Janison: Bruno jury has work cut out for them
Photo credit: AP | Former New York state Sen. Joseph Bruno talks to reporters outside federal court. (November 23, 2009)
Decades ago, somebody pointed to a nicely adorned lounge just outside the Senate chamber in Albany with phones for members' use. "See that?" he said. "That is known as Joe Bruno's office."
His business interests always seemed welded to his Senate post.
A top aide would be paid both publicly and privately. The Capital District Republican would have his company sell products to state agencies. He held legislative hearings in tandem with his interests. He invested in horses and land deals with lobbyists.
All these murky facts came out - and were defended by the senator - well before he became Senate majority leader, a post he held until last year when Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre), his longtime deputy, succeeded him.
Nobody was questioning the dual role of those lawyer-legislators, he'd say.
So it was no surprise that once in the state's ruling troika, Bruno created his own trademark brand of public-private partnerships.
Nor was it shocking when Bruno finally was prosecuted on "honest services" fraud charges - a club as handy for the zealous white-collar prosecutor as "disorderly conduct" can be for the irritated beat cop.
But the case did reveal a rich new lode of detail on how Bruno, now 80, put his gifts as an entrepreneur to work. Jurors deliberated for eight hours yesterday, then recessed until Monday.
A few highlights from the testimony to be considered:
Bruno's companies, called Business Consultants and Capital Business Consultants, had no employees beyond himself. The paperwork was performed by people on the Senate - meaning public - payroll.
E-mails showed executives of a Midwestern company to be clueless as to why their company was paying one of these Bruno entities. Prosecutors said a company director with other Bruno dealings arranged the payments and Bruno worked to get state grants for a separate company backed by the same director.
A labor official said his late boss expected favors from Bruno for investing union money in a company that employed the Senator.
The retired Senate counsel in 2001 warned members of the house that they should hand-deliver their ethics forms out of concern that mailing erroneous information could prompt federal mail-fraud charges.
Bruno's Senate secretary said she did personal banking, shopping and business while working for him. (Wasn't former Comptroller Alan Hevesi ousted for this sort of thing?) The twist: She also admitted on the stand that she stole from Bruno.
So, Power Joe Bruno and Money Joe Bruno were one and the same in ways that seemed more blatant than with other pols - though the senator would, of course, disagree. His lawyer argued that his conduct, like it or not, was all legal under the scenario of a part-time legislature.
By all accounts, the jury must find he concealed the true nature of his transactions if they are to conclude that he committed this "honest services" fraud.
Remember: Before Bruno's retirement, the people of his upstate district elected him 16 times. And members of his Republic conference elected him as their powerful leader seven times.
Maybe those who supported him got the services they asked for - honest or otherwise.
