Thursday, April 30, 2009

The Silence of the Lions: What the Comptroller Candidates Don't Want You to Know

Wednesday, April 30, 2009

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By Gary Tilzer


The four candidates running for New York City Comptroller – Melinda Katz, John Liu, David Weprin and David Yassky – are hardly media shy. Liu thrust himself into the national spotlight last month by piling on a Texas lawmaker for anti-Asian comments. Yassky preferred the limelight, cozying up with Hollywood stars to push for an extension of the film tax credit. Weprin and Katz basked in the glow of the 1980s, trumpeting endorsements from David Dinkins and Geraldine Ferraro respectively.

Other than that little fiscal crisis thing tearing apart the City, all seems to be right with the world for this fearless foursome. Sure we have some problems, but it’s nothing that rolling up their sleeves and using their Blackberrys’ calculator function to crunch a couple billion bucks can’t fix. Yes, indeed, the Comptroller candidates are ready to get to work. That is, except for addressing the most serious challenge they are to face: dealing with the fallout of the disastrous pay-to-play pension scams that Attorney General Cuomo’s indictments have begun to uncover and changing the way the Comptroller office works beyond the cosmetic "elimination of the middleman", to purge this epidemic of corruption from our government now and forever.

Instead, for the Comptroller candidates, it’s as though the whole pension fund scandal threatening to bring down the former State Comptroller, Alan Hevesi, and current City Comptroller, Bill Thompson, didn’t even exist. Rather than pushing each other out of the way to get on NY1 like usual, the four Comptroller candidates have been eerily silent on Hank Morris, Steven Rattner and all of the other City big shots rolled up into the pay-to-play investigation.

Is that because the Comptroller candidates’ campaigns consultants and donors operate similar to Rattner, Morris, and the rest, to speak out again pay-for-play, while avoiding criticism of hypocrisy? Is it become some of the candidates and consultants are deeply interconnected with the indicted Morris? It’s not as if there is some precedent that would make it politically damaging for a candidate to attack pension fund abuse. After all, even Alan Hevesi and his longtime campaign consultant (now indicted) Hank Morris attacked Hevesi’s much weaker Republican opponent Christopher Callaghan in the 2006 State Comptroller’s race on these grounds. At the time, Hevesi and Morris sought to portray former Senator Alfonse D'Amato, who contributed heavily to Callaghan, as an unsavory lobbyist who converted slices of the state employees’ pension fund into investments.

It’s hard to write off the City Comptroller candidates’ silence as a sin of omission. It’s not like the candidates don’t know that the Comptroller manages the pension fund. Melinda Katz, who rose to political prominence in 1994 thanks to Alan Hevesi handing her off his Assembly seat, even has a plan to use City pension funds for backdoor bailouts of floundering companies.

Katz’s connections to Hevesi’s horde are far from ancient history. Her campaign spokesperson is none other than Marc Guma, Hank Morris’s former partner in the consulting company Morris, Carrick, and Guma. As partners, Morris and Guma contributed $52,972 to the New Mexico Democratic Party in February 2001. Not surprisingly, Steven Rattner’s Quadrangle Group later hired Morris as a third-party broker in New Mexico to secure a $20 million commitment to one of its private equity funds, allegedly kicking back millions to his bag man Morris according to the AG’s indictment.

Global Strategy Group, which is also part of Katz’s campaign, used to be publically aligned with Roberto Ramirez’s Mirram Group, until that firm got into lobbying problems. Nonetheless, they still share office space and seem to maintain a special arrangement. State Controller DiNapoli met personally with the head of a private equity concern, who was accompanied by Mirram’s boss Ramirez. In that case, the pension fund upped its $15 million investment in that company to $50 million.

Hank Sheinkopf, another campaign consultant like Hank Morris, is working for Comptroller candidate David Weprin. Sheinkopf recently abandoned Comptroller Thompson after years of working with the mayoral candidate to earn even bigger bucks from the Bloomberg campaign. Sheinkopf isn’t just a campaign consultant. He’s also a lobbyist for the Retirees Association of DC 37, AFSCME, and AFL-CIO and many other organziations around town. He also shares office space with another consultant, who now works on John Liu’s comptroller campaign.

John Liu’s consultant, mega lobbyist Bill Lynch, is very familiar with financial investors, having represented sub-prime lender Delta Mortgages. According to John Zinner, who worked for the Foreclosure Prevention Project, said “Delta Funding, in the '90s in particular, sort of epitomized predatory lending.” Until it went bankrupt, Delta was the 9th largest sub-prime lender.

As for David Yassky, his campaign consultant Josh Isay, like Katz’s Guma, also used to work for Hank Morris, yet further sad proof that rather than carelessly overlooking the growing pay-to-play scandal in the City and State Comptroller offices, the current flock of Comptroller candidates is deliberately ignoring it in the hope that their silence will help contain it from spreading. Now why would they want to keep the Play to Pay system going?

On almost all of the Comptroller candidates’ websites are proposals as to how they would invest the City pension fund, conceived of to make voters feel they can trust these candidates as the City’s accountant. But apparently, this year’s candidates’ grand plans for managing the life savings of the City’s hard-working union members don’t take into account that as soon as Thompson and Hevesi signed off on the type of private investments the candidates suggest, millions of taxpayer dollars went missing in payouts and fees to modern day “Robber Barons” and political insiders with close connections to the Comptrollers’ offices.

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Total Infected With Swine Flu Hits 44, Number Expected To Grow


There are now 44 confirmed cases of swine flu in New York City and that number is expected to grow, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Tuesday, but reassured residents that almost all of the cases are mild and that everyone is recovering.

For More Information On Swine Flu

The New York State Health Department has set up a 24-hour, toll-free hotline to answer questions about the illness. The number is 1-800-808-1987.

At St. Francis Prep High School in Fresh Meadows, Queens, Health Commissioner Thomas Frieden says hundreds of students are believed to have symptoms similar to swine flu, but it will not test all of the students, only the ones with severe symptoms.

The school, which will remain closed again Wednesday, is where the first cases were reported last week after a class trip to Mexico. It is the greatest cluster of the illness in the United States.

Frieden says the flu, which has killed more than 150 in Mexico, is relatively mild in the city and is spreading no differently than the typical flu.

Additionally, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said there are five new probable cases. One of those cases is related to St. Francis.

Two cases are unrelated to the St. Francis community.

Among those is a two-year-old Bronx boy who has been hospitalized. A woman who was hospitalized in Brooklyn is also suspected of having swine flu. Both are now recovering.

Another cluster of the disease is suspected at P.S. 177 on 188th Street, located not far from St. Francis Prep.

According to Bloomberg, 82 students have called in sick, 11 with documented high fever, from the special needs school. One student at the school has two siblings at St. Francis.


The mayor said he would not be surprised if they all tested positive, but it should not matter because none of the cases are severe.

Three adults, including the school's assistant principal, were also sent home. The assistant principal tested negative for swine flu.

"Many of our children don't speak [because they are autistic]," said the school's United Federation of Teachers representative Shernice Blackman. "So if they're not feeling well, teachers are always watching them for cues of lethargy. It makes it a little bit more difficult.... Our nurse was on rollerskates yesterday."

Students were sent home with a letter saying the school would be closed on Wednesday.

The mayor and health commissioner say Ascension School in Manhattan is also being investigated as a swine flu cluster.

During a news conference Tuesday, Governor David Paterson and state health officials said they are working to contain the virus and that all cases so far have been mild with quick recovery times.

They stressed people should go about their daily lives.

"I would just like to assure all New Yorkers that we are taking every step we can possibly imagine to contain this virus and to keep our public safety foremost in mind," the governor said. "This is not a time for alarm. But it is a time to be alert."

Anyone with possible symptoms is urged to contact medical professionals and restrict contact with others.

Richard Besser, the acting director for the Centers for Disease Control, says as with any widespread virus, deaths are to be expected.

Meanwhile, Cuba has suspended flights to and from Mexico for 48 hours. It's the first country to impose a travel ban as the swine flu virus reaches overseas.

The move comes after global health officials say voluntary travel restrictions were ineffective.

Canada, Israel and France are also warning against nonessential travel to Mexico.

Global health officials say the virus appears to be establishing itself in communities outside Mexico and could produce larger outbreaks.

In response to the outbreak, Mexico City has closed gyms, swimming pools and told restaurants to limit service to take out only. The country has already shut down a wave of schools and public places.

The number of suspected deaths in Mexico is now more than 150.

A second case of the virus has also been confirmed in Spain, as 26 others remain under close watch.

In Israel, two cases have been confirmed, both from men who recently returned from Mexico.

New Zealand has confirmed three cases in a group of 11 people who reported symptoms after recently returned from Mexico.

The World Health Organization is maintaining its threat level, which is two steps below a full-blown pandemic.

The phase-four alert means there is sustained human-to-human transmission and containment is no longer possible.


The U.S. State Department and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has put out a warning against traveling to Mexico.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Tuesday that the Obama administration would not wait for a WHO declaration of a pandemic to deliver a pandemic-like response.

President Barack Obama told a gathering of scientists in Washington Monday that the situation is a cause for concern, but not alarm.

However, the number of cases is growing nationwide. New Jersey and Michigan are now reporting suspected cases of swine flu.

There are dozens of cases of swine flu in the United States in five states: New York, Ohio, Kansas, Texas and California.

Only one person in the U.S. who contracted the flu has been hospitalized.

Friday, April 24, 2009

Pedro Espada Jr. - Absentee Lout

Saturday, August 16, 2008

Pedro Espada Jr. - Absentee Lout

Pedro Espada Jr., a wannabe State Senator, is being accused of lying about living in a co-op on E. 201st Street. We live in this co-op! In fact, Mr. Espada apparently lives in Mamaroneck in Westchester. Neither I, nor my wife (as well as most of my real neighbors), have ever seen this gentleman in the building. It is insulting that Mr. Espada, he of past political scandals involving government money funnelled from his Soundview Medical Center to his own political campaign, was extremely rude to a long time resident as evidenced by the video below.
Video of Mr. Espada Embarrassing Himself

This is utterly unethical in the first place, but to be so rude to my lovely and gracious neighbor makes his cowardice and shame doubly compounded.

It appears that Sen. Gonzalez is equally unethical and has lots of skeletons and cigar wrappers in his own closet, but Mr. Espada should be ashamed of himself for trying to use our building as a pawn in his game. Bronx residents should represent Bronx residents. I doubt Mr. Espada could ever win an election in Mamaroneck.

Our community here at Bainbridge House is close-knit and familial. We would love to have a "native son" as a State Senator, but Mr. Espada, you are no native son. Shame on you!

City raids office of builder who donated campaign money to Obama aide Adolfo Carrión

Friday, April 24th 2009, 4:00 AM


Hermann for News

NYPD and Department of Investigation officers at the Atlantic Development Group.

Investigators Thursday raided the Manhattan office of a major developer who funneled thousands in campaign cash to local politicians, including White House aide Adolfo Carrión.

City Department of Investigation agents spent hours gathering documents from the 155 Sixth Ave. offices of Atlantic Development Group.

Armed with a search warrant from the Manhattan district attorney's office, agents and cops removed dozens of boxes of records.

DOI spokeswoman Diane Struzzi confirmed the raid but declined further comment.

A spokesman for Atlantic, Lee Silberstein, said only: "There's an ongoing investigation, and Atlantic is cooperating with authorities."

One target of the probe is a major Bronx project, Boricua Village, that's at the heart of a Daily News investigation into Carrión, the director of White House urban policy who, until last year, was Bronx borough president.

In the last few years, Atlantic's owners, Peter Fine and Marc Altheim, and other company execs gave Carrión $52,400 in political contributions.

During that time, the then-borough president recommended approval of Atlantic's Boricua Village, one of the biggest publicly subsidized projects in the Bronx.

Carrión also sponsored $7.5 million in taxpayer funds for the project, which includes 675 units of housing and a 14-story tower for Boricua College.

The Boricua project was designed by an architect who was doing renovation work on Carrión's City Island home.

Carrión has yet to pay the architect, Hugo Subotovsky, for work completed by February 2007. After The News revealed this arrangement, the White House told him to pay.

Carrión and Subotovsky would not comment.

Sources familiar with the investigation said the agency is looking at whether Atlantic illegally influenced local politicians to win approval for its many projects.

Another source said the probe arose during a gambling and loansharking probe involving organized crime figures operating at the Boricua Village job.

Investigators are examining allegations that Atlantic paid bribes to city Building Department employees to expedite permits.

The source said the probe could evolve into how Atlantic got permission to build and how they acquired land in Manhattan and the Bronx.

Altheim is a target, the source said.

He and Fine have made tens of thousands of dollars in contributions to numerous politicians and parties, including $40,000 to the New York State Democrats in 2007 and $16,800 to Bronx City Councilman Joel Rivera from 2003 to 2006.

Thursday, April 23, 2009

The Wolf at Thompson's Door

Thursday, April 23, 2009



The Wolf at the Door of Thompson
By Gary Tilzer
Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has expanded his investigation of the pension fund scandal into New York City Comptroller William Thompson’s office, and there seem to be plenty of reasons why Thompson should be nervous.

It was reported yesterday in the Times that it was under former top Thompson aide Josh Wolf-Powers’ advisement that Steven Rattner’s private investment firm Quadrangle Group hired the now-indicted Hank Morris as its placement agent. Rattner badly wanted to gain access to investment from the State’s pension fund and according to the Times, “Wolf-Powers told Mr. Rattner that he could not think of any investment firm that had persuaded the city’s pension fund to invest without using a placement agent.”

What hasn’t been reported until now is that Wolf-Powers knew so much about how the City invests its pension money with private firms, because Wolf-Powers and his close associates reinvented the New York City Employees Retirement System (NYCERS) when they were working under Thompson. True News has discovered that in 2005, the same year that Wolf-Powers turned Rattner onto Morris, Wolf-Powers left his key position with the City Comptroller to co-found the company Blue Wolf Capital Management with another top Thompson aide, Adam Blumenthal, who served as First Deputy Comptroller and Chief Financial Officer from 2002-2005.

Wolf-Powers makes no secret of his role in reshaping NYCERS. In his bio on his company’s website, Wolf-Powers boasts, “Prior to founding Blue Wolf, Mr. Wolf-Powers served as Managing Director - Private Markets for New York City Comptroller William C. Thompson, Jr., from 2003-2005. In this position, Mr. Wolf-Powers oversaw the process by which the New York City Retirement Systems invested in private equity, economically targeted investments and other securities for which there is not a public market. During his tenure, the New York City Retirement Systems more than doubled their allocation to the private equity asset class, and their commitments to private equity funds, committing over $2 billion to nineteen private equity funds.”

Blumenthal and Wolf-Powers’ Blue Wolf Capital Management, like Hank Morris’ firm Searle, specializes in drumming up pension fund business for private investors. Under a section entitled “Government in the Value Chain”, Blue Wolf’s company website states, “Many middle-market private equity firms shy away from companies for which the federal government, federal agencies, or state or local governments or government entities, are major factors in the value chain. Government contractors and companies in industries driven by government procurement, policies or subsidies have a set of common issues which we specialize in addressing.” According to its website Blue Wolf is particularly well-suited for government procurement work, because “each member of our investment committee has served as a public official.”

Among Blue Wolf’s other top players are its operating partner Joshua Gotbaum, whose mother New York City Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum is a trustee of New York City’s Pension Funds, and Mike Musaraca, who before joining Blue Wolf as its managing director, was previously assistant director of the Department of Research and Negotiations with District Council 37 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME).

In Blue Wolf’s January 2009 press release announcing the hiring of Musaraca, Blumenthal expressed high praise for the former top union official’s work with the City’s pension fund. “At the City, Mike was an invaluable partner in the changes to the investment and management of NYCERS`s assets we helped make, which benefited the assets of all of the New York City Retirement Systems.”
Blumenthal’s recognition of Musaraca’s role in reshaping NYCERS is reminiscent of Comptroller Thompson’s own 2005 press release announcing Blumenthal’s departure from his office. “Under Blumenthal's stewardship of BAM [Comptroller’s Bureau of Asset Management], the office structured innovative investment vehicles such as the City Investment Fund, which has resulted in pension investment in real estate in the City, doubled the private equity program's size and pace with commitments of more than $2 billion, established a new emerging managers program, and put in place an organizational structure including a new master custodian for the city's pension assets, a risk management unit and substantial professional staffing to support the pension systems investment initiatives.”
As Attorney General Cuomo probes Comptroller Thompson’s office, he is bound to find this intimate connection between those who created the system by which the City invests its pension funds and those who may have benefited financially from its exploitation deeply troubling. But will Thompson himself be drawn into Cuomo’s quickly expanding investigation into the pension fund scandal, or will he skirt direct implication as Alan Hevesi has so far?

What would Thompson stand to gain from any improprieties orchestrated under his watch? Well, according to a February 2009 article in the Times, after the City Council outlawed campaign contributions from limited liability corporations and partnerships went into effect, Thompson and his fellow Mayoral candidate Anthony Weiner quickly collected as much money from LLCs and LPs as they could before the ban went into effect, aggravated good government groups that argued that Thompson and Weiner had undermined the spirit of campaign finance reform. Of the $50,174 Thompson raised, the Times noted one particular contribution to Thompson’s mayoral campaign. “On July 9, 2007, six days after the ban was passed, [Thompson] accepted a $4,950 donation from the investment firm Blue Wolf Capital Management L.L.C. and a $4,050 contribution from its co-founder and managing partner, Adam Blumenthal.”
It seems that the CFB isn’t having any more success regulating the special interests that control New York City politics, than the FCC had regulating the Wall Street investors who destroyed the nation’s economy.
Daily News Editorial: Out of control: The New York Times reported that former top Thompson aide Josh Wolf-Powers leaned on Rattner to hire a placement agent, telling Rattner, according to The Times, that he could not recall an investment firm that had won a city pension fund investment without using a placement agent. Rattner then hired Morris, who had been so effective with Hevesi in Albany, to work his magic in the Municipal Building. And apparently, he did. Thompson said yesterday that he wasn't aware of Morris' role and asked Cuomo to investigate whether Rattner's company had misled the city pension fund in that one deal *** Bill Thompson’s spokesman said it's

“absolutely, unequivocally not true” that his boss and the former comptroller, Alan Hevesi, made any deals.

ANDY PENSION PROBE TO EYE CITY State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's sweeping investigation into pay-to-play corruption within the state pension funds has broadened to include a probe of New York City's estimated $82 *** THE RATTNER DISTRACTION Rattner and the private equity firm he established, the Quadrangle Group, seem to be eyeballs-deep in the scandal. Three friends of disgraced former state Comptroller Alan Hevesi -- former Liberal Party head Ray Harding, Democratic consultant Hank Morris and state pension fund manager David Loglisci -- have already been arrested and accused of taking kickbacks in return for securing pension-fund investments for private firms, NYP Ed *** NY pension fund bans controversial middlemen *** New York City Comptroller Draws Scrutiny *** Albany Bars Placement Agents for Pension Fund *** Pension Fund Scandal Expands: Rattner's Ties To Bill Richardson *** Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver arranged pension sitdowns, including one with Mike Richter *** Editorial: Out of control A n epic scandal has embarrassed state Controller Tom DiNapoli and city Controller Bill Thompson into taking action to prevent corruption in the handling of public pension funds. Far too belatedly, the two custodians of, cumulatively, almost a quarter-trillion dollars in pension money yesterday banned so-called placement agents from their offices . . . DiNapoli had also once met personally with the head of a private equity concern who was accompanied by former Bronx Democratic boss Roberto Ramirez. In that case, the pension fund upped its $50 million investment stake by $15 million. *** Cuomo turns pension-probe spotlight on city finances The 2006 deal took place nearly four years after Alan Hevesi left the city controller's office for the state's. Catterton also paid Daniel Hevesi - a registered financial broker who owned Praetorian Securities up until last year - a fee for a New Mexico pension deal *** N.Y. Takes Aim at Pension Agents *** Alan Hevesi's son, Dan, a former state senator, is now in AG Andrew Cuomo's crosshairs *** Dan Janison parses the pension fund mess thusly: "New York's public scandal of the day boils down to whether and when "paid intermediary" means "bagman."*** Boards, Trustees and Actuaries *** Rattner's Friend In High Places

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Political PARTIES 4 SALE, Organized Crime Politics

Wednesday, April 22, 2009



Organized Crime Politics
Political PARTIES 4 SALE

by Gary Tilzer
While it is illegal for elected officials to sell their votes, it is not illegal for political parties to sell their ballot lines in pay to play schemes

Liberal Party
INVITING CORRUPTION: NY'S RISKY THIRD-PARTY RULES – Last week‘s wide ranging indictment against former Liberal Party boss Raymond B. Harding for pay to play with the state’s pension fund, paints a vivid portrait of ballot lines for sale in New York. Minor parties are common in US politics, but few states afford them such an easy path to power as New York does. In the Empire State a minor party can cross-endorse candidates who are also appearing on the Democratic and Republican lines. This third-party backing has become an object of intense desire among Republicans and Democrats, because it can cut down on competition and ensure that an independent candidate doesn't siphon votes away from major-party candidates.
The practice of cross endorsement, which used to be called “fusion ballot” traces back to the post-Civil War era, when political parties both liberal and conservative, from diverse ethnic and racial backgrounds joined together to oppose New York City’s powerful Tammany Hall political machine. Fusion candidacies were associated with good government groups and were generally in opposition to the political machine. Today minor parties in the city have not only become the machine, they have become a kind of permanent government, which leaders such as Harding run like a business to make more for themselves and their friends. While common 100 years ago, cross-endorsements have since been eliminated by most states in election law reform efforts. Only five states today permit unlimited party endorsement of a single candidate.

Before the Harding era, the liberal party represented a progressive force in the city for good government that endorsed liberal, anti-machine politicians such as: Mayoral candidates Fiorello H. La Guardia, John Lindsay and Robert Wagner (in his third term); Presidential candidate Adlai Stevenson and Senator Robert Kennedy. In 1966 Kennedy took on the political machine and tried to reform the Tammany Hall party system that has existed intact until this very day.

The Liberal Party’s Harding is not the only minor party leader in the city to run his party as a profit making enterprise, they all do:

Conservative Party
After delivering the governorship to George Pataki in 1994, Michael R. Long and his Conservative Party were at the high point of their power in the state. Not only did Long broker a deal to have conservative Herb London run for state comptroller rather than enter the Republican primary against then State Senator George Pataki for governor, his party ultimately delivered the winning votes to both the Gubernatorial and Attorney General candidates. In the 1994 race for governor, Mario Cuomo was defeated by 190,000 votes. Long’s Conservative Party line (328,000 voters) gave Pataki his margin of victory. That same year the Conservative Party also gave Republican Dennis Vacco his margin of victory for Attorney General over Democrat Karen Burstein. Long got his rewards from the new governor. According to newspaper reports, his daughter (chief-of-staff to the Lt. Governor) and two of his top party aides were on Pataki’s payroll.

Independence Party
Though not initially conceived as such, the Independence Party through the usurpation of its powers by Dr. Lenora Fulani’s partisans, has become in recent years essentially a sanitized reincarnation of the now defunct, “Cult Like” New Alliance Party (NAP), founded by self-proclaimed mentor and psychotherapist Dr. Fred Newman, in the early 1980’s. The NAP was a criminal enterprise masquerading as a political party in New York’s dysfunctional political party structure. It is a scandal and tells you how far the city has fallen in its morals and ethics to have such cultish party leaders playing a major role in who wins office in our city.

This is what the ADL said about the cult NAP:
“In conjunction with his NAP activities, Fred Newman operates a collective of for-profit ventures. Most notorious of these are his therapy centers, at which, it has been charged, Newman administers an unconventional brand of psychiatric treatment that exploits the emotional weaknesses of his clients. Newman also uses these centers to recruit volunteers for NAP. Newman and NAP chair Lenora Fulani have frequently peppered their writings and speeches with Jew-baiting remarks. In a notorious 1985 speech, Newman announced that in response to the Holocaust, Jews became "storm-troopers of decadent capitalism." Newman and Fulani lionize Nation of Islam leader Minister Louis Farrakhan, and have defended his hate-filled diatribes against Jews.” *** Newman and Fulani's All Stars Project: Bad for Kids * New Alliance Party / Social Therapy - Cult information from cult ... * Buchanan, Fulani, Perot, and the Reform Party * Inside the New Alliance Party * * New Alliance Party / Social Therapy - Cult information from cult

Democratic Party
Clarence Norman, the former head of the Brooklyn Democratic Party, is currently in jail for grand larceny and coercion of judicial candidates. CLARENCE SAYS JAIL & FAREWELL - New York Post top Brooklyn Democrat Convicted of Campaign Violations - New York Breaking News: Clarence Norman convicted on all 4 counts The NORMAN CONVICTED. Dem leader is guilty of campaign abuses

Political parties are intended to empower the masses and to give them a means to change their government and its leaders. Instead, political parties in New York have become criminal organizations that have abused their positions and power in order to rip off the very people they are supposed to be serving. While this same public is paying higher taxes and fees because of dysfunction in Albany and the City Council, it is forced to accept a government that services party leaders and the elected officials that pay them protection money to remain in office. Even when they get caught up in corruption as Harding did, because of a “Blue Wall” type silence, elected officials do not rat on other elected officials. It’s funny how the Rev. Al Sharpton will march (and rightfully so) in protest of a cop’s silence in the face of a crime by another cop, but say nothing about the “Elected Officials Wall of Silence,” to stop a corrupt system that is destroying people lives and the greatest city in the world.

True News has been reporting on the corruption caused by the control or ballot access for some time Tammany’s Ballot Control Again and Again. *** True News Reported It First: New York’s Political Mob Wars *** Organized Crime Politics *** Organized Crime Politics Part 1 *** NY' s Leaders Have Lost the Values and Morality that Once Made it the Greatest City in the World *** Campaign Consultant Lobbyists Cause Corruption.

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Senator Dilan Reminds New Yorkers to Explore Recently Added Benefits and Assistance to New York City’s Unemploye


See full size image

(Brooklyn, NY)—Upon news that state agencies yesterday set a plan in action to assist New York City’s unemployed, Senator Martin Malavé Dilan (D-Brooklyn) is urging out-of-work New Yorkers to make the best of new benefits and assistance.

On Monday, April 20, a coordinated effort led by the state Department of Labor, and Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance set vital federal funds to work extending Unemployment Insurance benefits, job opportunities and financial transportation assistance for more than 27,000 New York City residents.

“These benefits are what will get Brooklyn back to work,” said Senator Dilan. “They not only extend temporary income to the unemployed looking for work, they provide the jobs, training and access to local career centers to help get them work”

Together, state and federal unemployment benefits now provide 59 weeks of coverage for job seekers. Also, funds have been made available to begin training workers in emerging fields such as, green, healthcare and advanced manufacturing. As part of the plan announced yesterday, Workforce Investment Boards will receive funds to help pay transportation expenses for Brooklyn job seekers.

“Reach out to your local career center to learn what other options may be available to you, and get you working again,” Senator Dilan concluded.

For more information contact the Brooklyn Workforce1 Career Center at (718) 246-5219, or visit www.nyc.gov/workforce1.

Brooklyn Workforce1 Career Center

9 Bond Street, 5th Floor

Between Livingston & Fulton Streets

Brooklyn, NY 11201

Monday - Friday 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Senator Dilan Reminds New Yorkers to Explore Recently Added Benefits and Assistance to New York City’s Unemploye

(Brooklyn, NY)—Upon news that state agencies yesterday set a plan in action to assist New York City’s unemployed, Senator Martin Malavé Dilan (D-Brooklyn) is urging out-of-work New Yorkers to make the best of new benefits and assistance.

On Monday, April 20, a coordinated effort led by the state Department of Labor, and Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance set vital federal funds to work extending Unemployment Insurance benefits, job opportunities and financial transportation assistance for more than 27,000 New York City residents.

“These benefits are what will get Brooklyn back to work,” said Senator Dilan. “They not only extend temporary income to the unemployed looking for work, they provide the jobs, training and access to local career centers to help get them work”

Together, state and federal unemployment benefits now provide 59 weeks of coverage for job seekers. Also, funds have been made available to begin training workers in emerging fields such as, green, healthcare and advanced manufacturing. As part of the plan announced yesterday, Workforce Investment Boards will receive funds to help pay transportation expenses for Brooklyn job seekers.

“Reach out to your local career center to learn what other options may be available to you, and get you working again,” Senator Dilan concluded.

For more information contact the Brooklyn Workforce1 Career Center at (718) 246-5219, or visit www.nyc.gov/workforce1.

Brooklyn Workforce1 Career Center

9 Bond Street, 5th Floor

Between Livingston & Fulton Streets

Brooklyn, NY 11201

Monday - Friday 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.

13th Year A Charm For Medical Marijuana?

April 20, 2009

Assemblyman Richard Gottfried has been carrying a bill to legalize the use of pot by people suffering from serious medical conditions for 13 years now, but he thinks advocates of the measure might have "the best chance we've ever had" of seeing it pass this year.

marijuana-leaf

The bill has passed the Democrat-dominated Assembly, where Gottfriend chairs the Health Committee, for two years in a row.

But it never moved in the heretofore GOP-controlled Senate, even though it had a majority sponsor (Sen. Vincent Leibell, albeit of a much more restrictive bill) and at least tacit support from then-Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno.

However, the Senate is now under Democratic control, and for the first time, the bill not only has a majority sponsor in that chamber, but it is being carried by that chamber's Health Committee chairman, Sen. Tom Duane.

Duane and Gottfried are scheduled to formally unveil their bill at a press conference in Albany tomorrow. They will be joined by patients who would benefit from medical marijuana if it was legal, including a former Army paratrooper from Liverpool who suffers from MS and a Conservative Party member from Buffalo who has chronic pain since a 2001 car accident.

Asked about the bill's prospects, Gottfried said the "session is still early," and also pointed out that the Senate majority managed to hold all of its 32 members together to deliver the state budget on time.

When my DN colleague Glenn Blain noted the Senate Democrats haven't been able to get any other significant deals since then, Gottfried said there is GOP support for the legislation.

While that may have been true in the past, there are so far zero Republicans signed on to Duane's bill.

Under the Duane/Gottfried legislation, patients with "serious conditions" (for example, suffering from chronic pain, nausea caused by chemotherapy or unable to eat due to HIV) would be able to use pot under a doctor's supervision. They would be able to purchase the drug from purveyors licensed by the state or grow small amounts at home.

UPDATE: Asked by Blain about Gottfried's bill, Leibell said: "That's just crazy." (He was referring specifically to the grow-your-own portion of the bill). He also predicted the legislation won't pass in the Senate.

It is illegal to sell or possess pot in New York, but not to buy it. Thus, a person with permission from the state to possess pot would not be criminally liable if they bought it on the street, but the person who sold it to them would, Gottfried said.

In the past, a sticking point has been the federal government's prosecution of medical marijuana providers and users. But, according to Gottfried, this is no longer a problem as US AG Eric Holder has signaled that won't be the Obama administration's approach.

Gottfried said he expects the bill to move out of the Assembly Health Committee next week and be brought to the floor of his chamber in late May or early June. He said members of the state DOH have been working with him on the bill, which, he said, demonstrates the Paterson administration is amenable on this issue.

We're still waiting for a call from the press office to determine the official position of Gov. David Paterson (who has admitted that he personally used both cocaine and marijuana "probably when I was about 20," but says he hasn't touched it since the late 70s).

Charles Rangel, Jerrold Nadler among N.Y. politicians spending big on food

Tuesday, April 21st 2009, 4:00 AM

Recession-conscious New Yorkers are saving money by packing their lunches, but some of their representatives in Congress are packing it in everywhere from posh bistros to Dunkin' Donuts.

Local lawmakers used campaign cash as a veritable stimulus package for the restaurant industry during the first three months of the year, new federal fund-raising records show.

House Ways and Means Chairman Charles Rangel (D-Harlem) plowed through more than $12,000 worth of food.

No tab was too small for Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-Manhattan) to pick up on the campaign dime. His team spent $8 at Dunkin' Donuts and $11 at Krispy Kreme.

Rangel, the dean of the Empire State's congressional delegation, spent $3,900 on catering at Washington's first-class Phoenix Park Hotel. He also dropped $1,128.21 at swanky Capitol Hill restaurant Bistro Bis, the sort of place where a bar burger comes in at around $16 - and a bottle of wine can go for $300.

Rangel spent thousands on grub closer to home, too, handing over $3,000 for catering at Rainbow by Cipriani and hundreds more at Harlem establishments Spoonbread and A Taste of Seafood.

"He did it because it's part of his business as chairman of a very powerful committee," said Baruch College's Doug Muzzio.

"I don't spend $133 a day [on food] - but I'm not one of the most powerful men in the House of Representatives," the public affairs professor added.

While Rangel may have been one of the bigger spenders, some of his colleagues joined him in dishing out for catered fund-raisers and working lunches:

- Rep. Joe Crowley (D-Queens, Bronx) spent nearly $2,000 on eats at upscale Morton's steakhouse in D.C. He also forked over $16,524.78 to Dream Street Caterers and $7,820 at Sam's Soul Food.

- Nadler spent about $871 for a cash bash at the Charlie Palmer Steak in Washington, $89 at Blue Ribbon Bakery in Manhattan and $23.58 for breakfast at an IHOP in Arlington, Va.

He dropped $278.54 for an event at Steak Frites downtown, and $391.14 on Fresh Direct grocery deliveries.

- Hunan Balcony in the Bronx gobbled up $540 from Rep. Eliot Engel (D-Bronx, Rockland).

- Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-Queens) spent $965.47 for catering by Washington's B. Smith's restaurant, which boasts it's "been called one of the most beautiful dining rooms in America."

She also shelled out $580 at Capitol Hill's Johnny's Half Shell, previously noted as one of Gourmet magazine's best restaurants.

ckatz@nydailynews.com

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Hugo Chavez offers Spanish-language book as gift for President Obama

Updated Saturday, April 18th 2009, 5:32 PM

Vucci/AP

Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez hands President Barack Obama book, 'The Open Veins of Latin America,' by Uruguayan writer Eduardo Galeano.

Hugo Chavez once famously dumped on President Obama's predecessor as "the devil," but Saturday, the Venezuelan strongman came bearing gifts for the new guy in the White House.

Chavez presented Obama with a copy of a book called "The Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent" as the two presidents made the rounds of the annual Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago.

The book is a famed Uruguayan journalist's treatise on foreign exploitation of the region.

Chavez said he signed it, "For Obama, with warm regards."

"It's an extraordinary book that helped me understand Latin America when I was young, our history, our reality," said Chavez, who apparently gave Obama a copy of the book in Spanish - a language he doesn't speak.

It wasn't clear whether Obama would delve into the tome soon, if at all.

"I thought it was one of Chavez's books. I was going to give him one of mine," Obama said.

U.S.-Venezuelan relations have been strained in recent times and hit an all-time low when Chavez famously compared George W. Bush to Satan in a speech at the United Nations. He recently called Obama a "poor ignoramus."

While Obama has clearly been chummier with Chavez, economic adviser Larry Summers cautioned reporters against making too much of these early overtures.

"Relationships depend on more than smiles and handshakes," Summers said.

Personalities aside, Obama made his way through the summit arguing for better relations with nations to the south, while at the same time urging those governments not to overblame the U.S. for their problems.

"I have a lot to learn and I very much look forward to listening and figuring out how we can work together more effectively," Obama said.

The President also got an earful about one nation that wasn't even present at the summit: Cuba, which was barred because of its undemocratic system of government.

During a morning meeting with a dozen South American leaders, Obama fielded repeated urgings to lift the U.S. ban on trade with the Communist-run island nation.

Obama has already lifted restrictions on Americans' ability to visit relatives in Cuba and send them money, and has said he is hoping for the Cuban government to ease repressive laws.

ckatz@nydailynews.com

Saturday, April 18, 2009

President Obama meets Hugo Chavez, and opens door to change in Cuba policy with Raul Castro

Updated Friday, April 17th 2009, 9:35 PM

Getty

President Barack Obama met Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez for the first time at the Summit of the Americas.

WASHINGTON - President Obama made nice with the dictators next-door Friday, signalling to Raul Castro that he will consider lifting the U.S. embargo on Cuba, and warmly greeting Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

"I am prepared to have my administration engage with the Cuban government on a wide range of issues from human rights, free speech and democratic reform to drugs, migration and economic issues," Obama said at the Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago.

Obama, who has called for "recasting" the relationship, lifted curbs on Cuban-Americans' travel and money remittances to Cuba earlier this week.

Although he was not specific about when or where talks with the Cuban regime might start, he said he hopes to "move U.S.-Cuban relations in a new direction."

Earlier, responding to an appeal from "Juan in Cuba" at a town-hall type meeting in the Dominican Republic, Secretary of State Clinton also pressed for an opening to Havana, saying the U.S. embargo policy had "failed" in the 50-year standoff with the Communist Castro brothers.

Raul Castro, who took over as Cuban president from his ailing brother Fidel last year, said in Venezuela Friday, "We are open, whenever they want, to discussing everything - human rights, freedom of the press, political prisoners, everything, everything, everything they want to discuss."

Clinton called Castro's surprise statement "a very welcome overture."

"We are continuing to look for more productive ways forward in dealing with Cuba," Clinton said, "because President Obama and I and the administration view the present policy toward Cuba as having failed."

At the summit, Obama met Chavez for the first time, shaking hands and smiling with the socialist leader in a photo later released by the Venezuelan government.

Chavez said the introduction was initiated by the President, and that he told Obama he hopes to improve relations between the two nations.

rsisk@nydailynews.com

Friday, April 17, 2009

Former state Liberal Party boss' downfall

http://assets.nydailynews.com/img/2009/04/16/amd_ray_harding.jpg Ray Harding

This image of a once-potent player brought low startled New York's electoral world this week as Harding became the latest figure charged in the "pay-to-play" pension cases brought by state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo.

Cuomo charges that Harding was rewarded for years of political service to former Democratic Comptroller Alan Hevesi with hundreds of thousands of dollars in "placement" fees from investment firms seeking business from the state pension fund that Hevesi controlled.
Rudy Giuliani - whose mayoralty had been Harding's best known political meal ticket - gave a brief reaction as he departed a state GOP dinner on Wednesday. He said he didn't know the merits of the allegations and urged a prayer for Harding's family. Harding's lawyers deny the charges.

Dan Janison Dan Janison Recent columns

But what political insiders found more stunning was that years before Harding emerged as Giuliani's top political guru, he was a sometime-ally of former Gov. Mario Cuomo - and his son and adviser Andrew Cuomo.

Their on-and-off contacts of the past drive all kinds of armchair speculation over who's doing what to whom. "It's like a le Carré novel," a longtime acquaintance of all the players involved said sadly Thursday. "Unfortunately, I know the characters - and it's not a novel."

As it happened, it was in the Sheraton New York - the same hotel where on Wednesday he heard Republican icon Newt Gingrich encourage him to run for governor - that Giuliani stood up at Harding's Liberal Party dinner, with Gov. Cuomo, their clasped hands held high, 14 years ago.

"Governor Cuomo and Mayor Giuliani, I'm really happy to see you here tonight - together," Harding said.

The audience cheered. Days later, Republican George Pataki unseated Cuomo.

Despite that outcome, Harding, who ultimately won out in the party's factional warfare of the 1980s, seemed to thrive. His city-based law firm grew in stature. Associates enjoyed access to city agencies. Liberal Party members and Harding relatives got big and small city jobs.

But things fell apart. In 2001, Ray Harding backed Hevesi as Giuliani's successor for mayor. This was supposed to help position the then-city comptroller in the Democratic primary. Hevesi lost the primary, but it was too late to remove his name from the general-election ballot. He drew the Liberals a pathetic 1 percent of votes cast.

The following year, as Hevesi ran successfully for state comptroller, Harding also backed Andrew Cuomo for governor. But Cuomo by Election Day had ceded the Democratic primary to H. Carl McCall, so his draw on the Liberal line fell short of the 50,000 needed to sustain its automatic place on the ballot.

For Harding, the party was over in more ways than one. His son Russell was convicted of embezzlement and possessing child pornography and was sentenced to federal prison. The elder Harding allegedly pursued investment-placement fees to defray Russell's legal costs - leading him to hook up with Nassau-raised Hank Morris, a longtime Hevesi adviser and fellow "pay-to-play" defendant, who allegedly manipulated access for investment officials.

Prosecutors said Harding helped Hevesi arrange the vacancy of a Queens Assembly seat occupied by Democrat Michael Cohen for his son Andrew Hevesi. Cohen reportedly got a $150,000 job with the Health Insurance Plan of New York, and Andrew Hevesi, who is not charged with wrongdoing, got a quick special election that he won.

Many wonder whether these criminal cases will stick. For the moment, only their status as a political bombshell has been proven beyond a reasonable doubt.

Former state Liberal Party boss' downfall

Authorities placed Ray Harding, 74, ex-boss of the now-defunct state Liberal Party, in a double-set of handcuffs before walking him past the cameras to his arraignment.

This image of a once-potent player brought low startled New York's electoral world this week as Harding became the latest figure charged in the "pay-to-play" pension cases brought by state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo.

Cuomo charges that Harding was rewarded for years of political service to former Democratic Comptroller Alan Hevesi with hundreds of thousands of dollars in "placement" fees from investment firms seeking business from the state pension fund that Hevesi controlled.

Rudy Giuliani - whose mayoralty had been Harding's best known political meal ticket - gave a brief reaction as he departed a state GOP dinner on Wednesday. He said he didn't know the merits of the allegations and urged a prayer for Harding's family. Harding's lawyers deny the charges.

Dan Janison Dan Janison Recent columns

But what political insiders found more stunning was that years before Harding emerged as Giuliani's top political guru, he was a sometime-ally of former Gov. Mario Cuomo - and his son and adviser Andrew Cuomo.

Their on-and-off contacts of the past drive all kinds of armchair speculation over who's doing what to whom. "It's like a le Carré novel," a longtime acquaintance of all the players involved said sadly Thursday. "Unfortunately, I know the characters - and it's not a novel."

As it happened, it was in the Sheraton New York - the same hotel where on Wednesday he heard Republican icon Newt Gingrich encourage him to run for governor - that Giuliani stood up at Harding's Liberal Party dinner, with Gov. Cuomo, their clasped hands held high, 14 years ago.

"Governor Cuomo and Mayor Giuliani, I'm really happy to see you here tonight - together," Harding said.

The audience cheered. Days later, Republican George Pataki unseated Cuomo.

Despite that outcome, Harding, who ultimately won out in the party's factional warfare of the 1980s, seemed to thrive. His city-based law firm grew in stature. Associates enjoyed access to city agencies. Liberal Party members and Harding relatives got big and small city jobs.

But things fell apart. In 2001, Ray Harding backed Hevesi as Giuliani's successor for mayor. This was supposed to help position the then-city comptroller in the Democratic primary. Hevesi lost the primary, but it was too late to remove his name from the general-election ballot. He drew the Liberals a pathetic 1 percent of votes cast.

The following year, as Hevesi ran successfully for state comptroller, Harding also backed Andrew Cuomo for governor. But Cuomo by Election Day had ceded the Democratic primary to H. Carl McCall, so his draw on the Liberal line fell short of the 50,000 needed to sustain its automatic place on the ballot.

For Harding, the party was over in more ways than one. His son Russell was convicted of embezzlement and possessing child pornography and was sentenced to federal prison. The elder Harding allegedly pursued investment-placement fees to defray Russell's legal costs - leading him to hook up with Nassau-raised Hank Morris, a longtime Hevesi adviser and fellow "pay-to-play" defendant, who allegedly manipulated access for investment officials.

Prosecutors said Harding helped Hevesi arrange the vacancy of a Queens Assembly seat occupied by Democrat Michael Cohen for his son Andrew Hevesi. Cohen reportedly got a $150,000 job with the Health Insurance Plan of New York, and Andrew Hevesi, who is not charged with wrongdoing, got a quick special election that he won.

Many wonder whether these criminal cases will stick. For the moment, only their status as a political bombshell has been proven beyond a reasonable doubt.

Thursday, April 16, 2009

SUSPECT ARRESTED IN DANA RISHPY CASE













15 de Abril del 2009 20:36 April 15 2009 20:36

OFDI could detain more involved in the case Rishpy


By Eric Gallindo

The case of the disappearance of missing Israeli tourist, Dana Rishpy was reactivated on April 14, 2009. Tulum resident, Flor Pastrana Flores was arrested and flown to Mexico City for interrogation, when she exited the Scotiabank. Flores is a friend of American suspect, Matthew Walshin. It is reported that she rented an apartment to him after Dana's disappearance in Tulum. Shortly afterwards, Walshin fled to the US and is still in hiding.

State prosecutor, Bello Melchor Rodríguez y Carrillo, said this could lead to more arrests in the coming days by the Deputy Attorney Specialized Investigation of Organized Crime (OFDI). After her arrest and transfer to Mexico City, Pastrana Flores, will be interrogated by personnel of OFDI about the disappearance of the Israeli citizen, Dana Rishpy.

Counsel for the agency said that the file regarding Rishpy's disappearance remains open. Officials did not want to go into detail and did not reveal why some people could be on the next list of detainees in this case by the federal authorities. They said the PGJE sought cooperation of various courts, as well as other states
Dana Rishpy, disappeared in 2007. (SIPSE) (SIPS)
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YFP Commentary:

The arrest of Flor Pastrana Flores is a step in the right direction. She has long been considered
to hold valuable information in regards to the case. As a loyal friend of suspect Matthew Walshin
for more than fifteen years, she protected him after Dana's disappearance. The web of lies and alibis is vast. Zsolt Fejer, a.k.a., "El Hungaro", still remains in jail on the charge of drug sales.
He too was a friend of Walshin's in Tulum. However, he has given little information.

In spite of the "Tulum Wall of Silence", the pressure has been stepped up. A Houston, Texas newspaper has interviewed the Rishpy family and WABC TV (http://www.7online.com/) conducted a major interview with Dana's parents. So, for those who thought that they have escaped scrutiny, beware. The eyes of the world are upon you.