The Courant reports his statement. “I promised from the beginning that I would not allow the mistake that I made interfere with my public office. By stepping down today, I am making sure that my personal issue does not overshadow all of the good work we’ve done and will do as a caucus.”

Ummm … his personal issue? Look, as a politician in a legislature he is supposed to make laws not break laws. The fact that he didn’t bother to report a bribe, where he allegedly said he was “afraid of them guys & tracing things.” Hardly the ringing flat refusal it should have garnered.

From the Conencticut Post:

On Sept. 5, 2006, DeLuca allegedly told an undercover FBI agent that “anytime Galante needs anything, anything within my power that I can do, I will do.”

He further told the undercover agent he was “shocked” Galante was indicted because “he is not a careless guy.”
DeLuca also advised the undercover agent that “nobody knows” about his relationship with Galante.

Two days later, the undercover agent approached DeLuca to help with legislation that might impact Galante’s trash hauling business.

“I can’t influence it at this point because it’s out of my hands, but if it gets to the point where I have appointments, I can influence it that way,” DeLuca is accused of saying. But DeLuca refused a $5,000 cash bribe telling the undercover agent he was “afraid of them guys & tracing things.” Still, Waterman claims DeLuca told the agent: “I’ll keep my eyes and ears open.”
DeLuca criticized authorities for offering him a bribe.

“There was no reason for the federal government to try to have an undercover agent try to bribe me,” DeLuca said. “The fact that I immediately rejected the bribe shows my real character. The tragic personal issue that my family was dealing with had nothing to do with my elected office.”

I suspect that we should hear in a few days how DeLuca has decided that he is stepping down for health reasons. The stress of ‘fessing up is going to be hard to ignore.

source: The Connecticut Post, Sen. DeLuca charged in threatening plot, by KEN DIXON and MICHAEL P. MAYKO June 1, 2007