The details are coming out in droves….

New York Daily News - Home - Joe’s free rides eyed
FBI is told Bruno got 5 flights on bizman’s plane, sources say

ALBANY - The state Lobbying Commission has turned over documents to the FBI that spell out when state Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno got rides on a Capital District businessman’s jet, the Daily News has learned.

Sources familiar with the FBI investigation said the records include trip sheets showing the precise itinerary of the five rides Bruno (R-Rensselaer) got last year on a plane owned by Jared Abbruzzese.

Abbruzzese, who is now involved with a group seeking to win the state’s Thoroughbred racing franchise, is being probed by the Lobbying Commission for his contacts with the Senate powerhouse.

The commission was responding to a subpoena by a federal grand jury investigating whether Bruno’s personal business dealings have conflicted with legislation before the Senate, the sources said.

Sources said the FBI also has issued a subpoena to Evident Technologies. The Troy firm, in which Abbruzzese was an initial investor, got $500,000 in state discretionary - pork barrel - grants at Bruno’s behest.

Also compelled to turn over records relating to Bruno was a former business partner of the senator, James Featherstonhaugh, a top Albany lobbyist, who was the president of now-dissolved First Grafton Corp. The real estate firm, which Bruno is said to have held in a blind trust, sold a 12-acre lot last year to Abbruzzese’s wife, Sherrie, for $90,000.

On Thursday, a fellow GOP senator, John Bonacic of New Paltz, urged Bruno to resign as majority leader because of the probe. But Bruno, joining Gov. Pataki at the Capitol yesterday, called Bonacic’s statement “a media event.”

“I’m letting the feds do their work, and they are diligent enough,” Bruno said. “I’ve been elected by the people, by my colleagues, to govern. And I would appreciate the press if they would just give me an opportunity, objectively, to govern.”

Pataki continued to back Bruno, predicting he will be reelected Senate president Jan. 3. Senate insiders said if a coup attempt is made, it would likely by led by Deputy Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre). Aides to Skelos said he had no comment on the FBI inquiry.