Did Bruno step down as part of a plea agreement with the Feds...? It sure looks like he resigned just one step ahead of the law and a federal indictment...
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Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno announced his stunning decision that he would not seek re-election just hours after the FBI collected a massive volume of his detailed records dating back to 1995, The Post has learned. More than 30 boxes of Senate records - gathered pursuant to a federal subpoena issued in March - were carted out of the Capitol and delivered by a Senate van to the Albany office of the US attorney for the Northern District. That office has been probing Bruno's outside consulting business for more than two years.
A law-enforcement source said the US Attorney's Office in the Manhattan-based Southern District of New York was also assisting in the probe.
"It was a big request for a lot of information - 14 years' worth," a Senate official told The Post.
"They wanted every piece of paper that ever came across Sen. Bruno's desk, going way back," the official continued.
Bruno (R-Rensselaer) insisted at an emotional press conference today that the federal probe of his outside business interests had nothing to do with his decision to end his 32-year Senate career.
"I've never been accused of anything and don't expect to be accused of anything because I haven't done anything wrong," Bruno said.
"It's totally proper for authorities to take a look at what people do, especially when they're in higher offices. But they've been at this for three years and I am confident that absolutely nothing has been done wrong."
Asked if his decision to step aside was part of a plea bargain with federal authorities - a widely accepted theory among Capitol insiders - Bruno responded, "It is not part of anything."
The Senate official contended that Bruno's announcement was unrelated to the documents being given to federal authorities, and said Bruno was unaware that the transfer had taken place.
Bruno revealed in December 2006 that he had been under federal investigation for several months in connection with his outside consulting business, especially as it related to an Albany-area businessman whose company received a Bruno-directed state grant.
Aides later disclosed that Bruno, the owner of a small horse farm and an avid racing fan, was also being probed for his racing-industry ties as well as his connection to a real estate development project in Rensselaer County.
Meanwhile, Deputy Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos, a Nassau County Republican, was slated to be selected as Bruno's successor as majority leader by a full vote of the Senate last night.
Additional reporting by Brendan Scott
