Chalk up another “first” for New York: The state now has two of its once-most-powerful pols on trial for corruption at the same time.
Jury selection has begun in the case against ex-Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos and his son, Adam, on bribery and extortion charges. The trial of ex-Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver is in its third week.
As recently as January, the two pols (along with the governor) made up the infamous “three men in a room” — the trio that secretively makes all the decisions in Albany. Oh, yeah: US Attorney Preet Bharara is also probing the third man, Gov. Cuomo.
Skelos and Silver insist they’re innocent. Yet the evidence, and the men’s own words and actions, suggest otherwise.
Skelos is charged with using his office to pressure firms with business before the state into making more than $200,000 in payments to his son. The case will feature a mountain of recordings of his and his son’s lurid conversations.
Monday, prosecutors said one of the Skeloses had asked for a plea deal, though nothing came of it. Hmm: Sounds like someone’s worried.
Silver, meanwhile, is charged with using his position to illegally pocket $5 million. On Monday, a top figure at one law firm testified that he so feared the firm’s dealings with Silver were illegal that he hid the details in a secret side letter.
Jurors must decide if the pols’ actions count as crimes. But the sleaziness of it all — quid pro quos, nods and winks, secret payouts — is as obvious as it is odious.
And as common. Recent years have seen more than 30 lawmakers indicted or forced from office under a cloud. These trials offer but a whiff of Albany’s stench.
Fact is, the Skelos and Silver cases put the state’s entire political system on trial. And New Yorkers don’t need to wait for the verdicts to know: They deserve better.