Ex-NY Senate leader, son face sentencing in corruption case

NEW YORK (AP) - For the second time in less than two weeks, a once-powerful New York politician is facing sentencing in a spate of corruption cases that have roiled Albany.

Former Senate majority leader Dean Skelos, 68, and his son, Adam, 33, are scheduled to appear in federal court in Manhattan on Thursday morning following convictions last year for extortion, fraud and bribery. On May 3, another Manhattan federal judge sentenced former New York Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, a Democrat, to 12 years in prison in his bribery case.

At trial, the government had accused the elder Skelos, a Long Island Republican, of strong-arming three companies with a stake in state legislation - a major real estate developer, an environmental technology company and a medical malpractice insurer - into giving his son about $300,000 through consulting work, a no-show job and a payment of $20,000. The scheme unraveled when investigators began recording phone calls between the father and son.

On one tape, jurors heard Adam Skelos, snapping at a supervisor on the no-show job, "Guys like you aren't fit to shine my shoes." In another, the senator coached his son about the need for discretion amid the state capital's ongoing corruption scandal, saying, "Right now we're in dangerous times, Adam."

Defense attorneys argued at trial that the tapes and other evidence showed only that Dean Skelos was a devoted father looking out for his son, and that overzealous prosecutors were overreaching. The defense has taken a similar position in court papers seeking probation instead of prison time for both defendants.

Dean Skelos' conviction "represents a complete aberration in an otherwise extraordinary and honorable record of service," the papers say. "Tragically, the conduct which led to his conviction was fundamentally driven by Dean's love and concern for his only son ... a love that is the hallmark of his family life."

A government filing demands a stiff sentence near or within advisory guidelines of roughly 12 to 15 years for Dean Skelos and 10 to 12 years for Adam.

The father and son "have fed the public's worst fears and suspicions about their government: that our elected officials are not looking out for the public good, but instead looking out only for ways to turn the immense power entrusted in them into personal profit," prosecutors wrote. "At a time when the public's trust in their government is at an all-time low, Dean and Adam Skelos, through their conduct and their words, have managed to lower the bar even further."

Skelos and Silver were among a group dubbed the "three men in a room" in Albany, a nod to the longstanding practice of legislative leaders and the governor negotiating key bills behind closed doors. They were the highest-ranking of the more than 30 lawmakers have left office facing criminal charges or allegations of ethical misconduct since 2000.