New York Post columnist Fred Dicker claims the latest indictment handed down by U.S. attorney Preet Bharara shows that the corruption investigations in New York are moving “a giant step closer” to Governor Andrew Cuomo.
That indictment actually involved the case of another recently arrested pol, Republican Dean Skelos. It alleges that insurance executive Anthony Bonomo gave Skelos’ son, Adam, a no-show job that netted him over $100,000 in payments and health benefits.
Bonomo has been a major contributor to the governor, which may have helped him secure a role at the New York Racing Association, where Cuomo made him chairman.
One source from Dicker’s column claims Bonomo would never have given Adam Skelos the position without first securing Governor Cuomo’s consent.
Via the New York Post:
“Bonomo is Cuomo’s guy, and he wouldn’t offer anything to Skelos’ kid without first making sure it was OK with the governor or his people,’’ said a senior state Democrat.
“The fact that Bonomo, like Dorego, is cooperating with Bharara brings the whole investigation a giant step closer to Cuomo,’’ the Democrat added, referring to Charles Dorego, a top official at Cuomo megacontributor Leonard Litwin’s Glenwood Management.
[…]
Others at the Capitol agreed Bharara appeared to be moving closer to charging Cuomo and/or one or more of his top aides in his investigation of corruption in state government, which originated with Cuomo’s abrupt closure last year of his Moreland Act Commission as it was closing in on evidence of wrongdoing.
“This is a drip by drip that’s getting closer and closer to Cuomo, with Bonomo and Dorego providing prosecutors with an inside look at how the corrupt Albany system works,’’ explained a second senior state political figure.
A spokesman told Dicker that Bonomo’s insurance firm donated nearly $250,000 to Cuomo’s campaign committee.
After Cuomo’s colleague Sheldon Silver was arrested in January, Bharara provided a cryptic prediction of further indictments down the line, seemingly including those of Skelos and Bonomo in retrospect.
Will the corruption probe go all the way to the top when all is said and done?
“Stay tuned,” he announced.
Cross-posted at the Mental Recession
