Here’s an interesting little sidelight to the DOT bid-rigging story:
Santo Petrocelli and Santo Petrocelli Jr., both listed as employees of Petrocelli Electric (the company accused of defraudnig the Department of Transportation) contributed a total of $4000 to Chuck Schumer, the husband of the commissioner of that department, in December, 2002.
He returned the money (the FEC has him returning twice what he was given, which seems likely to be a typo of some sort) the next year.
Schumer spokeswoman Risa Heller says the donations were returned for “administrative” reasons: “They never indicated whether it was for the primary or the general election. [The campaign] sent the checks back for clarification and they were never sent back again.”
