Brendan J. Lyons and Kenneth C. Crowe II report in the Times Union that Rensselaer County Executive Steve McLaughlin "is expected to face criminal charges" in a state attorney general's investigation into campaign issues from when he was a member of the state Assembly. The FBI is also a part of the investigation about the use of campaign funds that began in 2019, and was slowed by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Times Union reported in January 2020 that the investigation concerned whether McLaughlin, "had given bonuses or pay increases to former staffers in the state Assembly in exchange for them returning some of the funds to him, or using the money to donate to his campaign account." Anonymous sources now tell the paper they expect court activity in the coming days. Neither McLaughlin nor Richard W. Crist, the Rensselaer County operations director, responded to requests for comment, and their attorneys could not be reached for comment. Crist was placed on leave from his $105,000-a-year county job in March 2019, after the Times Union reported that he was a focus of the criminal investigation. Read more about this story in the Times Union.