The two men sat in the state senator’s parked car in suburban Rockland County, but New York City was at the front of their minds and the focus of their conversation.This is not surprising, because he is also one of the Benedict Arnold Democrats who colluded with Republicans in the state to wrest control from the Democrats who actually won most of the seats:
What the senator, Malcolm A. Smith, wanted to do, the other man explained, was going to cost “a pretty penny.”
“But it’s worth it,” replied Senator Smith, a Democrat, according to a transcript of the January meeting. “Because you know how big a deal it is.”
His plan, described by federal prosecutors in a criminal complaint unsealed on Tuesday, was as ambitious as it was audacious. Mr. Smith was going to bribe his way onto the ballot to run for mayor of New York.
But he needed help, from a disparate cast of characters, including a Republican City Council member from Queens, Daniel J. Halloran III, and two Republican leaders from Queens and the Bronx, Vincent Tabone and Joseph J. Savino. And he needed the help of the other man in the car, who, unbeknown to Mr. Smith, was a cooperating witness for the Federal Bureau of Investigation and was recording the whole conversation.
Instead of appearing on the ballot, Mr. Smith’s name has landed in a marquee spot on the criminal complaint. On Tuesday, he, Councilman Halloran and the Republican Party leaders were charged with wire fraud and bribery. The senator was also charged with extortion.
New York Republicans joined forces with a group of dissident Democrats on Tuesday to form what they called a “bipartisan governing coalition” to run the State Senate, preventing the Democratic Party from taking control even after it appeared to have won a majority of Senate seats in elections last month.The obvious question here is, "Why did he think that he could bribe Republicans into nominating him for Mayor?"
The announcement was the latest twist in a state capital that has had more than its share in recent years, with a string of leadership squabbles, corruption investigations and sex scandals that at times crippled the government and made Albany a laughingstock.
The power-sharing deal announced Tuesday was a victory for New York Republicans, who are outnumbered 2-to-1 in the state’s electorate and who fared unexpectedly poorly in a series of Senate races last month. The exact outcome of the election remains unclear, because ballots in two close races are still being counted, but the consensus in Albany is that the Democrats won more seats than the Republicans.
But shortly after the elections, one Democrat said he would align himself with the Republicans, and on Tuesday five others said they would join with the Republicans to control the Senate. Many of the remaining Senate Democrats were furious, accusing the Republicans and the breakaway Democrats of orchestrating a coup to steal control.
As part of the deal, the Senate majority leader, Dean G. Skelos, a Long Island Republican, agreed to share authority over the chamber with Senator Jeffrey D. Klein, a Bronx Democrat who was the No. 2 official in his caucus before defecting nearly two years ago to form the Independent Democratic Conference.
The simplest answer (see Occam's Razor) as to why he might believe this is is pretty clear here: The Republicans bribed him to jump over the aisle, and so Senator Smith expected them to be similarly receptive to bribes.
I have no evidence of this, but it seems to me that some sort of payoff had to be involved in the "Independent Democratic Conference" knifing their fellow Dems in the back.
The only question is whether it was limited to legal things, like committee chairmanships, or there was something more remunerative involved.
Considering the fact that this is Albany, I'll take the door behind the piles of unmarked bills.
H/t Ed Kilgore.
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