Feds Raid Albany Lobbying Firm, Target of Probe is Former Rep. John SweeneyWe’ve enjoyed cataloging the dubious record of former Rep. John Sweeney (R-NY).
Maybe he’s best known for helping to instigate the “Brooks Brothers Riot” with other Republicans during the Florida recount in December 2000.
Yet at home in upstate New York, he has also been accused of beating his wife, getting conspicuously drunk with college kids, drunk driving and taking free trips from Jack Abramoff.
Now he may be getting roped directly into the Jack Abramoff investigation, as the feds are looking into whether he steered a series of grants to his longtime friend and lobbyist Bill Powers, an elder statesmen of the New York State GOP.
The New York Times reports:
Federal law enforcement agents have raided the offices of an influential lobbying firm in Albany as part of the latest investigation connected to the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal in Washington.
The Times provides no source for the Abramoff link. Other reports do not explicity tie in the raid with Abramoff, but note the DOJ investigation is run from Washington rather than Albany.
From the Albany Times Union
A federal criminal investigation is focusing on the relationship of lobbyist William D. Powers and former U.S. Rep. John E. Sweeney in connection with a series of federal grants that were steered to Powers’ clients, according to several people familiar with the probe.
…Several people familiar with the case said it is centered on a period when Powers’ clients received the earmarks while Sweeney’s then-wife, Gayle, was working for Powers’ Albany-based lobbying firm.
The FBI swarmed the Albany office of the lobbying firm run by Powers, a former head of the New York Republican Party and longtime patron to both Sweeney and former New York Gov. George Pataki.
Double-parking their cars, about 15 agents descended on the State Street suite of the former party official, William Powers, and herded the employees into a room while the agents searched for files.
Sweeney appears to be getting most of the investigators’ attention. The New York Daily News reports:
The agents issued grand jury subpoenas for records about the firm; ex-Republican Rep. John Sweeney; Sweeney’s campaign committee and leadership PAC; Sweeney’s ex-wife, Gayle, who worked for Powers; and Gayle Sweeney’s former fund-raising firm, Creative Consulting.
The Daily News obtained copies of the subpoenas and the FBI confirmed being at the offices.
Abramoff is set for sentencing in September. Does this suggest that three-year-old investigation still has legs?
