Another top politician conviction roils Albany

Former Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos, R-Nassau County, was found guilty by a Manhattan jury Friday afternoon, setting off another flurry of calls for reforms at the state Capitol.

The verdict came 12 days after another jury convicted the former state Senate Majority Leader’s counterpart, ex-state Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan), of similar but unrelated corruption charges in Manhattan federal court. However, justice for all New Yorkers won’t be served until we clean up the system that enables such abuse of power. Like former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, Skelos was known as one of Albany’s “three men in a room”, the third being New York’s Governor Andrew Cuomo.

A federal jury in NY found Skelos, 67, and his son, Adam Skelos, 33, guilty on eight counts each, including fraud and bribery charges.

Silver’s political godfather was Frank Rossetti, whom the political journalist Wayne Barrett identifies as the last Democratic leader to emerge from Tammany Hall, the corrupt machine that controlled New York City and state politics for a century. He and his son both face 130 years in prison.

One proposed reform – preventing lawmakers from earning private income – is one DeFrancisco does not support.

More than 30 legislators have been forced from office for criminal or ethical issues since 2000. Skelos, who lost his legislative seat upon conviction, had resigned as the powerful leader of the Senate this spring when he was arrested.

Skelos’ successor, Majority Leader John Flanagan, R-Suffolk County, said he said “deeply saddened” by the Skelos verdict and would work to enact changes.

But instead of firing Adam, Bonomo – who got immunity for ratting out the Skeloses – said he gave Adam a new position because “I did not want to have a problem in Albany”.

The government had accused the elder Skelos of strong-arming three companies with a stake in state legislation – a major real estate developer, an environmental technology company and a medical malpractice insurer – into giving work to a son prosecutors portrayed as an underachieving only child whose sense of entitlement knew no bounds. He offered no specific policy ideas, however.

Adam Skelos would say he and his dad had to “lay low” because “there’s a lot of scrutiny going on”.

Company representatives testified under nonprosecution agreements, telling jurors they made the payments to ensure Dean Skelos did not torpedo key bills in Albany that would harm their business. “The next step is post-trial motions, and we intend to pursue them vigorously”.