Dean George Skelos (born February 16, 1948) is an American former politician from Long Island, New York.
A Republican, Skelos served in the New York State Assembly and later represented the Ninth District in the New York State Senate from 1985 through 2015. He served as Senate Majority Leader in 2008 and again from 2011 to 2015.
Skelos forfeited his Senate seat when he was convicted on federal corruption charges in 2015. In 2017, his conviction was overturned following the U.S. Supreme Court decision in McDonnell v. United States. His retrial resulted in a second conviction on July 17, 2018. Skelos was sentenced to four years and three months in prison, and he began his prison term in January 2019. In April 2020, Skelos tested positive for COVID-19 and was released from prison to serve the remainder of his sentence under house arrest.
Early life, education, and law career
Skelos was born on February 16, 1948, in Rockville Centre, New York, the oldest of four children. He is the grandson of a Greek immigrant. Skelos graduated from Washington College in Maryland with a B.A. in history in 1970 and earned a J.D. from Fordham University School of Law in 1975.
Skelos was of counsel to Ruskin Moscou Faltischek, P.C., from 1994 through 2015. Skelos was automatically disbarred in 2016 following a felony conviction.
Political career
New York State Assembly
Skelos was elected to the New York State Assembly in 1980.
New York State Senate
After one Assembly term, Skelos ran for State Senate in 1982, challenging incumbent Democratic-Liberal New York State Senator Carol Berman . The reapportionment earlier that year changed the boundaries of the 9th Senate District, which previously included parts of Nassau and Queens County. The new district, drawn by Senate Republicans, was entirely within Nassau County and favored Republicans. Skelos was endorsed by the Republican and Conservative parties. Berman, running on the Democratic Party and Liberal Party lines, won the race by 6,108 votes (55,504 to 49,396). Matthew Doyle, the Right-to-Life Party candidate, received 2,520 votes in the three-way race.
In 1984, Skelos challenged Berman in a rematch. This time, Skelos, who had President Ronald Reagan visit the district and campaign for him, narrowly defeated Berman in a two-way race, winning by 50.7% to 49.3% (67,834 to 65,875 votes). Skelos represented Senate District Nine from 1985 to 2015.
In 1986, Berman challenged Skelos in their third consecutive state senate contest. Skelos, running on the Republican and Conservative Party lines, defeated Berman, the Democratic and Liberal parties' candidate, in a three-way race, winning 53% of the vote (49,761) to 43.7% (41,005). Right-to-Life party candidate Joan McDermott received 3.2% (2,967) of the vote.
From 1995 to 2008, Skelos was Deputy Majority Leader of the New York State Senate. In 2008, he became the Majority Leader of the New York State Senate after Joseph Bruno stepped down from that post.
On June 24, 2011, Skelos voted against allowing same-sex marriage in New York during a senate roll-call vote on the Marriage Equality Act, which narrowly passed the Senate in a 33-29 vote. In a statement made prior to the vote, he said: "This is a very difficult issue and it will be a vote of conscience for every member of the Senate."
In 2013, as Senate Majority Leader, Skelos was responsible for suspending Senate rules and bringing the NY SAFE Act (a firearm-related bill) to the Senate floor. He voted for the SAFE Act and advocated its passage.
On May 4, Skelos was arrested on federal corruption charges. On May 11, he stepped down from his position as Senate Majority Leader. Skelos was convicted on December 11, 2015; he was automatically expelled from the Senate due to his conviction.
Federal prosecution and conviction
Skelos and his son, Adam Skelos, were arrested and charged with six counts of corruption by U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara on May 4, 2015. The criminal complaint included extortion, fraud, and bribe solicitation charges. Skelos was accused of taking official actions to benefit a small Arizona environmental company, AbTech Industries, and a large New York developer, Glenwood Management, that had financial ties to AbTech. According to the complaint, Senator Skelos agreed to do so as long as the companies paid his son.
On May 28, 2015, Skelos and his son were indicted by a federal grand jury on six counts of bribery, extortion, wire fraud, and conspiracy.