After reading the final report  by the state Election Commission concerning the acts of  State Sen. Joseph Crisco, D-Woodbridge, one wonders how low the Democrats will sink to protect someone who clearly doesn’t get the program. Late yesterday, Senate President Don Williams, D-Brooklyn, the leader of this band of these morally and ethically challenged Democrats, went to the Capitol Press Room to talk about the budget.

Instead they walked into  a blast furnace of hot questions from reporters as to why Williams does not impanel a Committee of Inquiry to look further into the Crisco mess. Despite its best efforts of the State Elections Enforcement Commission (SEEC) to tone down what Crisco did and how he cooperated with the year-long probe, reporters pointed out the real facts.

“Well…in terms of what we do as a Senate, our tradition has been to weigh these issues very carefully and look at the specific conduct in terms of criminal law, in terms of the reflection on the chamber,” Williams told reporters. “This was exhaustively investigated by Elections Enforcement and Sen. Crisco has accepted responsibility for that. I don’t believe that further action is necessary.”

The rest of the give-and-take with the press gaggle is priceless, Thanks to Ken Dixon of the Connecticut Post, you can read it all by clicking here.

Williams said the Crisco matter was closed and was the issue with his Deputy, State Sen. Thomas Gaffey, D-Meriden, who was tagged a week ago with a $6,000 fine for double billing the state for fun and games at legislative conferences.

The breadth of deceit by Crisco is only matched by disdain for the laws the rest of us have to follow. The new Citizen Elections Fund is a compliance nightmare and hopefully, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals will throw it out as un-Constitutional in good order. But for now, it is the law and both sides have to abide by it. That includes finding a treasurer, opening an account and keeping accurate records. Crisco did the opposite. He made up a Treasurer, he went about soliciting donations before he opened a campaign, and continued this fiction for seven months.

Crisco repeatedly forged several legal documents on the his campaign records when the penalties and fines were clearly known.

Crisco forged checks over a seven month period, using the name of Robert Goodman as his Treasurer, when he knew Goodman wanted no part of the exercise.

Crisco either encouraged or pressured  a Notary who worked for Goodman, to also forge Goodman’s name and Notarize those documents as official. Now that Notary is being turned over to the Secretary of the State’s office for possible sanctions.

Crisco knew the law, because he voted for it. Crisco could have paid someone to be his Treasurer if he wanted to. He didn’t have an opponent and money wasn’t going to be a problem. But he was arrogant, lazy, or both. Either way, he broke the law repeatedly.

Imagine, if you will, if you are a regular Joe or Jill and you start signing checks of another person’s name on the back of  a check or  a bank document, or a mortgage. Imagine what would happen to you if the authorities came to you and said, “can you explain this?”

Forgery of this kind is a Class D felony, so Crisco signed an agreement saying he had committed felonies. Conclusion, the 17th State Senate district is represented by a felon.  Now, let us hope the State’s Attorney will give this the once over and actually investigate corruption. One possible angle to pursue, were there other collaborators, other than the Notary? Did Sen. Crisco talk on the telephone about collecting and depositing checks? That might be considered mail or wire fraud. That is a federal crime.

SEEC tried to give the impression Crisco was doing the state a great public service by cooperating. What garbage. They caught him red-handed and it took them a year to close it. That is cooperating, after you have been nailed dead to rights? But the SEEC wants to keep its friends among the majority Democrats so its budget doesn’t get mysteriously cut in the night – especially with a $8 billion shortfall.

That is why permanent Ethics Committees, one each for the Senate and House, are needed. Let them be judged by their  peers, and if the peers don’t do their duty, we can vote them out, too.