ALBANY (AP) -- Brooklyn state Sen. Carl Kruger was expected to plead guilty Tuesday in a wide-ranging influence-peddling case, according to a state official.
Kruger has been facing charges he accepted more than $1 million in bribes from a variety of business people and has been awaiting a federal trial in New York City.
He didn't immediately respond to a request for comment left at his district office in Brooklyn.
The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because Kruger hadn't yet announced his plans, said Kruger is expected to admit to at least one felony count.
The Senate's Republican majority said Kruger hasn't resigned. If Kruger is convicted, he will lose his Senate seat.
Kruger, a Democrat and senator since 1994, was the powerful Senate Finance Committee chairman from 2008 to 2010, when Democrats controlled the Senate.
When Kruger was arrested earlier this year, U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said the case resulted from an "unholy alliance of politicians, lobbyists and businessmen."
"I don't think the Legislature is a terrible crowd, but certainly these big-ticket cases make it look bad for all of them," Quinnipiac University pollster Maurice Carroll said of the Kruger case and others involving lawmakers.
Next year is an election year for all lawmakers.
"Beyond the election year, when they go home and speak to the Rotary Club, when they hand out prizes to the PTA, it tarnishes a lot of it," Carroll said Tuesday.
(Copyright ©2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
