A federal appeals court has granted former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver’s motion to stay his corruption case as he appeals to the U.S. Supreme Court to review the case.

The U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals granted the motion on Thursday, just weeks after the court overturned Silver’s 2015 conviction on corruption charges and remanded the case back to a lower court for retrial, which federal prosecutors immediately said they will pursue.  

Though the appeals court found that while jury instructions in the Silver case were flawed under a Supreme Court ruling in the public corruption case of former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell (decided after Silver was convicted) — necessitating that Silver’s conviction be tossed — it rejected the Manhattan Democrat’s challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence used in the case.

Silver isn’t the only former top-level state elected official appealing his corruption conviction. Former Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos is awaiting word from an appeals court on whether his conviction should stand.

Former Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos had his corruption conviction overturned on Tuesday by a federal appeals court, which sent the case back to a lower court for re-trial. The conviction of Skelos’ son Adam was simultaneously overturned. 

The appeals court vacated the conviction using the same rationale used in overturning the separate corruption conviction of Sheldon Silver: that jury instructions were flawed in light of a U.S. Supreme Court decision that narrowed the definition of an “official act” taken in return for something. That Supreme Court decision came down after both Skelos and Silver were convicted.

For additional updates, click here.

The full decision in the case is below:

USA v. Skelos Appellate Decision by Matthew Hamilton on Scribd

Former Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos had his corruption conviction overturned by a federal appeals court on Tuesday. Here’s a look at his career arc, from the Senate to the courtroom.

The corruption convictions of former state Senate Republican Majority Leader Dean Skelos and his son Adam have been overturned by a federal appellate court. More on that here. Reaction from movers and shakers in state government is below:

Alexandra Shapiro, attorney for Dean Skelos:

Senator Skelos is grateful for the Court’s careful consideration of the issues and looks forward to the next steps. We believe that as events unfold it is going to become clear that this is a case that never should have been brought.

Joon Kim, acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York:

The Second Circuit, while finding that the evidence was more than sufficient to convict Dean and Adam Skelos, held that a part of the jury instruction is no longer good law under the Supreme Court decision in McDonnell. While we are disappointed in the decision and will weigh our appellate options, we look forward to a prompt retrial where we will have another opportunity to present the overwhelming evidence of Dean Skelos and Adam Skelos’s guilt and again give the public the justice it deserves. Cleaning up corruption is never easy, and that is certainly true for corruption in New York State government. But we are as committed as ever to doing everything we can to keep our government honest. That is what we will do in this prosecution as well.

Former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District Preet Bharara:

As with Sheldon Silver, SDNY will retry Dean and Adam Skelos. SCOTUS made it harder to punish corruption, but justice should prevail here. https://t.co/MxstvJLTdJ

— Preet Bharara (@PreetBharara) September 26, 2017

Correct. Not unexpected, but still disappointing, given there was more than enough evidence to convict as the appeals court itself found. https://t.co/ZS1YI1nAtJ

— Preet Bharara (@PreetBharara) September 26, 2017

Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, per NY1’s Zack Fink:

At an unrelated event on Long Island @CarlHeastie calls Skelos case being thrown out “one more step in the judicial process.”

— Zack Fink (@ZackFinkNews) September 26, 2017

State Sen. Todd Kaminsky, a former federal prosecutor and Democrat who took represents Skelos’ old Long Island district:

Today’s ruling shakes society’s faith in our justice system to the core. The lurid details underlying the case — where county contracts and legislation were traded for personal favors — were laid out for all to see, leaving the public now to wonder whether even the most brazen acts are beyond the grasp of the law. Today’s ruling is proof that we cannot rely solely on federal prosecutors to clean up our state’s corruption. We need stronger anti-corruption laws and greater powers to local district attorneys to enforce them now. The time for complacency and waiting for others to take on corruption must end.

Common Cause NY Executive Director Susan Lerner:

Let us be clear, just like with Silver the facts in the Skelos case are not in question. Mr. Skelos used his position in government to extort favors for his family in return for taxpayer funded resources. Despite the Supreme Court’s logic defying decision in McDonnell, a New York jury found this conduct to be clearly corrupt. Overturning Mr. Skelos’ conviction based on the Judge’s instructions to the jury, which occurred before the McDonnell ruling, does not redefine the facts in evidence. The U.S. Attorney’s Office under Preet Bharara’s leadership won its case, and we have every expectation that the people can win again at retrial. Dean Skelos is absolutely guilty of corrupting his office and violating the public trust of 19 million New Yorkers.

Reclaim New York Reclaim Executive Director Brandon Muir:

New York’s long state corruption nightmare is never over.

Dean Skelos was convicted of corruption beyond a shadow of a doubt. New Yorkers have had justice ripped from their fingers yet again by a legal technicality. The outrage here is off the charts.

This is another blow to the little faith New Yorkers have left in state government, and the justice system’s ability to protect them from corruption.

Hard working New Yorkers are getting screwed, paying into a system so corrupt politicians can enjoy six-figure pensions and walk free. New Yorkers tired of living under the most corrupt state government in the country need to step up and demand reform in Albany. And it might not hurt to send a dictionary to the Supreme Court.

In the wake of a federal appeals court’s decision to vacate the corruption convictions of former state Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos and his son Adam, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Wednesday that fighting government corruption “is right,” “but you have to do it legally.”

(AP Photo/Mike Groll)

The convictions were vacated by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday based on a U.S. Supreme Court decision handed down last year that narrowed the definition of what an “official act” is in a quid pro quo arrangement. Though the Skeloses were found guilty in December 2015, the appellate court nevertheless found that jury instructions at trial were improper based on the 2016 SCOTUS ruling.

Here’s what Cuomo had to say in full at an unrelated press conference when asked whether prosecutorial attempts to clean up state government were ever necessary and whether the case is prosecutorial overreach:

Fighting government corruption is right, I did it as attorney general. I think it is an ongoing process. There’s no doubt that we could do more in Albany. There’s no doubt that we could do more in New York City. There’s no doubt that we could do more federally. But you have to do it legally.

What this says is the case was not legal. It was overturned because it was not legal. So, if you’re using the legal system to quote-unquote reform government, you have to do it legally.

But there’s no question that the effort to reform government and clean up Albany and change the rules, that’s exactly right.

Prosecutors have vowed to seek a retrial of the Skeloses.

Note: This story by Chris Bragg appeared in Wednesday’s special legislative kickoff section of the Times Union. 

More than usual, the 2018 legislative session will be influenced by outside events. There are dual upcoming trials featuring former close associates of Gov. Andrew Cuomo. The governor is expected to face a deficit upwards of $4 billion. And majority rule of the state Senate may shift near the midpoint of the legislative session. 

Joseph Percoco, a former close aide to Gov. Andrew Cuomo now facing corruption charges, leaves court in New York, Sept. 22, 2016. (Louis Lanzano/The New York Times) 

All this comes in a year that will build to Cuomo, state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli, Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and the entire Legislature facing elections in November.

The first corruption trial, likely to begin later this month, involves former top Cuomo aide Joe Percoco and three business executives, and will focus on alleged bribes paid to Percoco in exchange for government favors. The second will feature six defendants including SUNY Polytechnic founder Alain Kaloyeros, and will focus on charges of bid-rigging at upstate development projects in Syracuse and Buffalo.

When former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and former Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos were first convicted on corruption charges in separate trials in 2015, the Legislature took little action to reform state government. Because their convictions were overturned by a U.S. Supreme Court decision, the former legislative leaders will face re-trial this year.

The sheer volume of high-profile trials could place greater pressure on the governor to push for changes as he seeks re-election.

Blair Horner, executive director of the New York Public Interest Research Group, noted that there are five high-profile corruption trials scheduled for the first half of 2018, including former Republican state Sen. George Maziarz and former Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano.

Horner said reformers’ collective wish list includes changes to government contracting, including pay-to-play activities, and greater appropriations for enforcement agencies such as the state Board of Elections, the Joint Commission on Public Ethics and the Authorities Budget Office.

“I think it’s up to the governor and what he chooses to do,” said Horner, noting that Cuomo has been able to push through priorities in the past when he has put in political capital.

There is also a tenuous balance in the state Senate, where Republicans hold a bare majority with support from Brooklyn Democratic state Sen. Simcha Felder, who conferences with the Republicans.

A Cuomo-led deal to reunify the Independent Democratic Conference and the state Senate Democrats — which is not expected to materialize at least until after budget season ends in March — will rely on several factors. For one, Democrats must pick up two open seats in special elections, including a competitive one for the seat formerly held by Democrat George Latimer in Westchester County, who won a race to become the county’s executive.

The deal between the Senate Democrats and the IDC — in which each conference will not support primaries against the other’s members — only holds if Democrats take the majority sometime during the 2018 session. For that to occur, Felder would also have to rejoin the Senate Democrats.

Felder has said he’s open to that prospect, and would likely have more leverage within the Democratic conference if he is the person to become the 32nd vote that’s needed to flip the chamber to Democratic control. If he joins after the 2018 elections — and if Democrats pick up a number of seats in an anti-Donald Trump wave — his vote would be far less critical.

Republicans note that Felder has won legislative victories while conferencing with the GOP, including nonpublic education spending and the demise of the New York City plastic bag tax. Felder has said he will conference with whichever side is best for his district.

It’s also unclear whether Democrats could take charge in the middle of the legislative session, given a rule passed that a vote of 38 senators is required to change leadership. If Felder and the IDC do flip, it could lead to chaos in the final session weeks reminiscent of the 2009 Senate coup, when leadership of the chamber remained divided 31-31 for a month.

In the face of a deficit, Senate Republican spokesman Scott Reif said the conference’s priority would be on ensuring that taxes were not raised.

“Our Senate Majority remains focused on controlling spending and taxes, taking steps to make it more affordable to live and work in New York, encouraging greater opportunity, and promoting safety, security and a better quality-of-life for all New Yorkers,” Reif said.

The IDC, meanwhile, plans to focus on making it easier to vote, expanding pre-kindergarten in New York City for 3-year-olds, and achieving student loan forgiveness to combat teacher shortages.

Senate mainline Democratic leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins — who could become the first black woman to lead (or maybe co-lead) the Senate this year — is set to roll out a number of initiatives in the next few weeks, including on voting rights, sexual harassment protections and economic protections for vulnerable New Yorkers.

“New York faces a difficult economic situation and our taxpayers are being overburdened by actions taken by President Trump and Republican legislators, and both of these issues need to be addressed by state government this year,” Stewart-Cousins said in a statement. “We must find more ways to protect taxpayers and create good jobs, ensure access to quality, affordable health care for all New Yorkers, ensure voting rights, protect women’s rights, ensure our education system receives the resources it deserves, repair and fully fund our decaying infrastructure and MTA, and stand up for vulnerable communities under attack by the Trump administration.”

E.J. McMahon, research director of the Empire Center for Public Policy, said that for the first time since Cuomo took office in 2011 — when he reached a wide-ranging pact over Medicaid spending with various interest groups — such spending could be a major issue in the 2018 budget. As Cuomo seeks to resolve a budget deficit he estimates at more than $4 billion, school aid funding for education could also be on the chopping block.

Reform advocate Bill Samuels, who poured significant resources into the pro-constitutional convention effort last year, is keeping up the drum beat on Albany reform, releasing Wednesday a “‘Real’ State of the State” television ad tying Gov. Andrew Cuomo to state government corruption scandals.

The ad uses news coverage of scandals involving former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, former state Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos and Joseph Percoco, a former top aide to the governor who is set to go to trial this month in a case involving some of the governor’s top economic development programs.

Cuomo has not been implicated in the Percoco case.

“If Andrew wants to finally follow through on his promise to clean up Albany, he is going to have to go way farther than the feeble reforms he’s once again proposing in 2018,”Samuels said in a sharp-tongued statement. “He is going to have to pass real clean contracting laws, close the LLC loophole, and turn off the spigot that allows politicians to accept unlimited contributions from large corporations and rich people whose only interest is getting even richer at taxpayer expense. In short, Andrew is going to have to end the system of influence peddling and legal bribery in New York State of which he is the largest beneficiary.”

A Cuomo spokesman did not immediately comment.

The ad is to run statewide on cable Wednesday night. Rush Perez, a spokesman for Samuels, said the initial ad buy is for Wednesday night but it may be extended.

The ad is below:

Joseph Percoco, a former aide to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, enters the Red Room in 2013. (AP Photo/Mike Groll) 

If you’re looking for a guide to the upcoming federal corruption trial of former top Cuomo aide Joseph Percoco and businessmen Peter Galbraith Kelly, Jr., Steven Aiello and Joseph Gerardi, look no further than the jury questionnaire recently agreed to by prosecutors and the defense. All four have pleaded not guilty to charges that include swapping bribes and gifts for official favors, and lying to federal investigators.

In addition to the standard questions about prospective jurors’ knowledge of the high-profile case and the participants in it (such as: “Do you have any strong opinions about politicians, government officials, or anyone else who works in government that might make it difficult for you to be a fair and impartial juror in this case?”), the form asks the candidates if they, their family members or a close friend “know or have/have had dealings with” several dozen individuals — some of them well-known, many familiar only to those who have been following the upstate corruption scandal, and a few deceased.

The prosecution and defense witness lists are generally not be made public in court filings, but the questionnaire almost certainly includes people who will be called to testify as well as others who could be mentioned during the course of the proceedings.

With the trial slated to begin next week, we have gone through the list and tracked down basic information on all but a few of those named on the questionnaire. (If you have any tips on those listed as “unknown” below, send them our way.)

Here’s the dramatis personae:

Kenneth Adams: Named by Cuomo to lead Empire State Development Corp. in 2011. Nominated as state tax commissioner in 2015, Adams instead departed for the private sector.
Raj Addepalli: An energy regulatory consultant with the state Public Service Commission.
Seth Agata: A former Cuomo administration attorney chosen in March 2016 as the third executive director of the state Joint Commission on Public Ethics. His two predecessors at JCOPE also came from the Executive Chamber. Agata has refused to answer reporters’ questions about whether he offered advice to Percoco about his private clients or financial disclosures.
Jeff Aiello: Executive vice president of COR Development.
Lou Aiello: A founding partner in COR Development, died in late 2016.
Steven L. Aiello Jr.: Son of COR Development’s president and co-founder, the younger Aiello worked for the state Homes and Community Renewal Agency from 2011-2014, worked on Cuomo’s 2014 re-election campaign, and then took a position as a policy advisor in the Executive Chamber after the 2014 election. He left in June 2016, just after the upstate development scandal came to light.
Nicholas Allard: President and professor at Brooklyn Law School.
Andrew Ball: Currently Cuomo’s deputy secretary for intergovernmental affairs. Previously served as director of scheduling and confidential assistant. Joined the administration in 2011 as special assistant for legislative and intergovernmental affairs.
Scott Bateman: Currently SUNY Polytechnic Institute’s associate vice president for finance and director of state financial operations. Also serves as chief financial officer of AIM Institute for Integrated Photonics and chief administrative officer of the U.S. Photovoltaic Manufacturing Consortium, Inc.
Suzanne Boshek: Senior executive assistant to Cuomo.
Theresa Brennan: Cuomo aide.
Mollie Brewster: Unclear, though there is an FBI agent by that name.
Andrew Breuer: President of Syracuse-based Hueber-Breuer Construction, a company named in the initial federal subpoena served on the Cuomo administration.
Daniel Brown: A common name, but possibly a reference to a midlevel Office of General Services official who departed to serve as SUNY Poly’s vice president of facilities and infrastructure; he left that post in August 2017.
Kate Burson: A former Cuomo policy adviser on energy issues who left the administration in October 2015. Currently works for Tesla Motors in New York City.
Chelsea Calhoun: Executive assistant to Percoco during 2015, his final year in the administration.
Maria Cassidy: Deputy general counsel with Empire State Development Corp.
Chris Carey: Unknown.
Dawn Clarry-Curry: An apparent transposition of the last name of Dawn Curry-Clarry, Cuomo’s liaison between the state Labor Department and labor unions.
Thomas Congdon: Formerly Cuomo’s assistant secretary for energy, now chief of staff to the state Public Service Commission.
Michael Corrigan: Vice president and deputy executive director at the state Dormitory Authority.
Andrew Cuomo: Governor of New York State.
Mario Cuomo: Former governor, father to the current executive, died in January 2015. Once described Percoco as his “third son,” according to Andrew Cuomo.
Michael Cusack: General counsel to the state Dormitory Authority.
Peter Cutler: Former spokesman for Empire State Development Corp.
Yanina Daigle: Former external affairs manager for Competitive Power Ventures.
Tom DeJesus: Unknown.
John DeFrancisco: State senator from the Syracuse area; deputy leader of the chamber’s Republican conference.
Joe DeStefano: Mayor of Middletown in Orange County, close by where Competitive Power Ventures is seeking to build a gas-fueled power plant.
Todd Diorio: President of the Hudson Valley Building Trades Council and business manager of Laborers’ Local 17.
David Doyle: Former SUNY Poly vice president for communications who left the school at the end of 2016.
Brenda Drosjack: A manager at Competitive Power Ventures.
Robert Duffy: Lieutenant governor from 2011 through 2014, currently president and CEO of the Greater Rochester Chamber of Commerce.
Doug Egan: Chairman and CEO of Competitive Power Ventures.
John Egan: While the name is common, this could refer to the former commissioner of the state Office of General Services, who died in September 2016 after decades in public service.
Caroline Ehrlich: Unknown.
William “Bill” Eimicke: Director of the Picker Center for Executive Education at Columbia University and professor at its School of International and Public Affairs. Gannett News Service reported that Eimicke has written reports on the benefits of Syracuse projects supported by COR Development. He served as former Gov. Mario Cuomo’s housing commissioner in the 1980s. Eimicke was a board member of Fuller Road Management, the development arm of SUNY Polytechnic, briefly in 2013 and 2014. He is married to Karen Murphy, a former board member of Fuller Road as well as Fort Schuyler Development, another SUNY Poly development entity. (Their service on Fuller Road did not overlap.)
Jodi Englert: Unknown.
James Fayle: Central New York regional director for Empire State Development.
Elizabeth Fine: General counsel at Empire State Development.
Sean Finnerty: Unknown.
Patrick Foye: Named by Cuomo last summer as MTA president, he previously served as executive director of The Port Authority of New York and New JerseyPrior to joining the Port Authority, he served as Cuomo’s deputy secretary for economic development.
Joanne Fryer: Former director of recruitment and appointments for Cuomo.
Kathleen Garver: An FBI agent in the Buffalo field office.
Anthony Giattino: Investigator with the office of the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District.
Thomas Giordano: Served as finance director for Cuomo’s re-election campaign.
Philip Gitlin: Unknown.

Howard Glaser.

Howard Glaser: Former director of state operations who according to Gannett News Service received between $25,000 and $70,000 from Columbia University in 2012 and 2013 to teach as an adjunct professor on public policy in a program run by William Eimicke. Glaser departed the administration in the summer of 2014. Glaser’s resume includes work for former Gov. Mario Cuomo in Albany, and with his son Andrew Cuomo at the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development. Glaser subsequently worked alongside Todd Howe — another veteran of Mario Cuomo’s administration and HUD — at the Mortgage Bankers Association. The Wall Street Journal reported that Howe and top Cuomo aide Joe Percoco would meet in Glaser’s office during his tenure as state operations director.
Jim Glavin: Director of security for COR Development.
Stephen Goldsmith: Former deputy mayor of New York City.
Caroline Griffin: Chief of staff and managing director of the state Dormitory Authority. Formerly served as Cuomo’s director of governmental affair and assistant executive deputy secretary — that is, Percoco’s assistant.
Elyse Griffin-Young: Unknown.
Kerri Hamm: Unknown.
Carlie Hanson: Director of architecture and design for COR Development.
Peter Harckham: Appointed in 2015 as assistant director of the state Office of Community Renewal at the Office of Homes and Community Renewal. A former Westchester County legislator.
Charles Harple: Senior partner at the Washington, D.C.-based Mathis-Harple Group.
Marilyn Hartley: A state human resources official.
Karen Hinton: A communications specialist who has worked alongside New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, and the wife of Howard Glaser. A veteran of HUD where she worked alongside Cuomo, Glaser and Todd Howe.

Todd Howe, a lobbyist with Whitman, Osterman & Hanna, whose work focuses on stimulus funding. (Will Waldron, Times Union)

Todd Howe: Lobbyist-consultant who pleaded guilty to multiple felonies in September 2016. Fired in May 2016 by the large Capital Region law firm Whiteman Osterman & Hanna, where he ran a Washington, D.C.-based subsidiary called WOH Government Solutions. A former advance man for late Gov. Mario Cuomo, Howe went on to work with Andrew Cuomo at the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, and with future state Director of Operations Howard Glaser at the Mortgage Bankers Association. He did extensive work for SUNY Polytechnic as well as many of the companies that have secured work on its projects. Howe also operated the obscure consulting firm Potomac Strategies LLC. Its client list is currently unknown. In August 2016, COR Development of Syracuse sued Howe over his alleged failure to repay what it described as an $85,000 loan it made to him a year before. Politico New York reported that Howe served as a prodigious fundraiser for Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s 2014 re-election effort. The New York Times has reported that Howe’s personal finances have been in disarray for years. Howe and his wife have secured mortgages for homes in Washington, D.C., though companies connected to Abraham Eisner, who has served as a liaison between Cuomo and Brooklyn’s Orthodox Jewish community. Eisner’s company also provided a mortgage to former Cuomo aide Joe Percoco. Before the scandal, Howe served on the management advisory board of Columbia University’s Earth Institute.
Erin Hyatt: Unknown.
Charles Imohiosen: Served as chief operating officer of Empire State Development from January 2014 through March 2015.
Catherine Johnson: A lawyer for COR Development.
Paul Joynt: Executive vice president of COR Development.

SUNY Polytechnic Institute Founding President and CEO Alain Kaloyeros leaves Albany City Courthouse following his arraignment on state charges on Friday morning, Sept. 23, 2016, in Albany, N.Y. (Will Waldron/Times Union)

Alain Kaloyeros: Former founding president and CEO of SUNY Polytechnic Institute. A defendant in the second trial related to the upstate development scandal, Kaloyeros is also facing a state bid-rigging charge. He is currently suing SUNY Poly’s management nonprofits to compel them to pay his legal bills.
Richard Kauffman: Cuomo’s “energy czar” serves as chairman of Energy & Finance for New York and of the NYSERDA board.
Charles “CJ” Kempf: Former SUNY Poly vice president for policy and regulatory affairs and special legal adviser to Alain Kaloyeros.
Andrew Kennedy: Formerly Cuomo’s deputy director for state operations; currently leads the Albany-based Center for Economic Growth.
John Kihlberg: Unknown.
Jane Kozinski: Unknown.
Michael Kunkel: Unknown.
Linda Lacewell: Currently Cuomo’s chief of staff and counselor to the governor. With a single a brief hiatus in 2016-17, she has worked for Cuomo since 2007.
Gary Lambert: CEO and president of Competitive Power Ventures.
Gregory Lancette: President of the Central-Northern New York Building & Construction Trades Council.
Chris Lapetina: A political and legislative strategist and veteran campaign operative who is the founder of FOCUS Consulting, part of the Mathis-Harple Group. A veteran of Gov. Mario Cuomo’s administration.
David Lara: Appointed in 2013 as Cuomo’s senior policy and fiscal advisor based at the Budget Division.
Jim Laurito: Former president and CEO of Central Hudson Gas & Electric, currently executive vice president of its parent company, Fortis Inc.
Richard Leckerling: Partner at Whiteman Osterman & Hanna; Todd Howe ran a Washington, D.C.-based subsidiary of the firm that was shuttered after the upstate development scandal came to light.
Brian Lucey: Another partner in Whiteman Osterman & Hanna.
Alison Lee: A well-known Albany lobbyist (though her first name is properly spelled “Allison”) whose practice is concentrated on high-tech and communications. CEO of Albany Strategic Advisors.
Edwin Lee: A senior official at Empire State Development Corp.
Martin Levine: Deputy general counsel for the state Joint Commission on Public Ethics; served from 2013 through 2016 as its director of lobbying.
Brian Lucey: Partner at Whiteman Osterman & Hanna.
John Maggiore: Named in January 2015 as Cuomo’s director of policy.

Onondaga County Executive Joanie Mahoney. (Paul Buckowski, Times ZUnion)

Joannie Mahoney: Actually spelled “Joanie,” she is Onondaga county executive. A Republican with a mutually productive relationship with Cuomo.
Jim Malatras: Cuomo’s former director of state operations who previously served as a top policy advisor to Cuomo and as chief of staff to former SUNY Chancellor Nancy Zimpher. Currently president of SUNY’s Rockefeller Institute of Government.
Joseph Martens: Cuomo’s former commissioner of the Department of Environmental Conservation.
Chuck Mathis: Unknown. Could be a transposition of the names of Chuck Harple and Mike Mathis, principals in the Washington, D.C.-based Mathis Harple Group lobbying firm.
Michael Mathis: Managing partner of the Mathis-Harple Group, a lobbying firm based in Washington, D.C.
Sean McGarvey: President of North America’s Building Trades Unions.
Kimberly McGowan: Unknown.
Stephanie Miner: The former mayor of Syracuse. A Democrat who frequently feuded with Cuomo.
Will Mitchell: Unknown.
Bill Mulrow: An investment banker who served as Cuomo’s secretary beginning in January 2015. Chairs the governor’s 2018 re-election campaign.
Nancy Nemeth: Has worked in Cuomo’s appointments office since 2011.
Michael Novakowski: Director of business development at the Syracuse-based CenterState Corporation for Economic Opportunity.
Thomas O’Brien: Another common name, though there is an associate vice president for innovation infrastructure and resources at SUNY Poly who bears it.
Ken Dell Orto: Former senior associate at Competitive Power Ventures.
Bonnie Palmer: Syracuse-based business development specialist at Empire State Development Corp.
Mehul Patel: Former chief operating officer and chief of staff at Empire State Development Corp.
Tim Pendex: Unknown.
Lisa Percoco: Joe Percoco’s wife is a former middle-school language teacher. Her husband’s 2012 and 2014 financial disclosure forms show she earned between $80,000 and $120,000 in salary from Chris Pitts LLC, a firm that has done work for Competitive Power Ventures. The Percocos’ 2013 income remains unknown to the general public because Cuomo’s office has refused to release disclosure forms he filed after returning to the administration in December 2014. The state Joint Commission on Public Ethics failed to demand Percoco’s disclosure forms for 2013 because of a loophole in its policies that has since been closed.
Chris Pitts: A Connecticut-based consultant who allegedly served as a conduit for Competitive Power Ventures’ payments to Lisa Percoco.
Peter Podurgiel: Senior vice president and head of project development for Competitive Power Ventures.
Mason Posilkin: An investigator with the office of the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District.
Darby Putnam: Assistant secretary for the state Public Authorities Control Board.
Gil Quinones: President and CEO of the New York Power Authority.
Joseph Rabito: Appointed in March 2017 as Cuomo’s deputy secretary for intergovernmental affairs. Formerly served as deputy director of state operations for programs and executive deputy commissioner at the state Office of General Services.
Karen Rae: Appointed in April 2015 as senior advisor for “innovative project delivery” for Empire State Development Corp. Previously served as Cuomo’s deputy secretary for transportation.
John Regan: A former counsel in Cuomo’s office from 2012 to 2015. Previously worked for Todd Howe at a Washington, D.C., lobbying subsidiary of the Albany-based law firm Whiteman Osterman & Hanna, where the two specialized in landing federal appropriations for nonprofits. Regan had worked at the Mortgage Bankers Association with both Howe and Howard Glaser. In February 2015, Regan left the administration to rejoin Whiteman Osterman & Hanna, this time as a partner in the Albany office. Currently serves as associate counsel and director of government relations at Albany Medical Center.
Steve Remillard: Vice president for development at Competitive Power Ventures.
Gareth Rhodes: A former press aide to Cuomo who recently announced his campaign for the congressional seat in the 19th District, currently held by Republican Rep. John Faso.
Pauline Ross: Served as Cuomo’s deputy director of the Center for Recruitment and Public Service.
Raymond Rudolph: Former executive chairman and CEO of CHA Consulting, a subsidiary of the Albany-based engineering firm CHA, formerly known as Clough Harbour & Associates, that has secured extensive work on upstate development projects. Joe Percoco’s 2014 financial disclosure form shows income from CHA Consulting. The company donated at least $200,000 to Cuomo’s campaign between 2013 and 2015. It has offices in the former Union Station in downtown Albany, a building managed by SUNY Poly, as well as at the school’s main campus.
Tom Rumsey: Senior vice president of external and regulatory affairs at Competitive Power Ventures.
Kimberly Russell-McGowan: Unknown.
Emily Saltzman: Appointed in November 2015 as assistant vice president and director of the Office of Economic Opportunity and Partnership Development at NYS Homes & Community Renewal. Previously served as Cuomo’s director of community affairs.

Larry Schwartz (Mike Groll, AP file photo)

Larry Schwartz: Former top adviser and secretary to Cuomo who left the administration in January 2015.
Adrian Swierczewski: A Budget Division official who chairs the state Public Authorities Control Board. (Also on the list as “Scierczewski.”)
Robert “Bob” Sekowski: Co-founder and co-executive director of Empire Housing and Development Corporation, a private, 501(c)(3) corporation that develops affordable housing for low and moderate income households.
Dominick Servidio: Likely Dominick Servedio, executive chairman of STV Group, a Manhattan engineering and architectural consulting and design firm mentioned in a subpoena served on the Executive Chamber in the spring of 2016.
Susan Shaffer: Unknown.
Robert Simpson: President of CenterState Corporation for Economic Opportunity and co-chair of the Central New York Regional Economic Development Council.
Reid Sims: Named in January 2016 as Cuomo’s deputy director of Executive Chamber operations. Previously served as an operations coordinator for the Executive Chamber. Worked on Cuomo’s 2010 gubernatorial campaign.
Jared Snyder: Deputy commissioner for air resources, climate change and energy at the state Department of Environmental Conservation.
Steve Sullivan: Unknown.
Ann Marie Taliercio: President of the Central New York Area Labor Federation, AFL-CIO.
Mark Tebbano: Senior vice president for market development at CHA Tech Services, a subsidiary of CHA.
Dubravka Tosic: An economist who provides expert witness testimony.
Mark Turner: Unknown.
Andrew Urquhart: Unknown.
Aimee Vargas: Appointed in March 2015 as Cuomo’s director of downstate intergovernmental affairs, which covers the Hudson Valley, New York City and Long Island. Vargas previously oversaw Cuomo’s regional affairs in the Hudson Valley and served as the Mid-Hudson Regional Director of Empire State Development and as executive director of the Mid-Hudson Regional Economic Development Council.
Benjamin Walsh: The newly installed mayor of Syracuse, who previously held public and private posts in economic development.
Chris Walsh: A former economic development and compliance official at SUNY Polytechnic Institute, a job he landed in 2014 with the assistance of Todd Howe. A financial disclosure form filed in 2011 by Walsh — then a deputy commissioner at the Department of Environmental Conservation — shows that Howe owed him between $1,000 and $5,000 for an “unsecured” loan at that year’s end. From 2012 onwards, the loan no longer appears on Walsh’s disclosure forms.
Juanita Williams: The former regional director for the state Department of Labor who ran unsuccessfully in 2017 as the Democratic candidate for mayor of Syracuse.
Margaret Williams: Unknown.
Thomas Young: A former mayor of Syracuse (1986-1993) who in 2010 tried to recruit COR Development to work on the city’s inner harbor, and introduced company officials to Todd Howe.
Audrey Zibelman: The former chair of the state Public Service Commission. In March 2017, she began a new job as CEO of an energy company in Australia.

The list concludes with roughly two dozen businesses, state agencies and institutions including SUNY Poly.

Federal prosecutors and defense counsel on Tuesday morning offered competing portraits of Joe Percoco, a former top aide and confidant of Gov. Andrew Cuomo who stands accused of swapping bribes for official favors.

“This case is about corruption, the old-fashioned kind,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Boone told the jury of seven women and five men.

Boone described Percoco as a man whose orders were backed up by the knowledge that he was Cuomo’s backroom enforcer, an operative who could make or break a given project. He referred to emails the prosecution would introduce in which Percoco and Howe referred to money as “ziti,” and noted that the term had been picked up from a television show. While Boone did not reveal it, the program was HBO’s crime drama “The Sopranos.”

Boone then proceeded to lay out the allegations against the other three defendants: Peter Galbraith Kelly of Competitive Power Ventures, which has for years been developing a controversial gas-fired power plant in Orange County; and Steven Aiello and Joseph Gerardi, top executives with COR Development of Syracuse, which secured contracts on a number of projects initiated by Albany-based SUNY Polytechnic Institute.

The businessmen stand accused of paying Percoco and his wife more than $300,000 during the period in which he was serving as Cuomo’s executive deputy secretary or as the manager of the governor’s 2014 re-election campaign.

Percoco’s attorney Barry Bohrer countered by calling Percoco a “blunt” but well-intentioned public servant who was devoted to his mother. If he had made “mistakes,” Bohrer contended, they did not rise to the level of official corruption.

Bohrer laid into Todd Howe, the lobbyist and longtime associate of both Percoco and Cuomo who is expected to serve as a key witness for the prosecution.

Bohrer did not miss numerous opportunities to use Howe’s middle name, Ransom, in his opening statement.

Prosecutors are expected to continue Monday with their first witnesses, including a prominent current member of Cuomo’s administration: Linda Lacewell, who serves as chief of staff and counselor to the governor. Except for a hiatus in 2016-17, Lacewell has worked for Cuomo in the Executive Chamber or during his tenure as attorney general since 2007.

Read more about expected witnesses and other figures in the trial.

The corruption! The emails! The ziti! All that and more will be discussed next Tuesday at the Hearst Media Center by a trio of journalists who covered the epic federal trial of former Cuomo aide Joe Percoco and three businessmen, a proceeding that ended with Percoco’s conviction on three of the six counts against him. (Percoco’s attorney’s on Monday asked the judge in the case to allow him to travel to the Capital Region — but apparently not to attend next week’s discussion.)

The discussion, which kicks off with a breakfast reception at 8 a.m. Tuesday, includes Jesse McKinley of the New York Times Capitol bureau, Adam Klasfeld of Courthouse News Service, and the TU’s veteran courts reporter Rob Gavin.

The Hearst Media Center is located at the Times Union’s headquarters at 645 Albany Shaker Road. Sign up to attend the chat on EventBrite; admission is $15.