State Inspector General Joseph Fisch yesterday referred to state and federal prosecutors his findings regard ing last year’s eye-poppingly corrupt Aqueduct racino deal — in the process undercutting any reasonable case for the election of state Sen. Eric Schneiderman as attorney general Nov. 2.
Fisch’s 308-page report excoriates state Senate Democratic leaders John Sampson and Malcolm Smith, plus Sen. Eric Adams and Senate Chief of Staff Angelo Aponte.
And self-styled champion of reform Schneiderman is thick as thieves with the Senate Democratic leadership — of which, as deputy majority leader for policy, he is an integral part.
He was part and parcel of the deal that installed Sampson, Smith and Pedro Espada as the Senate’s supreme leaders and made Aponte its chief political appointee. Indeed, he’s as tight as anyone can be with the chamber’s leadership.
So where was he when — in Fisch’s words — “our state leaders abdicated their public duty, failed to impose ethical standards and focused on political gain at a cost of millions to New Yorkers”?
Out for a long lunch, no doubt.
Fisch alleges that the Senate leadership wired the bid of its favored vendor, Aqueduct Entertainment Group (AEG),
by leaking confidential information about competing bids to AEG.
Whereupon AEG shelled out tens of thousands in contributions to Senate Democrats as well as to the Rev. Al Sharpton’s National Action Network (to which, it so happens, Schneiderman has promised its own “annex” in the AG’s office if he’s elected).
There’s more — much more — and Fisch has forwarded it all to Manhattan DA Cy Vance and US Attorney Preet Bharara for possible prosecution.
The AEG deal unraveled after the Lottery Division deemed the firm “unlicensable.” Ultimately, the agency picked Genting New York to run the video casino.
Gov. Paterson and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver also had a hand in the debacle, of course. But the bulk of the chicanery was in the Senate, according to Fisch.
So Senate Democrats, who run the joint, need to pay a price for that next month.
That goes for Schneiderman, too.
By contrast, his opponent, Staten Island DA Dan Donovan, is unencumbered by ties to Albany’s business-as-usual bunch.
The choice for New York’s chief law-enforcement officer couldn’t be more vital — or clear.