Source: New York Observer
In January 2013, just a month into Westchester State Senator Andrea Stewart-Cousins’ tenure as the first female legislative leader in New York State history, the Senate Democratic conference was in crisis.
Even though members of the party had won a clear majority over the GOP in the previous year’s elections, the delegation was disintegrating. Several high-profile Democrats had gone down in disgrace, and there were ongoing federal probes into Ms. Stewart-Cousins’ immediate predecessors, Senator Malcolm Smith of Queens and Senator John Sampson of Brooklyn, over alleged interference in the bidding process for the contract to operate slot machines at Resorts World Casino.