Terrific New York Times editorial on Joe Bruno
We mentioned earlier this week that the investigation into Republican State Senate Leader Joe Bruno had broadened (via the NYT):
Federal authorities have widened their investigation of the Senate majority leader, Joseph L. Bruno, issuing subpoenas to pension funds affiliated with union locals in and around the senator’s Albany-area district, people with knowledge of the investigation said.
Half a dozen union locals in the Albany area have invested tens of millions of dollars with a Connecticut investment firm that has long employed the senator. Mr. Bruno and the investment firm, Wright Investors’ Service, severed their ties shortly after The New York Times revealed the investments in December, but neither has been willing to detail what the senator’s job was, beyond saying it was related to “business development.â€
Today, the Times has an excellent editorial on the larger context of the investigation:
This year, Mr. Bruno’s efforts are crucial as he heads up the fight to keep the State Senate in the hands of his fellow Republicans. Because Democrats control the lower house and Gov. Eliot Spitzer is a Democrat, losing the narrow Republican majority in the Senate would be a big deal far beyond Albany. New York’s Democrats would then control Congressional redistricting after the 2010 census and could use their power to wrest seats in the House from the Republicans.
Given all of this, it is hard not to be at least a tad skeptical of the pace at which the investigation is proceeding. Last year, it became clear that the Bush Justice Department was driven by political partisanship. After revelations pointing to political motives in hiring and firing United States attorneys, which led to former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales’s resignation, the Justice Department hardly deserves the benefit of the doubt in its handling of investigations of Republicans.
One thing they don’t mention: the lead prosecutor was taken off the case and given a judgeship (see also here if that link doesn’t work). The same thing happened earlier with the lead prosecutor in the Jack Abramoff case.
I’m not much for conspiracy theories, but at a certain point such things cease to look like a string of coincidences.
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