that’s why it took almost a year for Schneiderman, the State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigation and the FBI to figure out just what they had when they hauled computers out of Pigeon’s waterfront condo (and the homes of fellow operatives Steve Casey and Chris Grant) back on May 28.

And if Pigeon is the saving type who kept all his emails, the Schneiderman crew has spent the last year reading some most interesting stuff.

According to McCarthy, we're probably looking at bribery charges against Pigeon and State Supreme Court Justice John Michalek.

But given the "tentacles" that emanate from Pigeon, it could get much, much worse for various politicians and  players around the state - including Governor Andrew Cuomo.

Just something to keep an eye on.