Sen. Malcolm Smith, Sen. John Sampson and now former Assemblyman Eric Stevenson have more in common than just high-profile corruption arrests last year.
Arrests be damned, the three shameless pols kept putting in for travel expenses to Albany — known as per diems — paid out by the state, records provided by the state controller’s office show.
Smith, a Queens Democrat who once was in charge of the Senate, actually led the chamber last year with $21,372 in per-diem reimbursements despite the fact he was hit by the feds in April 2013 with charges of trying to buy Republican support in the Bronx and Queens to get him on the city mayoral ballot.
Sampson (D-Brooklyn) was fifth in the Senate in per-diem reimbursements, with $15,449. Sampson, who once led the chamber, regularly attends the legislative session, but is often seen on the phone outside the chamber when lawmakers are inside debating bills. He was arrested in May on federal embezzlement charges.
He also charged another $9,068 last year for travel expenses related to gas, mileage and tolls, records show.
On the Assembly side, Eric Stevenson, a Bronx Democrat who was charged in April 2013 with accepting $20,000 in cash bribes, received $19,271 in per-diems — the fourth-highest amount in the chamber last year. He also claimed another $5,952 in other travel expenses.
All three had something else in common. They each put in for per-diem reimbursements throughout the year, not just during the legislative session that ended in June.
4 comments:
when exactly did shame go extinct?
egg these guys when they're out in public.
Could you add MMV and MK to that list please?
Still have not the foggiest idea people like Gianaris are doing in Albany except 'rising through the ranks.'
Reminds me of something yeast does.
In any case, why are they oblivious to this? Don't care about our taxes?
Anon No. 2:
They haven't been indicted yet.
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