FBI investigation looks at legislative panel’s 10-year-old rulings

An FBI investigation of Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno is focusing on several opinions he received more than a decade ago from the Legislative Ethics Commission that relate to his personal business ventures, including real estate development and horse breeding, the Times Union has learned.

Two FBI agents hand-delivered a federal grand jury subpoena to the ethics commission staff about two months ago requesting copies of the opinions, which were promptly turned over, a person familiar with the matter said.

Another person close to the investigation said federal authorities are closely examining the process by which Bruno may have received authorization from within state government for his various private business dealings.

Bruno, R-Brunswick, has sought at least four opinions from the commission, which was known as the Legislative Ethics Committee before being renamed last year. The opinions, which have never been made public, were issued more than 10 years ago in the early 1990s, the person familiar with the ethics rulings said.

One of the opinions relates to First Grafton Corp., a secluded Rensselaer County development in which Bruno was a 25-percent investor.

Bruno was a principal of First Grafton until 1992, when his investment in the development group was placed in a trust. That took place around the time he received an opinion from the ethics committee regarding his financial interest in the project, a source close to the committee said.

Another opinion Bruno received from the ethics committee was in connection with the senator’s ownership of horses and business dealings with his friend, Columbia County veterinarian Jerry Bilinski.

Bilinski is a former chairman of the Racing and Wagering Board, and a principal of Excelsior Racing Associates, which had bid on the franchise to run races at the three NYRA tracks.

Two years ago, Bilinski also received a federal grand jury subpoena related to his horse ownership records as part of the investigation of Bruno.

“I’d never seen anything treated with such importance as that was,” said a person who was involved with the ethics committee’s work in the Bilinski matter 12 years ago. “It was like a meeting of the war department.”

The ethics commission was revamped last year as part of what state leaders said was a sweeping ethics reform bill. It is touted by those leaders as a bipartisan panel that provides lawmakers with opinions and clarifications about ethics rules. But its work is not subject to the state’s Open Meetings or Freedom of Information laws.

However, an individual lawmaker is free to publicly release any opinion he receives from the commission. Bruno’s office declined to do so on Wednesday when asked by the Times Union.

Melissa Ryan, executive director of the Legislative Ethics Commission, said she could not discuss details of opinions or disclose information about subpoenas received by the commission.

“There is an investigation,” Ryan said in a recent interview. “We’ve been fully cooperative with it, as has Senator Bruno’s office.”

In an interview on Wednesday, Ryan said she could not confirm her office’s receipt of the federal subpoena two months ago.

“I can’t talk about any requests that are made in a specific case,” she said.

Source: Time Union Read the full article here