Petrocelli and Chuck
Here's an interesting little sidelight to the DOT bid-rigging story:
Santo Petrocelli and Santo Petrocelli Jr., both listed as employees of Petrocelli Electric (the company accused of defraudnig the Department of Transportation) contributed a total of $4000 to Chuck Schumer, the husband of the commissioner of that department, in December, 2002.
He returned the money (the FEC has him returning twice what he was given, which seems likely to be a typo of some sort) the next year.
Schumer spokeswoman Risa Heller says the donations were returned for "administrative" reasons: "They never indicated whether it was for the primary or the general election. [The campaign] sent the checks back for clarification and they were never sent back again."
Like all the money he keeps, he keeps for administrative reasons. Sure.
In other words, are we wondering if his wife tipped him off to a secret investigation?
People who have been paying attention to NY politics for more than a year or so would know that the FEC had objections to some of Chuck's 1998 donations that were not clearly designated. A minor deal as these things go, but if once bitten twice shy, it makes a whole lot of sense that Chuck would be cautious in 2002.
forget about the chump change they give Chuck Schumer. How much has he wrangled out of them for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee???? There's your scandal