Your Free Press: DiBrienza, Quinn, Yassky and a Dysfunctional City Council

Sunday, March 15, 2009

DiBrienza, Quinn, Yassky and a Dysfunctional City Council

The DiBrienza scandal, which I wrote about a couple of days ago, may die out quickly...that is sure what DiBrienza, Quinn, Yassky and some other City Council members would like. Or it may be the beginning of a major scandal that could being some or all of those people down.

In brief, Steve DiBrienza, cormer City Councilman for the 39th Council District who wants to run for his old office again, has essentially been using for his own private use his old council office office, paid for by the city (which means by us) ostensibly for a non-profit whose only impact on the community seems to be a name on an awning. DiBrienza has been drawing a salary from this shadowy non-profit as well. And this has all been done right under the nose of Christine Quinn, who seems to have a large number of these scandals going on right under her nose without, she says, her knowledge. Perhaps she is too busy having petty little tantrums to actually conduct the business of the city effectively. But not only did DiBrienza's little scam escape her notice (to be fair, that scam started under Gifford Miller), but there was also slushgate, and Bloomberg's little sweetheart deal for developer Stephen Ross. All of which Quinn has expressed complete unawareness of and her utter and complete shock when it became so public she couldn't ignore it anymore. A scam like DiBrienza's, if true (the notoriously inaccurate Post broke the story, but I have my own sources who support it), cannot happen without the connivance of the Council leadership, and that means Quinn has been either incompetent or accepting of these scams.

And my own sources add one more little piece to the DiBrienza scandal. David Yassky, who is running for Comptroller, the position responsible for making sure city money is effectively spent, may have been a part of DiBrienza's little scandal. Can David Yassky explain why he gave DiBrienza $40,000 in discretionary funds in 2006? Where did this money go? Was it part of DiBrienza's nearly invisible non-profit that paid for DiBrienza's office and salary?

This is the problem with the current city council. They are far more concerned about their own little schemes, keeping themselves in office and supporting the mayor's backroom sweetheart deals for developers than they are about actually running the city. That is why they couldn't put term limits to a public vote: they knew it would turn into a no confidence vote for them.

These are the reasons why we need to stand up to the current City Council and elect some real reformers. I have discussed this before. This is why we need someone like John Liu for Comptroller. This is why we need to support Yetta Kurland or Maria Passannante Derr against Quinn. You can see my whole slate of City Council candidates (still tentative) here.