Former Sen. Nick Spano, 59, was sentenced this afternoon to 366 days in prison and a $30,000 fine. The sentencing guidelines were for 12 to 18 months, and his attorneys had requested six months in jail. He will begin his sentence July 9.
These are some of the reactions to the sentencing:
—Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano, Nick Spano’s brother:
“My brother Nick has positively affected a lot of people during his life, personally and professionally. I continue to support him and our family as he takes responsibility for his actions and pays his debt to society. I look forward to the time when he can put this behind him, return to our family and continue to help those around him.”
—GOP consultant Mike Edelman, a Spano supporter, said Spano’s actions did not rise to the level of other politicians recently convicted of corruption, including former Sen. Vincent Leibell, a Republican from Patterson. Leibell was convicted of tax evasion and obstruction of justice for taking kickbacks.
“This was a sentence for tax evasion and this was not selling of his office,” he said.
Edelman said he thinks Spano, who will spend time in a minimum-security prison, will bounce back easily and get most if not all of his lobbying clients back.
“I think he’ll come out of it fine. I think he’s psychologically and mentally strong. You have to be to be a political leader,” he said.
—From Susan Lerner, executive director of Common Cause New York, a good-government group:
“It’s a sad situation. It’s not an admirable one. Unfortunately we’ve seen corruption at much higher levels than this.”
—Sam Riti, longtime commander of American Veterans Post 40 in Yonkers, said he thought the jail time given to Spano was excessive.
“If it were you or me, we would have to pay a fine and that would be it,” he said.
1 Comment
Let’s face it. This guy was given a plea deal and rather than have all the ugly facts come out, he jumped on it.