After dodging media questions, Dems demand that Lazio admit he was unnamed co-conspirator in pension bid-rigging report

Explosive Village Voice expose unmasked Lazio as the "Managing Director of JP Morgan" involved in shady insider deals, pay-to-play politics, and a botched quid pro quo; Lazio refused to say if it was him

Today, Democrats demanded that Rick Lazio admit that he was the unnamed co-conspirator from JP Morgan identified in a federal pension bid-rigging report, after dodging reporters' questions yesterday.  

The Inspector General's report indicates that an unnamed "managing director of JP Morgan" worked with a pension official to shape a bid proposal, improperly discussed the bid with the pension official no fewer than ten times during a mandatory "blackout period," and then tried to land the pension official a job, in a failed quid pro quo.  

When asked about the explosive, meticulously researched Village Voice expose that connected the dots (Village Voice, 8/18/10, click), Lazio refused to comment on the article's main allegations (Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, 8/18/10, click).  When another reporter followed up with Lazio's campaign, his spokesperson claimed that it was all just the Village Voice's "conjecture" and "glossy words."  (Capitol Confidential, 8/18/10, click).

Yet neither Lazio nor his campaign has disputed the article's basic premise: that Lazio is the unnamed JP Morgan co-conspirator who sought to trade on his influence with a pension official to game a government bidding process.  

"Rick Lazio reportedly orchestrated a multi-billion dollar pay-to-play scheme so that his employer, JP Morgan, could invest retiree benefits in subprime mortgages and other risky investments at the height of the worst economic collapse in a generation.  That type of behavior should keep any candidate out of the governor's mansion, especially someone like Lazio who wants New Yorkers to believe he'll clean up Albany. It speaks volumes that Lazio's campaign has yet to deny the basic charge: that the unnamed JP Morgan executive set out in a federal report on the bid-rigging scheme is Lazio," said Jay Jacobs, chairman of the NYS Democratic Committee.

"It's a simple question Rick and a critical opportunity to clear the air: are you or aren't you the unnamed co-conspirator who peddled his influence - and the promise of a job - to divert pension dollars to JP Morgan? If you're not, you should have nothing to hide," added Jacobs.