You can’t campaign from behind bars.
Indicted state Sen. Malcolm Smith wants his upcoming federal fraud and bribery trial pushed back a few months until after the Democratic primary so that the Queens pol can seek re-election.
“In the interest of a fair election, the primary should be before the trial so the voters have the chance to decide on the issues,” Smith’s lawyer Gerry Shargel told reporters Friday.
“Mr. Smith is presumed innocent,” added Shargel, shortly after he asked White Plains federal Judge Kenneth Karas in a court appearance to delay the trail.
Smith – one of the state’s top Democrats – was busted last year in a failed scheme to secure a spot on the Republican line for the mayoral race through the bribery of then-Councilman Dan Halloran (R-Queens) and two other GOP leaders.
However, Mr. Smith’s desire to go to back to Albany at the expense of pushing back the trial isn’t sitting well with the feds – who feel his criminal charges should be decided before voters get to cast their ballots.
“The public has an interest in the way of resolution of these charges,” Assistant US Attorney David Bloom told Karas.
The trial is tentatively set for early June. The state Legislature is currently mulling whether to move this year’s state primaries from September to June to match congressional primaries.
Karas told Shargel to lay out his argument to push the trial back in legal papers and that he’d decide on the motion at a later date.
Shargel said Bloom is wrongfully assuming there will be a conviction.
“I don’t think a conviction is going to happen,” he said.
Whether the trial is pushed back or not, Smith by law would have to relinquish his Albany post if he’s convicted of a felony.
His competition for the Democratic line in his Queens district includes lawyer Munir Avery and Clyde Vanel, a former candidate for City Council and the Assembly — neither of whom have Smith’s name recognition or financial resources.
In November, Joseph “Jay” Savino, the disgraced former boss of the Bronx Republican Party, copped a plea to accepting a $15,000 bribe to let Smith run as a Republican for mayor. He also threw Halloran under the bus, saying Halloran – who is also fighting bribery charges — instigated the entire scheme to boost Smith.