State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman is probing “pay-to-play” corruption schemes in the wake of Bronx Assemblyman Eric Stevenson’s graft arrest and revelations that state Sen. Jeff Klein pushed bills that benefited campaign donors, The Post has learned.
Investigators “are definitely looking at these types of patterns,” a source with knowledge of the situation said.
The feds last week busted Stevenson for bribery after he was allegedly caught taking $20,000 in cash from a donor in return for writing legislation that staved off competitors to the donor’s adult-day-care center.
Stevenson was cuffed after Assemblyman Nelson Castro wore a wire to save his own hide in a perjury rap. Castro is due in Bronx Supreme Court today, where his charges may be dropped.
After Stevenson’s arrest, The Post reported that Klein, who has not been accused of any wrongdoing, is pushing a bill that benefits a New York-based wine distributor that has poured $33,000 into his campaign cup.
“It’s legal bribery,” one source said yesterday.
Klein has also gone to bat for other industries that help fill his campaign coffers, records show.
He sponsored a bill to bar religious entities that operate cemeteries from selling gravestones, and require that the bereaved buy from private monument companies.
Klein has raked in nearly $20,000 from the Monument Industry PAC, whose biggest contributors include the Sprung family, the Long Island-based operators of the Northeast’s largest monument supplier.
Klein also is co-sponsor of a bill to let check-cashing outfits make short-term loans.
Check-cashing entities have steered nearly $24,000 to the lawmaker in recent years, with another $5,000 going to his Independent Democratic Conference.
Additional reporting by Beth DeFalco