Spitzer's Nemesis Indicted On Corruption Charges

The old battle between former Governor of New York Eliot Spitzer and once top Republican New York State Senator Joseph Bruno took another twist Friday as a federal grand jury charged the former legislator with corruption according to Reuters report "Ex-NY state Senate leader faces corruption charges".

Mr. Bruno asserted that he had done nothing wrong and would be absolved (you know like Scooter Libby was).

Mr. Bruno resigned his post last summer after being able to make sure Governor Spitzer was forced to resign his office over visiting hookers.  Possibly he thought that doing a swan dive like the governor would help keep him out of prison too. 

It's hard to know if Bruno was behind his ex aide Roger Stone's passage of info to the FBI on Spitzer's paid philandering, but Bruno and Spitzer had been at each other's neck for years with Stone floating around like an evil fairy doing what he can, like making phone calls to Spitzer's father that were so bad that Bruno was actually forced to divest himself of one of the nation's leading dirty campaigners.  

 Excerpt of Reuters report:

The U.S. indictment said Bruno contacted people or companies with business before the legislature or state agencies, "exploiting his official position for personal compensation and enrichment, knowing and believing that his reasonably perceived ability to influence official action would, at least in part, motivate those he contacted to enter into financial relationships beneficial to his personal financial interests."

Bruno was paid $3.198 million from 1994 to 2006 by two companies and three individuals, via their firms, the indictment said. It further charged that Bruno did not fully disclose his business dealings to the legislature, nor tell some of the companies that he had failed to do so.

Asked why no one else was charged, Andrew Baxter, the acting U.S. attorney, said: "You need to understand that this indictment does not charge anyone with bribery or with extortion."
Instead, the charges focus on what Baxter called Bruno's failing to disclose the financial interests that could have swayed his official actions.

Baxter added that Bruno faces up to 20 years in jail and a maximum fine of $250,000. But Baxter also wants Bruno to forfeit any property he is charged with wrongly obtaining.

In one instance, Bruno, who owns a horse farm in upstate New York, was paid $80,000 for a horse that "was virtually worthless," the indictment said. 

In a AP report at the International Herald Tribune "Former NY Senate leader Joseph Bruno indicted" the former state senate leader is said to have called the indictment "a politically motivated fishing expedition that smells really, really bad."

He also complained of 3 years of harassment.

 Um so who were in power for the past 3 years?  In fact the Senate hasn't even confirmed Obama's Attorney General yet.  

In a New York Times report Bruno pleaded poverty at a press conference and implied those mysterious others had it in for him . 

 (If you read about his huge horse ranch in the Reuters and AP reports above, that becomes rather funny.)  

Please see one or more of above reports for details on Bruno's 'alleged' crimes. 

But for now,  it seems to be "Advantage Spitzer".  At least he isn't facing possible jail time. 

Still after California's Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger was exposed for having received millions as governor from Weider Enterprises while he actually vetoed bills that would have stopped the sell of dangerous supplements (that the company produced) to teens at school, and yet faced no investigation, you could wonder if the Bushies were even playing unfair games between their political allies.  

(Schwarzenegger's long time allies at Weider became partners with American Media during the 2003 recall election.  American Media is the source of all the nation's pulp tabloids like Globe, Star, and National Enquirer.   Some believe the deal was crafted to keep the tabloids quiet during the crucial campaign period.)

tags: federal indictment  joseph bruno  eliot spitzer  political corruption  schwarzenegger  

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