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Video: Even Jon Stewart Is Shocked By NY State Senate Corruption
By
Jen Chung
Published May 7, 2015
Modified May 7, 2015
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By
Jen Chung
Published May 7, 2015
Modified May 7, 2015
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Jon Stewart kicked off last night's Daily Show with a segment about how New York and New Jersey are "united in one spirit. And that spirit is corruption. It is what we do. It's been part of New York and New Jersey history ever since the founding of the states by... Michael Jersey and let's say Sergeant York."
He pointed out, "Both states, New York and New Jersey, remain awash in scandal to the point that it's hard to even guess which corruption is happening where." So he played a game, "Quid Pro Oooooh" and tried to figure out, from telling clues, which corruption scandal was from which state, hitting Bridgegate (which he guessed correctly) and the Dean Skelos indictment (which he incorrectly said was NJ).
Regarding Senate Majority Leader Skelos's alleged dealings to get his 32-year-old son a $20,000 payment for title insurance work he didn't do, Stewart said, "If he wanted to make money in real estate without doing any work, he should have been a Manhattan rental broker! They just go, here's your apartment just pay me 15% because Craigslist's ads aren't free—oh wait." Also: "Don't you think it's time he went out and stole his own money?" Then Stewart went on to note that Skelos is the fifth consecutive NY Senate leader in a row to be indicted on corruption charges. "Five in a row! They're the Patriots of corruption!"
Speaking of Skelos, the NY State Senate Democrats tried to get the Long Island Republican ousted from his leadership role. Here's how that went, according to the NY Times:
Democrats walked out of the New York State Senate in protest on Wednesday after Republicans blocked their effort to oust the majority leader, Dean G. Skelos, following his arrest on federal corruption charges.
It was a tempestuous scene: With Senator Skelos absent from the chamber, his colleagues squabbled over parliamentary procedures, clarified the proper terminology to describe the senator’s legal troubles and — in the view of some members — insulted a championship high school basketball team.
This morning, Republican State Sen. Kathy Marchione said, "This morning I called Senator Dean Skelos to let him know that I would be calling on him to step down as Leader of our Conference. I felt that he needed to hear it from me, first. I came to this decision after a great deal of prayer, reflection and deliberation."
Tagged
bridgegate
corruption
daily show
dean skelos
new york
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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