One of the perks of being elected to a public office is the contacts that you make and the favors that you maneuver around the law for untold future benefit. The benefit of serving the public is the shoe-in job that you get after you leave office. 4 days after leaving the state senate, after resigning from senate leadership and bowing out of his unfinished term, the 79 year old former republican State Senator Joe Bruno becomes CEO of a consulting firm, CMA Consulting. This firm has had ties to State government since it was founded in 1984 with the wife of a republican state senator as principal; a senator that Bruno appointed to the powerful finance committee early in his career. The State favors woman owned businesses when awarding contracts and this company will retain this status by shuffling said wife to a “title-ful” position while Bruno is CEO.
The company has 66 active contracts with more than 20 state agencies according to the Albany Business Review. So, a month ago, when Joe was talking about moving on with his life this is what he was talking about. Why would anyone leave the most powerful Republican job in NY State to take up as CEO of a $42 million a year computer software development company, even if it is the Albany region’s largest company in its field? It all seems fishy to me but that boat has already sailed. No one seems phased by the fact that this company has had the inside track since it was founded. Now it is comfortably surviving on state contracts for its revenue.
Oh why do I not have any good connections? It is perfectly acceptable for politically connected people to form companies or work for companies that make their revenue precisely because of those connections. So shall the world continue to turn much to the detriment of the rest of us poor, unconnected fools.
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