Turning Point in Albany?

New York State Senate Leader/Legislative Godfather Joe Bruno pulls back the curtain in his New York Magazine profile. Bruno's one of three men (Bruno, Democratic Assembly Leader Sheldon Silver, and Gov. Eliot Spitzer) who execute virtually all of the large-scale political and economic decisions for New York. Here's a good capsule on how this works:

Ask him about his legacy, and he’ll point to his mastery of the pork process. “Take a look around Albany. Take a look around Troy. Take a look at the airport. Do you think that airport would be there if I wasn’t the leader?” he says. “You know how the airport got there? We’re trying to close the budget and Shelly wouldn’t close. So Pataki says, ‘What’s it take to close?’ Shelly says, ‘I need a library in Brooklyn.’ ‘How much?’ Shelly says, ‘$65 million.’ Pataki says, ‘Well, that’s all right.’ It was a $100 billion budget. So I said, ‘It’s not okay with me. I don’t have a single member in Brooklyn.’ ‘So what do you need?’ ‘I need $65 million for the airport.’ Pataki says, ‘Shelly, do you care?’ ‘No, I don’t care, as long as I get my library.’ Pataki says, ‘Good. Done.’”

Nice. Best is "Take a look around Albany. Take a look around Troy." Ummm, not a great argument. Geoffrey Gray should have taken the Senator's request literally and driven 10 minutes upriver. Minus the RPI campus perched atop a hill, a random walk though Troy, NY is a great example of a modern American manufacturing ghost town--boarded up businesses, middle age men in bars at 3 pm, etc.

Anyhow, the story is essentially a kind--if disjointed and forced--tale of an era ending; profile of a powerful, colorful man dealing with losing that power. But Bruno comes dangerously close to admitting an improper and possibly illegal relationship between his capacity as a consultant with a Connecticut investment group and his gravitational pull as Albany puppet master.

And as the Times reports today, Bruno's orbit is scrambling to say Bruno's comments were out of context, label the story as a sly hit piece (it wasn't) and infer Bruno wasn't in his right mind during the interview because his wife was dying. All are viable defenses, but guys, pushing one excuse usually works better than throwing all of them out there and seeing what sticks.

Problem is, none of these work. You can't be a savvy uber-machinist pol for as long as Bruno has and simultaneously not know that everything you say is pretty much on the record no matter what in an investigative piece with a left leaning magazine.