Skip Dickstein/The Times Union
Senator Joseph L. Bruno and his son Kenneth at the inauguration of Gov. George E. Pataki in 2003.
Posted on 01/10/2007 9:19:20 PM PST by neverdem
GRAFTON, N.Y. — Pond View Way, a dirt road in this town of 2,125 residents, was completed late last year, but it is so new, and in such a remote location — eight miles west of the Vermont-Massachusetts border — that much of it does not appear on local maps.
Living in a large but secluded house on Pond View Way is Kenneth R. Bruno, a lawyer and real estate broker. He was the district attorney for Rensselaer County from 1997 until 2003, when he resigned to become a lobbyist, with clients like Madison Square Garden. He is also the younger son of Joseph L. Bruno, the leader of the Republican majority in the State Senate.
As part of their investigation into the business dealings of Senator Bruno, federal authorities are examining a series of land deals involving Kenneth Bruno, who has emerged as a nexus between his father and a wealthy businessman, Jared E. Abbruzzese, whose financial ties to Senator Bruno are under scrutiny.
The younger Mr. Bruno was instrumental in persuading the wife of Mr. Abbruzzese to pay $90,000 for almost 12 acres on Pond View Way from a partnership involving Senator Bruno, according to an owner of the partnership. Weeks before that November 2004 deal was completed, a Canadian racetrack owner that had hired Kenneth Bruno as a lobbyist formed an advocacy group with Mr. Abbruzzese that would urge an overhaul of the state’s horse racing industry, an issue in which Senator Bruno has been playing a major role.
Kenneth Bruno’s involvement in recruiting buyers for the partnership’s land, including Mr. Abbruzzese’s wife, was critical to reviving a moribund project in which Senator Bruno had a 25 percent stake, according to James D. Featherstonhaugh, a lawyer and lobbyist who also owned 25 percent of the partnership, the...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
A Hopeful Ponders Where to Plant Her Flag (Will Base Her 08' Campaign in Washington NOT New York!)
FReepmail me if you want on or off my New York ping list.
I suspect that you may have to ping this article tomorrow morning when the interest may be higher. Tonight the interest is focused on the Bush speech.
Please do repost.
ping
Bump for morning bump.
Thanks for the ping!
bump..
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