Then There Was One
March 9th, 2011
Assuming all the reports are correct (see below) and State Sen. Carl Kruger does turn himself in to federal authorities tomorrow, he will be only the latest in a stream of miscreant state legislators, many of them from New York City. As Rachael Fauss wrote on Gotham Gazette today, “Between 1999 and 2010,17 legislators left office because they were facing or had been convicted of criminal or corruption charges — one out of every 11 legislators who left office. Twelve of those were from New York City.
And two of them were close to Krueger.
The longtime legislator from Brooklyn was among the architects of a coup by four dissident Democrats that brought the State Senate to a standstill for weeks in 2009. Another coup participant — Hiram Monserrate — was expelled from the Senate in February after being convicted of a misdemeanor charge resulting from a possible assault on his girlfriend. He then ran for the Senate seat in the subsequent special election and for the Assembly in November, losing both contests.
And then there is the third of the so-called amigos: Pedro Espada. In September he will go on trial on federal embezzlement and conspiracy charges. He also faces a civil lawsuit charging him with looting more than $14 million from the network of non-profit healthcare clinics he founded.
While no verdicts have been reached in these cases, residents in Espada’s Bronx district already made their decision. In September, they resoundingly rejected Espada and elected Gustavo Rivera to take his place in Albany.
We have no idea what Kruger’s plans for the future are, but if he is charged and convicted of a felon, he must surrender his seat.
Oh, and in case you’re wondering — the fourth member of the so-called Gang of Four: Ruben Diaz Sr.
By Gail Robinson on March 9, 2011, 8:34 pmIn category: Albany, Crime & Safety, Eye on Albany | No Comments »
