Lots more where they came from

From the NY Post:

Shady politicians and their backroom deals cost taxpayers at least $49,710,630.64 — enough cash to build two schools, bankroll the New York Islanders or pay for 100 new fire trucks — according to a Post analysis of documents relating to 15 city and state officials who’ve been jailed, indicted, censured or lost re-election bids under a cloud of suspicion since 2006.

The rogues gallery is led by former state Comptroller Alan Hevesi, who cost the state $36 million in pension-fund management fees after taking nearly $1 million in illegal gifts; ex-state Sen. Pedro Espada, who funneled $7 million to himself and family members through a Medicare-funded nonprofit; and Assemblyman Vito Lopez, who cost taxpayers $103,000 in secret settlements after staffers accused him of sexual harassment.

The nearly $50 million tally doesn’t include bribes accepted or money embezzled from private entities, such as the $440,000 that state Sen. John Sampson allegedly raided from foreclosure escrow accounts he was appointed to oversee. It also doesn’t count taxpayer money that was promised but never doled out, such as the $80,000 in discretionary funds City Councilman Dan Halloran allegedly said he’d allocate to a dummy company in exchange for a bribe.