Hiram still haunting us

From the NY Post:

An amusement company has been charged with participating in a pay-to-play game by bribing disgraced former state Sen. Hiram Monserrate for help in getting permits to run carnivals, sources told The Post.

Brooklyn federal prosecutors believe Lawrence Carr's payoffs consisted of checks to a nonprofit organization connected to the woman-abusing pol, the sources said.

Monserrate is already under indictment for allegedly using a nonprofit organization, the Latino Initiative for Better Resources & Empowerment, to funnel taxpayer money for campaign use when he was a city councilman.

The new charges are in an indictment charging Carr with bribery.

The Florida man, 70, who operates Lawrence Carr Amusements, has pleaded not guilty and is free on $200,000 bail.

Politicians are sometimes paid off to persuade community organizations to apply for permits necessary to run carnivals, the sources said.

Carr's lawyer, Susan Kellman, claims her client was shaken down.

"If you get extorted by organized crime, you're called a victim. But if you're extorted by a public official, you're called a defendant," she said.