Councilman sent $406G to nonprofit with sister on board
Friday, April 25th 2008, 4:00 AM
Manhattan City Councilman Miguel Martínez
Manhattan City Councilman Miguel Martínez has shipped hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars to a nonprofit group where his sister sits on the board of directors, a Daily News probe has found.
This fiscal year, the Council awarded the Upper Manhattan Council Assisting Neighbors $669,000 in so-called discretionary funds, of which $406,000 was sponsored by Martínez alone, records show.
Martínez's sister María has been a member of the nonprofit's board since 2005. She is listed in city records as the group's secretary. Councilman Martínez's photo is posted on the group's Web site under the title "Major Sponsor."
Martínez did not return calls seeking comment, but the group's director, Hector Santana, said the councilman's sister was an unpaid volunteer board member at the nonprofit.
Santana said board members decide how to spend the group's money. He said there were no other relatives of Martínez working at Upper Manhattan.
Miguel Martínez revealed this conflict in new disclosure forms required of all Council members for the first time this year.
The form, which has no date, reads, "My sister sits on board of the organization," and attaches a list of nonprofits with a check mark next to Upper Manhattan Council Assisting Neighbors.
Santana acknowledged that Upper Manhattan got little city money in the years before María Martínez joined the board.
After that, records show, the Council awarded Upper Manhattan $75,000 in fiscal 2006 and $124,111 in fiscal 2007. This year, it topped $600,000.
"The money is definitely being spent where it's supposed to be," Santana added.
It's impossible to independently confirm whether María Martínez has received any compensation from the nonprofit because the group has not filed tax forms.
Santana said the group did not take in enough money to require tax filings before 2005 and was preparing to file its 2006 form in the coming weeks. He said Miguel Martínez is "a supporter of many organizations and this is one of them."
Martínez's funding for Upper Manhattan came out of several programs, including an immigration initiative and an anti-gang initiative.
The News reported Wednesday the city controller has frozen the $11.2 million immigration initiative pending review. On Thursday, The News learned the $1 million anti-gang initiative has also been frozen.
Council Speaker Christine Quinn has acknowledged that some of the Council's "discretionary" funds were assigned to fictional nonprofits to hold the funds for later distribution to real groups.
That unusual procedure and specific allocations are the subject of a probe by the city Department of Investigation.
Two aides of Councilman Kendall Stewart (D-Brooklyn) have been charged with embezzling $145,000 from a nonprofit funded with Council money.
The News has revealed that Councilman Erik Dilan (D-Brooklyn) funneled $187,000 into a nonprofit run by his wife, and Councilwoman María del Carmen Arroyo put $82,000 into a nonprofit that employed her sister and nephew.
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