All Over Albany

Yep, they were listening

Here's the rundown of allegations made against Dean Skelos and his son, Adam, today by the office of US Attorney Preet Bharara.

If you've been following state politics over the last few years, all of it will sound sadly familiar.

Cue the Bharara corruption-in-state government soundbite: "By now, two things should be abundantly clear. First, public corruption is a deep-seated problem in New York State. It is a problem in both chambers; it is a problem on both sides of the aisle. And second, we are deadly serious about tackling that problem."

Cue the Skelos statement: "I am innocent of the charges leveled against me. I am not saying I am just not guilty, I am saying that I am innocent. I fully expect to be exonerated by a public jury trial."

The short story: The feds allege that Dean Skelos used his position in state government to set up, and sustain, a job and payments to his son in an arrangement involving a real estate developer and a company that made wastewater filtering tech.

The juiciest bits are in the complaint itself, including this section that must have had the federal investigators snorting with laughter:

On March 28, 2015, ADAM SKELOS placed an intercepted call to DEAN SKELOS (AS4.182), who relayed he was in Albany seeking to finalize the State budget. ADAM SKELOS complained that his father could not give him "real advice" concerning issues with the Environmental Technology Company because "you can't talk normally because its like fucking Preet Bharara is listening to every fucking phone call. It's just fucking frustrating." DEAN SKELOS replied, "It is."

The state Capitol media, of course, have saturation coverage of this: New York Times, State of Politics, TU Cap Con, Capital/Politico, Gannett, and many others.