On Day 3 of the federal corruption trial against former state Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos, jurors got a window into the world of well-connected lobbyists and their often transactional relationship with Albany politicians. NY1's Bobby Cuza filed the following report.
It was December 2010, and Dean Skelos and his Republican colleagues had just won back control of the state Senate. At a celebratory meeting with executives from Glenwood Management, a powerful real estate developer, Skelos thanked them for their campaign contributions, but he also asked for a personal favor: help finding work for his son Adam.
It wasn't the last time he'd make the request Glenwood executive Charles Dorego testified Thursday that the topic came up at least seven more times at later meetings, at the same time Glenwood was lobbying Skelos regarding state rent regulations. Dorego said he was concerned and uncomfortable with the requests, saying, "He had asked a number of times, and I didn't want him to get angry with me or with us...We were at a critical point in many pieces--the two major pieces--of legislation at that time."
There was apparently reason to fear Dean Skelos's temper. Dorego testified that Skelos berated him at one point for making campaign contributions to Queens state Senator Michael Gianaris, a prominent Democrat. And he wasn't shy about pressing for campaign cash. At one point, Dorego said, Skelos was furious at Stephen Ross and other executives at Related Companies, another real estate behemoth, telling him that "...at some point, if they didn't step to the plate and pony up, that he was going to 'f' them."
Dorego said Glenwood's owner, Leonard Litwin, made it his top priority to keep Republicans in control of the state Senate, believing they best represented business interests. In return, Glenwood executives were apparently privy to strategy sessions. At one point, Dorego said, he was concerned about Governor Andrew Cuomo's push for campaign finance reform. He said Skelos laughed it off, saying, "It's never gonna happen. We're never gonna pass that."
Glenwood is also playing a central role in the corruption case against former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, whose trial is ongoing in the federal courthouse just across the street. Glenwood is one of just three companies that Dean Skelos is charged with strong-arming into making payments to his son through a series of mostly no-show jobs.