Already indicted on a corruption rap, Brooklyn Assemblyman William Boyland Jr. told an undercover agent that he planned to have his feet up in the governor’s mansion by 2016 — and that doling out payola would unlock the door.
“I’ll give up the Assembly seat, build up a good war chest and come right back when the seat is open in 2016 — and take it,” he told a federal agent posing as a businessman during a surreptitiously videotaped wine-and-dessert meeting at the Tropicana Hotel in Atlantic City in April 2011.
Despite facing a Manhattan federal corruption rap at the time, the optimistic Boyland mapped out his path to power.
“Good P.R., do some MSNBC spots, um, you know, do some columns, you know, have the hottest parties and just have all the supporters coming out to just support us and…winnning this thing big time,” he said in the recording, which was played for jurors Monday ion Brooklyn federal court.
Boyland told the agents that shoveling cash into the proper pockets would help him realize his political dreams. “As many people as you get — as you put money in their pockets over time with these projects — this is how it starts,” he said of his planned ascent.
While Boyland beat the Manhattan charges, he is now battling an indictment in Brooklyn and faces up to 30 years in prison if convicted.
The feds say Boyland offered political favors to agents posing as businessmen in exchange for payoffs. He turned down a 9-year plea deal and is hoping to pull off his second federal acquittal in the past three years.
Jurors have been immersed in hours of recorded footage showing Boyland making grandiose promises — and asking for cash.
At the Tropicana summit an agent asked him what he needed.
“You tell me — and don’t be bashful, what do you need now?” the agent/businessman asked Boyland on tape. “Because I want to make sure you have the stamina to keep going with all this stuff too along the way.”
With little hesitation, Boyland asks for a cool $250,000 to pay for his legal fees stemming from the Manhattan corruption case. “I have legal fees for this legal thing I have,” he said. “I have to hire a good attorney.”
Boyland also repeated his disdain for his measly official earnings with the Assembly that topped out at $110,000 per year.
“That’s s—,” he told the agent.