The Peru Gazette

Federal prosecutors successfully proved to a jury that former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver of Manhattan took millions in bribes and kickbacks disguised as legal fees. The annual disclosure forms legislators are required to submit to the state Joint Commission on Public Ethics only asks the elected officials to provide income ranges, not specific dollar amounts, for their outside income as well as the value of stock and property owned by them or their spouse. Former Senate Republican leader Dean Skelos, convicted last week on federal corruption charges and expelled from the chamber, was third with $200,000. In the Capital Region, the three lawmakers with the largest outside incomes were Democratic Assemblyman Phil Steck of Colonie, a lawyer with the firm of Cooper Erving & Savage, who earned between $100,000 and $150,000, and John T. McDonald of Cohoes, owner of Marra’s Pharmacy, and GOP Sen. George Amedore of Rotterdam, with his own construction business, who both earned between $75,000 and $100,000.

Source: Public servants, private pay – Times Union