NY state senator arrested in alleged plot to bribe way into NYC mayor’s race.

A Democratic state senator conspired with a New York City councilman to buy himself onto the Republican ballot for mayor this year with tens of thousands of dollars in bribes to two Republican leaders, a prosecutor said Tuesday as he announced six arrests in a case he warned reveals a “show-me-the-money culture” at every level of New York government.
Malcolm Smith, 56, who has served at times as the state Senate’s majority and minority leader since becoming a senator in March 2000, was arrested along with Republican New York City Councilman Dan Halloran, 42, and four other political figures.
 U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara told a news conference he believed public corruption in New York was “downright pervasive” and “a show-me-the-money culture seems to pervade every level of New York government.”

He read aloud what he said a recording device captured from a conversation last year when Halloran allegedly accepted a $7,500 cash bribe from a cooperating witness so Halloran could run for Congress.