More details laid out Wednesday at the Joe Bruno trial about Bruno's business activities outside his work as a state senator.Former Bruno employees and former employees of the investment firm he worked for taking the stand - testifying to what they knew or didn't know about the ex-Senate Majority Leader's outside work and how he was paid.
About a half dozen witnesses taking the stand to testify, including the former in-house counsel for the investment firm Bruno worked for.
There were a lot of questions about Bruno's disclosure to clients and pay, and talk of public airings of Bruno's private sector work outside the Senate.
Much of the testimony on Day 3 centered on what Joe Bruno did and was paid by Connecticut-based Wright Investor's Service and parent company Winthrop Corporation.
A former Winthrop lawyer named Helen George testified under immunity about her involvement in employment agreements with Joe Bruno and making sure everything was on the up and up.
George said an investment adviser owes a duty to his clients.
One of the parts of that duty is to make sure that any potential conflict of interest is disclosed to that client.
George also indicated she found no record of disclosure forms filed by Bruno but admitted under cross examination that those papers could be filed by any Wright employee.
Questions about publicity over Bruno's outside work brought New York Daily News columnist Bill Hammond to the stand to discuss a 2003 article about Bruno's work with Winthrop and Wright.
He was followed by Bruno's former press secretary Marcia White, who said she had no knowledge or involvement with the senator's outside business.
Marcia White/Former Bruno Press Secretary: "The senator never tried to keep anything from us. It's just the fact that my role was basically press secretary and it dealt with him in his position as a citizen legislator and quite frankly, that was our involvement."
Two other former Wright employees testified about Bruno's work and compensation - one was the former company president who said he sought to have Bruno let go at a time when long-time employees were being laid off, but was overruled.
Again, Bruno expressing confidence that he will be found not guilty.
Joseph Bruno/Former Senate Majority Leader: "I have said we broke no laws and I think what's going on here is a testimony to that."
Also on the stand this afternoon, a former local employee of Wright Investor's Service who was involved in meetings between his company, local investment firm McGinn, Smith and Joe Bruno to find ways to work together.
Bottom line - a lot of figures and documents introduced in court about clients Bruno brought in and how much money he got for doing it.
