Bribery Trial of Brooklyn Assemblywoman Begins

Governor Spitzer is not the only Albany Democrat who is having a bad week: Opening statements began yesterday in a Brooklyn courthouse for the bribery trial of Assemblywoman Diane Gordon.Ms. Gordon, 57, of Brooklyn, is accused of accepting an offer for a $500,000 house in Queens in exchange for supporting a developer’s bid for a city-owned piece of property in her East New York district. She was indicted in 2006 after a year-long investigation in which she was caught on videotape allegedly accepting the bribe from developer Ranjan Batheja. “The evidence will show she was putting her office up for sale,” an assistant Brooklyn district attorney, Michael Spinakos, told the jury at state Supreme Court.The evidence that will emerge at trial, Mr. Spinakos said, includes “video- and audio- recorded conversations where they discuss how she’s going to get him the land and he’s going to get her a house,” he said.In one recording, Ms. Gordon tells Mr. Batheja, “One hand washes the other.” In another, she is heard saying, “I’ve been around long enough to know that if you want a dream to come true, you got to keep your mouth shut.”Ms. Gordon, who was first elected to the state Assembly in 2000, and Mr. Batheja struck a quid pro quo deal in 2004, Mr. Spinakos said. Under the deal, Mr. Batheja would build her a new house valued at $500,000, including two indoor Jacuzzis, for free. When the terms of the arrangement changed so that Ms. Gordon would make down payments on the house, she funneled the money through a bank account under her mother’s name, Mr. Spinakos said. Ms. Gordon also requested, and received, new French doors, a $500 value, for free at her Brooklyn district office. An undercover city investigator posing as a carpenter built the doors in April 2005 for free, Mr. Spinakos said. In return, prosecutors say, Ms. Gordon lobbied on behalf of Mr. Batheja’s bid to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development for the New Lots Plaza, a vacant plot of land on Livonia Avenue. Mr. Spinakos said Ms. Gordon sent letters to the department supporting the bid and encouraged other local officials to do the same. The assemblywoman also lobbied City Council Member Charles Barron, who sits on the Committee on Land Use, and set up a meeting between Messrs. Barron and Batheja, Mr. Spinakos said.The defense appeared to concede that Ms. Gordon was, at the very least looking, for a deal on a new house.“She wanted a house either discounted or free,” defense attorney Danielle Eaddy said. “But she also wanted that land developed.”Ms. Eaddy told the jury that Ms. Gordon wanted Mr. Batheja to get the development so that he could build low-income housing for the elderly.Lawyers for Ms. Gordon will try to discredit Mr. Batheja as a criminal who trapped Ms. Gordon into making deals she did not seek in order to avoid his own jail sentence. They will portray the assemblywoman as a dedicated public servant who supported Mr. Batheja’s bid for legitimate reasons.Mr. Batheja was indicted in June 2002 for attempting to bribe an undercover officer posing as a housing official, a class-C felony. He then cooperated with authorities by covertly videotaping his dealings with Ms. Gordon. In exchange, his felony charge was downgraded to a misdemeanor. Ms. Gordon ultimately told Mr. Batheja that she was no longer interested in the house in November 2005. Ms. Eaddy said the assemblywoman canceled the deal because she wanted to pay for the house but that Mr. Batheja would not let her.About 30 supporters from Ms. Gordon’s district were present in the courtroom. If convicted of felony charges, Ms. Gordon would be stripped of her office and would face between five and 15 years in prison for accepting a bribe in the second degree. Judge Robert McGann of Queens is presiding over the trial, which is expected to take about a month.Charges against Ms. Gordon were first filed in July 2006, but four months later she won re-election, defeating her Republican challenger, 95% to 5%.

Bribery Trial of Brooklyn Assemblywoman Begins

Bribery Trial of Brooklyn Assemblywoman Begins

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