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February 11, 2012
When ACORN endorsed Republican Spano in 2006, was Forest City Ratner a factor? Worth pondering, though plea deal suggests no ties to Ridge Hill
Atlantic Yards
The byzantine world of Yonkers politics, revealed in part by a federal investigation into corruption, has shed light on the relationship between lobbyist/elected official Mike Spano and developer Forest City Ratner.
With the guilty plea by his brother Nick Spano to tax evasion just before the larger corruption trial involving Forest City's Ridge Hill project, there was reason to wonder about connections to Ridge Hill, but the actual plea details released yesterday cast some doubt.
Yes, Nick Spano had a close relationship with defendant Zehy Jereis--who got a no-show job from FCR after allegedly bribing Council Member Sandy Annabi to change her vote on Ridge Hill. Did Nick Spano have any connection to Forest City and Ridge Hill? Unclear, and unclear.
Two of the three Assistant U.S. Attorneys prosecuting the corruption case signed Spano's plea agreement. However, Journal News columnist Phil Reisman, in a column today headlined Sole Spano count seems like swing, miss, thinks that a one-count tax charge was not enough to take out "the political fixer and the big macher of Yonkers," who will still keep his "lucrative lobbying business":
They went after a whale, and it seems all they harpooned was a minnow. It’s hardly a stretch to think that the Ahab-like mission was to somehow tie Spano to the bribery scandal surrounding the $630 million Ridge Hill project in Yonkers. But failing in that, the U.S. Attorney’s Office did what all investigators do when they can’t get the solid goods on somebody: They nail them on taxes.
What’s more, they issued Spano’s crime sheet less than a week before the Ridge Hill trial is scheduled to begin. It may only be a coincidence, but the timing suggests guilt by association.
Posted by steve at February 11, 2012 5:26 PM