Posted on 12/20/2006 8:12:22 AM PST by Froufrou
The majority leader of the New York state Senate announced that the FBI is investigating him and his private consulting business.
Joseph Bruno, who will be the state's top Republican in January, said Tuesday he was told by the FBI in late spring that he was being investigated. The 77-year-old lawmaker said he doesn't know exactly what investigators are looking for, but he has cooperated.
He was told previously that he was not a target of the investigation, but said he wasn't sure if that had changed.
Bruno, who became majority leader in 1994, said he decided to make the announcement after learning news of the investigation had been leaked to reporters.
"I wanted to be up front and assure that I have nothing to hide and avoid speculation, unfounded rumors, and distortions," said Bruno. "There have never been conflicts in anything I have done."
Paul Holstein, an FBI spokesman in Albany, declined to comment on the investigation. A call to the U.S. Attorney's office in Albany was not returned Tuesday.
In New York, lawmakers are technically part-time and many also have private careers, often in business and law. Bruno earns a base salary of $79,500 a year as a senator, but he gets another $41,500 as majority leader.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Eliot Spitzer must be smiling today.
How in the world do Senators make so much?
What's Hellary making?
Good!
"What's Hellary making?"
You know it's a lot, since the house cost a couple mill. That's why Slick had to get his office in Harlem...
majority leader of the New York state Senate Joseph Bruno, who will be the state's top Republican in January,
There is a republican majority in New York???
I have a jaundiced eye for Bruno. Don't ask why.
These are New York state Senators. U.S. Senators receive $165,200 per year, plus a lot of expenses. It's actually not all that much money, when you consider that's half of what the research director at the New York Public Library earns.
Eliot Spitzer's no. 1 priority should be to drain the swamp of patronage and kick-back that is Albany. Hevesi, Bruno, can Shelly Silver be far behind?
Remember, this is only a state senator, not a US Senator.
$120,500/yr ain't bad for a P/T job, eh?
in the state senate, which is by region not by population as is the US Senate. NY is a RED STATE, in that regard...most counties are RED. its the population centers of NY, Albany, Buffalo, Binghampton, Syracuse and Rochester, and now, alas, my own Suffolk county (which was till recently RED also)that are a bright liberal BLUE.
The beauty of gerrymandering. The GOP has controlled the New York State Senate since practically the beginning of time. Democrat Assembly leader Sheldon Silver and GOPer Joseph Bruno of the Senate are little kings in New York who divide the spoils between them, like two little corrupt pashas.
Have you seen this?
So, the FBI is investigating yet another important Republican politician. This could conceivably destroy the historical balance in the New York State legislature, where the Democrats have held one chamber and the Republicans have held the other, for many decades.
Curious that the FBI and the Justice Department only seem interested in investigating key Republicans, while known Democrat criminals are ignored. Could it be all those clintonoids at the top that President Bush has neglected to remove?
When I'm all alone in a New York phone booth or an elevator, yes.
The old line was that upstate should secede from New York and form a new state, thereby leaving a conservative red state and a liberal blue state. But that's not so true any more. Democrat Eliot Spitzer won 65% of the vote upstate.
Surprise surprise. Another Republican gets investigated. You would think that there were only Republicans in the U.S. when it comes to investigations. Bias is truly alive and well.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.