New York Lawmaker’s Trial May Hold Clues for Silver, Skelos
New York state Senator John Sampson leaves federal court in New York on June 22. Photographer: Seth Wenig/AP Photo
Former New York power brokers Sheldon Silver and Dean Skelos, facing political corruption charges in Manhattan federal court, may be peering across the East River to see whether a trial unfolding in Brooklyn holds clues to their fate.
That’s where John Sampson, once the Democratic leader of the state Senate, will fight charges he obstructed a U.S. probe into his work as a court-appointed referee in foreclosure cases. For Silver, the ex-speaker of the Assembly, and Skelos, the former Senate majority leader, what matters is whether jurors focus on the facts of the case, or judge Sampson based on perceptions of rampant wrongdoing in Albany.