Thompson denies involvement in scandal

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) - Senator Antoine Thompson addressed the media and his supporters on the steps of the Mahoney State Office Building on Court Street.

He blames partisan politics for the State Inspector General's report which snares him in a scandal over possible bid rigging for a downstate casino.

Sen. Thompson said, "We fully anticipate that republicans will seize every opportunity both in Washington and Albany to exploit various situations."

The Inspector General says that's what State Lawmakers did.  They're accused of choosing Aqueduct Entertainment to run a casino because of its political connections.

The report also says 5 Democratic Senators received campaign contributions from the deal - including Thompson.  "I knew nothing about the fact that those contributions were coming to me as a result of various donors involvement with AEG," added Sen. Thompson.

Former Erie County Executive Joel Giambra points out that Thompson was the Co -Chair of the Senate Re-election Campaign Committee.

Giambra said,"If you're in a key leadership position like he was it's highly unlikely that he would not have known where the money was coming from."

Sen. Thompson said, "I've never really been involved that aggressively with fundraising."

Mark Grisanti, Thompson's opponent in this year's Senate race is calling on him to resign.  Grisanti said, "How can you not know? Especially when there's only five senators."

Thompson says he will return the $8,600 in campaign money.

"If you didn't do anything wrong and you didn't know about it then why are you returning the money," added Giambra.

For Thompson, it's exercising excess caution in a process that cost a western New York company a job.  Delaware North lost the bid to operate in the casino.

"The real impact and the average impact is on the people of western New York who might of been able to get a job from Delaware North or from the Ciminelli Company which is going to be the developer," added Giambra.