SEMINERIO SCANDAL

Nearly one week after the FBI arrested longtime Queens Assemblymember Anthony Seminerio on charges that he took nearly $500,000 in exchange for legislative favors, the ramifications for Seminerio, the hospital executives, other legislators and the political climate in Albany remain unclear.
Seminerio, 73, has represented parts of southern and western Queens for the past 30 years and could face a maximum sentence of 20 years if convicted of the one count of honest services mail fraud.
When Manhattan U.S. Attorney Michael Garcia unveiled the charges last week, they revealed that about $390,000 of the $500,000 Seminerio allegedly took came from an executive at one city hospital in exchange for legislative favors.
Although Garcia refused to name the hospital, a source inside Jamaica Hospital, which falls under the Medisys umbrella that includes Brookdale University Hospital Medical Center in Brooklyn and Flushing Hospital Medical Center in Queens, acknowledged that they are involved in the scandal. It is unclear whether any hospital executives could be charged in the case. However, the investigation is ongoing, and Seminerio could be indicted sometime this month, according to sources.
Seminerio allegedly received the payments through a consulting company identified in the complaint as Marc Consultants. Seminerio then directed executives to submit payments to that company in exchange for supportive legislative actions, according to the complaint.
“As a veteran lawmaker in Albany, he had the power and influence to promote or oppose legislation on behalf of his constituents, but rather than use that power to further the interest of the people who elected him, Assemblymember Seminerio put his office up for sale to those willing to pay the right price,” Garcia said during the press briefing on Wednesday September 10 - the day the FBI arrested Seminerio.
Another twist to the case is that numerous published reports have identified former Assemblymember Brian McLaughlin, who pleaded guilty last year to stealing more than $2.2 million from organizations he served and worked with while he was a New York State Assemblymember, as the cooperating witness in the case. McLaughlin was supposed to have been sentenced - he could face eight years in prison for his actions - on Friday, September 12, but that sentencing has been delayed.
Meanwhile, State Senator Serphin Maltese said that he is working on legislation that he plans introduce as a co-sponsor in the Senate that will tighten the ethical requirements for legislators serving in Albany. Maltese said that legislation, which could be introduced during a special session before the end of the year, is critical towards the process of rooting out corruption.
“If you are a legislator, the bar that you have to overcome should be of strict ethical standards,” said Maltese, who believes that elected officials should have to provide more accurate figures they receive from outside incomes as well as who their clients “There has to be absolutely full disclosure.”
Garcia agreed, and he believes that the culture upstate needs to change.
“The absence of genuine transparency in Albany provides a cover for officials seeking to enrich themselves at the public expense,” Garcia said.