Saturday, February 21, 2015

Skelos Trial and How Real Estate $$$ Corruption Government 960


Skelos to Stay Out of Jail Until Appeal Ruling Thanks to SC's McDonnell Ruling
Dean Skelos will be able to stay out of prison pending his appeal (NYP) Disgraced former state Sen. Dean Skelos will be able to stay out of prison pending an appeal of his corruption convictions, a Manhattan judge ruled on Thursday. Skelos and son his son, Adam, are seeking a new trial thanks to a US Supreme Court ruling in June that overturned Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell’s conviction, also on corruption charges. Manhattan federal Judge Kimba Wood wrote that she’ll let the Long Island father and son stay out on bail because they’ve “shown that their appeals present a substantial questioning regarding whether this court’s jury instructions were erroneous in light of the United States Supreme Court’s holding in McDonnell v. United States.”



Feds Push for 15 Years for Skelos While Albany Blocks Ethics Bill 
NYT Tries to Make It OK Not To Send A Message to Corrupt Albany by Sending Skelos to Jail  Prosecutors want former state Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos to be sentenced to 12 to 15 years in prison for his conviction on federal corruption charges, and his son to see about 10 to 12 years in prison
Does it make sense for Adam and Dean Skelos to ask for noprison time? Opinions are mixed. (NYT) Prosecutors are likely to seek stiff prison sentences for Dean G. Skelos, the former majority leader of the New York State Senate, and his son, Adam, who were both convicted on corruption charges.* Lawyers for former state Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos and his son, Adam Skelos, asked that they avoid prison time, but that could backfire in a corruption case in which both were convicted on all counts,The New York Times reports: * Experts say the requests by former Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos and his son, Adam, for no jail time resulting from their corruption convictions could run the risk of backfiring by being interpreted as essentially thumbing their noses at the judge and jury. * Feds push for Skelos and son to spend over a decade in jail (NYP) NO ETHICS New York’s leaders are still failing on ethics reform (NYP Ed) Cuomo and the Legislature’s leaders are oh so proud of their just-passed state budget — yet there’s not a word in it about ethics reform. 
Albany corruption mapped: * This, as former legislative leaders Sheldon Silver and Dean Skelos await sentencing after their landmark convictions for abuse of their offices. And after countless other lawmakers have headed off to prison in recent years. And after the Legislature failed to deliver on its No. 1 reform promise last year — to get the ball rolling on amending the state Constitution to strip pensions from legislator-felons like Silver and Skelos. Now comes a new Quinnipiac Poll showing that 86 percent of New Yorkers say corruption in Albany is a serious problem. So serious, in fact, that 48 percent said all current elected officials should be voted out of office so new officials can start with a clean slate. And 48 percent also see Cuomo as “part of the problem.”* Bharara recommends up to 15 years for Skelos (PoliticoNY) The memo was a rebuke of the defense’s argument that the duo should avoid prison time *  Federal prosecutors asked a judge to sentence former state Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos to at least 12 years in prison, following his conviction on eight counts of public corruption charges, and asked that Skelos’ son, Adam, be sentenced to more than 10 years.* Prosecutors:Dean Skelos' $95k pension should draw big fine (LoHud)   Silver he sentencing for former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver has been postponed again. According to court documents, it’s now scheduled to take place on May 12th, moved from April 13.
Longtime aide insists Sheldon Silver ‘cared for all New Yorkers’ (NYP) Sheldon Silver’s longtime chief of staff has gone to bat for her old boss, vouching that the convicted former Assembly speaker “always cared for and worked to help all New Yorkers,” new court filings show. Judith Rapfogel — whose crooked hubby William Rapfogel is currently in prison for bilking $9 million from the non-profit he ran — begged Manhattan federal Judge Valerie Caproni for mercy at Silver’s sentencing in a two-page letter filed Tuesday.“I could write volumes about the good work Shelly did for the people of the state of New York,” Rapfogel wrote, even playing the 9/11 card. “We let people use our phones so they could call their loved ones,” she wrote. “Shelly also worked hard for minorities. He did what he felt was right, even if it went against his religious beliefs and even if it meant he would have to ‘answer’ to friends and family.”


 Silver Disbarred and Skelos Delayed Until After the Special to Replace Him 
Former Speaker Silver Disbarred(YNN) *  Sentencing for former Senate Leader, Dean Skelos, and his son Adam, has been changedonce again. First the judge moved the sentencing date to April 25. Now, the pair will go before the judge on the 28.* Sheldon Silver Stripped of Law License (DNAINFO) The disgraced former Assembly Speaker was officially disbarred Tuesday after an appeals court ruling.* Sheldon Silver, Ex-New York Assembly Speaker, Is Disbarred (NYT) * The hits just keep coming for Shelly Silver (NYP) First Sheldon Silver’s name was removed from his Assembly office door in Albany, now it’s been stricken from an official state list of practicing attorneys. Silver was automatically disbarred when he wasconvicted last November, so the disciplinary committee’s finding, released Tuesday, is mostly a ceremonial slap in the face to the ex-speaker. The five-member Manhattan Departmental Disciplinary Committee unanimously rejected the disgraced lawmaker’s plea to keep his name on the attorney roll pending the appeal of his guilty verdict.* Former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver was automatically disbarred when he was convicted last November, and now a disciplinary committee rejected his plea to remain an attorney pending his appeal in court, the Postreports: * A Court of Appeals panel ruled that controversial secret evidence kept out of former Assembly speaker Sheldon Silver’s trial can become public if the judge believes it is relevant to his sentencing, scheduled for April 13, Newsday reports: *  A state appeals court disbarred former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver after he was convicted in November of felony extortion for taking nearly $4 million from two law firms during his time as a legislator.* Silver’s lawyers argued that the disbarment should be delayed until a federal judge decides on their motion for a new trial, but the appeals court denied the request.







Skelos and Son Want Community Service Mercy Mercy Mercy 
Dean Skelos and son think they should get off with community service (NYP)* Dean Skelos and His Son Ask Judge to Spare Them a Prison Sentence (NYT) Mr. Skelos, the former New York Senate majority leader, and his son, Adam, who were convicted on corruption charges, requested to be allowed to perform community service instead. *   Lawyers for ex-state Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos and his son asked a judge to let them avoid prison and be sentenced to do community service, which comes about a month before both are expected to be sentenced, the Times reports: * A lawyer for former state Senate power broker Dean Skelos argued in a sentencing memorandum that he should get no prison time because infertility contracted as a teen left scars that made him too devoted to his adopted son Adam to resist helping him years later. * Skelos and his son asked a judge to let them avoid prison altogether and be sentenced to perform community service as punishment for their respective corruption convictions.* Judge Shira A. Scheindlin, 69, whose more-than-21-year tenure on the Federal District Court in Manhattan included a critical role in a controversial stop-and-frisk ruling affecting the Police Department, said she would resign from the bench in late April. * Skelos family valuesNYDN Ed) The following sentence is not meant to provoke laughter: Convicted ex-state Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos has cited a case of mumps, contracted four decades ago in his teen years, as a force behind his corruption. So desperate is Skelos to avoid prison that his lawyers wrote in a pre-sentence plea that the mumps left him sterile. Thus, they wrote, Skelos was excessively invested in the well-being of adopted son Adam, beneficiary of Skelos’ extortion plots. Thus, your honor, the one-time leader of the law-and-order Senate merits relief as a psychologically scarred man who simply loved too much. On second thought. Laugh.* Pols among writers of 184 letters on Dean Skelos’ behalf(Newday)  Current and former elected officials were among the authors of 184 letters recently filed in court in support of ex-Senate GOP Majority Leader Dean Skelos of Rockville Centre before he’s sentenced for federal corruption crimes. tate Sen. Simcha Felder (D-Brooklyn), who helped Skelos’ Republicans control the chamber, said the leader “made sure to greet the cleaning and clerical staff.” Former Valley Stream Mayor John DeGrace said Skelos “is, and was, a giver, not a taker.” Democratic Long Beach City Councilwoman Eileen Goggin, a family friend, revealed that Skelos “saved my job” when Republican Nassau County Executive Edward Manganowon election in 2009 and was firing many of Democrat Thomas Suozzi’s deputy county attorneys. Ascribing Skelos as well-meaning was a theme in the letters asking the court for leniency. “Sometimes love can cloud our judgment,” said Francis Becker, a former Republican Nassau County legislator.* A handful of former staffers and a single sitting state senator were among those who sent letters to a federal judge as part of former Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos' bid to avoid a prison sentence, GannettAlbany reports: 

Skelos Lawyer Says He Was Only 12% Corrupt  88% Pure
Lawyers for Dean Skelos claim he wasn’t always corrupt, shouldn’t have to pay big fine (NYDN) Ex-Sen Maj Ldr Skelos' attorneys argue only 12% of his career was tainted by corruption, so fine shouldn't be big * Former Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos said that prosecutors’ push for a $500,000 fine to strip the benefits of his public pension at his upcoming sentencing on corruption charges was “unprecedented and unwarranted,” Newsday reports: 




The Race to Replace Skelos Takes At T and A Turn  
Chris McGrath, the GOP candidate for the Republican ex-Majority Leader Dean Skelos’ Long Island seat, is drawing heat from women’s rights groups and others for bankrolling two R-rated sex comedies that include gratuitous nude scenes — “Surf School” and “Death to the Supermodel.”

NY Senate hopeful funded low budget sex comedies (NYP)  The race for Dean Skelos’ vacated Senate seat has pivoted from outrage over bribery to backlash over boobs, The Post has learned.  Chris McGrath, the GOP candidate for the Republican ex-Majority Leader’s Long Island seat, is drawing heat from women’s rights groups and others for bankrolling two R-rated sex comedies that include gratuitous nude scenes — “Surf School” and “Death to the Supermodels.” He revealed in financial statements filed with the Legislative Ethics Commission that he invested more than $1,000 in the movie company “Surf School LLC,” which financed both movies. “Surf School” was released in 2006 and portrays women as bimbos while male characters try to win a surfing contest. Among the highlights: Williams’ character says, “You ever play ‘slap the sponge cake’?” before snapping a woman’s thong bikini. In another scene, three actresses are meditating naked by a pool. Williams, once asked why he didn’t list “Surf School” in his film credits, said, “You actually saw that piece of s–t?” “Death to the Supermodels” is another lowbrow comedy about models who get killed during a “swimsuit photo shoot from hell.” Feminists were not amused.* Senate Republicans are again using de Blasio as a foil in a key special election to fill former Majority Leader Dean Skelos’ seat on Long Island.* Christopher McGrath, the Republican candidate in the race to replace former state Senator Dean Skelos, is claiming de Blasio will gain influence in Long Island if the Democratic candidate wins, The Wall Street Journal reports:



Key to the Intelocking-Directorates Lobbyists Campaign Contributors Shadow Govt Corruption Chart Exposed At the Skelos Trial




1.  Skelos is also accused of extorting a $100,000 no-show job for his son from Anthony Bonomo’ PRI

2.  Anthony Bonomo’ PRI, whose two medical malpractice firms have combined to pay D'Amato's lobbying firm, Park Strategies, $795,000 since 2007

3.     D’Amato collected $200,000 a year from Glenwood as one of the lobbyists.

4.     Meara is Lobbyists for  Gleenwood


5.     Meara is also Lobbyists for Abtech

6.  Meara is also a lobbyists for Bonomo’s PRI

7.     Litwin, who'd previously told Dorego not to act on Skelos's personal requests, "said if it concerns him that much, give him something — but don't give him Glenwood work." Dorego arranged for him to get a $20,000 "referral" fee from a title insurance company Glenwood did business with.  

8.     Adam Skelos also turned to Dorego to force AbTech to him a job after his the majority leader helped the storm water purifying company get a $12 million contract with Nassau County.  Adam Skelos was paid $10,000 a month for his services

9.  Dorego was dispatched along with Glenwood lobbyist Richard Runes to meet with Adam Skelos in 2011.  I was instructed by Mr. Litwin to take the meeting, listen to what he had to say and make no commitments,” Dorego testified. “We both, Richard and I, were uncomfortable trying to reconcile in our minds the relationship of the senator with us and, at the same time, giving Adam business




10. Under cross-examination, Mr. Dorego said that he owned 53,000 shares of stock in AbTech Holdings, the parent company of AbTech Industries. Dorego had already arranged for Adam Skelos to get at least $4,000 a month from a company he was involved with called AbTech Rink was upset, Dorego said — but eventually pushed up Adam’s payout from $4000 a month to $10,000. The younger Skelos repeatedly tried to get Dorego to give business to power companies he was involved with, and suggested that Dorego oust his longtime friend Glenn Rink from AbTech and put him in control of the company.


11. A month after Republicans regained control of the Senate in 2012, Skelos approached Leonard Litwin, owner of real-estate firm Glenwood Management, about securing a job for son Adam, Charles Dorego, the company’s senior vice president, testified in the Manhattan federal corruption trial of the Skeloses.


12.. Dorego said Glenwood's owner, Leonard Litwin, made it his top priority to keep Republicans in control of the state Senate, believing they best represented business interests. In return, Glenwood executives were apparently privy to strategy sessions. At one point, Dorego said, he was concerned about Governor Andrew Cuomo's push for campaign finance reform. He said Skelos laughed it off, saying, "It's never gonna happen. We're never gonna pass that." 

13. D’Amato testified in court that he meet with Adam to try to get him to show up for work at Bonomo’s PRI

14. D’Amato testified that he considered giving a job to Adam Skelos at his lobbying firm Park Strategies, but turn him down to stop an appearance of a conflict because he did 8 million dollars of business with the state.

15. A nonprofit group that helped State Senate Republicans cling to power in 2012 paid nearly $700,000 that year to two longtime associates of Leonard Litwin, a real estate magnate who is the state's largest campaign donor, records show.Common Sense Principles, a 501(c)(4) group that funded advertisements attacking marginal Democrats, paid $550,000 to Richard Runes for legal work and $140,000 to Frank Sanzillo, a lobbyist, for “consulting,” it stated on a 2012 I.R.S. filing. The group's advertisements never explicitly said voters should support or oppose a particular candidate, which under state law freed it from disclosing spending and fund-raising activity to the State Board of Elections. A separate disclosure indicated it spent over $1 million. http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/albany/2015/05/8567232/nonprofit-helped-senate-gop-discloses-ties-litwin

16. Albany lobbyist Brian Meara is expanding his shop and creating a bipartisan team with inroads into the Senate, irrespective of who ultimately controls the Senate chamber in January. Meara has hired Senate Democratic Deputy Counsel Christina Dickinson, who will be joined by Senate GOP Counsel Michael Avella in Meara’s shop. http://blog.timesunion.com/capitol/archives/9979/mearas-bipartisan-senate-gets/

17.  Both Dorego’s Abtech and Bonomo’s PRI Gave Adam Skelos A Job after the Majority leader put pressure on Litwin to get his son a job


19.  Both Lobbyists Runes an Meare work for Litwin’s Glenwood and Both worked for Bonomo’s PRI. D’Amato also works for Glenwood and PRI.



The Albany Version of the 1957 Appalachian Organized Crime Commission
Chart and Key to the Intelocking-Directorates LobbyistsCampaign Contributors Shadow Govt Corruption Chart Exposed At Both the Silverand Skelos Trial


More Future Interlocking-Directorates Future Keys
Last year, through multiple LLCs, Litwin outspent all other political donors and gave $3.6 million to candidates across the state of New York. The biggest chunk of that money — about $1 million — went to Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s campaign. - See more at: http://therealdeal.com/blog/2015/07/17/glenwood-cuts-political-donations-in-first-half-of-2015/#sthash.0sH8bfSY.dpuf  Glenwood Management famously utilized multiple LLCs to donate $3.6 million to various New York candidates in 2014, including $1 million to Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s campaign. - Bonomo largest beneficiary was Cuomo. The governor along with the state Democratic Committee received nearly $400,000 over the past four years from the Bonomo family, according to Board of Elections records. P.R.I. and the Bonomos also donated heavily to Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and Comptroller Tom DiNapoli, who brought in $159,000 and $119,000 in the last campaign cycle. The Senate Republican Campaign Committee received $77,500, and Skelos $12,900, Board of Elections records show. Bonomo just stepped down as the Cuomo-appointed chair of the New York Racing Association, and is singing to U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, who now leads a veritable chorus of cooperating crooners.


.* Tone-deaf Adam Skelos’ never-ending wardrobe of $1K suits (NYP) * Skelos lawyers say there was 'no crime committed'(NYDN)* Federal prosecutors, bent on telling a story of public corruption, used cherry-picked evidence, untrustworthy witnesses and innuendo to build a case against former Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos and his son, Adam, lawyers for the men said in closing arguments yesterday. * “There was no quid pro quo — ever,” the senator’s lawyer, G. Robert Gage, told jurors in federal court in Manhattan. “Nothing was traded here. You know that from the evidence. And, critically, Sen. Skelos never intended for anything to be traded.” He added: “Please consider his entire 30 years of service…It did not happen.”* Almost daily since his trial began, Adam Skelos has been wearing a different pricey suit that would cost $1,000 or more, according to internationally renowned tailor Frank Shattuck.* The Post writes that Skelos’ choice to not testify in his corruption trial is a sign of guilt and that the defense’s assertion that the former senate majority leader was simply trying to help his son is no justification for his actions: 
Dean Skelos rode his ‘giant gorilla’ to political power: prosecutors (NYP) Prosecutors delivered a scathing rebuttal Wednesday to defense summations in the corruption trial for state Sen. Dean Skelos and his son Adam, giving jurors a lesson in elementary school literature in the process. Evoking children’s author Shel Silverstein and a poem in the book “Where the Sidewalk Ends,” prosecutor Jason Masimore compared Dean’s power as ex-Senate majority leader to a giant gorilla that a little boy rides in order to gain respect from his classmates. “That’s kind of what it’s like here – the gorilla in this case is the power of the office of the Senate majority leader,” said Masimore, drawing a couple of chuckles in Manhattan federal court.* During the prosecution’s rebuttal, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jason Masimore compared the elder Skelos’ power as majority leader to a poem in Shel Silverstein’s “Where the Sidewalk Ends,” titled “Gorilla.” In the poem, a school-aged child brings a gorilla to school and everyone suddenly starts being nice to him, despite the child’s short-comings.*  “If I’m tardy, they say, ‘Oh, don’t worry.’ / If I’m absent, they don’t give me a hoot,” the poem reads. Adam Skelos’ gorilla, the prosecution said, was his father, and people did things for him and excused his behavior because of that connection to power.* I bet Shel Silverstein never expected his poetry to be usedin a public corruption case (PoliticoNY) 

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Skelos and Son Guilty on All Counts
Former State Senate Leader Dean Skelos, SonConvicted of Public Corruption * Skelos era ends with conviction on all counts (PoliticoNY) * Dean Skelos and Son Found Guilty on All Counts in CorruptionTrial: The jury took two days to reach its verdict… * Skelos conviction is capstone of unprecedented 6 weeks inwhich two of Albany’spowerful lawmakers were on trial (WSJ) * .@AGSchneiderman issued statement talking about choice between "more prosecutions" or "transformational ethics reform."* SO LONG, SKELOS: Former Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos gives up Senate seat as he and his son Adam are found...* Skelos, son guilty on all counts * "Current rules for NY politics enable our electedleaders to abuse their power for personal gain." * Adam and Dean haven't let go of each other since exiting the courtroom. * Dean Skelos and son guilty in corruption case (NYDN) * .@NYGovCuomo reax to #Skelos points to #january "...more must be done and will be pursued as part of my legislative agenda..." #nbc4ny * #Skelosconviction caps a tumultuous year in Albany  (PoliticoNY)  * Dean Skelos, Ex-New York Senate Leader, and His Son Are Convicted of Corruption(NYT) *After Skelos and Silver, How to Save Albany (NYT)New York’s political system is corrupt. To fix it, we need a full-time Legislature.

Skelos,Son Found Guilty on All Counts in Corruption Trialfrom @susannecraig @WRashbaum, masters of Albany saga (NYT)  * Former state Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos and his son Adam Skelos were found guilty of all eight bribery, extortion and conspiracy charges they faced in a federal corruption trial, The New York Times reports: * Following his conviction on federal corruption charges, former Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos apparently will qualify for a public pension of up to $95,590 a year. * Skelos and his son, Adam, held onto each other as they navigated the swarm of reporters, photographers and cameramen following them from the Daniel Patrick Moynihan Courthouse in Lower Manhattan. They declined to comment on their convictions, but the former senator’s attorney said they were “disappointed.” * Click here for a selection of reactions to the Skelos verdict. *  Tom Precious: “(E)ven after the array of illegal or embarrassing incidents that earlier cost a governor and a comptroller their careers, Albany has seen nothing like the past two weeks.” * Sen. John DeFrancisco said he doesn’t believe the convictions of New York’s two most recent legislative leaders will spur major changes in Albany because they were found guilty of breaking laws that already exist.* Cuomo Pledges To Pursue Ethics Legislation (YNN) * jury understood what Albanylawmakers have long failed to recognize: State government is not theirs to loot (NYDN) * Skelos and son will have plenty of time to bond in prison (NYP)

Skelos and Son's Jury Out Day 1
Skelos jury requests evidence refresher while deliberating(NYP) One key piece of evidence is a recorded phone callbetween Dean Skelos, the then-Senate majority leader, and Adam, as the politician attended the funeral of slain NYPD Officer Wenjian Liu, the two speaking in what prosecutors called “coded” language.
Skelos: Jury still doesn't have requested testimony. Plan to leave at 5, listen to wiretaps Friday am. * Skelos jury quickly asks for transcripts of testimony from several key witnesses, including Charlie Dorego, Anthony Bonomo and Al D'Amato * Skelos Trial Update: Jury note at 1:12 pm. Asked for testimony from more than 1/2 dozen witnesses. Tapes. Exhibits. And a white board! * Skelos: One wiretap jury wants to re-hear is Dean talking to Nassau Exec Mangano, about AbTech getting paid.* Skelos jury listening to call btwn @edmangano & @SenatorSkelos day before NYPD funeral & calls between Adam & Dean that day & at the funeral

Jury Begins Deliberations in Trial of Dean Skelos and His Son (NYT) The jury will consider eight counts of bribery, extortion and conspiracy in the trial of Mr. Skelos, the former State Senate majority leader, and his son, Adam.* The jury has begun deliberating in former state Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos and his son Adam Skelos’ federal corruption trial after nearly four weeks of hearing about the eight counts they face, The NewYork Times reports: * After being accused by the NY Post of wearing high-end suits to his corruption trial, Adam Skelos insists he actually buys them at JoS. A. Bank – three for $1,000, not $1,000 a piece. * Jurors indicate long deliberation in Skelos trial (PoliticoNY) 
Sometimes people do things out of friendship, not extortion, says lawyer for Senator Dean Skelos. #AlbanyOnTrial * Skelos defense: Dean never changed legislative positions. "There was no turn...no rogue act....Nothing bought or sold."* Closing Argument: Glenwood helped Adam get a job at AbTech out of its own $ self interest, not out of fear of Senator Skelos, defense says.*  People do things for important people, but it is not illegal, says lawyer for Adam Skelos. "That is why teachers get so many apples." * * In closing arguments of the corruption trial of Dean Skelos, the lawyer for the former Senate Majority Leader said the politician and his son Adam should be cleared because the three-week trial showed no criminality - just a father trying to help his son, the Daily News writes: * In closing arguments in Manhattan Federal Court, former Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos’ lawyer Robert Gage said his client’s three week long criminal trial showed no criminality – just a father trying to help his son.* Defense Lawyers Point Out ‘Holes’ in Case Against Dean Skelos and Son (NYT) Lawyers for the state senator and his son, Adam B. Skelos, hammered away at what they said was the government’s mischaracterization of recorded conversations, emails and testimony.* The jury in the political corruption case against Dean Skelos, the former State Senate majority leader, and his son, Adam, began its deliberations yesterday, after a nearly four-week trial in Federal District Court in Manhattan. The jurors quickly asked for various pieces of evidence, transcripts of testimony, tapes and even a whiteboard, which will take time to compile.


Skelos Witness Exposes Overlapping Federal Investigations
During the afternoon session, Richard Walker, who is Nassau County’s chief deputy executive, testified that he tried to prioritize requests and meetings related to AbTech and Adam Skelos because of Senator Skelos’s position. “He is the majority leader,” Mr. Walker said. “If he’s not happy with the actions of the county, with the way the county’s moving forward, that could be a problem.” Senator Skelos, not just his son, seemed to take an active interest in AbTech. At one point, during the funeral for one of the two New York police officers shot to death last December, Mr. Walker said, he overheard the senator mention to Mr. Walker’s boss that AbTech was still waiting for its latest payment from the county. Mr. Walker said he immediately made a phone call to check on the funds. Mr. Walker is being investigated by the United States attorney in the Eastern District of New York over the awarding of contracts to campaign contributors, among other allegations. He said he was testifying under a grant of immunity, but said he was receiving no benefits in the other investigation for his testimony in the Skelos case.* A federal investigation into Nassau’s chief deputy county executive, Rob Walker, centers on a $12-million county storm cleanup contract won by a company that gave money to Walker’s political committee just as the agreement was finalized, according to a source with knowledge of the probe.* The federal Securities and Exchange Commission has requested documents from the Town of Oyster Bay regarding disputed $20 million loan guarantees obtained by indicted contractor Harendra Singh.

Edward Mangano notgiven immunity in Dean Skelos case (Newsday) Mangano lawyer Kevin Keating of Garden City declined on Saturday to answer questions but said in a prepared statement: “Mr. Mangano is merely a fact witness in the Skelos matter and if called to testify he will provide truthful testimony, even though Mr. Mangano has engaged in no wrongdoing. If he is asked questions about unrelated matters, I have counseled him to invoke his Fifth Amendment privilege,” a position Keating said is “fully appropriate” under the law. Dean Skelos attorney Robert Gage made the disclosure about Mangano at a sidebar on Friday in court, during testimony by Mangano’s chief deputy, Rob Walker, who did receive immunity. Neither the judge nor the prosecution disputed Gage’s statement. Mangano and Walker have both been identified in Newsday stories as being under scrutiny in an unrelated corruption probe by federal prosecutors on Long Island stemming from charges against restaurateur Harendra Singh, who was a major campaign contributor to Mangano and others on the Island. Both Mangano and Walker were viewed as potential witnesses in the Skelos case, brought by different federal prosecutors in Manhattan, because court filings indicate that both had contacts with alleged efforts by Skelos and his son, Adam Skelos, to push a $12 million storm water-pollution contract with Nassau County for AbTech Industries, a firm that hired the son. Walker, who testified Friday, said he would assert his Fifth Amendment right and testified under an immunity order signed by U.S. District Judge Kimba Wood, which assured him that his testimony in the Skelos trial would not be used to prosecute him for anything unless he committed perjury, but gave him no assurance that he won’t be prosecuted in the Long Island investigation based on other evidence.



Prosecution:  The Skeloses had corrupted one of the most powerful offices in state government “into a cash cow to fund Adam Skelos’s lifestyle
Skelos trial on its way to a ‘Jurassic Park’ ending (NYP) Assistant US Attorney Rahul Mukhi on Tuesday began a closing argument so devastating that it turned Judge Kimba Wood’s courtroom into a bloodbath. Mukhi, a boyish, soft-spoken Harvard Law graduate who looks like he was once the kind of kid who, when asked to name his favorite varsity sport, said “chess,” reminded jury members that if they believed any one of his well-documented examples of the Skeloses conspiring to commit honest- services fraud and extortion in three separate schemes, they could just “stop there.” “Do not take the democratic power entrusted to you by the citizens and twist it to make your own family rich,” Mukhi said of the Skeloses, noting that three different companies were “strong-armed by Sen. Seklos to pay his son” in a “multiyear scheme to corrupt one of the most powerful political offices in our state.” Mukhi skewered the Skeloses when he said that Charlie Dorego (of Glenwood Management) and Anthony Bonomo (of insurance firm PRI), both of whom the senior Skelos hit with “shakedowns” to pay Adam Skelos, “were two stops along the same gravy train for the Skelos family.” Mukhi put the Skeloses in a blender and hit the “carnage” button when he showed the $20,000 check Dorego arranged for Adam after Dean begged him to “help out” his sorry son — who earned between $145,000 and $441,000 in the last five years but whose next job will be paying him three cents an hour in the prison laundry. “These are not coincidences. They are not accidents. They are part of a plan, a criminal plan,” Mukhi said, pointing out that the law does not allow an extortionist to get away with it just because he didn’t expressly threaten. He likened Skelos to a guy who runs up to you in the street with a hammer, then sticks his hand out: He doesn’t need to say the words, “Pay up.”*  The Times’ Jim Dwyer writes that as closing argumentsbegin in Skelos’ federal corruption trial, it’s clear that his son Adam always kept looking for handouts and never took ‘no’ for an answer:* Jim Dwyer: “Parents do try to line up jobs for their kids. Half the country would be in handcuffs if that were a crime. But (the prosecution) said that swapping official favors for jobs is just as much against the law as robbing a bank.” *  Bharara has joined Twitter, but hasn’t yet tweeted. He already has more than 1,000 followers, but isn’t following anyone.




NYP's Poet Smith: All Reigns EventuallyCome to An End
But NYP Does Not Say It Was Bharara, Not the Voters




Dean and Adam Skelos are not testifying. Jury could potentially begin deliberations as early as tomorrow afternoon  

Skelos prosecutor says sympathizing w family dynamic is "insulting" to parents "who manage to help their children without committing crimes" * Prosecutor invoked the defense's line that Dean Skelos's core objective was job creation. "You bet it was -- job creation for Adam Skelos." * In the courtroom for Skelos closing arguments: @PreetBharara, four of his deputies and two of the prosecutors from the Shelly case @SenatorSkelos will not be testifying in his own corruption trial  (Politico) * New Slide in Skelos Government Closing: "Indisputable Facts About the AbTech Scheme." * Former state Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos has decided not to testify in his public corruption trial, and the government is now slated to deliver its closing argument Tuesday afternoon, The Wall Street Journal reports:   Dean Skelos debates taking the stand in son’s corruption trial (NYP) Defense attorneys will make an 11th-hour decision Tuesday on whether state Sen. Dean Skelos will take the stand in his and son Adam’s corruption trial. If the former majority leader does wind up testifying, character witnesses will also be called on the Skeloses’ behalf, his lawyer, G. Robert Gage, told Manhattan federal court Judge Kimba Wood on Monday. “We think that decision is properly made at the close of the government’s case,” Gage said during a three-hour hearing to fine-tune the eight criminal charges that will be considered by the jury.


Libous Appeals Conviction
Former state Sen. Thomas Libous, a Binghamton Republican who had been the Senate’s second-in-command, has officially appealed his felony conviction, making good on a pledge to continue his legal battle after he was convicted on corruption charges last month, Gannett Albany reports:
More About Lobbyists D'Amato
From Skelos to Flanagan, GOP and IDC Coalition




Defense: Glenwood's Dorego Lying to Save Himself 


Skelos Lawyers Cast Luxury Development Exec As Real Villain in Closing Arguments (NYO) To hear attorneys for ex-Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos and his son Adam tell it, the real mastermind behind the scheme to funnel money and jobs to the politician’s son was the prosecution’s star witness—Charles Dorego, executive vice president and chief counsel at luxury developer Glenwood Management. The defense repeatedly called attention to Mr. Dorego’s non-prosecution agreement, which grants him legal immunity so long as he tells the truth. Mr. Gage pointed out that the executive will only have to answer to the same U.S. Attorney’s office that is pressing charges against the lawmaker and his son if he should not tell the truth—and said that prosecutors had taken “inappropriate” steps to advance their “theory” of corruption, such as having one of their informants convince the son to obtain an untraceable “burner phone.”  The lawyers insisted all allegations of pressure upon Glenwood and on the company where Mr. Dorego got the younger Mr. Skelos work, Abtech, stem from the executive himself. The younger Mr. Skelos’s lawyer, Christopher Conniff, openly accused Mr. Dorego of “lying” on the stand when he testified last month. He highlighted emails in evidence where Mr. Dorego reacted angrily when Abtech drafted a contract for the pol’s son that he deemed insufficiently generous—and that the executive requested an “override” wherein he would receive a cut of the proceeds from the 33-year-old’s sales for the company because he had recommended him. The phone and electronic records the prosecution presented that showed that meetings between Mr. Dorego and the Nassau County Republican were quickly followed up by emails to the real estate executive from the younger Mr. Skelos, which in turn were followed by calls between the Skeloses, went unaddressed. So did wiretapped conversations and seized emails in which the then-majority leader assured his son he would reach out to Glenwood about getting him work. The attorneys similarly argued that the state senator had nothing to do with getting his boy a no-show job at medical liability coverage provider Physicians Reciprocal Insurers. Mr. Conniff argued that PRI CEO Anthony Bonomo voluntarily gave the 33-year-old work simply to curry favor with his father, who oversaw the passage of legislation vital to the company.  “This is the reason why people often do nice things for influential people,” Mr. Conniff said. “That’s why teachers get so many apples.”



Does Skelos Have A Defense? Will He Make A Deal With the Feds?
What to Expect in Week 4 of the Trial of Dean Skelos and HisSon ( Hint: No testimony today) (NYT) * : #Albany turning point w/#SheldonSilver conviction? (#Skelos trial wraps up soon.) (LoHud) * Kolb: Progress, Not Change In Silver-to-Heastie Switch (YNN)* Attorneys for former Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos said he will wait until prosecutors rest their case to make a final decision as to whether to testify at his federal corruption trial, but Adam Skelos has already decided he will not take the stand, Newsday reports: * Whether or not state Sen. Dean Skelos will take the witness stand in his own federal corruption trial is still up in the air, and his lawyers won’t decide until prosecutors from US Attorney Preet Bharara’s office rest their case. That’s expected to occur tomorrow afternoon.



After the Skelos Trial Watch the Interlocking-Directories on Long Island, Mangano, Skelos and D'Amato 
Evidence released during former state Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos’ trial showed Skelos confronted the Nassau County executive in an effort to help his son as they went together to a funeral for a slain police officer, The Wall Street Journal reports: *  Cuomo, whose administration already appears to be in the crosshairs of US Attorney Preet Bharara’s office, needs to deliver tougher ethics laws if he wants to avoid having his legacy tarnished by Albany’s ethics morass, reform advocates said.

D'Amato Largest Lobbyists On Long Island
Ten lobbying firms and nine companies with in-house lobbyists have registered with Nassau County during the first six months of its new disclosure requirements – with most focusing their efforts on County Executive Edward Mangano’s office.* Senate Health Committee Chairman Kemp Hannon has big moneyin drug firms(NYDN) Alfonse D'Amato's Park Strategies is the largest local lobbyist, with 20 clients, followed by the nine clients claimed by Davidoff Hutcher & Citron LLP, where former Democratic county Legis. Michael Zapson is one of several politically connected partners. While many of the lobbyists have operated in Nassau for years -- and have disclosed activity with New York State -- they never before had to register locally. The change was prompted by the May arrests of state Sen. Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Cen * Tapes Reveal How Indicted @SenatorSkelos Used Nassau County Exec @EdMangano to Manipulate @NYGovCuomo 



D'Amato Testimony At Skelos and Son's Trial: "Appeatance of Impropriety"
D'Amato said — including recommending Adam register as a lobbyist because it sounded like that's what he was doing already. D'Amato said his company, Park Strategies, had no interest in hiring him because it would give an "appearance of impropriety" since his firm lobbies the state. Asked afterwards about why he testified for the prosecution, D'Amato said, "I didn't testify against my friend. I just answered questions." * D’Amato says he warned Skelos about son’s no-show job (NYP) He recalled telling Dean that his business partner Greg Serio was “very upset” about Adam’s gig as a $78,000-a-year program director at PRI. But Dean – who had pressured friend and PRI CEO Anthony Bonomo to give Adam the job in the first place — didn’t seem all that concerned. US Attorney Preet Bharara, who has been a frequent fixture at the ongoing father-son trial, also showed up Friday for D’Amato’s testimony. D’Amato also recalled how Dean asked him to meet with Adam, 33, to give him “some advice” – so he did. “I asked if he was a registered lobbyist,” D’Amato said, noting that some of Adam’s political “activities” seemed like ones he’d be “required to register.”  But Adam took the one-on-one as an opportunity to ask D’Amato for a job at Park Strategies, a request that was promptly shut down to avoid an “appearance of impropriety,” the pol testified. D’Amato, a former resident of Highland Park, a Long Island town that is represented by Dean, took a moment to plug his pal’s senatorial career. “His service was fabulous,” he said. “He was always attentive to the needs of constituents throughout the district.”  Outside the courthouse, D’Amato denied that he took the stand against Dean. “I didn’t testify against my friend. I just answered the questions,” he told reporters. Prosecutors expect to wrap up their case Monday. Defense attorneys said Friday Adam won’t testify and will decide by Saturday night if Dean will take the stand. * Former Sen. Alphonse D’Amato took to the witness stand at former state Sen. Dean Skelos’ corruption trial, saying he met personally with Skelos to warn him about his son Adam’s behavior at his job, The New York Timesreports




Take the Skelos Name Off the Sports Complex and Put It On A Jail
Dean Skelos' Shamingrights (NYDN Ed) One of the perks that came with running the state Senate for Dean Skelos was the power to direct millions of dollars to projects in his Long Island district. Skelos was particularly generous to his home base, the Village of Rockville Centre, for which he secured enormous sums to enable creation of an outdoor sports complex par excellence. The baseball field is complete with a home-run fence, foul poles, warm-up pitching cages and an elevated announcer’s shed. Nearby, there is a miniaturized version of a baseball diamond on which 5-year-olds are introduced to the game. Artificial-turf soccer fields are state of the art. They include stands for fans and lights for nighttime games. Restroom facilities are excellent. A sign at the gate reads: “Dean G. Skelos Sports Complex.”


Bonomo D'Amato and the PRI Job for Adam Skelos How Albany Pay to Play Works
Testimony at Trial Details No-Show Job of Dean Skelos’s Son (NYT) Anthony Bonomo testified that he was afraid to fire Adam Skelos, 33, from his $78,000-a-year job because it might upset his father, who at the time was the State Senate majority leader. Mr. Skelos was hired by P.R.I. earlier that year, and evidence offered Thursday at the political corruption trial of State Senator Dean G. Skelos, a Long Island Republican, and his son, Adam, showed he rarely appeared for work. Adam Skelos’s former supervisor has previously testified that the senator’s son threatened to “smash” in his head after he questioned his work habits. ut Anthony Bonomo, the company’s chief executive and owner, testified on Thursday that he was afraid to fire Adam Skelos, 33, from his $78,000-a-year job because it might upset the senator, whose influence as the Senate majority leader could sway legislation that could directly affect P.R.I., a medical malpractice insurer on Long Island that is licensed by the state. “I just felt that it was best to do nothing and to avoid the chance in Albany that, you know, that we would run into a problem with any legislation,”

Mr. Bonomo explained. Mr. Bonomo, 57, acknowledged that he and Senator Skelos, 67, have known each other for years. The two met in 1980 when Mr. Bonomo was a law clerk at a firm that the older Mr. Skelos worked for. Over the years, they stayed in touch, meeting at political fund-raisers and charity events. Mr. Bonomo would go on to run P.R.I., which has significant business before the state. For a time he was chairman of the New York Racing Association. In 2010, at a party hosted by Park Strategies, a lobbying and corporate strategy firm founded by former United States Senator Alfonse M. D’Amato, a New York Republican, a conversation between the two men turned to what Mr. Bonomo could do for Adam Skelos. In cross-examination, G. Robert Gage Jr., a lawyer for the senator, asked Mr. Bonomo if the senator had ever linked the executive’s treatment of Adam Skelos to the senator’s positions on legislation that could affect P.R.I. “No, he did not,” Mr. Bonomo replied.* Skelos indictment points to medical malpractice firm (Capital) * , Governor Andrew Cuomo appointed Anthony Bonomo, a former a board member, chairman of the New York Racing Association. * New racing boss has ties to Skelos corruption scheme (NYP)* Insurance executive Anthony Bonomo testified that he was afraid to fire Adam Skelos  because it might upset his father, Dean Skelos, whose influence as the Senate majority leader could sway legislation, The New York Times reports:
D'Amato also lobbies4 Forest City Ratner #EB5 (green cards 4 investments) (AYR) #EB5IsARacket  


Interlocking Directorates of Bonomo Meara and D'Amato Glenwood Abtech's Dorego And Direct Lines to the Majority Leaders Staff
"Physicians Reciprocal, like other large companies in New York, contracts witha number of heavy-hitting lobby firms, including two that are tied to the environmental firm in the Skelos probe. State lobby records show Bonomo's company hired The Capitol Group and Brian Meara, companies that also represented an affiliate of AbTech, the Arizona-based environmental firm linked to the Skelos investigation. Physicians Reciprocal also hired Park Strategies, a firm led by former U.S. Sen. Alfonse D'Amato."* Skelos is also accused of extorting a $100,000 no-show job for his son from Anthony Bonomo, whose two medical malpractice firms have combined to pay D'Amato's lobbying firm, Park Strategies, $795,000 since 2007. Bonomo has co-hosted political fundraisers with D'Amato, and his goldmine of campaign contributions, including $75,000 to Mangano and $400,000 to Gov. Cuomo, meticulously track D'Amato alliances.* * According to evidence introduced in his criminal trial, Adam Skelos had a direct line into his father's top staffer, Robert Mujica, and emailed him about setting up a meeting between AbTech and the Department of Health while the state studied a ban on fracking, Politico New York reports:

Bonomo just stepped down as the Cuomo-appointed chair of the New York Racing Association, and is singing to U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, who now leads a veritable chorus of cooperating crooners.*That firm, PRI, has greatly stepped up its lobbying game in recent years, nearly doubling the money they’ve spent lobbying Albany. They’ve even hired four big-time lobbying firms to make their case with the governor and the legislature. One of the lobbyists hired by PRI is one Brian Meara. Meara isup to his eyeballs in the federal corruption case against disgraced former Assembly speaker Sheldon Silver. Anthony Bonomo is firmly enmeshed in the state’s campaign finance firmament. P.R.I. and members of the Bonomo family have donated more than $877,000 to state-level candidates and party committees in the 2014 election cycle, placing them among the top 25 largest contributors in the entire state, according to the state Board of Elections. The largest beneficiary was Cuomo. The governor along with the state Democratic Committee received nearly $400,000 over the past four years from the Bonomo family, according to Board of Elections records. Along the way, Bharara flipped the bagman for the state’s largest political donor, a man responsible for spreading millions in campaign cash all over the state to politicians in both parties, and let it be known that he now had god-only-knows how many new wiretap targets thanks to Sheldon Silver. That sent shockwaves through Albany and has lawmakers all over town freaking right the hell out.Bharara is so far in their heads that they are too scared to even do typical end of session horse trading for fear that Bharara will nail them for it. The recent FBI raids on the homes of WNY’s premier ratfcker Steve Pigeon and his cronies may be unrelated to all of this. Or maybe they aren’t.






NYP Reported That Bonomo's PMI Staff Was Always Available to Meet Will Lobbyists But Does Not Name the Lobbyists D'Amato and Meara
Skelos’ friend feared ‘problem’ if he fired no-show Adam (NYP) Adam Skelos, 33, only landed the $78,000-a-year program director job at medical malpractice company Physicians’ Reciprocal Insurers after his dad asked Anthony Bonomo, his friend and the firm’s CEO, to hook him up. Bonomo,  resigned in June as chairman of the New York Racing Association. Skelos, 67, also “always” made his staff available to hear from the four lobbying groups PRI employed. Bonomo, 57, also advised his brother Carl, a PRI exec, to “do nothing” about writing up a six-month review for Adam. “I just felt it was best to do nothing and avoid the chance in Albany that we’d run into problems with any legislation,” he said. “I knew how important Adam was to the senator.” But a few months later, after Adam argued with Curcio and threatened, “I’ll smash your f—ing head in,” he was transferred to a $3,000-a-month consulting positionthat involved calling doctors about insurance coverage. “Did PRI sign up any doctors as a result of Adam Skelos’ work?” asked prosecutor Tatiana Martins. “No,” Bonomo answered. Earlier Thursday, jurors heard testimony from Elizabeth Garvey, a lawyer for the Senate majority leader who worked under Dean when he held the top post. Garvey said Dean’s chief of staff Robert Mujica had her arrange a 2014 meeting between state Department of Health officials and AbTech Industries, the environmental firm that paid Adam an upwards of $10,000-a-month for consulting work. 






Skelos Turns On the
Federal Witness Dorego Rat Who Was Paying Him
Nit-writ lawyer a perfect match for sleazy Skelos (NYP) This was the strategy of Adam Skelos’ lawyer on Wednesday: Proving to the jury that he is just as much of a jerk as his low-life client. After days of damning testimony by Bjornulf White, Adam’s supervisor at an environmental-technology firm called AbTech, young Skelos’ lawyer Christopher Conniff essentially tried to convince the jury that White was a rat trying to chew his way out of a mess. Conniff couldn’t refute anything White had said. He couldn’t, for instance, get White to say that Adam, son of disgraced ex-Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos, was providing anything useful to AbTech other than his family ties. (Adam was getting$10,000 a month from AbTech, a fake gig arranged by a real-estate lawyer whom Dean Skelos incessantly nagged to send some bu$ine$$ his son’s way.) White, a baby-faced lawyer who got soiled when the Skeloses came blowing through town like a dirt tornado, said he liked Adam at first, but “I became aware that he wasn’t interested in the substance of what we were doing.”

Senate GOP counsel reached out to Dept of Health official for meeting with AbTech. Health official was wary...* Dean Skelos’s Defense Minimizes Talks With Son’s Employer NYT) A defense lawyer in the corruption trial of Senator Dean G. Skelos and his son, Adam Skelos, suggested that interactions between the senator and his son’s supervisor were innocuous.* Defense lawyers for former state Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos are arguing his interactions with his son’s boss, a senior executive at AbTech, were simply the outgrowth of a “proud” son wanting to introduce his boss to his father, the Times writes: * * Prosecutors in the corruption trial of Skelos and his son, Adam, criticized the overly long list of defense witnesses and revealed it includes at least one who can’t possible testify, state Sen. Owen Johnson - because he’s dead, the Post reports: * The Dean / Adam Skelos corruption trial resumes at 10 am.Kelly Cummings, Senate PR woman, is back on the stand(NYT)* Attorneys for former Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos are minimizing his talks with AbTech, an Arizona-based company that employed his son, Adam, saying they were merely the outgrowth of a “proud” son’s wanting to introduce his boss to his father.





NY1 Wiseguy Senator D'Amato A Prosecution Witness in the Skelos and Son Trial
The ex-Senator Alfonse D’Amato is expected to be aprosecution witness in the trial of State Senator Dean Skelos: (NYT) The federal corruption trial of the former State Senate majority leader Dean G. Skelos and his son is about to feature a star turn on the witness stand from the former Senator Alfonse D’Amato. Mr. D’Amato, a Long Island Republican who heads an influential lobbying firm, has been a longtime friend and supporter of Mr. Skelos, also a Republican from Long Island, but is expected to take the stand on Friday at the trial in Federal District Court in Manhattan as a prosecution witness. He is expected testify about efforts by Mr. Skelos, 67, to get what prosecutors have called a no-show job for his 33-year-old son, Adam, at a medical malpractice insurance company in 2013, and keep him from getting fired despite problems Adam had there. The company, Physicians’ Reciprocal Insurers, was represented by Mr. D’Amato’s lobbying firm, Park Strategies. The testimony by Mr. D’Amato, who served three terms in the United States Senate, from 1981 to 1999, is expected to center on a conversation he had with Senator Skelos about the problems with his son at P.R.I. A prosecutor in the case, in her opening statement at the bribery and extortion trial, told the jury that Mr. D’Amato, who was close to Senator Skelos, drove out to the senator’s office to complain that his son was not showing up for work, calling it “a serious problem” that “had to change.” “This is a former United States senator and the elder statesman of the Republican Party making a special trip to tell Senator Skelos that Adam Skelos’ no-show job at P.R.I. didn’t look good for anyone,” said the prosecutor, Tatiana R. Martins, an assistant United States attorney. But she told the jury that Senator Skelos told him that his son needed money and needed to continue receiving a salary and health benefits from P.R.I. Mr. D’Amato, asked in a courthouse hallway on Friday morning whether he was going to testify, said, “I guess so.”


Media Misses Chances to Expose the Lobbyists Shadow Govt By Playing D'Amato As An Elder Statesman Trying to Warn the Skelos Mob About A Hit
Ex-senator AlD’Amato says he tried to warn Dean Skelos of 'contemptuous' son’strouble-making, but pol wouldn’t listen  (NYDN)  D'Amato says he tried to warn Dean Skelos that his son was causing trouble — but the powerful pol didn't want to hear it. D'Amato, a longtime GOP powerhouse, testified in Manhattan Federal Court Friday that he reached out to old friend and fellow Republican Dean Skelos in April of 2013, four months after his son Adam Skelos started "working" at a medical malpractice insurance company called PRI. D'Amato's firm did lobbying work for PRI, and he'd heard from one of his colleagues that Adam wasn't exactly a model employee. "I thought the senator should know about the problem,” D'Amato said. “I wanted him to understand what was going on so he could remedy it and speak to his son." He told Skelos "the problem could result in Adam losing his job" — but Skelos wouldn't hear it. Asked what action Skelos told D’Amato he'd take about his lazy son, D'Amato said, "He didn't." Adam's behavior eventually got even worse — former supervisor Christopher Curcio said the surly scion threatened to smash his "f-----g head in" for insisting he come to the office. Amazingly, Dean Skelos later asked D'Amato to help his son out. "I gave him some advice," * Ex-senator Al D’Amato says he tried to warn Dean Skelos of 'contemptuous' son’s trouble-making, but pol wouldn’t listen (NYDN) *Former U.S. Sen. Alfonse D’Amato tells jury about AdamSkelos’s no-show job (WSJ)

 Dean to Bonomo Stop Picking On Adam 

Melissa Mark-Viverito seeks raise for Council members (NYDN) State Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos complained to his son's boss — a major campaign contributor — that a supervisor had been "picking on" his 30-year-old son. Anthony Bonomo, 57, said he hired Adam Skelos to make his powerful papa "happy" — but quickly came to regret the decision, as the surly scion rarely came to work and caused headaches the few times he did. Bonomo said he called the senator back and told him that Curcio wasn't picking on Adam — he'd just "asked him to come to work as he should come to work." Skelos responded, "Just work it out," Bonomo said. Bonomo said he was "upset" by the response, because he felt it meant he couldn't take any action against Adam. "I didn't want to have a problem in Albany," he said. The problem came to a head months later, when Curcio said Adam threatened to smash his "f---ing head in" for insisting he come to the office. Bonomo said he felt he couldn't fire Skelos, so he came up with a way "to alleviate the problem" — make him a telemarketer who didn't work in the office. He said he ran the plan by the elder Skelos first, and he signed off on it. Bonomo said Adam wasn't a good telemarketer either — he didn't land a single client.  On cross-examination, Bonomo acknowledged that Dean Skelos had never directly threatened him with reprisal if he didn't help Adam.




Fuck Them Dad, Don't Burn Any Bridges Adam Skelos 
Adam Skelos whined to dad about losing$10,000-per-month consulting gig (NYP) State Sen. Dean Skelos had to tell his hotheaded son to cool it after the younger man got angry because his cushy, $10,000-a-month consulting gig was drying up, according to testimony Tuesday. Adam Skelos, 33, ran straight to his powerful Long Island dad for advice after losing his job at AbTech Industries — which he landed allegedly in exchange for his dad’s influence in Albany. “So don’t burn any bridges and tell them to go F themselves?” Adam asks his dad — the then-Republican Senate majority leader — in the taped, March 26 phone call. Dean, 67, eventually tells his son, “Don’t panic over this, all right?* 'IT'S TIME FOR THE GOVERNOR TO STEP UP': De Blasio pushes NYC homeless issue back onto Cuomo, who blamed mayor's lack of management and intelligence (NYDN) *Ethics reform helped get Adam Skelos laid off, calls show (NYP)

Just don’t burn any bridges . . . hopefully we can, you know, get it all going again and that’s it.”  The new recordings were played as AbTech founder and CEO Glenn Rink testified against the father and son in their ongoing corruption trial in Manhattan federal court. AbTech had agreed to increase Adam’s monthly paycheck from $4,000 to $10,000 in April 2013 after he threatened to use his father’s influence to block a $12 million contract for the environmental company — whining that project engineers were going to earn more than he was. Adam had nabbed the AbTech gig — and a separate $20,000 check for no-show work — through Charles Dorego, the general counsel for real-estate developer Glenwood Management, a major donor to Senate Republicans. Dorego, Rink recalled, pushed hard for Adam’s raise because he didn’t want to “risk Glenwood’s relationship” with Sen. Skelos. * A raise in salary for Adam Skelos, the son of former state Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos, at AbTech Industries was tied to a $12 million storm water treatment contract in Nassau County, according to testimony heard during the corruption trial of Skelos from AbTech CEO Glenn Rink, the Times reports * No testimony today at the Skelos trial. What happened Tuesday: Raise for Adam Was Tied to Contract, C.E.O. Says * Adam Skelos bragged to the head of AbTech Industries, which had secured a $12 million contract with Nassau County at his urging, that he had direct assurances from County Executive Edward Mangano that a storm water cleanup project would be funded after a series of delays threatened Skelos’ consulting job with the company, a wiretapped phone call revealed yesterday. A fight over ethics reform in the state legislature helped get Adam Skelos fired from his $10,000-a-month job with AbTech. Jurors in the Skelos trial were dismissed early yesterday after one juror complained of chest pains.* Dictator Dean Skelos trampled on the hope forfarmworkers (NYDN Ed)
More About the Skelos Trial
Looking Bad for Players Skelos and Son
"Wakes Are A Good Place to Get Business Done"
The Questionable Ways of Albany,Exposed at Sheldon Silver’s Trial (NYT) Witness after witness in Mr. Silver’s trial recounted similar so-called Albanyisms, behavior that is accepted as normal in the Capitol yet is potentially a problem. The trial, in which Mr. Silver, a Democrat who was the longtime speaker, was convicted, also revealed how the state’s decades of failure to take bold action on ethics reform enabled his deception and created a culture at the Capitol that remains largely resistant to reform. Jurors in the Silver trial, for instance, heard about a loophole in state law that allows companies like the real estate firm Glenwood Management to channel large donations to state lawmakers in smaller amounts, frequently disguising the true source from the public. One trial witness, Richard Runes, a lobbyist who oversees government relations for Glenwood Management, a significant beneficiary of state subsidies, offered insight into the so-called L.L.C. loophole, a glaring weakness in the state’s campaign finance system. The loophole has allowed corporate donors to make contributions to lawmakers far in excess of what an individual corporation would be allowed to give, because it treats limited-liability companies as people, not corporations. But Mr. Runes made sure the recipients of the money knew where it was coming from.


“What Size Orange Jumpsuit Do You Wear, Fellas?”
“I would take the checks, and I would attach my business card to the check with a paper clip, put it in a 1200 Union Turnpike envelope, and deliver it to whichever campaign committee it was going to,” Mr. Runes testified, referring to the address of Glenwood’s corporate headquarters in New Hyde Park, N.Y. For instance, evidence at Mr. Silver’s trial showed that he earned hundreds of thousands of dollars over the years in fees from a law firm, Goldberg & Iryami, that received tax business from Glenwood  and a second real estate firm, the Witkoff Group, at Mr. Silver’s urging.* Adam Skelos sayswakes are good places 'to get a lot of business done' after funeral for herocop Wenjian Liu (NYDN) Wakes are good places "to get a lot of business done," Adam Skelos told his supervisor after the funeral for hero cop Wenjian Liu. In a wiretapped phone conversation with AbTech vice-president Bjornulf White, the state senator's son can be heard claiming he spoke to Nassau Country Executive Edward Mangano at the service about speeding up the county's payment's to AbTech. "I saw Ed Mangano with my dad at this wake," Adam Skelos told White in the Jan. 2015 call. He said Mangano assured him another big buck county project "is not going to effect anything we're doing with stormwater."* With Some Trouble, Skelos And Son Try FaceTime (YNN) * In a wiretapped conversation with his AbTech supervisor that was played for the jury yesterday, Adam Skelos was caught saying that wakes are good places “to get a lot of business done” after the funeral for hero NYPD Officer Wenjian Liu. * Skelos also invoked his father – then the Senate majority leader and the most powerful Republican in the state – while warning that Nassau County would pay a political price in Albany for delaying a $12 million contract on which he consulted. *   If you think "f---ing Preet Bharara" is tappingyour phone calls, be sure to talk about it on the phone (PoliticoNY)

Adam Help Me Daddy Skelos Emails
Adam Skelos couldn’t do anything without his daddy’s help, emails show (NYP) E-mails entered into evidence in the corruption trial of former state Senate majority leader Dean Skelos and his son Adam on Monday portrayed the younger man’s position at a Long Island environmental firm as being tied to his ability to get his powerful father to advocate in Albany on behalf of the business. In November 2012, when Adam Skelos was approached by his boss at AbTech Industries about getting Hurricane Sandy relief work funneled to the environmental firm, he immediately reached out to dad Dean. Will get on this now,” Adam responded, right before forwarding the e-mail to his dad, asking, “What should I do?” Adam, 33, also turned to Dean three months earlier when former AbTech exec Bjornulf White inquired via e-mail about pending legislation that could help the firm. Adam responded: “Is this bill something I should look to try to extend the time limit with the state?” — and again, forwarded the e-mail to his dad, saying, “See below. Do you know what bill he’s talking about?” Dean replied, “Will have Robert check,” referring to his chief of staff, Robert Mujica.* Sitting in his own federal corruption trial, state Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos reamined stoic when he heard about Silver’s conviction and said that his case is where he is focusing, the Journal reports * “My case is what I’m focused on, what my attorneys are focused on,” Skelos said. “As I said in the beginning, I’m very confident I’m going to be found innocent.”* Adam Skelos said wakes good places "to get a lot ofbusiness done" after funeral for hero NYPD cop Wenjian Liu  * Adam Skelos said wakes good places "to get a lot of business done" after funeral for hero NYPD cop Wenjian Liu   * The Senate Republican Campaign Committee has $2.3 million in its hard money account,according to a disclosure report appearing on the state Board of Elections’ website. * Skelos made shady phone call from slain cop’s funeral 

Skelos Trial Friday Update
Dean and Adam Skelos are nothing but panhandlers(NYP)Real-estate exec: Skelos badgered me to give his son a job (NYP) State Sen. Dean Skelos wasted no time “badgering” New York’s largest political donor about getting his son a job, whining that his adult kid was “struggling and needed help” within weeks of becoming one of the three most powerful men in state government, jurors heard Thursday. A month after Republicans regained control of the Senate in 2012, Skelos approached Leonard Litwin, owner of real-estate firm Glenwood Management, about securing a job for son Adam, Charles Dorego, the company’s senior vice president, testified in the Manhattan federal corruption trial of the Skeloses. The newly elected Senate majority leader asked Litwin “if there was anything we could do to help [Adam], it’d be greatly appreciated,” Dorego testified. Dean Skelos, 67, and his son both face bribery and corruption counts that charge the Long Island Republican wielded his political clout and promised favors to two companies if they gave his son cash and no-show work. Dorego was dispatched along with Glenwood lobbyist Richard Runes to meet with Adam Skelos, 33, in February 2011, but more red flags went up.  I was instructed by Mr. Litwin to take the meeting, listen to what he had to say and make no commitments,” Dorego testified. “We both, Richard and I, were uncomfortable trying to reconcile in our minds the relationship of the senator with us and, at the same time, giving Adam business.”  But Dean began pulling double duty, using his meetings with Dorego and other real-estate execs to discuss pending legislation and then ask about jobs for Adam at the end. “I just assumed when someone makes repeated requests and there’s no response, there’s a possibility they could get angry,” Dorego said. “I felt like we were being a bit badgered.” Fearing repercussions from Skelos in his capacity as Senate majority leader, Dorego employed Adam through Glenwood-affiliated environmental company AbTech Industries.  AbTech President Steven Swarzman, Dorego’s close pal, gave it his approval, and two months later, Dorego sold Adam’s political connections to AbTech CEO Glenn Rink in an e-mail. Prosecutors allege that Litwin eventually arranged for Adam to get paid $20,000 for consulting work he never did.* Skelos’s Efforts to Get a Job for His Son Are Recounted (NYT) Senator Dean G. Skelos and his son, Adam B. Skelos, are accused of using the lawmaker’s power and influence to obtain more than $300,000 in payments.* Former Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos wasted no time “badgering” New York’s largest political donor, Leonard Litwin, owner of real-estate firm Glenwood Management, about getting his son, Adam, a job, saying his adult offspring was “struggling and needed help” within weeks of becoming one of the three most powerful men in state government, Glenwood Vice President Charles Dorego testified.* Jurors in Skelos Trial Get Window Into Relationship Between Lobbyists, Albany Politicians (NY1)



Will Skelos Trial Tapes About Klein Effect the Senate Leadership
After state Sen. Dean Skelos was recorded talking bluntly about his alliance with the state Senate Independent Democratic Conference Leader Jeffrey Klein, the group could rejoin the Democratic conference, theTimes Union reports: 
More About the Skelos Trial



In her opening statements at the corruption trial of Sen. Dean Skelos and his son, Adam, prosecutor Tatiana Martins said Skelos started trying to cash in on his role as Senate majority leader even before he officially had the job – and continued brazenly “strong-arming” companies to make payments to his family after he formally got the gig.* Ex-boss: Skelos' son had a "sense of entitlement,arrogance" (Newsday)  
Adam Skelos to his boss: "Guys like you couldn't shine my shoes...If you talk to me like that again, I'll smash your [expletive] head in." * At the corruption trial of Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos, an ex-supervisor of the senator’s son, Adam, testified that he had been threatened by the younger Skelos after questioning his work attendance.* At the corruption trial of Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos, an ex-supervisor of the senator’s son, Adam, testified that he had been threatened by the younger Skelos after questioning his work attendance.* Dean Skelos’ son Adam hardly showed up for job dad helped him get, threatened boss: supervisor (NYDN) "Talk to me like that again and I'm going to smash you're f---ing head in," Adam Skelos's supervisor, Christopher Curcio,quoted the state Senate Majority Leader's son as telling himwhen he demanded he occasionally show up at work. *Skelos’ son calls Cuomo a ‘p—y’ in wiretapped phone call (NYP) *   Tapes Played at Skelos Corruption Trial Portray Strategy Used Against Democrats (NYT) A series of riveting, raw wiretapped conversations were used to show what was going on behind the scenes as Dean G. Skelos voted on legislation that the government has said would benefit his son.* Jurors Hear Wiretapped Conversations Between Dean and Adam Skelos at Day 2 of Corruption Trial (NY1) * “Talk to me like that again and I’m going to smash you’re f—ing head in,” Adam Skelos’s supervisor, Christopher Curcio, quoted the state Senate Majority Leader’s son as telling him when he demanded he occasionally show up at work. * Skelos was so furious at Cuomo’s adoption of anti-fracking rules last Dec. 17 that kept Adam from cashing in that the two discussed a possible run for governor by the senator to “kick” Cuomo’s behind, according to a wiretap played at their federal corruption trial. * The conversations were played during the first full day of testimony at the Skeloses’ bribery and extortion trial in Federal District Court in Manhattan while prosecutors questioned Sen. Tony Avella, a Queens Democrat, about the procedures and legislation.* Four Senate Independent Democratic Conference members defended the group after recordings of Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos talking about the IDC’s relationship with the Republicans played at his trial,the Times Union reports: *  The IDC, (minus Sen. Tony Avella, who’s testifying), issued a statement in response to questions about a wiretapped conversation played yesterday at the federal corruption trial of former Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos and his son, Adam, saying (in part): “We cannot speculate on the motives of Sen. Skelos.”
After Gov. Cuomo decided against allowing fracking in New York State - a move that cost Adam Skelos big bucks - the son fumed, "He's such a p---y!" Dean Skelos told him he'd get even - by running against him for governor. "No more buddy buddy. He's full of s--t," the dad snapped. Adam Skelos had gotten the $78,000 a year gig in January 2013, after both he and his father told Physicians Reciprocal Insurers CEO Anthony Bonomo that he desperately needed a job - even though he already had two others.  Bonomo, a long time pal of Dean Skelos, hired his son as a full time project manager who was supposed to work 35 hours a week - but Adam Skelos had other ideas.  He told Curcio on his first day of work that he was only supposed to work two days a week - but Curcio said he didn't even show up that frequently, and when he did, he'd leave soon after. The work log Curcio kept on Skelos showed that on Jan. 8 - one week after starting - he came into work at 1 pm, "went to lunch, never came back." Other dates were  
Curcio said he complained to HR and PRI exec Carl Bonomo, and Bonomo told him, "He'd handle it." But nothing changed, and Skelos kept barely appearing in the office, despite Curcio's instructions. Carl Bonomo later told him him to take it easy on Skelos because he "had a sick kid," and Curcio said he backed off for awhile. In opening arguments, Martins noted that PRI was dependent on Albany to stay profitable, and that Dean Skelos had letcompany brass know they shouldn't fire his son. After the Bonomos told him about his son threatening his supervisor, Skelos replied that Curcio shouldn't "harass" his son. Dean Skelos is charged with abusing his power by forcing three companies that were reliant on Albany to give money to his son. One of those companies was AbTech, which stood to make a fortune on its water-cleaning tech if fracking got the green light in Albany. The wiretapped call played in court after Cuomo's decision to ban fracking made clear Adam was devastated. "Aaaaargh! This day sucks!" he griped to his dad. In another December, 2014 conversation, Adam Skelos was heard acting as a consigliere to his father - and chiding him for making a deal with a Democratic state Senator, Jeffrey Klein, because he should be looking to "destroy" his enemies.  "Did you ever read that book I got you, 'The Art of War'?" Adam Skelos asked.* Skelos threatened to challenge Cuomo over fracking (PoliticoNY) One of the companies, AbTech industries, an Arizona-based firm that deals in environmental technology, retained Adam Skelos as a government relations specialist. In return for his business connections, Adam Skelos was paid $10,000 a month for his services.  AbTech industries, which won a storm water treatment contract in Nassau County, where the defendants live, makes sponge filters that remove pollutants from water.* Recordings played at the trial of former state Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos laid bare his apparent animus toward Cuomo, the divide-and-conquer strategy used against Democrats and his relationship with his son, The New York Times reports: * Skelos’ son calls Cuomo a ‘p—y’ in wiretapped phone call (NYP)


Second Trial Of Albany Three Men In A Room Starts: Skelos and Son
At Trial, Prosecutors to Detail Dean Skelos’s Favors for His Son (NYT)  The corruption trial for the state senator and his son, Adam Skelos, begins Monday; both face multiple federal charges, including bribery and extortion. * Inside the Trial of Dean Skelos *  Q. and A.: The Trial of Dean and Adam Skelos *The trial of former Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos and his son, Adam, in Federal District Court in Manhattan on an eight-count indictment that includes bribery and extortion charges is scheduled to begin today – just as the unrelated corruption case against Sheldon Silver, the former speaker of the State Assembly, enters its third week.* Testimony in the upcoming federal corruption trial against state Sen. Dean Skelos is expected to show the crimes the former majority leader is accused of are intertwined with his relationship to his son, The WallStreet Journal reports:  * Ex-New York Senate leader, son face corruption trial * Jury Selection Begins Today in #DeanSkelos Corruption Trial: (NY1)
throughout this trial. But they sat in glum silence as the government made the Sheldonburg blow up in flames
Tuesday Update Adam Skelos Plea Deal Fails: A prosecutor indicated that either former state Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos or his son, Adam, sought to discuss a plea deal to resolve part or all of an eight-count indictment that includes bribery and extortion charges, The New York Times reports: *  Plea Discussions Sought in Skelos Trial, Prosecutor Says (NYT) It was not disclosed which defendant, either State Senator Dean G. Skelos or his son, Adam, requested to discuss a deal to resolve part or all of an indictment including bribery and extortion charges.* Dean Skelos corruption trial to begin as plea talks fail (NYDN)* After more than six hours of deliberations, jury selection is not complete in the corruption trial of former Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos and his son, Adam. * A prosecutor at the Skelos trial told the judge that one of the defendants had sought to discuss a possible plea deal in the federal bribery and extortion case. “There was a request to initiate some discussions by one of the defendants,” he said. “There was a response by the government, and there’s been nothing further.”* Adam Skelos Had Sought Plea Deal(YNN) * An attorney for New York state Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos’s son, Adam, said he reached out to federal prosecutors regarding a possible resolution to the corruption charges against his client, but said the dicussion “stopped before it started,” The Wall Street Journal reports:  * A federal prosecutor said Skelos "abused his power" to "line the pockets" of his grown son Adam as opening statements began in the closely watched federal court in Manhattan corruption trial, which is expected to last 3 to 5 weeks, Newsday reports * A federal prosecutor said former Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos “abused his power” to “line the pockets” of his grown son Adam as opening statements began today in the closely watched corruption trial in federal court in Manhattan.*  Skelos extorted businesses to enrich his son: prosecutor (NYP)“This is a case of an age-old tale of abuse by a powerful politician to satisfy personal greed,” Assistant US Attorney Tatiana Martins said during her opening statement in the Skelos’ federal corruption trial. “He was the most powerful person in the senate, but Senator Skelos abused his power … to pay his son, this man, Adam Skelos, payments that totaled over $300,000 in the last three years alone,” she said, pointing at Adam as she spoke. “Senator Skelos pressured and Adam Skelos got paid. What the defendants did to line the pockets of the Skelos family wasn’t just wrong. It was corrupt and criminal,” she said in Manhattan federal court as her boss, US Attorney Preet Bharara looked on. The feds charged Dean Skelos, 67, with leaning on three companies — Glenwood Management, PRI and AbTech — to line his 33-year-old son’s pockets. The feds charged Dean Skelos, 67, with leaning on three companies — Glenwood Management, PRI and AbTech — to line his 33-year-old son’s pockets. In exchange, Skelos would do political favors for the companies that would bolster their bottom line. But Martins said Skelos likely would have treated the companies the same even if they didn’t pay up. “From a corrupt politician’s point of view, there’s no better scenario than getting bribes for something you would’ve done anyways,” she said. Sen. Skelos also caught on wiretap saying “I’m going to be the majority leader. I’m going to control everything … what legislation goes to the floor, goes to the committee, the budget — everything,” the feds said. The senator helped one company score a $12 million government contract and voted on legislation that benefited another, prosecutors charged.

Skelos Trial: A Family Of Dumb Crooks Who Can't Pay to Play Straight 
INSIDE the Shadow Govt: How Lobbyists and Campaign Contributors Run New York
Skelos’ son used $12M city contract to score payout: testimony (NYP) A “furious” Adam Skelos, 33, called up Charles Dorego — who arranged the cushy paychecks — after finding out in April 2013 that engineers on the Nassau County project were “going to make more money than he was,” Dorego testified. Dorego had a phone call with Adam in which he said the senator’s son told him that “they were furious and they were going to stop whatever they were doing” in terms of obtaining funding for the project.  Dorego feared “severe legislative consequences” — including cutting off government funding for the multimillion-dollar project — by Dean if he didn’t get Adam more money.  “This is a threat to do or not do legislation for money,” Dorego testified. “The Skeloses were furious, and I felt that pressure.” “Adam sort of needs a living now — something to tide him over before it comes to fruition, possibly title work,” Dean told him, referring to a potential employment contract with AbTech. Glenwood boss Leonard Litwin then told Dorego, “Give him something, but don’t give him Glenwood work,” according to testimony.  Dorego secured a $20,000 payment to Adam through an AbTech offshoot company and eventually got him the $4,000-a-month no-show “consulting” gig there, prosecutors allege. Adam grew so cocky about his political pull that he asked him how to oust AbTech owner Glenn Rink “so he could gain control of the entire company,” Dorego testified. Meanwhile, Adam’s income ranged from $145,513 in 2010 to $441,099 in 2013, after he took in $68,000 from AbTech and the $20,000 bonus on top of other income.  That year, Adam and his wife, Ann-Marie, also bought a $675,000 home in Rockville Centre on Long Island. * Among the evidence against former Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos, the wiretapped conversation about Skelos’ alliance with the Independent Democratic Conference stands out for its rawness, The Buffalo News’ Tom Precious writes:


Glenwood's Dorego Testified He Was Scared of Skelos and Son, The Man Who $$$ Were Needed to Keep the Senate GOP  - Another Fairy Tail on the Stand
Trial reveals how Dean Skelos became the Mad Dog of Albany (NYP) The avuncular gray-haired gent wearing a “Who, me?” expression all week is just a front. The jury learned this week that Dean Skelos is the Mad Dog of Albany — and Adam Skelos is his pugnacious pup. Behind the scenes, Skelos (in stark contrast to the stealthy, habitually silent, cat-like Sheldon Silver, whose trial is winding up across the street) is a Rottweiler who was so prone to barking at even his close political allies and donors that they feared getting bitten if they crossed him, according to this week’s testimony. In three days on the stand, Charlie Dorego, general counsel for the Glenwood real-estate firm that through its luxury-rental buildings threw hunks of raw steak in the form of campaign contributions to Sen. Skelos, said Dean kept asking that some tasty treats be thrown to his equally rabid son, Adam, the guy who said, “I’ll smash your f- -kin’ head in,” to a boss who politely asked him to show up at a $1,500-a-week job. Dorego testified that he felt “badgered by this point,” but neither Skelos relented. “I’d seen anger. I’d heard threats made at other people,” Dorego said. For instance, of Stephen Ross, the billionaire real-estate honcho and owner of the Miami Dolphins, and his fellow Related Cos. exec Bruce Beal, the senior Skelos said, “If they didn’t pony up, he was gonna F ’em,” Dorego recalled, referring to campaign contributions. “He was angry at them.” Skelos also said that “he was gonna get [Real Estate Board of New York exec] Jim Whelan. He was gonna F Jim Whelan.” *  Dean Skelos, sonAdam was rich during 'financial troubles': records (NYDN) In 2010 — the first year state Sen. Dean Skelos asked real estate giant Glenwood Management to give his son financial help — Adam Skelos made $145,513, an FBI banking specialist testified Friday. The following year, he made $271,063, and in 2012, he made a sizable $363,223, FBI Special Agent Mary Jo Corkery testified. In 2013 — the year the money started flowing in from his and his dad's alleged schemes — he made $441,099. In 2014, he made "only" $266,084 — and $143,000 of that came from two companies his father allegedly pushed to hire him. Despite the big bucks, evidence introduced into the father and son's corruption and extortion trial Friday showed that Adam Skelos was having problems getting his loan approved to buy a $675,000 house with a pool in January of 2013. His loan application said he had $125,000 in assets — including a $50,000 gift from his parents — and he was rejected because of "insufficient stability of income," a loan officer testified in the corruption trial in Manhattan Federal Court Friday. He was able to secure the loan four months later, after he'd sold their co-op apartment for $200,000, gotten a $100,000 commission from his actual work, and a $20,000 payout for doing nothing. The person who arranged the $20,000 payment, Glenwood Management exec Charles Dorego, said he did so after numerous requests from Dean Skelos that the company help his son out financially.

 Skelos and Son Trash Talk Cuomo's Gal Pal and Want to Keep It Out of Jail
Skelos begs to keepCuomo ‘trash talk’ out of trial (NYP) Former state Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos and his son, Adam, fear that jurors will smell the “stink” of corruption if federal prosecutors get to play a secretly recorded conversation of their trash talk about Gov. Cuomo’s loved ones. Defense lawyer Christopher Coniff argued on Monday that the feds were relying on “prejudicial innuendo that creates a taint or smear” to convict the father and son on influence-peddling charges. “The introduction of all these little pieces is going to create a stink,” he said.* Jury to hear wiretapped conversation of Dean Skelos talking with son about using Cuomo’s girlfriend as pawn in budget battle (NYDN) *   Skelos Case Hearing Offers Hint of Possible Defense Strategy (NYT) During arguments, a lawyer for State Senator Dean G. Skelos said that witnesses would testify about “certain aspects” of his son Adam Skelos’s life. * * The judge overseeing the corruption trial of former Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos and his son Adam indicated she will allow certain wiretapped conversations - which are under seal - to be presented at trial, theTimes reports: * The judge overseeing the corruption case of former Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos and his son, Adam, in Federal District Court in Manhattan indicated during a pretrial hearing that she was inclined to allow prosecutors to present certain wiretapped conversations at trial. Long Island Corruption Investigation Update Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano’s heavily redacted public calendar shows no local appearances on dates that travel records obtained by Newsday indicate he was scheduled to take vacations arranged and paid for by indicted restaurateur Harendra Singh.Saturday Skelos Expresses Confidence That He Will Be Acquitted Ahead of Corruption Trial (NY1) Sunday Corruption Trial Begins For Ex-Senate Leader DeanSkelos, Son 


Opening Soon: Skelos and Son No-Show Jobs, Inc
Dean Skelos, son, made thousands for ‘no-show jobs’: feds (NYP) Disgraced former state Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos used his political muscle to score “his own no-show job” and rake in nearly $200,000 per year, before pulling a similar move on his son’s behalf and getting arrested for it, prosecutors said in new court papers. Skelos got the job at the Ruskin Moscou Faltischek law firm starting in 1994 — and according to the new filing, he was paid a bundle to do nothing. “[The firm] pays the senator approximately $170,000 per year but . . . there is no indication the senator performs any legal services,” new court papers state. Skelos, 67, and his son Adam, 32, go to trial beginning Nov. 16 on charges that Dean peddled his influence in ­exchange for cash and no-show * Disgraced former state Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos used his political muscle to score “his own no-show job” and rake in nearly $200,000 per year, before pulling a similar move on his son’s behalf and getting arrested for it, prosecutors said in new court papers. More here. In 2013, as Skelos was pushing Cuomo to authorize natural gas fracking, the senator’s son, Adam, was angling to get payments from a wastewater treatment company seeking a piece of the hydrofracking windfall, the documents claim. * New court filings suggest former state Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos used his influence to score “his own no-show job” and rake in nearly $200,000 per year at the Ruskin Moscou Faltischek law firm starting in 1994, the Post writes *  In 2013, as then-Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos was pushing Cuomo to authorize natural gas fracking, Skelos' son was angling to get payments from a wastewater treatment company seeking a piece of the fracking windfall, Newsday reports: * The federal judge in the upcoming corruption trial of state Sen. Dean Skelos and his son, Adam, said she expects to admit evidence that the two strategized about using questions about the finances of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s girlfriend to weaken him in budget talks, Newsday reports:  * Federal prosecutors say there was no such thing as a “wall” between former Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos and clients at Ruskin, Moscou Faltischek, the Long Island law firm that employed him, despite claims to the contrary. * The federal judge in the upcoming corruption trial of Skelos and his son, Adam, said she expects to admit evidence that the two strategized about using questions about the finances of Cuomo’s girlfriend to weaken him in budget talks.
How Real Estate $$$ Corruption Government and Politics Silver Skelos Indictment





No Jail Time for Skelos's Number 2 Libous 

No Jail Time For Libous (YNN) * Former state Sen. Thomas Libous was sentenced to two years of probation, six months of home confinement and a $50,000 fine for lying to federal agents during a corruption investigation, avoiding jail time due to his terminal prostate cancer, theTimes reports: * No Jail Time for Former Senator Thomas Libous (NY1) *  Thomas Libous, a former deputy majority leader of the state Senate who is dying of cancer, was sentenced to six months of home confinement and two years of probation for lying to federal agents who were investigating whether he used his political influence to get his son a job. Libous said he plans to appeal. *No Jail Time For Libous (YNN) * Former state Sen. Thomas Libous was sentenced to two years of probation, six months of home confinement and a $50,000 fine for lying to federal agents during a corruption investigation, avoiding jail time due to his terminal prostate cancer, theTimes reports: 
Albany and City Hall Corruption
More About Libous Trial




The Best is Yet to Come



The Silver Investigation Led to the Skelos Investigation the Corruption Connection Real Estate Glenwood's $$$ 
Sheldon Silver probe led to ‘incriminating’ evidence against Skelos (NYP) Federal proecutors​ ​​reaped a​ ​​windfall ​when they subpoenaed a real-estate development firm last year​ ​as part of their investigation into then-Assembly ​S​peaker Sheldon Silver​ ​and it turned up incriminating material about former state Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos,​ ​new court papers state. The prosecutors sent a grand jury subpoena to Glenwood Management in May 2014 as part of their probe into outside income earned by Silver, according to the Manhattan federal court papers. “As part of the document requests, the Silver [Glenwood] subpoena asked for all documents concerning political contributions to state officials or parties​​, and concerning the New York State Legislature,” state the newly un-redacted court papers, which don’t mention Glenwood by name.  “In addition to the materials about Dean Skelos produced by Developer-1, starting in or about May 2014, the Government began issuing grand jury subpoenas related to Dean Skelos.”* In a filing unsealed yesterday federal prosecutors revealed that they subpoenaed all eight Long Island Republican Senate colleagues of Sen. Dean Skelos in the course of building their corruption case against the former majority leader.* Federal prosecutors​ ​​reaped a​ ​​windfall ​when they subpoenaed a real-estate development firm, Glenwood Management, last year​ ​as part of their investigation into then-Assembly ​S​peaker Sheldon Silver​ ​and it turned up incriminating material about Skelos,​ ​new court papers state.  *Who's who of Albanypolitics potential witnesses in Sheldon Silver's trial @Newsday 

 The Media Only Reports the Action of the Prosecutors Leaves Out the Governor and Other Lawmakers That On the Tit of Litwin and Other Real Estate Developers
 The papers don’t make clear what the materials are. The prosecutors had begun probing Skelos in April 2014 but their investigation had focused on his work for a Long Island law firm until his name popped up in the subpoenaed material from Glenwood, the papers say. Within a few months, Manhattan US Attorney Preet Bharara’s investigators broadened the probe to include Skelos’ son Adam, who was indicted alongside his dad in May.  Some of the charges Skelos and his son face stem from their relationship with Glenwood, including the company arranging for Adam Skelos to get a $20,000 check from a title insurance company for work he never did, prosecutors have said. The new information in the court papers also reveals details about the investigations into Skelos and his son, including that investigators sent subpoenas to all New York state senators representing Long Island in April. The trial of Dean and Adam Skelos is set to begin Nov. 16. * Cuomo said there’s no federal investigation “that I know of” into any nano facilities in the Syracuse area. 

 Prosecutors discover Dean Skelos link during Sheldon Silver investigation (NYDN) New filings from the feds show that in May 2014 prosecutors for Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara subpoenaed records of political donations by the politically connected developer Leonard Litwin. The subpoena was part of an investigation into Silver’s outside income, but prosecutors also searched for Skelos’ name, documents show. They discovered Skelos and his son had a connection to the real estate powerhouse as well, papers say. Skelos is charged with using his former position as majority leader to arrange cushy no-show jobs for his son. * Cuomo stonewalling goes from bad to worse (Investigative Post) * It’s been two months since the executive director of the Joint Commission on Public Ethics, Letizia Tagliafierro, resigned from the position to take a job at the Department of Taxation and Finance. Yet there’s little public indication so far that the panel is casting a wide net in the search for her successor, as leadership of the ethics and lobbying watchdog panel has promised.

 Flashback Cuomo pressured to return $1M in Glenwood donations (Real Deal) * Andrew Cuomo raised$5.2M in campaign donations in six months (NYDN) * REBNY members gave a tenth of all N.Y. campaign money ... (PoliticoNY) *  Real estate mogul Leonard Litwin’s money filled campaigncoffers of AG Schneiderman and Controller DiNapoli (NYDN) * Real estate big blankets state Senate races with contributions (NY World) * Ratner (and wife) support Working Families Party, Cuomo, Schneiderman; even a contribution to Citizens Union (AYR) * Four LLCs tied to Leonard Litwin donated $162,000 to thePAC, according to Capital. Donald Zucker, who sits on REBNY’s executive committee and board of governors, was linked to 18 of the LLCs, which donated a combined $160,500 To the Jobs for New York PAC

Litwin's Glenwood Pushing Gentrification 421-a Was Not Only the Biggest Contributor to State Pols But City Pols As Well
 Glenwood Management famously utilized multipleLLCs to donate $3.6 million to various New York candidates in 2014, including $1 million to Gov.Andrew Cuomo’s campaign. * 1. NYS SENATE REPUBLICAN CAMPAIGN COMMITTEE $1,131,000  2. ANDREW CUOMO 2014, INC. $1,089,200  3. NEIGHBORHOOD PRESERVATION PAF $768,550  4. JOBS FOR NEW YORK, INC. $587,600  5. NYS SENATE REPUBLICAN CAMPAIGN COMMITTEE - HOUSEKEEPING $550,000


Silver and Skelos' Arrests Have Not Changed the Corruption Culture of Albany . . .  Bharara Still Has Work to Do

Meet self-described family man and “institution guy” John Flanagan, the new Senate majority leader, as seen through the eyes of Tom Precious.

More About Skelos's Corruption
How Real Estate $$$ Corruption Government and Politics Silver Skelos Indictment
From Skelos to Flanagan, GOP and IDC Coalition
Albany Budget, Ethics, Pay Raise, Three Men in the Room
Albany and City Hall Corruption


NYT Tale of Two Corruptions: Christie vs NY Real Estate Barons  
NYT Says the Speyer's shows minor player in the Skelos case, Victims in a Cameo Role
Big Names in New York Real Estate Figure Into Skelos and Silver Cases (NYT)  The corruption accusations against the two state legislators provide a glimpse into the seamier side of politics, power and real estate. Real estate executives have long said that they contribute heavily to state and city legislators’ election campaigns in the hopes of gaining access to those who make policy in a state where tenants hold considerable voting power. * But the criminal cases describe behavior that goes beyond mere campaign donations and lobbying and involve some of the biggest names in real estate, beginning with Glenwood, whose founder is a revered figure in the business. Rob Speyer, chairman of the Real Estate Board and co-chief executive ofTishman Speyer, which controls Rockefeller Center and the Chrysler Building, has a Cameo Role in the complaint against the Skeloses. And Steven C. Witkoff, a developer who recently bought the Park Lane Hotel on Central Park South, has a role in the indictment of Mr. Silver, a Manhattan Democrat, according to a person with knowledge of the case.
No charges have been brought against the developers; in fact, their roles in the cases are as the Victims of the alleged extortion. But Michael McKee, treasurer of the Tenant Political Action Committee, who has tangled unsuccessfully with the real estate industry in Albany and at City Hall over rent regulations, took a darker view. “I’m not sure I would call them victims,” Mr. McKee said of the real estate industry. “It seems to me they were beneficiaries. The real estate lobby has a lot of power in Albany in both houses and on both sides of the aisle. Their power comes from their money.”  Is Glenwood A Victim Also? Glenwood is well known in state politics, given that the company has made more than $12 million in political contributions since 2005, according to an analysis by Common Cause New York, which included donations from related companies and individuals.* Mr. Speyer shows up as a minor player in the Skelos case. According to prosecutors, Adam Skelos emailed a supervisor at the title company where he worked in January 2011, saying he would soon be having lunch with the president of a major commercial development company, “and he wants to start giving me his work.” The company is identified in the complaint as being the owner of the Chrysler Building, which is controlled by Tishman Speyer.


Why Real Estate Robber Barons Corrupt Pols or Help Elect Sock Puppet Pols to Do Their Dirty Business
The real estate industry has been able to win some reductions in rent regulations in the State Legislature and allow for the deregulation of apartments for well more than a decade. The industry has also been able to keep alive a tax abatement for new construction called421-a.

Real Estate is the Center of the Albany Corruption Scandal and Has Its Own Pay to Play Pimp

New York Real Estate Executive With ‘Access to Politicians’ Is at Center of Scandals (NYT) Charles C. Dorego, general counsel for Glenwood Management, figures prominently in federal criminal complaints against Sheldon Silver and Dean G. Skelos that involve payoffs, graft, fraud and solicitation of bribes. Dorego is at the the center of a corruption scandal that has toppled two of the most powerful politicians in the state: Sheldon Silver, the former Democratic speaker of the State Assembly and Dean G. Skelos, the former Republican majority leader in the State Senate. Dorego hired an army of lobbyists that eclipsed the contingents from either of real estate’s two most powerful trade groups — the Real Estate Board and the Rent Stabilization Association — ensuring he had the ear of state officials who oversee important housing rules, including a lucrative tax abatement program set to expire next month. 

Mr. Dorego, who friends say once considered leaving the law to manage a minor-league baseball team, figures prominently in the federal criminal complaints against Mr. Silver and Mr. Skelos, that involve payoffs, graft, fraud and solicitation of bribes. In exchange for a non-prosecution agreement, Mr. Dorego in April began cooperating with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and prosecutors in the office of the United States attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York. Prosecutors have declined to release a copy of the non-prosecution agreement, which could illuminate which crimes, if any, Mr. Dorego may have committed; why the government chose not to charge him; and how and what he knows about potentially illegal acts by Mr. Silver, Mr. Skelos or others. 
How Real Estate $$$ Corruption Government and Politics Silver Skelos Indictment



Memo to NYT: New Senate Website is Just Lipstick On A Corrupt Pig
Its reputation may have been battered by scandal, convictions and periodic crisis, but the state Senate has one thing going for it over Albany’s often similarly beleaguered state Assembly: a new website, The NewYork Times reports:  *  While Cuomo blasted legislative earmarks during campaigns, investigated them as attorney general and promised to 2012 to banish them, as governor he is approving “pork” spending that skews to support powerful incumbents, Politico New York reports: * The new state Senate website took two years to create and cost about $525,000. It includes new interactive features, like letting visitors monitor the progress of, and receive status updates on, bills sponsored by specific senators.

Will Real Estate Corruption Lead to Albany Developers Reforms?
The corruption crisis and political shake-up in Albany this legislative session could lead to substantive real estate reform for New York City, assuming Gov. Andrew Cuomo actively pushes for changes, New York magazine’s Chris Smith writes:   Sunday Update Andrew Cuomo feeling heat from State Senate Dems - Newsday ALBANY -- State Senate Democrats increasingly are distancing themselves from and criticizing the man who leads their party -- Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo. They went along with the governor's agenda during his first years in office, even though he presented fiscally conservative budgets. But after he made little visible effort to help them in the 2014 campaigns despite promises to do so, Senate Democrats...* New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman will unveil an ethics bill that would prevent state legislators from moonlighting, overhaul campaign finance laws and aid prosecutors taking on corruption, the Daily News reports:   * A coalition pushing for stronger tenant laws will urge Gov. Andrew Cuomo to stop accepting campaign donations from scandal-linked Glenwood Management and return $1 million in contributions, the Daily Newsreports:  * A coalition of activists pushing for stronger tenant protections will call on Cuomo today to return $1 million in donations – and refuse new ones – from Glenwood Management, an influential real estate company tied to recent Capitol corruption scandals.* The New York State AFL-CIO blasted typically pro-union New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio for his plan to extend the 421a tax abatement — without a prevailing wage mandate for construction workers.

Silver and Skelos Rip Off Millions What Good Would the AG Salary Increase Do to Stop the Culture of Corruption?
AG Eric Schneiderman will introduce a bill containing his proposals to clean up Albany’s endemic public corruption woes — including a ban on all outside income and a counterbalancing pay raise for what would become a full-time Legislature.* Schneiderman writes in the Times Union that theLegislature appears not to have ethics on its agenda, so he will introduce a bill with comprehensive changes demanded by New Yorkers: The AG debuted his End New York Corruption Now Act in a Times Union OpEd. He’ll make today’s announcement at the Tweed Courthouse in NYC – the same place Gov. Andrew Cuomo launched his 2010 run for governor, promising to clean up Albany. Schneiderman’s proposals echo a speech he gave in March, as lawmakers were finalizing a suite of reforms pushed by Cuomo in response to the arrest of Assemblyman Sheldon Silver, a Democrat who was ousted as speaker of the state’s lower chamber. * AG Schneiderman pushes sweeping ethics fix  * Schneiderman Vows ‘Reform for All New Yorkers’With Anti-Corruption Bill (NYO) * Schneiderman Unveils Ethics Package (YNN)
How Real Estate $$$ Corruption Government and Politics Silver Skelos Indictmen
Real Estate Developers, Tax Breakes and Politics, 421-a  
Litwin Gaming Government an the Election System, But to Big to Be Indicted? 


Nonprofit that helped Senate G.O.P. discloses ties to Litwin (Capital) A nonprofit group that helped State Senate Republicans cling to power in 2012 paid nearly $700,000 that year to two longtime associates of Leonard Litwin, a real estate magnate who is the state's largest campaign donor, records show. Common Sense Principles, a 501(c)(4) group that funded advertisements attacking marginal Democrats, paid $550,000 to Richard Runes for legal work and $140,000 to Frank Sanzillo, a lobbyist, for “consulting,” it stated on a 2012 I.R.S. filing. The group's advertisements never explicitly said voters should support or oppose a particular candidate, which under state law freed it from disclosing spending and fund-raising activity to the State Board of Elections. A separate disclosure indicated it spent over $1 million. *Nonprofit that helped Senate G.O.P. discloses ties to Litwin (Capital) A nonprofit group that helped State Senate Republicans cling to power in 2012 paid nearly $700,000 that year to two longtime associates of Leonard Litwin, a real estate magnate who is the state's largest campaign donor, records show. Common Sense Principles, a 501(c)(4) group that funded advertisements attacking marginal Democrats, paid $550,000 to Richard Runes for legal work and $140,000 to Frank Sanzillo, a lobbyist, for “consulting,” it stated on a 2012 I.R.S. filing. The group's advertisements never explicitly said voters should support or oppose a particular candidate, which under state law freed it from disclosing spending and fund-raising activity to the State Board of Elections. A separate disclosure indicated it spent over $1 million. Skelos, who reportedly could face indictment this week, acknowledged that federal investigators have been examining his business dealings. The New York Times reported that investigators have asked for details about Abtech, an Arizona-based company that employs the senator's son, won a $13 million contract from Nassau County. Glenwood executive vice president Charles Dorego signed public records from companies that invested in Abtech.


Real Estate Lobbyists PAC to Keep the GOP in Control of the Senate Hidden In Florida and Virginia 
Common Sense Principles disclosed some of its spending as lobbying. It listed a single donor, the Center for Common Sense L.L.C., which was traced to an accounting office in Florida. Late in 2013, Capital reported that a PAC run by New York City landlords, the Neighborhood Preservation PAF, declared a $10,000 contribution to an entity called Common Sense NY. Litwin is the vice chairman of the Rent Stabilization Association, an affiliate of the PAC. It was not possible to reach Common Sense Principles or its president, Chris LaCivita, for comment. He has never been interviewed about the group's spending. The organization is registered to a post office box in Virginia, and the number it lists on I.R.S. forms is the Warrenton, Virginia office of the law firm of Holtzman, Vogel Josefiak. A woman who answered the phone there Friday had no information about Common Sense Principles or any guidance on how to reach LaCivita. In a preliminary report, the Moreland Commission to Investigate Public Corruption expressed frustration with its inability to determine who funneled money into Common Sense Principles' attack efforts. “Service of the Commission’s subpoenas cannot be perfected on either the Virginia-based 501(c)(4) entity or the Florida companies,” commissioners wrote in December 2013. “This daisy chain of out-of-state corporations and 'ghost companies' appears to exist for one reason: to hide the source of money used to fund negative advertising and influence our local elections.

Pots of Albany Gold Groundhog Day
Taking Shelly’s lumps (NYP Ed) Last week, the new speaker joined Gov. Cuomo to announce a new day in the Legislature — with, in the governor’s words, the toughest ethics proposal in the country. He practically goaded the state Senate to adopt the same package. Meanwhile, the governor and the two legislative chambers were still up to their old tricks. All three have opted to mark off millions of unitemized “lump sums” — open-ended slush funds, in essence. A total of $2.6 billion in proposed lump sums are on the table in state budget talks — oodles and oodles of cash for the governor and the Legislature to play with outside of public view. As is typical, the Assembly and Senate each wants more above the hundreds of millions in dark money outlined in the governor’s initial budget. Silver, keep in mind, was indicted for abuse of the lump-sum process: He funnelled $500,000 to a cancer doctor who, in turn, allegedly sent business to Weitz & Luxenberg, Silver’s main law firm. Corruption seeps in all across politics and government. But spending the taxpayers’ money in secret is at least as big an opening for trouble. It lets officials funnel cash to friends and family — or political allies — without basic accountability. That’s been the heart of multiple non-profit scandals over the years.If Albany is serious about reform, the lump-sum scam must end. Without real sunlight in the budget process — i.e. details on what spending is for — it’s just a matter of time before the next under-the-table outrage erupts.* Albanygamesmanship snags state budget in traditional blow-ups before deals are struckin final full week of talks.  (Newsday)



Shadow Government Lobbyists Meara Represented Glenwood Partner With Silver in Corruption Orgy 
(NYP) Brian Meara, 63, is the person referred to in court papers as “the Lobbyist” who revealed that Silver told him “there was nothing to worry about” regarding the speaker secretly sharing in legal fees paid by Meara’s client, billionaire developer Leonard Litwin, the sources said. * Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver's arrest aided by closefriend, Albanylobbyist(NYDN) Brian Meara has been cooperating as a 'fact witness' as part of U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara's investigation, sources told The News. The criminal complaint against Silver references an unnamed lobbyist who the sources say was Meara. According to the criminal complaint, the lobbyist represented a developer who was using a law firm that paid Silver for bringing in business. The developer, sources say, was politically connected Leonard Litwin, who Meara repped at the time. “The fact that Meara is the witness is not a good sign for Shelly,” said one Albany insider, alluding to how much Meara knows about his pal. In addition to the state court officers union and other labor groups, Meara represents a host of big-bucks industries, including casino operators, insurance companies and soft-drink makers. His clients also include the Yankees owners and the Silvercup Studios production facility in Queens.  


Indictment Hurts Pay to Play Abtech 
Albany Corruption Inquiry Hurts Arizona Company That Hired Dean Skelos’s Son (NYT) The stock of AbTech Industries has fallen more than 70 percent since reports in April that it was entangled in a scandal involving Mr. Skelos, who has resigned as leader of the New York State Senate.* AbTech says it has been assured by federal investigators that it is not a target of the investigation into federal corruption charges against Sen. Dean Skelos and his son, Adam. Still, the company’s stock has fallen more than 70 percent since news of this scandal broke, and the SEC has reportedly begun to scrutinize the company.S.E.C. EYES ABTECH— New York Times “AbTech says it has been assured by federal investigators that it is not a target of the investigation. Still, the company’s stock has fallen more than 70 percent since The New York Times first reported in April that AbTech was entangled in it. In recent weeks it has seen work suspended on a big contract, one it won in Nassau County with the help of Adam Skelos. Separately, AbTech says the Corvias Group, a developer, construction and property management firm, canceled a partnership it had with it. In addition, the Securities and Exchange Commission has begun to scrutinize AbTech, according to a person briefed on the matter but who insisted on anonymity because the investigation is continuing. The full scope of the investigation is not known, although the person said that the commission was examining the terms of the Nassau County contract, which required state legislation to be completed, and whether this information was properly disclosed to AbTech investors.”* The fallout from the federal investigation into former Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos has spread to an Arizona company that employed his son Adam Skelos, who was also charged, The New York Times reports:  The New York Times first reported in April that AbTech was entangled in it. In recent weeks it has seen work suspended on a big contract, one it won in Nassau County with the help of Adam Skelos. Separately, AbTech says the Corvias Group, a developer, construction and property management firm, canceled a partnership it had with it.


Sheldon Silver suffers blow as judge rules evidence is usable (NYP) Former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver took a beating in court Friday when a Manhattan judge ruled that piles of potentially incriminating evidence could be shown to the jury at his upcoming corruption trial. The assemblyman’s attorneys had tried to bar pieces of evidence from trial, including his allegedly incomplete financial-disclosure forms and his attempts to halt construction of a methadone clinic in an alleged quid pro quo with a real-estate developer. But federal Judge Valerie Caproni said she would allow testimony on the clinic and the disclosure forms. 
“You want the jury to think Albany is a cesspool, that everyone up there is guilty,” she told federal prosecutors during the 2 ¹/₂-hour proceeding. Prosecutors allege that in the forms, Silver left off some of the money he pocketed in a $4 million bribery and kickback scheme. “Mr. Silver, I just want you to know I can sort of hear you, so the government can probably hear you better,” Caproni warned him. Silver’s trial is slated to begin Nov. 2. * Sheldon Silver Appears in Court for Pretrial Hearing(NY1) *  Evidence involving real estate deal to be included in Silvertrial: Federal Judge (Real Deal) The evidence involving the clinic was not originally included in the indictment against Silver, but prosecutors have now received permission from Federal District Court Judge Valerie E. Caproni to include it in the trial. Prosecutors allege that Silver had an “undisclosed interest” in helping Glenwood Management and that Silver was receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars in illegal payments. They claim that those payments were disguised as referral fees from a law firm to which Silver directed some of Glenwood’s legal business, according to the Times. 

Bharara is unpacking 421a as the taxpayer-funded golden road of corruption to Albany  Behold, the ShellySilver trial


The stunning arrest capped a secret grand-jury probe that began in June 2013, court papers said, and marked the latest in a string of public-corruption cases spearheaded by crusading Manhattan US Attorney Preet Bharara.  Asked how the case stacked up against the many other public-corruption cases he’s brought, Bharara summed it up. “Any time you have an allegation — especially when it’s proven — against a public official, that is disturbing. And when you have an allegation against someone who is a public official — not just in a random file capacity, but a leader of an entire body who is known in the politics of Albany to be one of the ‘three men in a room’ — that is especially disturbing,” Bharara said.* Skelos’ attorney cited a @PolHudson post to try to discredit Preet Bharara. It didn’t work  * Bharara blasted for Libous prosecution: (LoHud)
@unitedNYblogs Preet is doing more than ThomasJefferson. He demands that people in power be honest fiduciaries or go to jail. And he warns!
@unitedNYblogs -Society had a choice: register lobbyists and have them self-report, or let them brown bag democracy into private property.



Will the Media Explain How Litwin's Gleenwood Created NY's Lobbyists Controlled Shadow Govt Which Runs NY's Govt and Campaigns 
  • Silver was accused of collecting more than $3 million in legal fees by steering asbestos-related cancer cases from a leading Manhattan oncologist to the Weitz & Luxenberg law firm. In exchange, Silver allegedly funneled two state research grants of $250,000 each to Dr. Robert Taub, along with other official favors.
  • Silver was also accused of scheming with his former Assembly counsel, Jay Arthur Goldberg, to split the fees paid to Goldberg’s tiny tax firm by two real-estate developers, including one identified by sources as Leonard Litwin, the state’s largest single political donor.
The Media Has Not Done One Story On Who Silver's Fed Rats Lobbyists Brian Meara and Gleenwood's Charles Dorego Are
  • Silver pocketed $700,000 from the scam and sold out tenants during the 2011 renewal of New York City rent regulations, the feds say.
  • The feds seized $3.8 million in allegedly corrupt payments to Silver that were stashed in eight accounts spread out among six banks.
  • Bharara said the charges against Silver demonstrated “the show-me-the-money culture of Albany has been perpetuated and promoted at the very top of the political food chain.” He also warned, “Our unfinished fight against public corruption continues. Stay tuned.”
After the Arrests of Silver and Skelos on Taking Money From Real Estate the Media Has Not Written A Word On the Shadow Govt Which Runs NY
  • Albany lawmakers were left reeling, with one top Democratic operative telling The Post: “There’s a lot of people scared s- -tless because Shelly covered up for a lot of people. Many big players in the political circles are worried the dominos are going to fall hard.”
  • Silver was charged with two counts of honest-services fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit honest-services fraud, one count of extortion under color of official right and one count of conspiracy to commit extortion under color of official right.

Media and Pols Link 421-a to Affordable Housing Not to the Destruction it Causes
Using the Big Lie to Extend 421-a
Mayor de Blasio’s Plan Aims to Spur More Affordable Housing in New York (NYT) Housing programs and tax incentives would be overhauled to promote the construction of tens of thousands of units for poor New Yorkers, who are being priced out of the booming real estate market. * A pair of left-leaning advocacy groups criticized de Blasio’s plan to reform 421-a – a controversial real estate tax break – calling on the progressive mayor to extract more concessions from the city’s powerful real estate industry.


Silver On the Tip of the Real Estate Industry While Pretending He Was Pro Tenant
Mr. Silver, who had long been viewed as sympathetic to tenants, and Mr. Skelos are both accused by prosecutors of taking actions on these issues to the benefit of their real estate benefactors. (Coincidentally, both rent regulations and the 421-a program will expire this year unless state legislators renew them.



True News Wrote This A Day Before the NYT

Will Real Estate Baron's Face Any Legal Charges for Corruption Albany?
Is Rob Speyer “Developer 2” in Skelos case? (Real Dean) Description of unnamed developer in federal case against Senate leader matches a top RE player. Tishman Speyer President Robert Speyer — the chairman of the Real Estate Board of New York, the city’s most powerful industry lobby — appears to be the unnamed “Developer 2” in the criminal complaint filed yesterday in the case against Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos.  The complaint, which was filed by U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, seems to use the high-profile Tishman Speyer executive as an example of how Skelos and his son, who were both arrested Monday, allegedly leveraged their power for personal gain. Neither “Developer 1,” which has already been publicly reported as Leonard Litwin’s Glenwood Management, nor “Developer 2” has been charged with any wrongdoing. * Skelos' Corruption Mostly About Real Estate Tax Breaks and Regulations That Fuel Corruption *Skelos' Corruption Mostly About Real Estate Tax Breaks and Regulations That Fuel Corruption

According to the complaint, Adam Skelos, 32, allegedly used his father’s powerful state position to win business for the East Coast Abstract Group, a Long Island-based title insurance agency where he serves as vice president. The 43-page complaint points to a January 2011 email between Adam Skelos and his supervisor discussing an upcoming lunch meeting he had scheduled with “the president of a major commercial real estate developer based in New York, New York” that owned the Chrysler Building complex. In 2011 Tishman Speyer, the largest family-owned firm in New York City, controlled both the land under the Chrysler Building and a 10 percent stake in the complex after the Abu Dhabi government bought a 90 percent stake in the complex in 2008 for $720 million. The lunch meeting, page nine of the complaint says, was on Dean Skelos’ calendar as well and was scheduled to take place at Developer 2’s office on February 10. The younger Skelos emailed his supervisor to say the developer “wants to start giving me his work,” according to the complaint. A month later, the managing director from Developer 2’s firm wrote to Adam Skelos asking him to generate a title report for a $250 million mortgage on the Chrysler Building complex. The federal prosecutor’s office cited the back-and-forth as one of several examples of how the younger Skelos allegedly sought to monetize his father’s position. In addition to acting as president and co-CEO of his family firm — a position he shares with his father Jerry — Speyer is also chairman of REBNY. REBNY did not immediately to a request for comment. * It emerged that the Tishman Speyer development firm is the company identified as “Developer-2” in the criminal complaint against the Skeloses. The company said it is cooperating with the feds. Real Estate Lobbyists  The influence traders (Real Deal) A look at some of the biggest lobbying firms representing real estate players in City Hall and Albany.
Speyer Throws de Blasio A Party
The Affordable Housing Mayor 
 Speyer and McCray to host birthday bash for de Blasio(Capital) Mayor Bill de Blasio's wife Chirlane McCray and real estate developer Rob Speyer will host a birthday party for de Blasio at Gracie Mansion on Friday, according to an invitation obtained by Capital that's been sent to real estate folks and other municipal powerbrokers. McCray chairs the Mayor's Fund to Advance New York City, a city-controlled group that raises money for mayoral initiatives (and allows people with money to gain access to the mayor). Speyer chairs the fund's advisory board. He's also the chairman of the Real Estate Board of New York, the city's main real estate lobby, and the president and co-C.E.O. of Tishman Speyer, an international real estate concern that controls, among other things, Rockefeller Center. Cuomo and Litwin  Bill Samuels, a left-leaning gadfly who at one point served as the top fund-raiser for the Senate Democrats, said Cuomo should “lead by example” in returning his share of the $3.6 million Glenwood Management, which played a role in both the Silver and Skelos scandals, has spread around the Capitol over the past four years. 

This is What the Speyer's Do With Their Access or Ownership With Pols Like Skelos and Silver
How Speyer Hijacked FDR's Fanny Mae Freddie Mac While Trying to Destroy Affordable Stuy Town  
Speyer Tried to Kill the Largest Affordable Housing Project in NYC. Stuy Town and Peter Cooper Village
Tishman  Speyer Lost Billions In Pension Funds in 2006 when they bought Stuy Town and Peter Cooper Village for $5.4 Billion and $1.5 billion of Fanny Mae and Freddie Mac funds. Funds which FDR created to help the poor and middle class to buy homes. The Fanny Mae and Freddie Mac funds were ripped off by the Tishman Barons were according to some were intended to push people out of their homes.  Real estate experts agree that the only way Tishman could have made money with that deal was push the middle class tenants out of Stuy Town. The Biggest, Baddest Real-Estate Loan(NY Mag) Tishman Speyer’s $3.4 billion Stuyvesant Town mistake.*  True News reported that the Stuy Town developers used their political connections to get Fanny and Freddie Mac hand over to them $1.5 billion to buy the complex at a highly inflated price so the only way Tishman Speyer and BlackRock could make money was was to push out all the low rent tenants.Fannie Mae created in 1938 as part of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Deal mission is to tear down barriers, lower costs, and increase the opportunities forhomeownership and affordable rental housing for all Americans * Tishman Lost Billions In Pension Funds in 2006 when they bought Stuy Town and Peter Cooper Village for $5.4 Billion and $1.5 billion of Fanny Mae and Freddie Mac funds. Funds which FDR created to help the poor and middle class to buy homes. The Fanny Mae and Freddie Mac funds were ripped off by the Tishman Barons were according to some were intended to push people out of their homes.  Real estate experts agree that the only way Tishman could have made money with that deal was push the middle class tenants out of Stuy Town. The Biggest, Baddest Real-Estate Loan(NY Mag) Tishman Speyer’s $3.4 billion Stuyvesant Town mistake
Wall Street HijacksFannie Mae and Freddie Mac for Stuy Town
Real Estate Developers, Tax Breakes and Politics
The Lobbyist's Shadow Government


Albany Is Really In Panic Because Silver and Skelos Could Rat and Put Many in Jail
Dean Skelos probe has Albany on edge (NYP) The federal probe of state Senate GOP Majority Leader Dean Skelos throws a potential monkey wrench into the final leg of the legislative session, when Albany grapples with numerous issues important to the city, insiders said Friday. Among the issues: renewal of rent-control laws, real-estate tax breaks, mayoral control of schools, raising the charter-school cap, education tax credits to parochial schools, and criminal-justice reforms.  “It’s unlikely that much gets done this session,” one upstate senator said. “Too much uncertainty.” When they return from a two-week holiday recess on Monday, lawmakers will be more focused on theinvestigation of Skelos and his son, Adam, than on end-of-session legislation, the senator said.*Senate Republican Majority Leader Dean Skelos, who is facing a federal investigation, said he has no plans to step down from his leadership position in the face of allegations, the Times Union writes: Friday Lawmakers: Skelos Won’t Be A Distraction(YNN)* Gov. Cuomo had a secret re-election 'pact' with Dean Skelos / Republicans via @nypost * With Dean Skelos's Son Aboard, AbTech Seemed Confident in Bid for Nassau County Contract (NYT) * Gov. Andrew Cuomo did not mention state Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos in a speech to the Association for a Better New York and afterward would not comment on a federal investigation into Skelos and his son, the Observer reports:  * Gibson: Three Men In A Room ‘No Way To Govern’ (YNN) Rep. Chris Gibson last week in a Capital Tonight interview said the ongoing federal investigation into Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos is yet another a good argument for term limits and democratizing the Legislature * New York Republican Chairman Ed Cox criticized U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara’s office for leaking the details of an investigation of the state’s highest-ranking GOP elected official, State of Politics writes:  
Litwin's Glenwood is the Epiccentre of Albany Corruption Storm 
And the NYT Writes: "Glenwood has not been accused of wrongdoing in the Silver case or in the investigation involving the Skeloses"

True News: "It is Morally Wrong for Journalists an NY's Leaders to Hide From Bharara Work"

The indictment accuses Silver of steering billionaire developer Leonard Litwin, the state’s largest political donor, to the firm, along with another unnamed developer. In exchange, Silver reaped referral fees. The Goldberg firm handled tax appeals for 15 buildings owned by Litwin’s organization, Glenwood Management, and its limited liability companies, prosecutors said. Court records show that in one case that landed in Shulman’s court — involving a high-rise building on York Avenue — Glenwood won a $3.4 million reduction in the building’s assessment, which is used to determine its taxes.* State Senate boss Dean Skelos eyed in corruption case (NYP) * Skelos Confirms Corruption Probe (YNN) * State Senate Republican Leader Dean Skelos said he has and will continue to cooperate with any inquiry after it was reported that federal prosecutors are probing him and his son, the Times Union reports:  * A source said prosecutors issued subpoenas to eight of nine Long Island state senators seeking documents from 2013 on, but that Skelos himself was not subpoenaed, NY1reports:  * Acting Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas said she will probe the county’s contract awarding process after reports that a federal grand jury is hearing allegations related to it and Skelos, Newsdayr eports:*   Republican state senators are saying nothing – for now – about a NYT report that federal prosecutors have Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos and his son, Adam, in their crosshairs.* The acting Nassau County district attorney said she will review county contracting procedures after reports of Skelos’ influence on a $12 million local stormwater systemscontract the Arizona-based company that employed his son, AbTech Industries. “If Skelos were to step aside, either temporarily to fight any changes or permanently if the charges turn out to be severe, the top contenders to replace him could be Syracuse’s John DeFrancisco and Suffolk County’s John Flanagan.”


#PreetBharara just compared Albany corruption to gang violence, which is not subtle
So they found a sneaky way to avoid voting no that has exactly the same result — nothing changes. Meanwhile, the governor has no qualms about taking LLC money — which accounted for fully one-quarter of the $20 million raised for his reelection campaign last year. Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie and his majority Democrats pay lip service to LLC reform, too. Yet they package it with more controversial measures — such as taxpayer financing of elections — that they know to be dead on arrival in the Senate.* Cuomo said he will use executive powers to enable a special prosecutor to pursue charges against police officers who kill civilians if lawmakers don’t approve his related plan, the Times Union reports:    The Daily News’ Bill Hammond writes that Republicans’ want to block attempts to reform the campaign finance system’s treatment of limited liability companies, but Democrats are paying “lip service” to such efforts, too: * State Senate GOP kills bill that would have prohibited state from reimbursing lawyer fees to campaign funds (NYDN) GOP Boss and Silver Agree Cox: Bharara Trying Cases In Press (YNN) New York Republican Chairman Ed Cox on Wednesday in a radio interview criticized U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara’s office for leaking the details of an investigation of the state’s highest-ranking GOP elected official. Klein Ethics Up to GOP Not Me Klein Leaves Skelos Up To The Republicans (YNN) JCOPE Corruption JCOPE Commissioner Gary Lavine denied there was a conflict of interest from his work at a prominent central New York firm, Bousquet Holstein, on its “government relations” team, the Times Union writes: 



There is No Discussion Of the Corruption Connected to the 421-a Program as the Extension of the Program is Planned in Albany
Does 421-a Destroy More Affordable Housing By Fueling Gentrification Than It Builds
Affordable Housing Has Become A Band-aid On A Cancer for Elected Officials to Protect Them From What They Are Doing to Our City With Their Tax Breaks to Developers  Corruption probes affecting rent control extensions: Cuomo (NYP) Federal corruption probes of state lawmakers are making it harder to resolve major issues before the Legislature — particularly politically explosive matters such as extension of rent control for New York City, Gov. Cuomo said Friday. “If it was a different time in Albany, frankly, and Albany was a little bit more stable situation, I would normally take these negotiations to Albany and try to work it out among the parties,” Cuomo told business leaders at an Association for a Better New York breakfast. “Albany has a lot going on right now, let’s say.” He was responding to a question asked about the fate of the 421-a tax abatement program for developers and the law covering rent stabilization. Both lapse on June 15.  Tenant advocates are demanding an end to 421-a, which they claim is a giveaway to developers even though it produces units for affordable housing.  Cuomo said even those who support the program — developers and the carpenters union — are at odds over some provisions. At minimum, Cuomo promised that he and the Legislature would simply extend the current laws for both programs with few or no changes. * From Campaign 2013The Bloomberg administration’s ambitious housing plan to create or preserve 165,000 affordable units by the end of June 2014, largely through incentives to private developers, will fall short of meeting the need for affordable housing in the city. “We hardly gained anything because we lost an equal number of units from rent regulation and Mitchell Lama,” said Mr. de Blasio. “There’s over a third of the city paying more than 50% of their income for rent.” Poor Door’ in a New York Tower Opens a Fight Over Affordable Housing(NYT) As public housing becomes a relic, American cities have grown morereliant on developers, who say they can maximize their revenues and build more affordable units, by separating them from their luxury counterparts. * Real Estate Developers, Tax Breakes and Politics * BdB undecided on extending 'affordable' housing tax break (NYP)   * Sad how many of these stories we've heard: Brooklynlandlords pushing black tenants out for whites: (NYP) * The Times Union writes that the New York City real estate market needs tax breaks as much as ice cream trucks need grants to market treats to kids, so the 421-a tax break should be viewed as an integrity test

Albany Times Union Which Has Nothing to Do With City's Poor an Middle Class Losing Their Homes to Gentrification is Opposed to 421-a 
 TU Edit Board: 421-a tax abatements have outlived theirusefulness, now just a giveaway for wealthy political donors: 





Advance Group Got Away With Dark Money to Elect the Mayor is It Doing Again With Federal Rat Dorego
NYCLASS Got Dark $$$ From de Blasio's Cousin 
In 2014 the Daily News repored that the FBI was investigating donations to NYCLASS from men closeto Mayor de Blasio that may have been used toward anti-Christine Quinncampaigners  On May 21, lawyer Jay Eisenhofer gave $50,000 to NYCLASS, the animal rights group leading the crusade to ban carriage horses. Ten days later, on May 31, NYCLASS gave an equal amount — $50,000, to the anti-Quinn group. On June 1, NYCLASS received another large donation, this time for $175,000. It came from UNITE HERE! — a labor union headed by John Wilhelm. Two days after that, on June 3, NYCLASS sent the same amount, $175,000, to the anti-Quinn campaign. The issue? Both Wilhelm and Eisenhofer have long-standing ties to Bill de Blasio, one of Quinn’s Democratic rivals in the mayoral campaign. Wilhelm is de Blasio’s cousin — and a prolific fund-raiser for him. Wilhelm raised $6,950 for de Blasio’s 2009 race for public advocate and $80,000 for de Blasio’s successful campaign for mayor.


All Signs of the Federal Investigation of NYCLASS Has Disappeared
Daily News May 4, 2014 EXCLUSIVE: FBIinvestigating donations to NYCLASS from men close to Mayor de Blasio that mayhave been used toward anti-Christine Quinn campaigners (NYDN) Two men with strong ties to Mayor de Blasio donated cash to the NYCLASS animal rights group leading the crusade to ban carriage horses. The animal rights group then donated identical amounts to anti-Christine Quinn campaigners. The transactions are now under FBI investigation.* FBI investigates whetheranimal rights group linked to Mayor Bill de Blasio's campaign EXTORTED hisopponent over carriage horse ban (Daily Mail) During mayoral campaign de Blasio's cousin John Wilhelm contributed $175,000 to the group NYCLASS, which supported the horse ban * BILL DE BLASIO'S DIRTY MAYORAL CAMPAIGN UNDER FBIINVESTIGATION If you want to follow de Blasio’s position on horse carriages, just follow the money.


Advance Bagged Dark Money From Pledge2 Funded By Federal Witness Dorego and Ex-Wife to Stop the Eastside Waste Transfer Station
Crain’s New York Business looked at how Bertha Lewis, an early de Blasio endorser, was hired to pressure the mayor on the Upper East Side waste transfer station, noting “a person with knowledge of the hiring said Ms. Lewis’ connection with him was ‘a huge part’ of the decision. It’s an example of how those in the new mayor’s orbit can benefit from proximity to him.”* De Blasio ally paid to fight him over Upper East Side trash station plan(NYDN)  Pledge 2 Protect hired the Advance Group, a Manhattan-based Democratic consulting firm that had just run a $1 million campaign to sink de Blasio rival Christine Quinn. Pledge 2 Protect also hired Ms. Lewis, who shares an office with the Advance Group and whose nonprofit is a client of it.  The Upper East Side transfer station is meant to alleviate the disproportionate burden of trash removal (which can bring rodents, garbage odors and truck pollution) in poor neighborhoods in the Bronx and Brooklyn. But the facility could also hurt Glenwood, which has luxury apartment buildings near the proposed transfer station. Dorego has long been heavily involved in the opposition.


More Garbage for the Poor From Silver and Skelos Glenwood's Dorego Bag Man . . .  Hidden Lobbying $$$
In April, court papers revealed that a cooperating witness against Skelos, who has been identified as Dorego, avoided prosecution because he was supplying information to the office of Manhattan-based U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara. Less is known about Dorego's ties to a shadowy lobbying campaign that for years has attempted to undermine efforts by New York City government to lessen the disproportionate burden faced by poor minority communities in the process of removing the metropolis' trash — a policy shift that could hurt Glenwood's business interests on Manhattan's Upper East Side.The ex-wife of Charles Dorego, the senior vice president and general counsel of Glenwood Management and a common denominator in the corruption scandals that felled two legislative leaders this year, funded a shadowy lobbying campaign that has attempted to undermine efforts by New York City to lessen the disproportionate burden faced by poor minority communities in removing the city’s trash.*   Glenwood Management executive's ex-wife was involved inhiding sources behind six-figure lobbying spending (TU) Less is known about Dorego's ties to a shadowy lobbying campaign that for years has attempted to undermine efforts by New York City government to lessen the disproportionate burden faced by poor minority communities in the process of removing the metropolis' trash — a policy shift that could hurt Glenwood's business interests on Manhattan's Upper East Side.  Now records reviewed by the Times Union reveal the identity of a key player in obscuring who was actually funding these anonymous lobbying efforts: Dorego's ex-wife, a prominent attorney named Doreen Small. Her close ties to Dorego are likely to add further grist for environmental justice groups who contend Glenwood was secretly bankrolling the efforts to kill the city waste removal initiative all along. 

Clusterfucker Dorego's Gleenwood is A Federal Witness In the Arrests of Both Skelos and Silver
The apparently legal maneuvers that have facilitated nearly $700,000 in anonymous lobbying spending could have broader implications for New York's lobbying disclosure laws. In July 2013, Small cofounded a new law firm called Marquart & Small, which was run out of a shared "work collective" office in Manhattan's Flatiron district. Despite being a start-up, just two weeks after its founding Marquart & Small made a $177,000 donation to a lobbying group called Pledge 2 Protect, a nonprofit that had been founded three months earlier to fight New York City's plan to build a marine waste transfer station on the Upper East Side that would haul away garbage by barge. Pledge 2 Protect has spent heavily on lobbyists and consultants in a thus far unsuccessful attempt to sway Mayor Bill de Blasio to cancel those plans.

In 2001, Dorego joined the leadership of Glenwood Management, the state's biggest political donor and one of the biggest players in New York City's real estate industry. He has handled many of the firm's political efforts. 
Through December 2013, Marquart & Small would end up giving a total of nearly $700,000 to Pledge 2 Protect. There is a way a new law firm like Marquart & Small could come up with that kind of cash: If it were simply acting as a "pass through" to shield the original donors to Pledge 2 Protect.  A 2011 state ethics law requires issue-oriented lobbying groups such as Pledge 2 Protect that spend more than $50,000 in a year on lobbying to disclose the source of donations over $5,000. But Pledge 2 Protect has apparently found a loophole around the requirement: Only direct donors, not intermediaries, must be disclosed under the law. As a result, only the name of Small's firm appears on Pledge 2 Protect's lobbying disclosure forms filed with state government, and not the names of the original donors that funneled money through the firm. The Upper East Side transfer station is meant to alleviate the disproportionate burden of trash removal (which can bring rodents, garbage odors and truck pollution) in poor neighborhoods in the Bronx and Brooklyn. But the facility could also hurt Glenwood, which has luxury apartment buildings near the proposed transfer station. Dorego has long been heavily involved in the opposition.
How the Advance Group Conspired to Steal the 2009 and 2013 Election
CrainsNY on the Advance Groups Double Dipping
Media Cover-Up of NYCLASS,  Other Citizens United PACs,  Mayor One NY PAC
 UFT Illegal PAC United for the Future   
 Horse-Carriage Fight Politics 
Bertha Lewis
ACORN, NY Communities for Change
How Real Estate $$$ Corruption Government and Politics Silver Skelos Indictment
A Tale of Two CFBs: Albanese vs Campaign PAC NYCLASS, UFT's United for the Future
Real Estate Developers, Tax Breakes and Politics, 421-a  
The Privatization of the Tammany Hall Machine
The Lobbyist's Shadow Government
Has 421-a Cause the Increase in Homlessness
All About the 421-A Corruption
Speaker Sheldon Silver, His Law Firm $$$


The Fights Against 421-a Will Not Be Debated in the Media
Where Are the Calls to Investigate the Corruption of Political System That the 421-a Caused?  Does It Matter How Many More Will Be Arrested?
Tenant advocates are seizing upon the recent corruption charges against Silver and Skelos and Cuomo’s close ties to the real estate industry to push for stronger rent regulations and an end to the 421-a tax break for developers, Gotham Gazette reports:  * Mayor de Blasio seeks sweeping reforms to NY rent laws tosave 1 million affordable apartments (NYDN) * REBNY has endorsed de Blasio’s plan for a so-called “mansion tax” on the sale of houses, co-ops and condominiums worth more than $1.75 million, which is part of a wider political deal that would extend tax breaks for developers and create another revenue source for city housing programs.* Tenant AdvocatesUnsatisfied with De Blasio’s 421-a Proposal (City Limits) "[T]he mayor's 421a reform proposal doesn't resolve the core problem with the current 421a program - that it gives away a lot of money to developers in exchange for very little affordability, at levels unaffordable to most New Yorkers," Moses Gates, blogging for ANHD, wrote. "Specifically, the mayor's 421a reform proposal would give developers the option of a tax break for units that primarily serve residents earning 130 percent of Area Median Income. This means under this proposal NYC would be giving tax breaks to create 'affordable housing' to households earning approximately $110,000 a year, or paying approximately $2,700 a month in rent for a 2-bedroom apartment." t Tenants & Neighbors, executive director Katie Goldstein vowed to keep pushing Albany for deeper reform than the mayor seeks. "We still view 421a as a failed and wasteful program, and elected officials have settled for modest reforms before, when they should have ended it and started over to create affordable housing for low income New Yorkers," she wrote in an email. In a reference to the indictment this week of Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos for alleged corruption that included shaping 421-a to meet the needs of a developer, Goldstein added: "The scandals we're seeing in Albany now, which are clearly linked to 421a, will continue to create controversy and will mean increased scrutiny on its renewal this June." * Liberals Question Mayor’s Plan to ReformControversial Tax Break (NYO) *   To buy Albany Glenwood has taken full advantage of a gaping campaign finance loophole.  Corporations can’t contribute more than $5,000 per year to a politician and individuals can’t give more than $150,000 to all races combined per year, but Glenwood legally showers pols with hundreds of thousands of dollars through affiliates called limited liability corporations (LLCs). Since 2005 the company has steered more than $12.8 million to Albany pols — 95% of which came via LLCs, according to a Common Cause analysis.
How Real Estate $$$ Corruption Government and PoliticsSilver Skelos Indictment






Cuomo Forgot His Meeting With Glenwood
Spokesman: Cuomo forgot 2011 meetings with Glenwood execs: (TU) Yesterday in Syracuse, Gov. Andrew Cuomo told Jimmy Vielkind of Capital New York he had “nothing to do” with Glenwood Management, the real estate firm whose money plays a supporting part in the federal corruption cases brought against former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and current Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos. “I’ve had nothing to do (with Glenwood),” Cuomo said, “except they’ve been political supporters of mine.” Indeed: Through his network of LLCs, Glenwood’s founder Leonard Litwin has been the governor’s biggest donor, as well as the most generous supporter of a host of other politicians, including Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and Comptroller Tom DiNapoli. “Have they ever talked about 421-a (tax abatements) or rent control?,” Vielkind asked, mentioning the two biggest agenda items for what remains of the legislative session. Both are up for renewal in June. “No, never,” the governor said. “They never mentioned that to you or your administration?,” Vielkind doggedly continued. “No,” the governor said.’ Cuomo spokesman Rich Azzopardi said the governor’s memory failed him. “The Governor did not remember off the top of his head three meetings from five years ago, two of which also included many other industry advocates,” Azzopardi said. “What is clear to everyone is that we emerged that year with the strongest rent regulation laws in decades, which included the creation of a tenant protection unit that has returned more than 37,000 unlawfully deregulated apartments to rent regulation.” * A Cuomo spokesman said the governor “forgot” his 2011 meetings with executives from Glenwood Management – the luxury real estate developer that has played a role in both the Skelos and Silver scandals. Cuomo this week insisted he has had “nothing to do” with Glenwood, and “never” spoke with its officials about 421-a.* Cuomo changes his tune, admits he did meet with ‘scandal’ firm(NYP) * Cuomo’s forgotten Glenwood meetings (Capital) *  Re Litwin's company: Cuomo's "claim of selectivememory...is difficult to accept." 

From Cuomo's Schedules:
April 18, 2011 2:00 PM Meeting with Charles Dorego and Richard Runes, Glenwood Management
re Rent Regulation Location: Governor’s Conference Room Staff: Larry Schwartz, Senior Advisor Jim Malatras, Deputy Secretary for Policy *** June 3, 2011  12:45 PM Meeting re Rent Regulation  Location: ESDC Conference Room, Staff: Mylan Denerstein, Counsel to the Governor, Larry Schwartz, Senior Advisor to the Governor, Jim Malatras, Deputy Secretary for Policy Management, Betsey Ball, Director of Legislative Affairs, Attendees: Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, Leonard Litwin, Glenwood Management Corp,  Charles Dorego, Glenwood Management Corp, Gary Jacob, Glenwood Management Corp, Steven Spinola, REBNY, Arnold Goldstein, RSA, Robert Mujica, Senate Staff, Jim Yates, Assembly Staff, Judy Rapfogel, Assembly Staff, Lou Ann Ciccone, Assembly Staff *** June 16, 2011  5:00 PM Meeting re Rent Regulation, Location: Governor’s Conference Room, Staff: Larry Schwartz, Senior Advisor, James Malatras, Deputy Secretary for Policy Management, Attendees:Robert Mujica, Secretary to the Senate Finance Committee, Steve Spinola, President, REBNY, Joe Strasburg,President, Rent Stabilization Association (RSA), Arnold Goldstein, Chairman of the Board, RSA,  Charles Dorego, SVP & GC, Glenwood Management Corporation (on behalf of Leonard Litwin, President of Glenwood Management and Vice Chairman of RSA, Governor and Secretary of REBNY, and Executive VP of the Associated Builders and Owners of Greater New York)

After their Leaders are Arrested the Senate Protects the LLC Loophole 
A profile incowardice (TU) Now, Senate Republicans are using some legally suspect sleight-of-hand to weasel out of one of those very rules in order to avoid taking a stand on one of the most needed ethical reforms in Albany. It’s the worst of politics: cowardice, duplicity, greed and abuse of power. At issue is the notorious LLC loophole, a flaw in the state’s election rules that allows wealthy donors to get around New York’s already-high limits on political donations. Under a 1996 opinion by the state Board of Elections, limited liability companies are treated as individuals for the purposes of campaign contributions. So if a contributor has donated the legal limit to a candidate, all he or she needs to do is create an LLC, and donate to the limit again in the LLC’s name. And she or he can keep creating LLCs in order to donate even more – three, five, 10 times the limit. Really, there is no limit.




In 2011 NYT Took A Deeper Look At Skelos's Law Firm Lobbyist's Arm  . . .  And Never Followed Up
Where is the Follow Up?
The law firm that employs Mr. Skelos, Ruskin Moscou Faltischek, has an independently run lobbying division, Empire Government Strategies, which notes on its Web site that it has “solid relationships with elected officials in every region of New York.” The chairman of the lobbying operation, Arthur J. Kremer, a former assemblyman, said he had no contact on official business with Mr. Skelos, a Nassau County Republican. Albany Money Flows to Clients of FirmsEmploying Legislators (NYT) Lobbyists Clients of Skelos' Firm 500.00, Town of North Hempstead        Cavalry Portfolio Services, LLC        $75,000.00, Canon USA, Inc.            $72,000.00, Association of Wholesale Marketers and Distributors (NYS)     $65,000.00, Jetro Cash-and-Carry      $65,000.00, Great Neck Water Pollution Control District           $60,000.00, Caithness Long Island, LLC      $27,

Where Was the DA or AG? Finance Commissioner Pay to Play With Love Shack Provided Glenwood in 2012?
Skelos, Son Charged With Fraud And Extortion (YNN)* Glenwood Management cooperating witness appears from complaint to be Charles Dorego. Glenwood referring calls to a criminal defense attorney. Dorego gave former Finance Commissioner Stock an apt inexchange for cut Glenwood's taxes   Developer won't be charged, Bharara says, bc agreed to assist in case. Commission paid to Adam S. for title insurance work, no work done.Bharara: Skelos met with developers and asked for money to go to his son. His son performed no work for $20K * Records show that one of those listed, Glenwood executive Charles Dorego, raised $167,500 for city campaigns in the 2013 election   AbTech Linked to Dorego and Litwin's GrandsonTwo men with close ties to the real estate company — Charles Dorego, a top Glenwood executive, and Steven Swarzman, a grandson of Glenwood's longtime principal, Leonard Litwin — have signed public records filed by the company that invested in AbTech's parent company, Abtech Holdings. Mr. Swarzman became friends with AbTech's founder in Arizona, and, impressed by the environmental sponge, became AbTech's East Coast distributor, according to a 2006 article in Newsday.
Michael Benjamin ‏@SquarePegDem  
Bottle whatever it is Leonard Litwin takes to be politically potent at 100. His FBI codename must be 'Viagra.'



 Skelos, on wire, explains the duties of Senate majority leader to his son: "I'm going to control everything."  Indictment claims Adam Skelos made money from campaign contributors to his dad, Sen Dean Skelos, which had biz before state * Indictment says that in March Adam Skelos said: ethics reform measure 'is kind of getting in the way.' Bharara: Skelos met with developers and asked for money to go to his son. His son performed no work for $20K Watch: Bharara: on mulitple occassions Skelso met with developer and requested commisison for his son. developer then directed money to son. The cooperating witness (a senior exec at mega-donor Glenwood Management) has a non-prosecution agreement with Preet's office. Albany shakes. Bharara:  Dean Skelos allegedly used his power & influence as Senate Maj Ldr to illegally enrich his son, Adam, and indirectly, himself * #Corruption is deep-seeded in both chambers of the legislature and both sides of the aisle. * Is Assemblywoman Cook A Rat In Hiding Against Her Fellow Lawmakers More Likely the Prosecutors Have Failed to Clean Up Her Corruption

Albany Lawmakers Silent About Their Corrupt Leaders and Fellow Members
Skelos was not concerned w/ what was good for NY but rather "what was good for his son's bank accounts," US Atty says * Preet: "Public corruption...a problem in both chambers, a problem on both sides of the aisle...we are deadly serious" in tackling problem. * Bharara: Dean Skelos told son to cancel meetings with other lawmakers, saying "We are in dangerous times." "We have a public corruption unit that we have no intention of disbanding," Preet Bharara says, presumably in sly nod to Moreland Commission Preet: "We have a public corruption unit that we have no intention of disbanding." * There are those words again by #Preet: "Stay tuned..






NYT: Albany Developer Pay to Play Opportunity to Protect Tenants 
Editorial States the Real Estate Corruption Problem, Harm Done by the State's Housing Programs and Then Offers No Real Solutions
A Moment to Fix New York’s Housing Laws (NYT Ed)  Gov. Andrew Cuomo has an opportunity to provide some relief to New Yorkers living in rent-regulated  The arrests of two of the three most powerful men in state government on corruption charges, former Speaker Sheldon Silver of the Assembly and Dean Skelos, the State Senate leader, creates an opening for the third, Gov. Andrew Cuomo, to be a hero. He can push through reforms of state laws to give the poor and those of modest means — perennial losers in a game rigged for and by real-estate developers, landlords and self-dealing politicians — a better shot at being able to afford to live in New York City. Helping this cause, too, are the cases Mr. Bharara has brought against Mr. Silver and Mr. Skelos, which have exposed how money and favors are baldly traded in New York, and also laid bare the perfectly legal, if ethically squalid and loophole-riddled, system where corporate donors funnel huge sums to favored politicians, in return for access and attention.* Top beneficiaries of Glenwood LLCs have included Gov. Cuomo ($1.2 million), two Senate Republican Committees ($1.45 million), three Democratic committees ($780,000) and Attorney General Eric Schneiderman ($215,000). A bill to close the LLC loophole passed the Assembly in the past and is expected to do so again this year, but in the state Senate it’s stuck in a committee chaired by upstate Sen. Michael Ranzenhofer (R-Batavia). Ranzenhofer has received $94,000 from Glenwood LLCs, records show. * Recent corruption scandals in Albany have been tied to the 421-a tax abatement that saves many real estate companies millions of dollars, as illustrated by looking at a few buildings in New York City, the Daily News’  * The real estate giant at the center of these scandals, Glenwood, has wielded immense clout in Albany with stealth campaign finance contributions to many outside groups in an attempt to impact elections, the Times Union’s Chris Bragg writes:  * Associated Press Covers Cuomo's Ties To The Real Estate FirmAt The Center Of The Silver And Skelos Corruption Cases



Nobody But True News is Reporting On the Effect of the Millions In Real Estate Money Pured Into NY's Politics
Most were $175 with many of the same contributors giving to more than one candidate.  The Moreland Commission is looking into the state contributions and tax reductions connections, there is no indication if the commission will look into with the city pols for their cash.  * Atlantic Yards Report: Shades of 2007? Another 421-a carve-out to ... * Activists take aim at Litwin donations in report (TU) * RE moguls gave 10 times more to Senate GOP than Dems (Real Deal) * Once again, real estate opens up its coffers for Cuomo(Real Deal) * "AssemblySpeaker Sheldon Silver has opened the door to a Legislature of kept men andconcubines." * At least 27 clients of Silver’s recently revealed second law firm received state-authorized real estate tax breaks, a Capital New York analysis has found. 

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REBNY jumps into Senate battle, Cuomo Campaign Millions From Real Estate LLCs 
JCrain’s New York reports * But the biggest donors to council races were the city’s real estate titans, who raised nearly $7 million in a bid to influence the election of City Council members. Spending for the PAC was coordinated by the industry’s lobbying arm, the Real Estate Board of New York.  But after the elections, REBNY President Steven Spinola was quick to declare victory, asserting that 18 of the 22 candidates backed by his group had won their elections. But determining just who was doling out the big bucks proved challenging, since most of the contributions to the real estate PAC, dubbed Jobs for New York, came from murky corporate entities that are otherwise ineligible to donate directly to candidates in city elections.

 NY State Senate Republicans have $2.9 million in campaignaccount(NYDN) Campaign Reform and Media Cover Up of Citizens United On Local 2013 Election  *Cuomo Has Raised Millions Through LLCs' Loophole He Pledged to Close (Propublica) The governor has called for closing a gap in the state’s campaign finance laws, but he’s taken far more through the loophole than his predecessors, much of it from real estate developers. * Andrew CuomoBenefited From Same Real Estate Figure That Shelly Silver Did obs for New York Inc., an outside spending group that poured $8 million into New York City’s 2013 elections, is now poised to help Republicans in the high-stakes battle for the state Senate, records show.
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Is the Manhattan DA Not Investigating Advance Because of A Conflict of Interests With Red Horse?
Manhattan DA Vance Consultant Red Horse Broke the Law Along With Advance Working for the UFT PACs United for the Future that did mailings for the same  Council Clients that both firms represented  

Political consultant Red Horse worked for Brooklyn DA Thompson campaign along with Berlin Rosen.  Both Red Horse and Advance Group worked for the UFT's PAC United for the Future (the UFT attempted to covering up Advance involvement by paying them through a fake company) Red Horse worked for Manhattan DA. Red Horse worked for Brooklyn BP Adams, Bronx BP Diaz and PA James. Red Horse worked for Manhattan DA Cy Vance. Red Horse worked for Pitta Bishop for Brooklyn BP Adams. Red Horse worked with George Arzt in the Queens BP campaign.



The Reporter Who Broke the Advance Groups Phony Logo Corruption Story Laid Off By CrainsNY

Crain’s New Yorklays off 40 percent of editorial staff, Including Chris Bragg. CrainsNY reporter Chris Bragg has done a great investigative job exposing how lobbyist/consultant the Advance Group was on both sides of many campaigns by using IE PACS and fake to run the UFT PAC. The Advance Group is also the lobbyist for the NYC Hotel and Motel Trades Council. 

Several payments that a UFT super PAC sent to a fictitious political consulting firm “Strategic Consultants” have the Advance Group logo on their invoices
Advance Group puts logo on phony firm's invoice( CrainsNY) Last week, The Insider broke the news that the United Federation of Teachers' super PAC had paid more than $370,000 to a fictitious political consulting firm "Strategic Consultants Inc.," which was actually the well-known Manhattan  consulting firm the Advance Group. An open records request that came back on Tuesday from the City Campaign Finance Board (and is embedded below) offers fresh and somewhat amusing evidence of the connection between the two: Many of the invoices the agency received from Strategic Consultants have the Advance Group logo on them.
Additional Charge Against Silver
Former New YorkAssembly Speaker Sheldon Silver Faces New Charges (Huff Post) U.S. prosecutors unveiled new charges against former New York State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver on Thursday, accusing him of taking official actions on behalf of an investor who provided access to a high-return, low-risk investment vehicle. A revised indictment issued by a Manhattan federal grand jury added four new counts to three earlier ones facing the Democratic politician, who was first hit with public corruption charges in January. Beyond charges of honest services mail and wire fraud and extortion, the indictment says Silver engaged in monetary transactions involving crime proceeds by investing money from the scheme in a private investment vehicle. Silver never paid fees to the investor, but took certain official actions at the investor's request, the indictment said. By January, Silver's investment in the high-rate, little-risk investment vehicle had grown to $1.4 million, the indictment said. * Feds beef up Silver indictment with new charge(NYP) The superseding indictment accuses Silver of transferring the proceeds of his criminal acts into accounts controlled by another investor, who then transferred the money into another investment controlled by the former politician. “In or about February 2013 * Prosecutors target Silver’s investments (Capital)

Silver Doubles His Money With Tin Box Money With Investor Also Did Government Favor 4
Silver transferred a check in the amount of $50,000 from the Silver Account to the Investor-1 Account, which money was then distributed to an investment vehicle on behalf of Silver,” the new count of the indictment reads. “Investor 1” is identified in the indictment as someone who has access to private high-yield investment opportunities. The indictment lists multiple instances of similar behavior.* US Attorney Preet Bharara’s office expands its indictmentagainst former Assemb speaker Sheldon Silver  (Capital)The new charge alleges that, in or around 2006, Silver began using money derived from those schemes to open an investment account with “Investor-1,” who, according to the new indictment, “had access to private, high-yield investment opportunities, to distribute his crime proceeds across numerous high-yield investment vehicles not available to the general public.” The funds came from an account that Silver used to deposit both his checks from the Assembly, as well as the outside income. The investor provided access to a “private investment vehicle that promised a high annual rate of return with little risk” for which Silver “did not pay any fee or remuneration,” according to the indictment, which also claims Silver “took certain official actions as requested by Investor-1.” By January 2015, the indictment claims that Silver moved approximately $642,000 from his account into the investment fund, and that his account matured to a value of more than $1.4 million. * Sheldon Silver Faces New Charge in Corruption Case (NYT) Sheldon Silver, the former Assembly speaker, is accused of abusing his office in order to obtain nearly $4 million in illicit payments through two law firms.* Federal prosecutors filed a new charge against former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, alleging he did official favors for an investor in exchange for access to investment opportunities, The Wall StreetJournal reports:  * Sheldon Silver hit with new charges over investments tied to alleged kickback schemes (NYT)




de Blasio Developer Contributor Blocks the Brooklyn Bridge View 
 De Blasio has not responded to complaints that a high-rise built by a developer who is one of his campaign contributors is illegally blocking iconic views of the Brooklyn Bridge

Activists protest de Blasio pal’s view-blocking high-rise (NYP) Mayor de Blasio has been MIA amid complaints that a high-rise built by a developer who is one of his campaign contributors is illegally blocking iconic views of the Brooklyn Bridge, say local residents. Advocates in Brooklyn Heights say that the luxury 10-story hotel and condo being built by Toll Brothers on parkland just south of the bridge has overshot its 100-foot height limit by 35 feet. That difference blocks age-old views of the landmark bridge from portions of the historic promenade, the residents complain. Last year, Toll Brothers donated $25,000 to the mayor’s nonprofit, the Campaign for One New York — which isn’t governed by campaign-finance donation limits. “It really calls into questions whether public officials are able to act on behalf of the public when so much of their political future rests on these private firms,” said Cristina Page, 44, a member of the advocacy group Save The View Now. Park reps say mechanical equipment had to be put on the roof after Superstorm Sandy, but it’s still within contractual height limits. De Blasio said he didn’t know enough about the controversy to comment.


de Blasio Slush Fund Run By Berlin Rosen Got $25,000 From Toll Brothers Who Over Built In Brooklyn Bridge Park  
When Asked About the Over Building By the Toll Brothers de Blasio Said:  De Blasio said he didn’t know enough about the controversy to comment
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has been soliciting contributions to his non-profit Campaign for One New York for advertising campaigns that will support his top policy goals Mayor de Blasio Is Quietly Soliciting Donations for Future Policy Battles (NYT)  Mr. de Blasio and his fund-raising team have quietly solicited large contributions in recent weeks from donors in the mayor’s inner circle, according to three people who requested anonymity to describe moves by the administration that were not yet intended to be public.  Donors are being asked to contribute to a nonprofit fund, the Campaign for One New York, that is operated by political consultants with close ties to Mr. de Blasio. The fund can accept donations that are significantly larger than those allowed within New York City’s strict campaign finance system.* De Blasio is ramping up a political campaign to promote his housing and education priorities, with an eye toward amassing a financial war chest that can compete with well-funded opponents. The mayor and his fund-raising team have quietly solicited large contributions in recent weeks. Donors are being asked to contribute to a nonprofit fund, the Campaign for One New York, that is operated by political consultants close to de Blasio.* Campaign for One New York paid BerlinRosen $363,000 throughJune, according to its lobbying disclosure.(CrainsNY) * Familiar Consultants Hired by de Blasio's Pre-K Drive (NYT) * Give the money back, Mayor de Blasio | New York Post Maybe Mayor de Blasio’s spokesman is right: There’s “zero” connection between the sweetheart deal the teachers union won from the city and $350,000 its parent union donated to Mayor Bill’s Super PAC. Maybe it’s also just a coincidence, as Crain’s reported, that the donation from the American Federation of Teachers to the Campaign for One New York came less than a month before the mayor agreed to a nine-year-contract with its New York local whose health “savings” are vague but whose retroactive pay is all too real.* De Blasio called a hypocrite for raking contributions in pre-K fight (NYP) * Bill de Blasio's Potential Conflict of Interest | Washington ... de Blasio Does Not Know About A Developer Who Contributed to His Campaign and His Re-Election Slush, Over Building in A Park. De Blasio’s ‘conflicting’ accepted donations(NYP)A nonprofit launched by Mayor de Blasio accepted money from at least two donors that his mayoral campaign had rejected because they had city contracts, a Post review found.Joseph and Chris Termini, owners of the yellow-school-bus companies Hoyt Transportation and Dak Transportation, respectively, each donated $4,500 to de Blasio’s mayoral-transition campaign in December.



Judge Silver's Case Goes Forward . . .  His Lawyers Tried to Dismiss Case Because of Prosecutors Public Comments
A federal judge warned U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara that his "media blitz" following the arrest of Sheldon Silver endangered his case against the former Assembly speaker, but denied Silver's motion to dismiss the case, Capital New York reports:  * Silver’s bid to dismiss corruption charges denied (NYP) A federal judge on Friday refused a bid to dismiss sweeping corruption charges against Sheldon Silver – but sided with the disgraced pol’s lawyers by also declaring Manhattan US Attorney Preet Bhahara really has a big mouth. In a 16-page opinion, Manhattan federal Judge Valerie Caproni rejected a motion to dismiss the charges, which allege Silver lined his pockets with nearly $4 million in bribes and kickbacks in a stunning abuse of power dating to at least 2000. The judge ruled “there is no evidence” that public comments Bhahara made about the case potentially tainted a grand jury that indicted Silver on Feb. 19 — or any future jury if the case heads to trial.* Judge Cautions U.S. Attorney Over Remarks on Sheldon Silver Case (NYT) A judge declined to dismiss charges against Assemblyman Sheldon Silver, but she was “troubled” by remarks on the case from Preet Bharara, the United States attorney in Manhattan.* Manhattan federal court judge tells Preet Bharara to tone down comments on Sheldon Silver, Albany politicians (NYDN) *  Judge Rebukes Prosecutor’s ‘Media Blitz’ in Sheldon Silver Case (WSJ) * Indicted Assemblyman Sheldon Silver’s Buffalo-area investments include the tech company Synacor and senior-housing developer Clover Management, The Buffalo News writes: 


Silver's Send Stolen $$$ to Buffalo Investor 
Beefed up indictment vs. ex-Speaker Silver, appears toinvolve Buffalo’sJordan A. Levy. (Buffalo News)Former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver took “certain official actions” requested by a private investment executive believed to be Buffalo’s Jordan A. Levy, a longtime Silver friend whose advice helped make the once-powerful Democratic leader a wealthy man, according to a new indictment handed up by a federal grand jury on Thursday. Levy, a partner in JoRon Management LLC, an investment firm, has been represented in the Silver probe by lawyer Dennis C. Vacco, a former state attorney general and former U.S. attorney from Western New York. The only time, during the time period articulated in the indictment that Jordan Levy ever had conversations with Sheldon Silver in his official capacity as speaker was when Jordan Levy would talk about Buffalo-based projects, UB 2020, the Erie Canal Harbor and similar community-based initiatives.” A federal grand jury Thursday signed off on a superseding indictment brought by Bharara that includes a new count – “monetary transactions involving crime proceeds” – outlining how prosecutors believe Silver shifted illegal financial gains into various high-yield investments, including at least two with Buffalo connections. The indictment states Silver in 2011, with new disclosure requirements for lawmakers’ outside incomes, shifted more than $340,000 in Investment Vehicle-1 from his name to the name of a family member. By 2015, that investment account grew to more than $1.4 million, prosecutors say.* Former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver took “certain official actions” requested by a private investment executive believed to be Buffalo’s Jordan A. Levy, a longtime Silver friend whose advice helped make the once-powerful Democratic leader a wealthy man, according to a new indictment handed up by a federal grand jury. * The superseding indictment brought by Bharara includes a new count – “monetary transactions involving crime proceeds” – outlining how prosecutors believe Silver shifted illegal financial gains into various high-yield investments, including at least two with Buffalo connections. Silver now faces seven charges as opposed to the three contained in the original indictment filed in February. * “This new filing is an attempt by the government to address defects in the indictment that we raised in our motion to dismiss. We are reviewing this new pleading and we will respond as before, in court,” Silver’s attorneys said.

 Rapfogel and Silver's Lawyers Go to Work on Bharara's Case Against Silver
Assembly Hires Rapfogel's Lawyer to Vet Silver's Evidence Given to Feds

NYP Misses the Rapfogel Connection

Taxpayers footing the bill for Sheldon Silver’s corruption saga (NYP) Taxpayers are being forced to pay out funds so Albany can respond to former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver’s corruption indictment. The Assembly has hired white-collar criminal-defense firm Zuckerman Spaeder to handle requests for documents and other information related to the Silver case. The Assembly is authorized to pay the firm $45,000 through February 2016, according to state Comptroller’s Office records. The firm’s hiring was first reported by The Buffalo News. It’s hardly the first time Albany shenanigans have walloped taxpayers’ wallets. In February, $545,000 in public funds were used to settle two cases of sexual harassment filed against ex-Assemblyman Vito Lopez by his former legislative aides. Lopez was forced to pay only $35,000 out of his own pocket.* Cuomo believes Silver is still running Assembly: source (NYT) * Minority state legislators want Cuomo to apologize forsaying Sheldon Silver still runs chamber (NYDN) The state Legislature’s Black, Puerto Rican and Hispanic caucus said the governor’s reported comments show a “disturbing” lack of respect for new speaker Carl Heastie, the first black lawmaker to lead the chamber, and the Assembly Democrats as a whole.

Shechtman Help Collect $3 Million to Reduce Rapfogel's Sentence and Collected Letters From His Friends to Give to the Judge
Silver was caught up in the Lopez case after it was revealed that he had OK’d a secret $103,000 settlement with two prior alleged victims of sexual harassment.  That payout also came from the public coffers.  Assembly hires Manhattanlaw firm to represent it in Silver case (Buffalo News) The lawyer handling the matter for the Assembly, according to a spokesman, is Paul Shechtman. In 2004, Shechtman successfully represented then-Gov. George E. Pataki – in an action known as “Silver vs. Pataki.’’ The landmark case gave further power to governors, at the expense of the Legislature, in the crafting of state budgets. Steven M. Cohen, who is affiliated with the Manhattan law firm, is a former top aide to Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo.* Ex-Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver’s patient referrals were ‘just recommendations,’ were within rules: lawyers (NYDN) * Sheldon Silver aide says she didn’t know of husband’salleged theft from NYC charity (NYDN) * Met Council’s William Rapfogel Sentenced (Jewish Week)
CorruptJudicial Conventions and the Courts Silver Indictment 
More on Sheldon Silver and His Indictment  
William Rapfogel's Non Profit TaxShelters Connects to political payoffs

 Silver Law Firm Court Asbestos Gamed
Sheldon Silver-linked law firm has hand in asbestos funds(NYP) Weitz & Luxenberg, the law firm accused of exploiting its connection to Sheldon Silver in New York City’s asbestos court, has come under fire in another lucrative arena — multibillion-dollar bankruptcy trusts. The East Village firm, which gained more than 100 mesothelioma clients in an alleged kickback scheme by the disgraced assemblyman, sits on 15 advisory committees for trusts set up by bankrupt companies to compensate victims — including Weitz’s own clients. The loose system fosters a “fox guarding the hen house” culture, says a article published last month by Measley’s Asbestos Bankruptcy Report.


The NY Media is Not Following Up the Silver Real Estate Corruption and Connections to Cuomo
Cuomo OfficialsDirected State Loan To Cuomo Donor At Center of CorruptionProbe(International Business Times) A careful review of state documents reveals that Cuomo and Silver are connected by a key figure in the scandal. Both lawmakers have a financial relationship with the same New York real estate mogul, Leonard Litwin, who has in turn relied upon them for preferential tax treatment and other government benefits. Silver is alleged to have benefited personally from Litwin’s spending -- and there is no dispute that Cuomo has benefited politically from that same largesse. Litwin contributed $1 million to Cuomo’s reelection campaign and another $500,000 to the New York Democratic Party, making him the largest political donor in the state. His money flowed through 27subsidiaries of his firm, Glenwood Management. Those subsidiaries were also clients of the real estate law firm that paid referral fees to Silver. U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara has alleged that Silver "induce[d] real estate developers with business before the state" to employ the law firm, which in turn made payments to Silver. The Cuomo-run New York State Housing Finance Agency, for instance, approved a $260 million state-supported low-interest loan in 2014 to finance Glenwood’s new luxury apartment building in midtown Manhattan. * Leonard Litwin, at the center of New York corruption scandals, could bringdown the entire Democrat establishment (BuffaloChronicle) Litwin contributed $1 million to Governor Cuomo’s reelection effort, and another $500,000 to the New York Democratic Party, The International Business News reports. The Cuomo-run New York Housing Finance Agency later approved a $290 million low interest loan in 2014 to finance new luxury apartment building in Midtown Manhattan. At the time the loan was being considered, NYHFA was headed by Bill Mulrow, a registered lobbyist for the Blackstone group, a massive private equity fund. Mulrow was just recently appointed to be Cuomo’s new Chief of Staff. It is rumored that abuse of power allegations against Attorney General Schneiderman are currently under federal investigation by the US Attorney’s office. Larry Schwartz called the Moreland Commissioners to stop them from subpoenaing the Real Estate Board of New York..
Real Estate Developers, Tax Breaks and Politics



At the time the loan to Glenwood was approved, the NYHFA was headed by Cuomo appointee Bill Mulrow, an executive and registered lobbyist at Blackstone, a private equity and real estate firm. Mulrow was just appointed to be the governor’s chief of staff. According to NYHFA documents, Glenwood also has had other business with the agency. Similarly, Cuomo in 2011 signed Silver-backed legislation reauthorizing a then-expired property tax abatement for real estate developers called the 421a program. Cuomo also signed an extension of that program in 2013.

Times editorial lamenting NYC cost of housing a little like Larry Flynt doing a PSA for abstinence...
Litwin’s firm used the 421a program for its Midtown Manhattan project, according to the New York Times. Glenwood has also used the 421a tax break for some of its other properties in the city. In 2014, Cuomo shut down the Moreland Commission, an anti-corruption panel that was examining the relationship between lawmakers and the real estate industry. The governor’s top aide at time, Larry Schwartz, called commission members to stop them from subpoenaing the Real Estate Board of New York, of which Litwin is the lifetime “honorary chairman.” The 421a abatement, which costs taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars in lost revenues, is set to expire in 2015. The question of its renewal -- and Cuomo's support for its renewal -- is a flashpoint in this year’s legislative session in Albany. Already, some New York City lawmakers are calling for its repeal. * "Progressive" Gentrification: One Community'sStruggle Against Affordable Housing

How Real Estate Scam Worked in the Court
The indictment accuses Silver of steering billionaire developer Leonard Litwin, the state’s largest political donor, to the firm, along with another unnamed developer. In exchange, Silver reaped referral fees. The Goldberg firm handled tax appeals for 15 buildings owned by Litwin’s organization, Glenwood Management, and its limited liability companies, prosecutors said. Court records show that in one case that landed in Shulman’s court — involving a high-rise building on York Avenue — Glenwood won a $3.4 million reduction in the building’s assessment, which is used to determine its taxes.



Even as he ruled a vast state, it was always Grand Street that was his capital. And it was the clan he met there whose code he embodies
Litwin owns a rental building, The Fairmont — the same high-rise where Lippman and his wife rented a one-bedroom apartment between 2007 and 2010, The Post found. And Lippman’s son, Russell, a Harvard-educated lawyer, rented an apartment there between 2003 and 2005, public records show. Lippman, who earned $156,000 in 2010, moved into the rent-stabilized building in 2007 shortly after he was appointed presiding justice of the Appellate Division in Manhattan and was required to live in The Bronx or Manhattan. He had lived in Westchester. Bookstaver said Lippman paid market-rate rent of $3,195 for the apartment. He said Lippman rented at the Fairmont because he needed to move quickly and knew of the building because his son had lived there. He said Lippman did not know Litwin owned the property.

Weitz & Luxenberg, the law firm where Silver was “of counsel” until he was dumped last week, practically rules a special section of the court dealing with complex asbestos litigation. Critics say the firm gets the “red-carpet treatment” including a fast track, “better judges” and first dibs on jurors to hear its cases. Sherry Klein Heitler, the chief asbestos judge, as well as the top administrative judge at 60 Centre St., has handled dozens of the firm’s cases in what is called New York City Asbestos Litigation or NYCAL. Last year, at Weitz & Luxenberg’s request, Heitler reversed a 20-year rule barring punitive damages in asbestos cases, paving the way for much bigger jury awards. Of 15 mesothelioma verdicts in the last four years, Silver’s firm won $273.5 million of $313.5 million awarded by NYCAL juries. The average award for an NYCAL asbestos case — nearly $16 million per plaintiff between 2010 and 2014 — is reportedly two to three times larger than those in other courts nationwide. * Wayne Barrett: How Shelly Silver Made His Pal Chief Judge (Village Voice)* Four Charged in a Bribery Scheme to Gain Clients in Arraignment Court(NYT)  A worker who interviewed defendants was paid as much as $1,000 per client that he steered to three lawyers and a paralegal, prosecutors said.* The corruption charges against Silver reveal the rot that has plagued Albany and deserve more national attention for exposing the links between politicians and the asbestos-plaintiffs bar, the Journal writes:

Wayne Barrett Blows Up Silver's Gand Street Gang
Sheldon Silver'sgang (Wayne Barrett, NYDN) How the disgraced speaker put a tight network, including lifelong Lower East Side friends, in powerful places. Rudy Giuliani used to tell a story about a mob hit-man who blessed himself before each murder. It could be a metaphor for Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, who for two decades presented himself as the personally devout, politically principled leader of the most progressive slice of New York political life. Even if he eludes jail, as have previous indicted Albany kingpins, the criminal complaint filed against Silver marks the end of his era. When Shelly Silver met the man that the government says became his meal ticket, Dr. Robert Taub, in November of 2003, he was already looking for a new hook. Taub, who ran a Columbia University center for asbestos victims, would prove to be the perfect partner for Silver, whose personal injury law firm, Weitz & Luxenberg, was the biggest asbestos litigator in New York. Silver needed a new partner because his brother, Dr. Joseph Silver, the orthopedic chief at Brooklyn's Methodist Hospital who'd been steering patients (albeit ones less lucrative than asbestos victims) to him, got cancer in 2003. After Joseph died in August 2004, the speaker began hosting a lecture in his brother's name at the hospital. * Silver, the outgoing Assembly speaker, was forced to leave the law firm Weitz & Luxenberg, but that doesn’t mean his financial relationship with the firm is over, the Daily News reports: 


Lobbyists Working for Glenwood Management
Pitta Bishop Del Giorno & Giblin Llc $150,000
Carl Andrews & Associates, Inc. $ 144,000
Empire Strategic Planning, Inc. $ 144,000
Meara, Brian R. Public Relations, Inc. $120,000
Lieberman, Mark L. $90,000
Sanzillo, Francis J. & Associates $90,000
Runes, Richard $60,000

Park Strategies $20,000


 U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara in a swaggering press conference at his offices in Manhattan slammed Silver with a five-count complaint that portrayed the Democratic lawmaker as greedy and secretive
Mystery “Developer 1″ in Silver case said to beGlenwood’s Leonard Litwin(Real Deal)
Federal charges appear to cite state's top political donorThe 100-year-old Litwin spent the most money on political donations during that time, as The Real Deal reported. Crain’s also made a connection between Litwin and the $900,000 Developer 1 paid to eight lobbying firms. The complaint also calls out another developer,* An unnamed firm described in the federal charges against Silver appears to be Glenwood Management, a Manhattan apartment developer owned by Leonard Litwin—the state’s largest political donor in the past decade,Crain’s reports:

Pitta Bishop Del Giorno Lobbyists for Litwin "Develper 1" in the Silver Indictment 
“Developer 2,” though this developer’s identity was not immediately clear. Together, 19 buildings owned by the two developers brought in more than 31 percent of Goldberg & Iryami’s revenue in 2011, according to the complaint. - See more at: http://therealdeal.com/blog/2015/01/22/mystery-developer-1-in-silver-case-said-to-be-glenwoods-leonard-litwin/#sthash.abfhWLM3.dpuf * Skelos Won’t Weigh In On Whether Silver Should Resign(YNN) * Silver Charged On Five Counts(YNN) * Aubry: Conference Remains ‘Supportive’ Of Silver(YNN) * Successors Few And Far Between For Silver(YNN) * Silver Turns Himself In(YNN) * De Blasio: Sheldon Silver is a ‘man of integrity’(NYP)* * Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver was arrested on federal corruption charges and accused of using his power to secure millions of dollars in bribes and kickbacks for over a decade, The New York Times reports:
de Blasio Harder Albany Times The fallout of the Sheldon Silver arrest: a rougher time in Albany for @billdeblasio  * * Silver’s arrest could potentially cause a seismic shift in power with reverberations felt from the speaker’s home district on the Lower East Side to the grounds of the State Capitol, the Times reports: * Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty may disband, hand offservices to other groups: sources (NYDN)

Follow the Litwin Money to the Pols
Activists take aim at Litwin donations in report (TU) Hedge Clippers, a group supported by the Strong Economy for All Coalition, is out with a white paper on billionaire New York City developer Leonard Litwin and his political giving, $1.2 million of which has gone to Gov. Andrew Cuomo since 2008. The first of the group’s “Hedge Papers” outlines Litwin’s donations and dealings with various high-level elected officials, including Cuomo and former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, who was arrested last month following an investigation that looked at, in part, alleged bribes he took from developers. One of the developers was identified by the New York Times as Litwin’s Glenwood Management, though the complaint filed by federal prosecutors against Silver does not explicitly name the firm. According to the report, Cuomo campaigns have received the largest amount of Litwin and Glenwood money between 2008 and 2015, totaling $1,214,200. The state Republican Committee ranked second at $807,500. The state Democratic Committee received $300,000. Rob Astorino, the former Republican candidate for governor, also received donations. The report shows that Friends of Rob Astorino, listed by the Board of Elections as his Westchester County executive account, http://www.nystateofpolitics.com/2015/02/left-releases-litwin-dossier/#.VOO9Q-uaMy8.twitterreceived $103,059. Also on the list of the top 50 recipients are various PACs, including the Neighborhood Preservation PAF ($493,150), the Real Estate Board PAC ($175,800) and Jobs for New York ($587,600), the Real Estate Board of New York-backed fund. The report also looks to draw a link between the contributions and 421a tax breaks backed by Cuomo that it has benefited from and a $260 million subsidized loan from the state Housing Finance Agency. As has been and is still being reported ad nauseum, New York City’s rent regulations are up in June, and the state Legislature controls what the new set will look like. Read the group’s white paper here. * Mystery “Developer 1″ in Silver case said to be Glenwood’s Leonard Litwin (Real Deal) * RE moguls gave 10 times more to Senate GOP than Dems (Real Deal) * Once again, real estate opens up its coffers for Cuomo(Real Deal)* Left Releases Litwin Dossier (YNN)


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Silver's Shadow Government Lobbyists to Rat On Him In His Fed Corruption Indictment
Close friend, top lobbyist helped feds take down Sheldon Silver(NYP) Brian Meara, 63, is the person referred to in court papers as “the Lobbyist” who revealed that Silver told him “there was nothing to worry about” regarding the speaker secretly sharing in legal fees paid by Meara’s client, billionaire developer Leonard Litwin, the sources said. * Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver's arrest aided by closefriend, Albanylobbyist(NYDN) Brian Meara has been cooperating as a 'fact witness' as part of U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara's investigation, sources told The News. The criminal complaint against Silver references an unnamed lobbyist who the sources say was Meara. According to the criminal complaint, the lobbyist represented a developer who was using a law firm that paid Silver for bringing in business. The developer, sources say, was politically connected Leonard Litwin, who Meara repped at the time. “The fact that Meara is the witness is not a good sign for Shelly,” said one Albany insider, alluding to how much Meara knows about his pal. In addition to the state court officers union and other labor groups, Meara represents a host of big-bucks industries, including casino operators, insurance companies and soft-drink makers. His clients also include the Yankees owners and the Silvercup Studios production facility in Queens.



Meara is one of the state’s most powerful lobbyists . . .  Part of the Silver, Queens Boss Crowley and Speaker Quinn Crime Families 
The Bayside resident is also close to Queens Democratic boss and US Rep. Joe Crowley, while his brother, Chuck, was chief of staff to former City Council Speaker Christine Quinn. In addition to the state court officers union and other labor groups, Meara represents a host of big-bucks industries, including casino operators, insurance companies and soft-drink makers. His clients also include the Yankees owners and the Silvercup Studios production facility in Queens. The Bayside resident is also close to Queens Democratic boss and US Rep. Joe Crowley, while his brother, Chuck, was chief of staff to former City Council Speaker Christine Quinn. According to Thursday’s criminal complaint against Silver, Meara got a non-prosecution deal from the feds in exchange for agreeing to serve as a “fact witness” against the Manhattan Democrat. The complaint says Silver got two developers — including “Developer-1,” identified by sources as 100-year-old Litwin — to hire the law firm run by Silver’s former counsel, identified by sources as Jay Arthur Goldberg. Silver allegedly pocketed at least $700,000 by splitting the fees generated by the lucrative property-tax challenges, without notifying either developer or disclosing the payments. 


Companies That Brian Meara Has Been A Lobby For
NRG Energy, Inc. , Motorola Solutions Inc., New York Black Operator's Injury Compensation Fund, Inc., PepsiCo, Inc., Dominion Voting Systems, Inc, New York Black Car Operators' Injury Compensation Fund, Inc., MANHOLE BARRIER SECURITY SYSTEMS, INC., COMMISSION ON INDEPENDENT COLLEGES & UNIVERSITIES,  empire racing associates llc, ABC, INC. CBS Corporation, NBC Universal, Harter, Secrest & Emery LLP, Simon Wiesenthal Center Museum of Tolerance, Covanta Energy Corporation (formerly American Ref-Fuel Co.), American Ref-Fuel Company, Essex Enterprises LLC, Power, Crane & Company. LLC, Power, Crane & Company. LLC



Permanent Government of Real Estate Defends Prince Silver to Stop An Investigation That May Expose Their Illegal Practices  
Two legal-defense groups show support for Sheldon Silver (NYP) Two top legal-defense groups have come to the aid of disgraced former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver. The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and the New York State Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers filed a joint brief Thursday supporting the indicted but still politically connected Silver, despite objections from the government. * Two criminal defense law groups filed court papers Thursday arguing the federal corruption case against Assemblyman Sheldon Silver should be tossed because of comments made by U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara * Lawyers for former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver are again pressing a federal judge to toss out an indictment on corruption charges due to U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara’s public comments about the case, theObserver reports: * Although US Attorney Preet Bharara has been accused of overzealousness in some insider trading cases, he has pursued fraud and corruption seemingly without regard for political affiliation or hints of personal vindictiveness.
Speaker Sheldon Silver, His Law Firm $$$


More Litwin Lobbyists
Pitta Bishop Del Giorno & Giblin Llc $150,000
Carl Andrews & Associates, Inc. $ 144,000
Empire Strategic Planning, Inc. $ 144,000
Meara, Brian R. Public Relations, Inc. $120,000
Lieberman, Mark L. $90,000
Sanzillo, Francis J. & Associates $90,000
Runes, Richard $60,000
Park Strategies $20,000
Meet thebillionaires benefitting from @NYGovCuomo’s giveaway to luxury developments in:
Real Estate Developers, Tax Breakes and Politics




Silver's Secret Law Firm Is the Nexus For Albany's Real Estate Corruption and Brooklyn Gentrification
 “I have very strong feelings about Speaker Silver,” de Blasio told the assembled. In times when the ideas of our party, the ideas of the Democratic Party, the progressive ideals for what New York is historically known for, were under attack, Shelly stood firm and was often, in my view, the thin blue line that kept a rollback of our progressive ideals from happening.”* Chirlane McCray Misperceptions On My Roll, looking ahead to her second year as New York City's first lady, said there are public misperceptions about her role as de Blasio's policy partner, and she intends to fix that, Newsday writes:'  

Will Progressives Accept Corruption for Results? "AssemblySpeaker Sheldon Silver has opened the door to a Legislature of kept men andconcubines." * At least 27 clients of Silver’s recently revealed second law firm received state-authorized real estate tax breaks, a Capital New York analysis has found. That they could even take advantage of the tax abatements in question is due in no small part to Silver, who has provided crucial support as speaker for the program that made those breaks available. * Clients of law firm eyed in Silver investigation got state tax breaks(NYP)* The ongoing investigation into Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver’s outside income should show lawmakers that they need to do more to clean up their own act and to treat their constituents with something approaching respect, the Buffalo News writes:

The downtown law firm eyed for making shadowy payments for a decade to Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver represents more than two dozen clients that got state-backed tax breaks. The revelation comes a week after it was disclosed that federal agents are investigating Silver’s ties to the firm, Goldberg & Iryami, which prompted good-government groups and tenant advocates to slam the veteran lawmaker for an apparent conflict of interest. “The speaker has some explaining to do,” said Dick Dadey, director of Citizens Union. “This increasingly doesn’t look good. It’s one thing to not disclose income. It’s quite another to profit from your legislative service.” Goldberg & Iryami works for clients who have nearly 1,300 real-estate tax appeals pending, and at least 27 received some sort of state-authorized tax relief, Capital New York reported Monday. Another 3,500 petitions are being pushed by Jay Arthur Goldberg, the firm’s head, Silver, a Lower East Side Democrat who’s helmed the state Assembly since 1994, has been instrumental in pushing lower taxes for developers and reportedly made sure tax breaks for five luxury developments remained in a 2013 bill that later became law.* The odor of Albany(NYP Ed) Capital New York this week reports that at least 27 Goldberg & Iryami clients received state-authorized tax breaks, thanks to a program that was quietly inserted in a 2013 legislative housing bill by — who else? — Sheldon Silver.

Assmbly Dem just said on @CapitalTonight that this means we need "more disclosure" Y? If a certn someone doesnt follow the rules we now have
Top Albany Issues 2015 The new year'spolitical noisemakers (CrainsNY)* Legislature Returns To Altered Landscape(YNN) * Senate IDC And Mainline Dems Trade Blows(YNN) * Silver Cancels Annual Reception, Assembly To Honor Mario Cuomo(YNN)* The Daily News’Ken Lovett reports that while the Senate’s Independent Democratic Conference will remain a caucus with funding and staff, it will no longer have a formal say on what bills can come to the floor for a vote: * State Sen. Martin Golden is backing Staten Island District Attorney Daniel Donovan for Grimm’s seat despite a close working relationship with Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis, another Republican who may run, the Observer reports:  *  State senators and Assembly members are returning to new political terrain in Albany this week—Republicans hold their first numerical majority since 2012, calling into question their power-sharing alliance with IDC, State of Politics reports * Sen. David Carlucci said working with Senate Republicans in the majority would be the best way to move the state forward and help his constituents in the Hudson Valley.
How Blacks the Poorand the Middle Class are Being Push Out of Brooklyn Because of Albany's TaxBreaks for Luxury Developers
Real EstateDevelopers, Tax Breakes and Politics



Albany's Tax Policies Pushing Blacks Out of Brooklyn Increasing Homelessness


 Silver’s actions aid clients of second firm(Capital) An examination of Silver’s record reveals he has regularly used his position as Speaker to help lower taxes for developers, several of whom have also employed his second law firm, Goldberg & Iryami, to secure lower city property tax assessments. Silver reportedly was the “anonymous benefactor who tucked” into a housing bill controversial 421a tax breaks for five luxury developments in 2013 despite fervent opposition from tenant-advocacy groups, according to the Daily News. The 421a program is meant to provide incentives for development on underused or unused land. The preliminary (and ultimately final) report of the Moreland Commission to Investigate Public Corruption agreed with the Daily News' assessment, finding that the “waiver was the result of negotiations between real estate interests and the Assembly. Silver A Fake Tenant Hero ”When Silver’s Assembly has passed bills that have gained the support of tenants groups, they have often been symbolic one-house pieces of legislation that stood little chance of actual enactment. So, for example, when rent control came up for renewal in 2011, the Assembly passed a bill expanding tenant protections, even though the companion bill in the Republican-controlled Senate had little chance of passage since it was sponsored by a Democrat.
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