Mangano likened to Margiotta? D'Amato backs Sapraicone after pushing Gillibrand;
Mangano vs Margiotta?
A federal appellate judge twice brought up the name of the late Nassau Republican boss Joseph Margiotta during 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals arguments last week about former Republican County Executive Ed Mangano's request to overturn his 2019 conviction on federal corruption charges.
Mangano is currently serving a 12-year prison term for pressuring Oyster Bay Town officials to guarantee $20 million in personal loans to its concessionaire, Harendra Singh, a Mangano family friend.
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| Ed Mangano |
In return, Mangano was accused of accepting exorbitant gifts from Singh, including a $100,000 a year "low-show" job for his wife Linda over four years.
Judge Gerard Lynch, appointed to the Appeals Court in 2003 by former President Barack Obama, seemed to suggest that Mangano, as county executive, was more powerful than Margiotta because Margiotta had been a private citizen.
This blog will pause a moment now to allow for old-time Republicans to stop laughing.
Margiotta was one of the most powerful political bosses in the country from 1967 until in his conviction on mail fraud in 1983. He served prison time for setting up a municipal insurance kickback scheme in Republican-controlled Nassau County and Hempstead Town even though he held no public office.
A federal jury concluded that Margiotta had a "fiduciary responsibility" to the citizens of Nassau County and Hempstead Town because he had so much power over government operations as party leader.
Subsequent U.S. Supreme Court decisions modified that conclusion as recently as last year in a case involving former Gov. Andrew Cuomo aide Joseph Percocco, when it ruled that a private citizen -- unlike a government official -- does not owe the public a duty of honest services.
The modifications didn't help Margiotta, who died a convicted felon in 2008.
But that seemed to be the crux of Lynch's arguments: Mangano was a public official who had a fiduciary responsibility to the public; Margiotta was a private citizen.
Mangano's attorneys argued that Mangano held no official position in Oyster Bay so he could not take official action to pressure town officials,
Lynch said near the start of the hearing: "Your argument is that Mangano, when he interacts with the town supervisor of The Town of Oyster Bay, is acting more or less like Margiotta as a sort of a party boss, as someone who has unofficial influence, not someone who has official power to make life uncomfortable for the supervisor and the people of Oyster Bay."
Later he said Mangano's "power, unlike Margiotta's power, comes from the fact that he holds office as the county executive of the county in which all of this is taking place… That’s quite different from Margiotta, who was a private citizen....The Supreme Court noted that fact, that was critical to Percoco and critical to their abrogation of Margiotta..that these were people who were private citizens exercising their purported real apparent political clout to say we’re not going to support you in the next election, as opposed to someone who has an official office with power over those people and their constituents in Oyster Bay."
Anyone involved in Nassau politics knows that Mangano in no way held as much power and influence as Margiotta, public office or not.
Mangano had been a backbench Republican legislator who was expected to lose his race for county executive in 2009, but surprised everyone -- except perhaps his campaign manager Robbie Walker, who became his chief deputy county executive -- by winning after a close recount.
But Mangano had no influence over longtime North Massapequa Republican leader and then Oyster Bay Supervisor John Venditto, especially not after Mangano had been county executive for only three months when the alleged pressure took place.
But even if Mangano's attorneys can convince the Appeals Court panel that he had no influence over the loans, there is also this problem, which Lynch also twice pointed out:
"There's
overwhelming evidence that Mr. Mangano was given a bribe of over $100,00 a year
for several years from Mr. Singh," Lynch said.
And then this: "Taking $100,000 not as a political campaign contribution but as to one’s private coffers in order to influence the activities of the governments within Nassau County that’s a line that we must not cross."
Sapraicone and D'Amato
Michael Sapraicone, a former NYC police detective and founder/owner of Squad Security, Inc., which provides security for many large Fortune 500 companies, has announced that he will be running against Democratic incumbent U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand.
But then Santos was expelled and former Congressman Tom Suozzi, a Glen Cove Democrat, announced for the seat and Sapraicone suddenly disappeared from the race, even though he had raised more than $500,000 for the run.
One of Sapraicone's credits was his well-known friendship with former Republican U.S. Sen. Alfonse D'Amato, who is still a force in the county Republican party.
When Sapricone told Newsday's "the Point" that he would be running against Gillibrand, he said he had gotten the nod from D'Amato for the race.
Now is that good or bad?
D'Amato was seen as one of Gillibrand's original supporters when then Gov. David Paterson appointed her to replace former U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton in 2009. Jokes were made that D'Amato upstaged Democrat U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer at the Gillibrand announcement. She had been an intern in D'Amato's senate office and D'Amato had been close to her father.
D'Amato denied he had any influence in the selection of Gillibrand -- though nobody believed him. And he publicly endorsed Republican Bruce Blakeman in 2010 in his campaign against Gillibrand.
Blakeman, who is now Nassau's county executive, lost to Gillibrand.
But Sapraicone's announcement apparently puts an end to rumors that Blakeman was going to challenge Gillibrand again this year.
So what is Blakeman running for?
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