Editorial
Editorial: Corrupt ex-senators shame New York
Photo credit: Susan Stava | Former state Sen. Nicholas Spano speaks during a news conference in front of federal court in White Plains after being sentenced to a year and a day in prison for tax evasion. (June 18, 2012)
Sen. Spano joins a slew of corrupt HV officials in prison
Ex-Sen. Spano gets 1 year, 1 day in tax fraud case
Nicholas Spano and his family
Nicholas Spano sentenced
Disgraced U.S. politicians
Former State Sen. Nicholas Spano was contrite after pleading guilty to tax evasion, wisely, but a federal judge was unmoved by calls for leniency.
Spano, a longtime Albany powerbroker, got a day more than the one year behind bars under the minimum federal sentencing guidelines. Spano's lawyer had sought six months in prison and six months of home confinement.
Now Spano, 59, joins an infamous list of state lawmakers who, by selfishly using their offices to make a buck, are either in jail or headed there.
U.S. District Judge Cathy Seibel sentenced Spano to federal prison and fined him $30,000 after he admitted to not paying $53,000 in state and federal taxes that investigators maintain was related to a moneymaking scheme involving an insurance company looking to do business with the state.
And the judge was right when she told Spano that the public "is sick and tired of the powerful and fortunate not paying their fair share of taxes" and fed up with Albany politicians who "line their own pockets."
No disagreement there. We've seen these dramas play out too often in recent years in New York.
Now the Republican from Yonkers joins the ranks of his former State Senate colleagues, including Vincent Leibell, a Republican from Putnam who pleaded guilty to failing to report $43,000 in income and admitted to trying to influence a grand jury; Carl Kruger, a Democrat from Brooklyn who pleaded guilty to corruption; and Pedro Espada, a Bronx Democrat who was found guilty of embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Spano said he would start the next phase of his life with dignity and try to repair a family name he's dishonored. He'll have some time to think about exactly how to do that.
