Todd Kaminsky, Who Helped Prosecute Albany Lawmakers, Is Now One of Them

The best feature of freshman Assemblyman Todd Kaminsky’s Albany office is its eighth-floor view of the Catskill Mountains. The space itself is pretty snug. Not that Kaminsky is complaining. “Besides,” he says, “when I moved in, one of the building guys said, ‘With everything that’s going on, pretty soon you’ll have a suite.’”

Everything is of course the attrition by investigation that’s been working its way through the state legislature. Kaminsky, a Democrat, is keeping an eye on the drama just like everyone else in town — but he’s doing it from a unique vantage point. His previous job was as a federal prosecutor with the Eastern District of the U.S. Attorney’s office, which covers Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, and Kaminsky’s home turf, Long Island. He was particularly good at convicting corrupt legislators, including former congressman Michael Grimm and former state Senate majority leader Pedro Espada Jr. As a prosecutor he also collaborated with the Moreland Commission, whose investigation of the state legislature has led to some of the recent indictments issued by Preet Bharara.

Now that Kaminsky, since January, is himself a legislator, this résumé makes for some awkward moments in Albany. “There’s a ton of paranoia here,” he says. “I had a conversation with a number of colleagues where people were talking about the pension forfeiture laws, and how they’re just draconian. I said, ‘This only applies if you get convicted! Don’t get convicted!’ A colleague says, ‘Well, there’s entrapment— ’ I said, ‘Look, if someone offers you a bag of money, don’t take it!’”
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