American Presidential Elections vs. The Miss America Pageant

Really, just how hard would it be to reform federal elections, if we cared ?

True News Investigates Political Expenditures Dark Pool ; Conflicts of Interest ; Damaging Local Impact of Citizens United ; Near Media Silence

• Rolling Updates From : True News From Change NYC

Eight campaign consultants all but one are also lobbyists, have monopolized NYC elections system that only the Justice Department using the Sherman Antitrust Act can bust. (Organized Crime Politics * True News From Change)

True News Investigates Political Expenditures Dark Pool ; Conflicts of Interest ; Damaging Local Impact of Citizens United ; Near Media Silence

All the Media Silent On Local Impact on Citizens United. We have just gone though the first local election since the Citizen United ruling where two major IE groups Jobs4NY and NYClass has pumped money into almost every first time winning candidate or attacked their opponent. CrainsNY reporter Chris Bragg has done a good job showing that on of the big PAC groups headed by Advance's Scott Levenson was not following the election law and was in some elections working against the interests of his council clients. Only True News has asked where is the media on Citizens United effect on the city's elections. Mark Levine ran in a minority created district he did not even live in won with the help of Jobs4NY, NYClass and United for the Future.* Politicians for Sale (NYT Editorial) The Supreme Court should follow its own precedent and uphold overall campaign contribution limits.

Cuomo's Public Financing Way Out ? As Goo Goos Stand Up For Moreland Commission Independence. . . Cuomo Looks for Exit

Update : Moreland Commission. Cuomo’s Moreland Act Commission on Public Corruption is discussing the possibility of disbanding after recommending that a constitutional amendment be offered to voters for a public campaign finance system, The Times Union writes.

The state Legislature and the governor’s office have interfered with the Moreland Commission’s efforts to investigate corruption in Albany, and sources say that Gov. Andrew Cuomo is considering an exit strategy from the commission, The New York Times reports * The Times Union writes of the need for strong ethics rules and watchdog bodies, praising state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli and Attorney General Eric Schneiderman for their efforts in bringing integrity to government * The TU praises AG Eric Schneiderman and state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli for joining forces to try to restore some ethics to government.

Media Ignores : Large Ongoing Crimes Being Uncovered That Have Nothing to Do With Public Finance. “(A)ccording to people familiar with the commission’s work, the effort to investigate corruption in Albany is burdened by resistance from the Legislature, which has refused requests for information about lawmakers’ outside income, and by unexpected involvement by the governor’s office, which has leaned on the commission to limit the scope of its investigations.”* A Cuomo spokeswoman insisted the commission is “moving forward aggressively.”* The special Moreland Commission appointed by the governor in July will convene again, privately, today, amid a flurry of stories questioning its independence from the Cuomo administration. Recent reports say the commission held back subpoenas at the administration's request, and Capital reported yesterday that commissioners are in discussions with the administration to propose a public campaign finance system as a constitutional amendment. * It's the first step toward negotiating a truce that leaves the commission irrelevant, or, as Jim Odato suggests this morning, nonexistent.

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Is Advance Group Gaming Public Fiance ?

Advance Group's Logo on Phony Group Makes Millions in Matching Funds, Main Stream Media Ignores. Several payments that a UUFT super PAC sent to a fictitious political consulting firm “Strategic Consultants” have the Advance Group logo on their invoices.

10.09.13 FOIL Docs-3 by Chris Bragg

Advance Group puts logo on phony firm's invoice( CrainsNY) Last week, The Insider broke the news that the United Federation of Teachers' super PAC had paid more than $370,000 to a fictitious political consulting firm "Strategic Consultants Inc.," which was actually the well-known Manhattan consulting firm the Advance Group. An open records request that came back on Tuesday from the City Campaign Finance Board (and is embedded below) offers fresh and somewhat amusing evidence of the connection between the two: Many of the invoices the agency received from Strategic Consultants have the Advance Group logo on them.* Supreme Court Again Weighs Spending Limits In Campaigns. This decision could = the death of democracy.

It is very clear that Wall Street has Dark Pools where traders operate beyond the regulators. What is not clear is that their are also Dark Pool where lobbyists, campaign consultants and elected officials make deals with each other undermining democracy hidden from public view.

Will Christine Quinn Hold Public Hearings Investigating "Worthless" $95 Million BOE Electronic Scanners ?

Will Christine Quinn Hold Public Hearings Investigating "Worthless" $95 Million BOE Electronic Scanners ?

The @nytimes calls the @BOENYC a "patronage-riddled agency with one job, which it does very poorly." http://t.co/BTmahLEWQd #paperballots

— Informed Voting (@informedvoting) September 17, 2013

The editorial board of The New York Times will call for in an editorial to be published in tomorrow's newspaper a call for a reform effort to revamp the inept and patronage-laden New York City Board of Elections.

"Perhaps a good, civic-minded project for Mr. Bloomberg, Speaker Christine Quinn and Mr. Thompson — all of whom know how to run big operations — is to take on reform of this abysmal system," the editors write.

Earlier today, Democratic mayoral candidate Bill Thompson conceded loss to his rival, Bill de Blasio, after political pressure had been escalated from Mr. de Blasio's camp. Before today, Mr. Thompson had said that he had wanted to stay in the race, after he had finished in second place, to see if the counting of 80,000 paper ballots would force a run-off between he and Mr. de Blasio.

“We don’t know how many votes I got, or even how many votes were cast,” said Mr. Thompson, adding that he was frustrated with the slowpoke mishandling of the vote count by the Board of Elections, “When are they going to finish?” Mr. Thompson further noted that the Board of Elections had denied him -- and voters -- a final count of the votes cast on primary election day : “it’s such a disadvantage — it just isn’t fair.”

Voters complained about @Quinn4NY scuttling voter referenda on term limits, how can Democrats scuttle uncounted votes ? #SMH @NY1thecall

— Informed Voting (@informedvoting) September 17, 2013

Will Christine Quinn redeem her failed political career by holding public hearings into the "worthless" $95 million electronic scanners that the Board of Elections had to scuttle in order to run the primary election day ?

How could 50 year old machines reasonably be expected to perform better than $95 million optical scanners ? Drill down. @NY1thecall TY

— Stop Christine Quinn (@stopchrisquinn) September 11, 2013

Quinn Weakens Campaign Finance Laws For Corporations

New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn thinks that corporations are people, too, and that they deserve to be counted as member organizations in order to allow corporations to use corporate money to influence the outcome of elections.

New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn achieved a life-long dream to weaken campaign finance laws yesterday. A new bill, which was passed with almost unanimous support through the New York City Council, was nominally promised to help unions, but the dark side of the bill is a backdoor loophole that exempts corporations from disclosing election-related communications with their employees, stockholders, directors, and other stakeholders about activities that corporations undertake to endorse and support corrupt candidates.

. @chriscquinn weakens campaign finance rules for corporationscityandstateny.com/city-council-p… @opensecretsdc @moneyinpolitics @ows_getmoneyout

— Stop Christine Quinn (@stopchrisquinn) January 24, 2013

Read also :

"City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, facing accusations that legislation she championed opened a 'gaping loophole' in New York City's campaign-finance system, backed off her proposal and oversaw the passage of a watered-down bill Wednesday that reduced the reporting requirements for unions, corporations and advocacy groups." (Council Eases Finance Rules * The Wall Street Journal)

Does Josh Isay Spread Lies For Christine Quinn ?

Quinn "makes decisions based on what she thinks is right policy 4 NY," said @joshisay. Is it worth the $ 2 lie 4 her? cny.bz/RAKMAJ

— Defeat Chris Quinn (@donnymossnyc) December 18, 2012

2009 Campaign Payments Fraud - Update

The New York Times reported :
''Suit Suggests Political Party Knew of Fraud''

UPDATED !
In contradictory new developments in the trial against GOP operative John Haggerty, prosecutors from the Manhattan District Attorney's office allege that ''Mr. Haggerty lied to the Bloomberg campaign to get it to pay $1.2 million to the Independence Party,'' according to court documents released on February 17 and reported about by The Times.

How did Mr. Haggerty lie to the Bloomberg campaign to get it to pay $1.2 million to the Independence Party, if the campaign to reëlect the mayor (CREEM) knowingly used Mayor Bloomberg's private banking accounts to ''wash in'' money in order to deliberately funnel the Independence Party donations to Mr. Haggerty ?

What is more, the reporter Aram Roston from PolitickerNY has raised questions about Mayor Bloomberg's pattern in using private donations for campaign-related activities. Indeed, in court filings made on December 15, 2010, in the criminal trial against Mr. Haggerty, defense attorneys made assertions that CREEM "intentionally chose the least transparent way possible to conduct ballot security....It was Mr. Bloomberg who chose to hide payments, not Mr. Haggerty," reported The Wall Street Journal. The Journal's article added :

Mr. Haggerty's attorneys suggested the district attorney's office should "commence an investigation immediately" into the possibility that the mayor violated laws by transferring personal funds to the Independence Party for the direct purpose of helping his campaign with a ballot-security operation. If Mr. Bloomberg "made the contribution directing how it should be spent, he would be in violation of both the New York State Election Law and the New York City Campaign finance Law," Mr. Haggerty's attorneys allege.

According to New York State law, contributions in excess of $94,200 to a state political party are prohibited from being used to promote a candidate, The Journal reported. Furthermore, New York City law requires politicians' electoral campaigns to report and disclose campaign-related expenditures, and The Journal added that Mayor Bloomberg's ballot-security operations expenditures were not reported or disclosed by CREEM.

Adding to the lack of transparency about Mayor Bloomberg's intent in structuring the expeditures by transferring personal funds to the Independence Party is the fact that the Mayor's Office refuses to release all related e-mails about campaign-related activities. After The New York Post filed a Freedom of Information request, demanding more information about Mr. Haggerty's involvement with the Mayor's Office, the Mayor's Office release only "nine e-mail exchanges" between Mr. Haggerty and "mayoral aides" during 2008 and 2009. "There were other e-mails that the mayor's refuses to release on the grounds of 'personal privacy,' " The Post reported.

Meanwhile, back to The Times's own report about the February 17 court documents : this is the first time that prosecutors have said the Independence Party may have known about the alleged fraud. But The Times seems to be continuing with the storyline that the ''fraud'' committed was that the act that Mr. Haggerty used the CREEM payments for personal use, not that CREEM failed to disclose Mr. Haggerty's work as campaign-related activities.

''An extensive review of records and campaign documents by The Observer, as well as interviews with witnesses, indicate that Mr. Bloomberg funneled money to Mr. Haggerty, who claimed to be a 'volunteer,' sidestepping the political committee the mayor had promised to use to finance his election campaign. By deploying Mr. Haggerty and an unrelated political party, the mayor's team avoided drawing attention to a controversial election day tactic. But even more serious, experts say Bloomberg may have broken campaign finance laws,'' reported Mr. Roston.

The way that CREEM structured the payments to Mr. Haggerty allowed CREEM to avoid having to legally disclose the payments (and controversial activities), and the structure troubles some legal experts. "This is clearly an attempt to evade the purpose of the law," John Moscow, a former white-collar prosecutor in Manhattan, told Mr. Roston.

Meanwhile, the artist and blogger Suzannah B. Troy offers a slightly different political analysis. Mr. Haggerty is a "fall guy," she wrote. ''I have been saying all along Haggerty is innocent ! John Haggerty is as innocent as Mike Bloomberg,'' wrote Ms. Troy. ''Technically there is no doubt Haggerty broke the law but so did Mike Bloomberg by wiring money from his personal account, 1.1 million dollars the day before the election !''

The controversial campaign reëlection-related services that Mr. Haggerty was hired to provide have been described as a ''ballot security operation.'' In Mr. Roston's article, the impression of the ballot security operation was to presumably discourage or fend off the voters of Mr. Bloomberg's opponent, Controller Bill Thompson (D), an African-American. Although alluded to, left unsaid was whether the ballot security operation was intended to deliberately turn away Mr. Thompson's African-American voters from the polls.