ALBANY — When his Democratic colleagues held their daily meeting on Monday, State Senator Carl Kruger stayed holed up in his office across the street from the Capitol. When he finally emerged, a woman who spotted him down the hallway gasped. And when Mr. Kruger walked onto the Senate floor, most of his colleagues acted as if he were invisible.
Back in Albany After U.S. Charges, State Senator Finds a Different World
Nathaniel Brooks for The New York Times
Senator Carl Kruger, left, headed quickly for the Senate elevator after the end of the session on Monday. The United States attorney charged him last week with taking bribes as part of a broader corruption scheme.
By THOMAS KAPLAN
Published: March 14, 2011
Nathaniel Brooks for The New York Times
Outside the office of Carl Kruger, a Democrat from Brooklyn, a portion of the sign that had identified him as being the ranking Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee had been removed. He was stripped of that post last week.
Four days after he surrendered to federal prosecutors on public corruption charges, Mr. Kruger, a Democrat from Brooklyn, returned on Monday to a world very different from the one he had inhabited for the past 17 years.
It was an awkward first day back in the Senate for Mr. Kruger, the former chairman of its Finance Committee, who is known for his ability to raise and distribute campaign money.
Mr. Kruger was never one to be spotted in crowds in Albany, often dining alone and never taking on the back-slapping image of some of his colleagues. And now, facing charges in what prosecutors called a “broad-based bribery racket,” Mr. Kruger clearly seemed to make some people uncomfortable by his presence.
And yet Mr. Kruger, reduced in a week’s time from a highly powerful lawmaker to a pay-to-play punch line, seemed undeterred.
“I am here to do my job,” he said, “and that’s what I’m doing today.”
Flanked by two aides, Mr. Kruger showed up at his office early in the afternoon, keeping his head down and declining to speak to a reporter. A fake-wood placard denoting Mr. Kruger’s post as the top Democrat on the Finance Committee — a post of which he was stripped last week — had been ripped down from its perch next to his office door. Only some sticky residue remained.
Mr. Kruger was originally expected to address his fellow Democratic senators on Monday, presumably to apologize to them for the distraction brought by his charges last week. But several lawmakers indicated they would not attend the Democrats’ meeting if Mr. Kruger was present, and so he relented.
Shortly after Mr. Kruger arrived, the Senate Democratic leader, John L. Sampson of Brooklyn, visited him behind closed doors. In Mr. Kruger’s office, business continued as usual; a few lobbying groups came by to drop off materials. Then there was the unusual: Mr. Kruger’s secretary called a technical-support phone line seeking instructions on how to delete the speed-dial numbers from Mr. Kruger’s office telephone.
Mr. Sampson emerged. “He’s just going to concentrate on representing his district,” he said. Asked if he thought Mr. Kruger should resign, Mr. Sampson responded, “We’re concentrating on what’s going on with the budget.”
An hour later, Mr. Kruger got word his colleagues were headed into session, so he walked out of his office to make the long walk to the Senate floor.
A woman spotted him and seemed surprised. She ducked into an adjacent office and could be seen pointing when Mr. Kruger walked by.
Mr. Kruger, his head down, again declined to speak to reporters. He piled into an elevator and stood, completely silent, as the elevator stopped, floor by floor, and people got on and off. Then he took an underground passageway from the Legislative Office Building to the Capitol.
No one spoke to him. People stared, the way people stare when trying to seem as if they are not staring. Then another elevator — which seemed to take an afternoon to open its doors. Mr. Kruger’s every action was watched, his every embarrassment noted. On the Senate floor, he had to figure out where he was supposed to sit. The loss of his committee rank also lost him a prominent place. Mr. Kruger instead slouched in a seat in the back.
Most colleagues stayed away, although State Senator Rubén Díaz Sr., a Democrat from the Bronx, gave him a huge, gripping hug. Later, noticing Mr. Kruger sitting by himself, he invited him across the chamber and they chatted.
A few others came to shake Mr. Kruger’s hand. But Mr. Kruger mostly sat in silence. When Senator Greg Ball, a Republican from Putnam County, received a round of applause from the chamber for passing his first bills, Mr. Kruger did not clap. He spoke only once, to vote against a bill proposing a constitutional amendment to change the way the state redraws legislative district boundaries.
Mr. Kruger sometimes whispered to his seatmate, Senator Thomas K. Duane of Manhattan. Later, during a tedious debate, Mr. Duane fetched them two cans of Diet Coke.
Then the session ended, and Mr. Kruger headed briskly out of the chamber. Reporters circled him, more than probably had ever circled him before.
“I am not going to comment on the case or the circumstances surrounding the case as we go forward,” Mr. Kruger said. “I’m here to represent my community.”
Mr. Kruger seemed nervous. He kept repeating, “I’m a state senator,” three times in 90 seconds.
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