Occasionally it seems as if a police radio scanner would make a handy tool for tracking New York politics. A full roster of elected officials, former elected officials, their associates, and their appointees find themselves in legal trouble or under an investigative shadow. All these cases are likely to generate news in the months ahead.
NOTE: If someone relevant is omitted here, no slight was intended. Just let us know.
Brian McLaughlin — the former Queens Assemblyman and labor leader — was charged with ripping off $2.2 million from different sources, including campaign funds and even a Little League. Federal charges of embezzlement, fraud and bribery, filed nearly a year ago, are still pending. Part of the case involved renovations to his 13-room colonial house in Nissequogue.
Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, while engaged in a political war with rookie Gov. Eliot Spitzer, remains vexed by a federal probe that surfaced late last year involving his private business deals. No charges have been filed.
Also under extended review, of course, are the business activities of relatives and former aides of ex-state Comptroller Alan Hevesi....
... who admitted to a felony involving misuse of state resources. Sen. Efrain Gonzalez Jr. (D-Bronx) faces charges involving charity groups for which he got state funding. Assemb. Diane Gordon (D-Brooklyn) still faces allegations she squeezed a developer for a new house in return for her help on a land deal.
Bernard Kerik, the former New York City police commissioner, who previously pleaded guilty to state misdemeanors, has been under federal investigation. In an unusual twist, President George Bush’s choice for U.S. attorney general, Michael Mukasey — due up for Senate confirmation this month — is expected to avoid overseeing any potential Kerik case, since both he and the former commissioner have been longtime friends of presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani.
Accused swindler and former fugitive Norman Hsu sits in a California jail cell facing criminal charges. Part of his profits were allegedly sent as illegal donations to political campaigns — U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s among them.
Separate local probes have been reported in recent months in North Hempstead, Hempstead, Smithtown, and Saltaire on Fire Island. In Queens, Republican Councilman Dennis Gallagher seeks to fend off sexual assault allegations, while Democratic state Sen. John Sabini is due to be arraigned in Albany on Oct. 19 on a drunk-driving charge.
Dan Janison
Comments (1)
Very Sad.
Being drunk is dumb though not against the law.
Driving Drunk is criminal.
The Senator from Qns. is not doing well.