Gillibrand's father is an Albany insider and lobbyist tied to Repub Bruno who was just indicted **

[dkf]

http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/archives/2009/01/a_remarkably_un.php

A remarkably untimely cloud hangs over Governor David Paterson's apparent selection of Congresswoman Kirsten Gillibrand to replace Hillary Clinton as junior senator of New York.

Federal prosecutors, according to numerous news accounts, are poised to indict former Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno and no one knows if that possible indictment will contain allegations about a real estate deal that involved Bruno and Gillibrand's father, Albany lobbyist and power broker Doug Rutnik.

What we do know is that prosecutors subpoenaed all the records of this complex transaction which, at the very least, raise stark ethical questions about Rutnik's awkward business relationship with a powerful public official he lobbied. No one familiar with Gillibrand's rapid political ascent would question the pivotal role that Rutnik has played in it, milking his wide-ranging political connections for his daughter.

http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/archives/2009/01/the_new_frontru.php

The irony is that Paterson may be swinging from the nation's most prominent Democratic family to one with strong Republican ties. Gillibrand's father, Doug Rutnik, is an Albany insider and lobbyist whose ties to former GOP powerhouses Joe Bruno, George Pataki and Al D'Amato are legendary.

In fact, Gillibrand won her seat when a state police domestic violence report about the GOP incumbent, John Sweeney, was mysteriously leaked, ostensibly with the acquiescence of the Pataki administration, which had its own reasons to oppose Sweeney.

Bruno is under federal investigation now, and some of the subpoenas in the case involved a real estate deal that partnered Rutnik with Bruno and another lobbyist.

Rutnik dated, and eventually lived with, a top Pataki and D'Amato aide for many years, until he broke up with her in 2006 to marry a cousin of his, Gwen Lee, who'd worked in high-paying state jobs secured by the same aide. Rutnik and D'Amato have been registered lobbyists for some of the same clients.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jax4mCmb-fRaQyBmSRDhPeoZHdQAD95T664G0

**Edited to add Bruno was indicted yesterday.

Former NY Senate leader Joseph Bruno indicted

By MICHAEL HILL – 18 hours ago

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — Joseph Bruno, the former majority leader of the New York Senate and for a time the most powerful Republican in state politics, was indicted Friday on federal corruption charges.

Bruno, who retired from the Legislature in July after more than a dozen years leading the Senate, is accused of using his position to steer contracts and grants to businesses that paid him a total of $3.2 million in consulting fees or other compensation from 1993 through 2006, and then covering his tracks.

Prosecutors said in one instance, Bruno solicited officials from several labor unions with interests before state government to hire an investment firm that paid him $1.3 million over a 12-year period.