They were Albany’s most powerful men: the governor, the Senate leader and the Assembly speaker. Together, they negotiated billion-dollar budgets and decided which bills passed and which ones didn’t.
Now two face federal corruption charges, and the third — Gov. Andrew Cuomo — appears eager to focus on other issues even as he faces questions about his ties to a major real estate firm at the center of the newest scandal to rock the state Capitol.
In recent days he talked about campus sexual assault with U.S. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. He traveled to Buffalo with Cardinal Timothy Dolan to tout an education tax credit. He held briefings at the scene of a nuclear plant transformer fire.
The political crisis in Albany got less attention.
“If the charges are correct, it’s deeply disturbing,” is what Cuomo said following the arrest of Senate Leader Dean Skelos on charges that he extorted payments for his son from the developer and another business. The Long Island Republican resigned his leadership post Monday.