State Senate Leader Bruno Still Investigated by FBI

New York State Senate leader Joseph Bruno is still under FBI investigation for possibly improper ties to unions that deal with state pension agencies! In 2006, Bruno said of the FBI's look, "I have nothing to hide. They are going into background over the past five or six years," but the NY Times describes the feds' current investigation as widening.

At issue are tens of millions of dollars paid by Albany labor unions in fees to companies who have employed Bruno for approximately a decade. In addition to his $121,000 salary, Senate Majority Leader Bruno was getting paid for consulting services to a few financial firms that do business with the state and also has his own consulting business.

The FBI issued a number of subpoenas to the heads of public pension firms and building union trades, who had financial relationships with Bruno-the-consultant. A labor leader anonymously told the Daily News, "The conventional strategy of many building trades and public sector unions is about to end. They've made their bets on Bruno, but it's all unraveling."

State politicians are allowed to have outside work, as long as it doesn't conflict with their government jobs. The Times does emphasize, "it has never been clear what kind of consulting work the senator does, and he has never released a list of his clients." We can only imagine that Governor Eliot Spitzer, who found his first year in gubernatorial office submerged in Bruno-inspired scandal after Troopergate backfired, is privately smiling.