Fed Probers Digging Deeper

Fed probers demand Qns. pol's pork files
The New York Post by Fredric U. Dicker  -  May 9, 2011

Federal probers are focusing on a Queens senator under inves tigation for steering hundreds of thousands of public dollars to not-for-profit groups with ties to her family and friends.  Sen. Shirley Huntley, a Democrat, received a federal subpoena seeking records and documents related to her obtaining more than $400,000 for the nonprofits through the Legislature's notorious "member item" system of government earmarks, a source familiar with the situation told The Post.  The federal subpoena came on top of a probe that included the issuance of state subpoenas by Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, first reported by The Post in March, of possible violations involving the Huntley-connected nonprofits.  State government insiders and law-enforcement sources said the Manhattan and Brooklyn district US attorneys' offices have broad probes of Senate members including Huntley under way.  The probes focus on fraudulent distribution of member-item monies, the aborted Aqueduct/AEG casino contract in 2010 involving then-Gov. David Paterson and then-Senate Democratic leaders John Sampson of Brooklyn and Malcolm Smith of Queens, and, of course, charges of individual bribe taking by lawmakers like those brought in March by federal prosecutors against Sen. Carl Kruger (D-Brooklyn).  Insiders said the investigations appear to be accelerating at the same time Gov. Cuomo is struggling to get the Legislature to pass a sweeping ethics-reform law requiring lawmakers to fully disclose their outside incomes and the names of their clients.  "The feds are all over the Senate. They're looking at Aqueduct, they're looking at Huntley and other senators, and they are working at a steady pace," said a law-enforcement insider.  "I wouldn't expect any new big developments for at least several more months."  A Senate Democratic spokesman, Austin Shafran, referred questions to Huntley's lawyer, Mark Pollard, who did not return calls for comment.

With runaway gasoline prices, a hobbled economy and a Middle East crisis to deal with in Washington, US Sen. Charles Schumer recently weighed in on what he must consider an even more important issue: unfair toll charges on state highways.  The publicity-craving Democrat held a press conference dealing with what is legally Cuomo's concern without even a blush, and the governor's office was clearly unhappy, even while remaining tight-lipped.  A top Cuomo aide, asked about the appropriateness of Schumer's concern, remained conspicuously silent.

Senate Democrats are rejecting the claim of gadfly Democratic megamillionaire William Samuels, another notorious publicity hound who funds a purported reform group called the New Roosevelt Initiative, that Cuomo didn't do enough to help them keep the majority in last fall's election.  "Senate Democrats disavow and disagree with any notion that the governor didn't work hard for us during the campaigns," said a top Senate Democrat.  "The question is, 'Who is Samuels speaking for?' because it sure isn't Senate Democrats, who want to partner with the governor."  Samuels, son of 1974 Democratic gubernatorial hopeful and one-time OTB chief Howard "Howie the Horse" Samuels, also delivered on upstate's YNN what has to be the most bizarre claim of the year as he insisted Spitzer was more of a government reformer than is Cuomo.  Spitzer -- who unleashed the State Police against a Republican foe, signed an ethics "reform" bill that made Albany's corruption worse, engaged in illegal banking transactions and patronized at least one prostitute -- was, in fact, the most crooked New York governor in modern times, the record clearly shows. fredric.dicker@nypost.com