The Russians are running, the Russians are running

The bribery case of Brooklyn State Senator Carl Kruger could provide an opportunity for the local Russian Jewish community to send one of its own to Albany. “He was never liked for his shenanigans. Kruger was widely perceived to be an operator, always maneuvering,” said Baruch College political science professor Douglas Muzzio.

Facing a federal indictment, the maneuvering allegedly includes accepting bribes for commercial developers and the owner of a defunct Queens’ hospital, to the tune of more than $1 million. With Kruger’s 16-year Senate career under threat, there is renewed focus on the Russian Jewish community of District 27, which includes Brighton Beach, Sheepshead Bay, Midwood, and Mill Basin. Over the past decade, candidates from the Russian community emerged on Democratic and Republican lists for a variety of local offices, so far succeeding only with Assemblyman Alec Brook-Krasny, elected as a Democrat in 2006.

“Russians are no longer the poor recent immigrants who know nothing about politics. They are growing by leaps and bounds in socio-economic success,” said Sheepshead Bay lawyer David Storobin, 32, who is active in local Republican circles.

For his part, Kruger responded to the demographics by hiring Russian-speaking staff, attending community events, and advertising in Russian-language newspapers.

“Carl did a good job representing the Russian community and his friends will stick by him,” said community activist John Lisyansky. “He was a sharp Senator.”

Demonstrating his ability to represent the community, Kruger lobbied to have Russian-language election materials printed alongside Spanish and Chinese, in heavily Russian-speaking precincts. “He was one of the major cosponsors of this bill, pushing it through the Senate,” said Ari Kagan, a community journalist who ran for State Assembly in 2006. Under normal circumstances, party leaders and fellow legislators would have stuck by Kruger’s presumption of innocence, but following the indictment, Kruger was stripped of his position as ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee.