The IRS Letter

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By Azi Paybarah

October 11, 2007 | 1:18 p.m

Here is a copy of the letter John Sampson, Liz Krueger and Velmanette Montgomery drafted with the aim of getting the IRS to investigate Joe Bruno.

It reads, in part:

“Both Attorney General Cuomo’s report and the recent disclosure by the Albany Times-Union suggests that Senator Bruno has repeatedly used the aircraft for travel that was not primarily for bona fide state business and as such, we believe that he should be reporting imputed income for unreimbursed travel as members of the New York State Senate, we urge you to conduct a review into Senator Bruno’s use of the aircraft and his obligation and his obligation to pay federal income taxes on the fair market value of the unreimbursed non-official portion of his travel.”

Malcolm Smith released a statement reaffirming the fact that he (and others) have suspicions about Bruno’s travel, but saying that he decided not to pursue the issue because “it would be a distraction from us getting back to the people's business.”

Here is Smith's full statement:

Clearly, recent published reports have said that Senator Bruno could have a
tax problem with the IRS. If the facts show there is something there, it
should be looked into by the appropriate authorities.

There were communications between my staff and the governor's staff about
this matter. I want to be clear. We -- my staff and I -- decided not to
pursue this matter after concluding it would be a distraction from us
getting back to the people's business.