Yesterday’s groundbreaking for the long-awaited video-slot casino complex at Aqueduct Race Track couldn’t escape the whiff of scandal.
Even with key Democratic leaders implicated in a bid-rigging probe conspicuously absent, others tried to fend off political attacks just days before Election Day.
Genting NY, which will operate the 4,500 video slots — creating 2,100 jobs — is considered a first-rate global gaming firm.
But just last week, state Inspector General Joseph Fisch’s 308-page investigative report slammed Senate Democratic leader John Sampson of Brooklyn and others for “troubling” conflicts of interest after they favored the shady Aqueduct Entertainment Group in a bidding round that collapsed in scandal.
Sampson, Senate President Malcolm Smith and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver failed to show.
