This may seem tangential to the stadium if you are a casual viewer, but it is not. The Post has been all over this story. If you are a stadium supporter, you have to be a bit uneasy with the fact that Joseph Bruno's son is on the payroll of Jimmy Dolan, as per instructions from Al (Senator Pothole) D'Amato. One wonders what Thomas Nast would have made of this crew.

GOV, BRUNO SNIPE OVER SON'S DEAL

By KENNETH LOVETT and FREDRIC U. DICKER

April 27, 2005 -- ALBANY — Gov. Pataki and Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno traded barbs yesterday over the propriety of Bruno's lobbyist son getting $4.4 million restored to the state budget on behalf of a client.

The dispute between the state's two top Republicans came after Pataki said he has "concerns" about the revelations first reported in Monday's Post.

"Anytime that you have anything that reflects in a way that casts doubt that decisions are being made in Albany on other than what is right for the people of New York, it concerns you," Pataki said.

"We want to not just govern well, but I also want the people in this state to have confidence in how we are governing."

Pataki refused to take the heat off his fellow Republican by deflecting back to Bruno questions about the propriety of the son of the Senate majority leader lobbying the Senate.

"I will leave that to the senator and the Senate to answer," he said.

Bruno's spokesman John McArdle shot back that Pataki "could have been speaking about any number of lobbyists, including those who used to work for him."

Former senator and Pataki mentor Alfonse D'Amato, Pataki political consultant Kieran Mahoney, former Pataki communications director Michael McKeon and other ex-staffers now make big bucks lobbying the state.

"We certainly agree with the governor on the issues involving lobbying," McArdle said.

But he denied the younger Bruno or any other lobbyist has influence on the majority leader or his colleagues.

"None," McArdle said.

The Post disclosed Monday that the younger Bruno was hired by the New York Ambulette Coalition for $60,000 on March 31, the same day that the Legislature passed a budget eliminating $4.4 million in medical-transportation funding that would go to the group's members.

Ken Bruno then called top aides to his father, and, according to sources with first-hand knowledge, won the Senate's approval 10 days later to restore the money.

Ken Bruno is also representing Cablevision, which is looking to block Mayor Bloomberg's proposed West Side stadium. His father has yet to take a position on the project, but has raised numerous concerns about the proposal.

Senate Minority Leader David Paterson (D-Manhattan) said he was "sure" aides to the elder Bruno had given his son favored treatment over other lobbyists.

"I'm sure they do," Paterson said. "I'm sure they do."