With Senator Bruno, it's all in the family

Father and son shown here in 2003: NY Times photo

It looks like the Bruno family is in a heap of trouble with federal investigators. The F.B.I. opened up an inquiry last year into the Senator's shady dealings and have now stumbled upon his son's connections to the matter.

From the NY Times today:

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 First Grafton Corporation.

Peeling the onion that is Republican corruption in New York is worse than shedding tears, it is evidence that things need to change up in Albany. Hopefully these investigations will help Spitzer's quest to reform our state's government. We certainly need it.