What would a Republican-led palace coup be without the involvement of self-admitted dirty trickster Roger J. Stone Jr.?
According to The New York Times, Stone, who learned to play political hardball on the 1972 Richard Nixon election campaign, at least knew in advance about the Republican’s retaking of the New York Senate last week.
That retaking may or may not have been undone today, as there are media reports that one of two dissent Democrats may have returned to the Democratic fold, thus nullifying the vote that puts Republicans in power.
In addition, a judge is to rule today whether the coup was legitimate in the first place.
Nonetheless, for a few days at least, chaos reigned and Republicans put Democrats on notice that they need to be taken seriously.
The Times could not determine what, if anything, Stone may have done to help the Republican cause last week.
But knowledge of the operation would have put him several steps ahead of most of the Democrats in the Senate.
They were caught by surprise Monday when two of their members sided with Republicans in a battle for leadership.
Thanks to the defection of Democratic senators Pedro Espada Jr. and Hiram Monserrate, Republicans were able to name one of their own, Senator Dean G. Seklos, as majority leader.
Now Monserrate is said to have decided to return to the Democratic caucus, a move that will deadlock the Senate and leave no one as the majority leader.
Though he remained a Democrat in name last week, Espada was elected Senate president, meaning that he would succeed Gov. David A. Paterson, should Paterson leave office before his term expires.
This would happen because the state is now without a lieutenant governor, Paterson having left that post last year to replace Gov. Eliot A. Spitzer, who resigned in March 2007 after his relation with a prostitute was revealed.
Stone reportedly had an involvement in the downfall of Spitzer, his long-time nemesis.
In November 2007, a lawyer acting on Stone’s behalf wrote to the FBI that Stone had received a tip that Spitzer was involved with “high-priced call girls.”
Stone has said that neither he nor his lawyer heard back from the FBI, so he is not certain what part his information may have played in the Spitzer revelation.
Even after Spitzer’s exit in disgrace, Stone had continued to post negative “Spitzer Watch” items on his website, The Stone Zone.
Stone’s connection to the Senate upheaval may come through billionaire B. Thomas Golisano, the driving force behind the takeover.
Stone was an adviser to Golisano on his unsuccessful 2002 gubernatorial campaign, Golisano’s third attempt to win that office.
“It’s ironic that (Golisano) turns out to be more effective as a political insider than he did as a candidate,” Stone told Joseph Spector of the Gannett newspaper’s Albany bureau.
Stone has also had a connection to the Senate, as he once served as an adviser to Republican Joseph L. Bruno, then the senate majority leader.
Stone resigned from that position in 2007 after he was accused of leaving a threatening voice message at the office of Spitzer’s father. Stone denied the accusations.
Bruno resigned from the Senate last year. This January, a federal grand jury indicted him on charges of concealing work he did for labor unions and private companies that did business with the state.
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8 Comments
#1. le chiste 06.17.2009
Great Chart!! But I think there are a few missing links?
Cirque de Soleil
The Vatican
Lago di Como
007
Savile Row
Surely there’s more.?
#2. Sonny 06.18.2009
If Stone was involved, kudos on the brilliance. Malcolm Smith was totally blind sided.
#3. Frank Reubens 06.18.2009
Stone didn’t have to make up the black socks story –no one could have– and it was confirmed later by the madam, right? Stone, more than anyone, brought down Spitzer–you can search Google for Spitzer and Stone and find the letter Stone’s lawyer sent the FBI months before the story broke in the press, and it only says that Stone heard the info second hand and couldn’t verify its accuracy. Of course, Stone was pleased to have his Shylock pass the info along to the feds and a few months later, Spitzer is out. Now, Stone seems to have a hand in the soap opera going on in Albany. Other stories have him involved in getting Dan Rather cremated at CBS and then of course the infamous Brooks Brothers riot. In that HBO movie, the trailer had a clip of the actor playing Sec of State Jim Baker saying “GET ME ROGER STONE!!!” Um, Mr. Stone, if you read this, please don’t come after me, too!
#4. John Berrera 06.18.2009
Frank,
The story above refers to a letter Stone’s lawyer wrote the FBI in November, four months before the story broke in the press. You can read that letter on the internet, evidently it was leaked to the press, and then copied everywhere. The interesting thing in it is that Stone’s lawyer said that Stone was without independent information and couldn’t possibly confirm the black socks part, or any other part for that matter. Yet he proved to be prophetically true when the madam, Kristen, later confirmed it in the press. You are correct in every way. You fail to mention, though, that the New York Times just won a Pulitizer Prize for breaking the story of Stone’s tipping off the FBI.
#5. Alan Samules 06.18.2009
#1 says “Savile Row”,but when you double click on the Roger Stone box in the Muckety graphic, more names come up, and none of them are Savile Row. However, Alan Flusser DOES appear, and he is one of the most expensive custom tailors in the US. American or British, whatever, Stone is the best dressed guy in politics!
#6. Carl Van Deusen 06.18.2009
Savile Row attired or naked, Stone is one guy I wouldn’t ever want to come up against! His critics say he hasn’t been around much lately…a criticism neither Al Gore nor Eliot Spitzer or the NY Senate Dems would share! Can anybody name somebody that came away standing after a fight with Stone?
#7. Henry Ruggerio 06.18.2009
Night after night I see a toe-sucking has-been on Fox pontificating on the latest political event. What has Morris the cat done lately compared to the bodies littering New York State with Stone’s fingerprints on the kinves in their backs? Come on, O’Reilly, Hannity and others, get someone on your air that actually is engaged in the fight!
#8. George Thomas 06.18.2009
Stone was all over that race in upstate NY a couple of months back. I even saw a photo of him there on the internet somebody snapped and leaked. Hey Stone, how much do you charge man,because whatever it is, it isn’t enough!
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