Graft Charges Depict Kruger’s Lavish Lifestyle
By Nicholas Confessore and Michael Barbaro, New York Times, March 10, 2011

....On Thursday, federal prosecutors unveiled a 53-page criminal complaint against [Democratic State Senator Carl] Kruger, 61, that unlocked many of the mysteries of his life — but deepened others.... Mr. Kruger and seven other defendants — including Assemblyman William F. Boyland Jr., a fellow Brooklyn Democrat, and a prominent lobbyist, Richard Lipsky — were charged by federal prosecutors in Manhattan with what United States Attorney Preet Bharara called “a broad-based bribery racket.”

Mr. Bharara expressed exasperation over the unrelenting corruption in Albany, saying lawmakers did not appear to learn.  “Every single time we arrest a state senator or assemblyman, it should be a jarring wake-up call,” Mr. Bharara said. “Instead, it seems that no matter how many times the alarm goes off, Albany just hits the snooze button.”....

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Federal Corruption Case Ensnares a Self-Styled Fighter for the Underdog
By David M. Halbfinger, New York Times, March 10, 2011

.....In 30 years of advocacy work, Richard J. Lipsky, 63, the lobbyist who surrendered on Thursday to face charges that he bribed a Brooklyn senator to do his clients’ bidding, managed to convert his media savvy, tirelessness and pugnacity into a raw and often menacing kind of political influence: ephemeral, but real....

Mr. Lipsky styled himself a fighter for the underdog, picking fights with City Hall, and with corporate behemoths like Wal-Mart or real estate giants like the Related Companies. He seemed to have carved out, and sewn up for himself, a niche representing small businesses: bodega owners, independent grocers, immigrant entrepreneurs, small-time beer distributors. Adversaries saw him as unscrupulous and unsavory, stirring up crises to make a buck, even by needlessly inflaming racial tensions.....