Plum Crazy

I find this a little bit hard to swallow from the third most powerful man in New York State*:

“Nobody wants to hear it, but my being in office has cost me a fortune — millions, literally millions,” he said. “I’m worth a hell of a lot less today than I was 30 years ago. That’s kind of sad. I’m worth a hell of a lot less now than I was 10 years ago.”

You're absolutely right, Joe. Nobody does want to hear it. You wield a tremendous amount of power in New York State. You could have chosen not to run for re-election any number of times. You made your choice, and it was power over (more) money. Stop whining.

Bruno is under investigation by the FBI right now for possible conflicts of interest surrounding his consulting business. I suspect this is the cause of his whining about his monetary situation, even though he's still pretty well-off by any standards.

It will be interesting to see how this investigation turns out. Right now, the Republicans have only a four-seat majority in the State Senate. The Democrats have a 59-seat majority in the State Assembly. If Bruno, the state's top-ranking Republican since Spitzer won the gubernatorial election, is indicted, it's likely that lead will shrink to three seats (I assume Spitzer will appoint a Democrat to hold Bruno's seat until the next election). New York State's last Democratic governor, Mario Cuomo, was not particularly willing to campaign heavily to bring the State Senate under Democratic control. Spitzer has indicated he's far more willing to do so. The play of politics in New York State may be about to get much more interesting.

*I'm giving the edge now to Sheldon Silver, the Democratic Speaker of the Assembly, since Spitzer became governor. A few months ago, when Pataki was still governor, I'd have said Bruno was the second most powerful man in New York State.