UPDATED: Pols Already Scrubbing Themselves Of Kruger's Money
From the Daily News:
Freshman Bronx state Sen. Gustavo Rivera – who ran on an anti-corruption platform when he defeated scandal-scarred Sen. Pedro Espada, Jr. last year – has become the first legislator to announce he’s returning giving away donations from just-indicted Brooklyn Sen. Carl Kruger.
“Sen. Rivera is returning $2,500 that was given to him by Sen. Kruger,” Rivera Communications Director Conchita Cruz told the Daily News. “These accusations cut at the very heart of what New Yorkers hate about Albany — backroom deals, pay-to-play and corruption scandals,” she said.
State Senator Carl Kruger was a Democratic Party heavyweight who political observers say doled out money and influence. He contributed to a number of political campaigns and, allegedly, pulled strings behind the scenes to prevent challengers to his own seat, and to install preferred candidates in other positions.
Will it end at Rivera? Or will those who’ve benefited from Kruger’s alleged corruption also dump the money?
We’ll make it easier for you. If you’re a politician looking to donate funds obtained from Kruger, click here.
UPDATED (2:42 p.m.):
More from the Daily News:
The Democratic Senate Campaign Committee says it won’t give back money it received from Kruger, partly because the money’s already been spent (and, we might note, because they’re already in debt and there’s not much to pay it back with.)
NYPIRG’s Bill Mahoney doped up a spreadsheet of Kruger spending, and Blain counts $475,000 to the DSCC over the past five years. Overall, his campaign shelled out $886,500 in contributions to various groups and candidates during that period.
According to Mahoney, state Sens. Mike Gianaris (the new head of the DSCC, incidentally) and Liz Krueger (who will reportedly replace Kruger as minority ranker on Finance) are the only Senate Democrats who have NOT received any dough from him.
Update: Members of the Senate Independent Democratic Conference say that like Rivera, they will donate any contributions they received from Kruger to charity.
The caucus members — Sens. Jeffrey Klein, Diane Savino, David Valesky, and David Carlucci — received a combined $8,000 from Kruger in the last election cycle.