Untangling The Web Of Joe Bruno's State Senate

Prosecutors are busy preparing for November's trial against Joe Bruno, but the newly-minted Democratic State Senate is dealing with the aftermath of the corrupt system of patronage that Mr. Bruno and his fellow Republicans had built up in Albany and around the state. Most observers of state politics assumed that the preferential treatment for the former majority party was broad, but not to the degree that they are starting to find out about.

From The NY Times:

They recently realized there are some 75 employees working at the Senate’s own printing plant, a plain brick building on the outskirts of Albany. On Long Island, they found a small television studio, which had been set up — all with public money, with two press aides on hand to help operate it — for the exclusive use of Republican senators to record cable TV shows.

Democrats also came across what they are calling the “Brunomobile,” a $50,000 specially outfitted GMC van, with six leather captain’s chairs (some swiveling), a navigation system, rearview camera and meeting table. Joseph L. Bruno, the former Senate majority leader who was recently indicted on corruption charges, traveled in the van after his use of state helicopters sparked a feud with the Spitzer administration.

Then there are the parking spots, always at a premium near the Capitol. Democrats had been given roughly one spot per senator — there were 30 Democrats last year — and guessed there were perhaps double or even triple that controlled by the majority. Instead, they have learned, there are more than 800.

Sadly, that is just the beginning of it. The inequality between Republicans and Democrats was vast, more so than many others legislatures. That is in part because, as the FBI calls it, the byzantine rules of the State Senate easily hid the patronage and cronyism within.

Now it is the job of the Feds to deal with Mr. Bruno, no matter how hard he proclaims his innocence against the wall of evidence towering above him. In the Senate, it will be up to the Democrats not only to fully air and expose what the Republicans have been up to for the last few decades but to keep it as clean as possible so that their talk of reform is turned into action.