Showing posts with label Bertha Lewis. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bertha Lewis. Show all posts

Thursday, August 28, 2014

Pledge 2 Protect latest advocacy organization to hire The Advance Group, masking donors behind a law firm

Elected officials no longer listen to voters, unless a community forms a nonprofit organization and hires corrupt lobbyists in a scheme that cloaks the identity of donors

Exploiting a loophole in campaign finance laws, the small Manhattan law firm Marquart & Small is hiding the identity of donors funding the Pledge 2 Protect advocacy group

The community advocacy group, Pledge 2 Protect, which is nobly fighting the opening of a huge marine waste transfer station in the Upper East Side of Manhattan, is flouting campaign finance laws to do it, Crain's New York Business reported today.

Pledge 2 Protect is using a law firm, Marquart & Small, to hide the identity of its big money donors. In two months of this year, those monies have been used to pay a small army of lobbyists and consultants :

  • $78,000 to The Advance Group, a lobbying firm that doubles as a campaign consulting firm headed by Scott Levenson, was involved in the astroturf group, NYC Is Not For Sale ;
  • $20,000 to The Black Institute, a nonprofit organization founded by former ACORN head Bertha Lewis ; The Black Institute shares office space with The Advance Group ;
  • $20,000 to Gladstein Neandross and Associates, an environmental consulting firm based in California ; and
  • $7,000 to Rubenstein Public Relations, which is also the official rep for New York Yankees baseball superstar Alex Rodriguez.

The fact that Pledge 2 Protect is skirting campaign finance laws calls to mind the controversies engulfing another noble-purposed group, NY-CLASS. NY-CLASS is a group seeking a ban of horse-drawn carriages in New York City. Last year, NY-CLASS was the primary force behind a Super PAC named NYC Is Not For Sale ; both NY-CLASS and NYC Is Not For Sale received campaign consulting and lobbying assistance from The Advance Group. The city's campaign finance regulatory authority, the Campaign Finance Board, has ruled that a forbidden pattern of coordination took place between the Super PAC and official campaigns also managed by The Advance Group, and The Advance Group is the subject of a complaint filed with federal prosecutors on the fourth anniversary of the corrupt Supreme Court decision in Citizens United over its electioneering work. Now that Pledge 2 Protect seems to be trying to skirt disclosure laws through gimmicks and tricks, how long before regulators or prosecutors crack down on the shady structure set up to pass-through campaign donations to benefit Pledge 2 Protect ?

Upon hearing news of Pledge 2 Protect's shadowy campaign finance structure, some of New York City's political bloggers lamented that elected officials refuse to listen to grassroots community demands. The only way elected officials seem to offer their ear is when dollar bills start exchanging hands with lobbyists with insider access to City Hall. Both The Advance Group and The Black Institute are headed by individuals with close ties to Mayor Bill de Blasio. What does it mean when the only way to impact City Hall is to pay-off individuals with close ties to the mayor ? Community groups wouldn't need to hire lobbyists if the character of officials elected to public office embodied a true ethic of public service. Perhaps before hiring lobbyists and setting up structures to cloak the identity of big money donors, the many nonprofit groups in New York City should first band together to vote out of office any politician, who makes hiring lobbyists as a condition precedent before listening to community demands, followed by a strengthening of campaign finance laws to close all loopholes ?

RELATED


East Side garbage foes hide behind loophole (Crain's New York Business)

Ongoing Levenson-Lewis-de Blasio political activities that may rise to be prohibited ? (YouTube)

Using political entities, operatives close to mayor exploit campaign finance regulations through ''pattern'' of activities (NYC : News & Analysis)

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Using political entities, operatives close to mayor exploit campaign finance regulations through ''pattern'' of activities

PUBLISHED : FRI, 23 MAY 2014, 04:18 PM
UPDATED : TUES, 27 MAY 2014, 07:20 AM

Ongoing Levenson-Lewis-de Blasio political activities that may rise to be prohibited ?

RELATED


Scott Levenson's campaign practices are damaging his brand, will it extend to his clients as well ? (Scrutiny of Advance, Levenson Heating Up * City & State)

What is truly delaying the horse-drawn carriage ban : is it the lack of a draft legislative bill, or is it the federal definition of bribery ? (The Nexus of Campaign Donations, Super PAC's, and Legislation : de Blasio's Mayoral Race and the Delayed Horse-Drawn Carriage Ban [UPDATED] * NYC : News & Analysis)

Last year was the first time when the corrupt Citizens United Supreme Court decision allowed Super PAC’s to influence the municipal elections in New York City. One Super PAC, deceptively called Jobs For New York, spent millions that were largely funded by greedy real estate developers, who were trying to buy off politicians. But one lobbyist, in particular, Scott Levenson, exemplified the worst of Super PAC corruption. So far, one Super PAC and two political campaigns managed by Mr. Levenson have been fined for campaign finance violations, and the city’s campaign finance regulatory authority has indicated that more fines may follow.

The facts surrounding the ongoing political activities of the campaign organizations maintained or controlled by Scott Levenson give rise to an « established pattern. »

Now that the Campaign Finance Board has fined each of Mr. Levenson's Super PAC and the campaign committees of Councilmember Laurie Cumbo and Councilmember Mark Levine, rendering decisions that prohibited coordination took place between the Super PAC and official political campaigns, these determinations may have federal legal implications. The chair of the Campaign Finance Board, Rose Gill Hearn, has been criticized in the past for going soft on some investigations, but she may have shown, with these early Super PAC rulings, an « established pattern » of activites, whereby Mr. Levenson is mainintaing and controlling political entities for the apparent purpose of gaming New York City’s campaign finance regulations, activities, which include :

The situation for Mr. Levenson and his lobbying clients shouldn’t have been allowed to have become so severe. Mayor de Blasio had made a campaign promise to reform campaign finance laws, but the mayor hasn’t proposed any reforms. Indeed, he has no motivation to, not when he and his political operatives stand to gain so much from an ongoing pattern of political activities.

The New York Post has reported that since 2001, the mayor’s political operatives, possibly including Bertha Lewis and others, have been conducting activities with the goal of electing Mr. de Blasio as mayor, a feat they finally achieved last year, possibly with the help of a Super PAC. The Super PAC administered by Mr. Levenson was called NYC Is Not For Sale, but it organized under the astroturf campaign called, Anybody But Quinn. The project to elect the mayor began not long after the Working Families Party was co-founded by Mr. de Blasio, Ms. Lewis, ACORN, several unions, and others.

Ms. Lewis’s post-ACORN, post-New York Communities for Change organization is called The Black Institute, and she shares office space with Mr. Levenson, as did the now notorious Super PAC, which Mr. Levenson administered. Sometimes, all of their ongoing political activities appear just sufficiently distant from the mayor, and sometimes they don’t.

RELATED


The close relationship between City Hall and the private firms attached to the UPKNYC effort has raised eyebrows amongst government reform activists due to the fact that the mayor continues to rely on large political donations after normal election cycles to advance his own political ambitions, which many see as separate from the many unpopular political decisions he faces as the city's new mayor. (Bill de Blasio’s Old Campaign Operations Live On, in One Form or Another * Politicker)

Once the mayoral race was over, the corruptive role of money in politics cycled out of the NYC Is Not For Sale and New York Jobs Now Committee Super PAC structures and into 501(c)(4) structures, just like money used to cycle from ACORN, to New York Communities for Change, to the Working Families Party, to NYCLASS, and to The Black Institute, depending on whether Mr. de Blasio was facing an election year, or not. How Mayor de Blasio directs the affairs of political entities is by making sure that they get staffed by operatives or lobbyists, who have pledged their loyalty to him. Once vetted, these operatives and lobbyists can be counted on to conduct and participate in the established pattern of activities most beneficial to the mayor. It was announced last week that the purpose of the UPKNYC 501(c)(4) organization was to evolve from advancing the mayor's universal pre-kinder agenda to now being basically a blank check political apparatus. The interchangeability and permeability of these "instruments" staffed by loyalists form the basis of the "enterprise" that allows the mayor, from a phantasmal distance, to essentially order others to do his political bidding.

The mayor's political influence was extended across New York City after his administration installed the lobbying and consulting firm of Berlin Rosen, political operatives who worked on the mayor's campaign, in the media relations role of the mayor's universal pre-kinder initiative. Berlin Rosen maintained the universal pre-kinder messaging for the mayor this way. Berlin Rosen also serves as consultants to a coalition of major police reform groups, Communities United for Police Reform. The latter allows Berlin Rosen to again maintain the messaging coming from one of the mayor's most politically sensitive quarters : police reform activists. Tampering down police reform activists is all the more important to the mayor, especially after the NYPD continues to become embroiled in more racial profiled controversies. It was reported that another political insider and lobbying firm, Pitta Bishop, helped Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito with City Council staffing. In respect of City Council staffing, loyalists to the mayor being paid for by special interest donors act as gatekeepers for the mayor's agenda.

Left out in the lurch as a consequence of the mayor's machinations are voters, who had no say in what the messaging was that came out of the universal pre-kinder reform movement. As for other reform movements in New York City, political operatives staffing the political entities working to further the mayor's political ambitions will first check with the mayor before announcing what the reelection-friendly reforms the mayor can approve.

As the roles of money and lobbyists further corrupt government and fair elections, that corruption is only going to get worse, as New York state's campaign finance regulatory authority, the Board of Elections, has eliminated caps on political donations by individuals.

Sunday, May 18, 2014

Before federal fraud indictment, Melvin Lowe was director at Bertha Lewis's new non-profit

Bertha Lewis, close advisor to Mayor de Blasio, still playing with political fire

The indicted political consultant, Melvin Lowe, served as a board of director of The Black Institute, the current non-profit out of which former ACORN head Bertha Lewis now operates, The New York Post reported today. Mr. Lowe was charged in a federal criminal complaint with federal fraud and tax violations. Mr. Lowe was identified as a board member of The Black Institute in 2012, but he is no longer on the board, according to the group’s Web site, The New York Post reported.

The report by The New York Post raised questions about other board members, as well as the finances, of Ms. Lewis's new non-profit. These questions come as federal prosecutors in New York, led by U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, are waging a historic campaign against political corruption.

The charges against Mr. Lowe stemmed from a plan to defraud $100,000 from the New York State Senate Democrats' campaign committee. The payment was made to a New Jersey political consulting firm, which the media identified as Cornerstone Management Partners. Cornerstone was run by Elnatan Rudolph, who has a relationship with the lobbyist Michael Cohen. Mr. Cohen worked on Councilmember Mark-Viverito's controversial campaign for New York City Council Speaker. Before Mr. Cohen's lobbying firm took the lead on Councilmember Mark-Viverito's speakership campaign, Councilmember Mark-Viverito was advised by the lobbyist, Scott Levenson, who has years-long ties to Ms. Lewis. Mr. Levenson was ACORN's chief spokesperson as the group was grappling with several controversies that eventually led to the closure of ACORN. To save on rent, Ms. Lewis's new non-profit also shares office space with Mr. Levenson's lobbying firm. The space is roomier now that NY-CLASS, a 501(c)(4) animal rights political group, moved out. For a time, all three entities shared the same office space. Ms. Lewis and Mayor de Blasio have close ties to the Working Families Party, which they both take credit for co-founding. And finally, Mr. Levenson's consulting firm managed several political campaigns last year at the same time he both advised Ny-CLASS and administered a Super PAC for NY-CLASS that are the subjects of several investigations for possibly coordinating their political activities to help elected Mayor de Blasio. In the face of investigations, Mr. Levenson's firm, The Advance Group, has been rapidly downsizing to get rid of witnesses, some government reform speculate.

Given that Mr. Lowe was a director at a non-profit sharing space with The Advance Group, it's not known what relationship might have developed between Mr. Lowe and Mr. Levenson.