Good Jay Gallagher piece on Stonegate
From the D&C:
What, exactly, did Senate Republicans expect when they hired Roger Stone as a political consultant in June? Didn’t someone caution them that the move was likely to blow up in their faces eventually?
That’s exactly what happened this week, when the one-time alleged Nixonian dirty-tricks practitioner was accused of making a threatening telephone call to Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s 83-year-old father, Bernard, who suffers from Parkinson’s disease.
And yes, this is the same Roger Stone who was fined by the state Lobbying Commission in 2000, along with real estate developer Donald Trump, after it was discovered that Trump was secretly paying for newspaper ads trying to torpedo plans for gambling casinos in the Catskills.
And in 1996 he was forced to quit the Robert Dole presidential campaign after provocative photos of him and his wife appeared in “swinger” magazines.
The fact that the ads were paid for with his credit card undercut his denials that he had nothing to do with placing them.
I would have prefered a more comprehensive report of Stone’s past misdeeds — we’ve got details about his inolvement in Watergate and the Brooks Brothers Riot here. But, as usual, Jay Gallagher does a good job of putting this sordid episode into the proper context. (And, yes, when Albany is the subject, the phrases “as usual” and “sordid episode” should often appear in the same sentence.)
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How Joe Bruno, friend and colleague of now deceased, Senator Ronald Stafford, can state what is wrong with NY government “is the abuse of government power, political espionage and and a cover up of information” is almost too hard to believe - was he backed in a corner, when he decided to make this statement - did someone use a prerecorded voice to make it appear this was him speaking - come on already. Bruno and the long-lasting Republicans connected to former Senator Stafford wrote the book on this method of governing, - don’t like what you see or hear - chop it at the ankles and destroy, all in a good days work paid by your fellow NY tax payer.
I can no longer claim to be a resident of NY after personally experiencing the abuse of power at ever possible turn, yet, I some how feel as if I am the winner. Shamful ways and heavy chains hold NY back and this saddnes lingers with me. In a nut shell, I maintain a first amendment law suit against Clinton County with the intention to expose lies, fraud and destruction at the hands of legislators orchestrated no-less by the county attorney, former staffer and colleague to who else - Republican Senator Stafford. The veil will lift for the North Country - the day is coming and the glory of the region will propel a shift forward leaving behind the heavy handed, dark days.
The fact that Elliot Spitzer went to such lengths to expose yet another dirty politician, albeit out of respect and concern for his father, by hiring Kroll Associates, is disturbing on some levels. I want to like the guy - he is the only thing I have to believe NY has a chance to do better, the bithplace of my children and the home of an agency that I spent 15 years building. I did everything possible to expose the abuse of power by Clinton County by bringing it to the attention of the AG’s office when Eilliot Spitzer was at the helm. I also went to the Ethics Committee, and the office responsible for investigating unethical district attorneys. Once Elliot Spitzer took the governor’s office, I sent yet another letter conveying the facts and asked for an investigation, a hearing, just something.
To no avail nothing was ever done to conduct an investigation. And so after Judge Lawarence Kahn dismissed the case one year ago, despite the overwhelming evidence of abuse of power, we wait in the appeals court.
Mr. Bruno, and those who have come to aspire to your ways, your days are numbered; surely one domino will fall and the rest shall follow, one-by-one.