Politics on the Hudson

Former Queens Assemblyman Anthony Seminerio was sentenced to six years in prison today for “defrauding the people of New York of his honest services as an assemblyman in the New York State legislature.”

Seminerio, 74, a Democrat who served in the Assembly for more than three decades, pleaded guilty last year to taking about $1 million for his consulting firm from people who had business with the state.

Seminerio’s lawmakers sought home confinement, but Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald invoked a prison term, saying Seminerio “accepted bribes and engaged in extortion as part of a decade-long scheme to use his office – both literally and figuratively – for personal gain and at the expense of thepublic trust,” a statement from prosecutors’ said.

The judge ordered Seminerio to pay $1 million in forfeiture.

U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said in a statement, “When an elected official such as Seminerio violates the public trust, it threatens the public’s confidence in our democracy. Seminerio was elected to serve the people, not himself. Judge Buchwald’s powerful words and sentence reaffirm the commitment to the fair and impartial exercise of governmental power. We will continue to work tirelessly to prosecute those who betray for private gain the people they are elected to represent.”