Showing posts with label NYCLASS. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NYCLASS. Show all posts

Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Political Machinations Cloud Campaign Finance Board's Decision-Making

PUBLISHED : TUES, 18 MAR 2014, 11:49 AM
UPDATED : MON, 21 APR 2014, 05:38 PM

With John Liu's lawsuit against New York City over conflicted city campaign finance regulators, this makes three federal referrals of elections violations, forcing Mayor de Blasio to lawyer-up, recruit special inside election counsel.

After a wave of federal complaints that have been lodged over electioneering violations in last year's municipal elections, Mayor Bill de Blasio has hired a special legal advisor specializing in election law.

  1. GOP consultant E. O'Brien Murray argued to the State Department that Patrick Gaspard, a former top White House aide with a deep history in Gotham politics, violated the federal Hatch Act by getting involved in Mayor de Blasio's campaign -- and City Councilwoman Melissa Mark-Viverito's subsequent election as speaker -- while representing the U.S. in South Africa. (GOP Operative Files Hatch Act Complaint Against U.S. Ambassador Patrick Gaspard * The New York Daily News)
  2. Louis Flores, a local political gadfly who ran a blog and wrote a book criticizing Christine Quinn, has filed a complaint with U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara’s criminal division against Scott Levenson and The Advance Group consulting firm, which came under deep scrutiny during the mayoral campaign. (Federal Complaint Filed Against The Advance Group for Election Work * Politicker)
  3. Former New York City Comptroller and failed mayoral candidate John Liu has filed a federal lawsuit against the city and its Campaign Finance Board. He says the board unfairly crippled his campaign by denying him matching funds in last year's race for mayor. (Ex-NYC mayor hopeful sues Campaign Finance Board * AP/The San Francisco Chronicle)

The federal complaints filed by Mr. Flores and Mr. Liu allege that the Campaign Finance Board is not sufficiently independent of political motivations to independently conduct investigations and to render fair and just decisions. Since Mayor de Blasio and City Council Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, and/or their political operatives, are entangled in some of these federal complaints, it should come as no surprise that Mayor de Blasio is now maneuvering to use his public office to defend himself against allegations of wrong-doing that took place during the electioneering of last year's municipal elections.

Mr. Berger had once saved Mayor de Blasio's political career when the election lawyer kept Mr. de Blasio from getting kicked off the 2009 race for public advocate after an error was found on a Board of Elections submission. In his new post, Mr. Berger "will provide legal counsel to the mayor and staff at City Hall," according to City & State. Other than the growing number of federal elections complaints that may implicate his Council speaker and himself, it's not known what other reasons exist for Mayor de Blasio to need a taxpayer-paid election lawyer to advise him.

Typically, the Campaign Finance Board "audits suspect claims long after an election and then imposes financial penalties on rule breakers," the Editorial Board of The New York Daily News wrote. In John Liu's case, the Campaign Finance Board "moved beyond policing violations to imposing the death penalty on a mayoral campaign."

As the staff of the Campaign Finance Board and the mayor's legal counsel become more politicized, it should not come to such a surprise that the mayor would receive preferential treatment at the hands of the Campaign Finance Board that he oversees.

Among the complaints that Mr. Liu alleged in his complaint about the Campaign Finance Board, he noted that appointees to the Campaign Finance Board may follow the political agenda of those officials, who make the appointments. Mr. Liu further complained that two board members of the Campaign Finance Board had made campaign contributions to former Council Speaker Quinn's mayoral campaign ; in spite of their expressed interests in support of Mr. Liu's political challenger, the two board members refused to recuse themselves from the decision by city campaign finance regulators to deny public matching dollars to Mr. Liu's mayoral campaign. The Campaign Finance Board is a conflicted institution with political motivations that can be reflected in its decision-making.

Days before the general election, E. O’Brien Murray, a political operative advising Republican mayoral candidate Joe Lhota filed a complaint with the Campaign Finance Board, alleging that Mr. de Blasio was coordinating his campaign with an anti-Quinn Super PAC, according to The New York Post. Because of the board members of the Campaign Finance Board answer to the mayor and to the Council speaker, it's not known how serious city campaign finance regulators will investigate the complaint. It was out of precisely this concern that Mr. Flores lodged his complaint against Mr. Levenson and The Advance Group with federal prosecutors, to be able to remove the investigation from the conflicted Campaign Finance Board. Mr. Flores has separately said that he believes that the city's Department of Investigations, headed by a loyal ally of Mayor de Blasio, is also insufficiently independent from City Hall and City Council, to be able to conduct investigations that may implicate city officials or their political operatives.

Complicating matters is that reform advocates want to impose on New York State the very New York City model of campaign finance regulations, including a form of a matching public dollar program, even though city campaign finance regulations have been shown to be so questionable that activists are filing complaints at the federal level in search of a truly fair and independent review of violations.

Documents show that former Utah Attorney General John Swallow sought to transform his office into a defender of payday loan companies that had helped bankroll his election. (A Campaign Inquiry in Utah Is the Watchdogs’ Worst Case * The New York Times) Former New York City Comptroller John Liu will announce a “federal challenge” to the Campaign Finance Board after he was denied public matching funds during last year’s mayoral race. (John Liu to Announce ‘Federal Challenge’ to Campaign Finance Board * Politicker)
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Thursday, March 13, 2014

Campaign Finance Board Penalizes NYC Is Not For Sale Super PAC For Campaign Violations

Million-Dollar Anti-Quinn Super PAC Fined Pennies On The Dollar

Ushered in by the corruptive Citizens United Supreme Court decision, a Super PAC that helped end former Council Speaker Christine Quinn's mayoral ambitions was fined $7,050 by the Campaign Finance Board Thursday morning for failing to report $70,000 in expenditures, The New York Daily News reported.

Activists had spent years organizing against former Speaker Quinn for allowing the NYPD to institute a protest parade permit, for over-turning term limits, and for doing nothing to save St. Vincent's Hospital, amongst other betrayals. But then last year, the Super PAC, NYC Is Not For Sale, supplanted the long-term reform activists by launching a million-dollar TV commercial campaign against Speaker Quinn when she was ahead in the polls, rendering the long-term activists to nothing more but useful idiots to the Super PAC. With its very visible negative attack ads on TV, NYC Is Not For Sale took public credit for defeating Speaker Quinn's mayoral campaign, decidedly handing victory in the mayoral race to former Public Advocate Bill de Blasio. In exchange for having received the benefit and support from the Super PAC, the new mayor helped raise money for at least one of coalition members that organized the Super PAC, and the mayor has repeatedly promised to honor the legislative request of the wealthy donors behind the Super PAC.

The fine levied by the Campaign Finance Board represented a financial penalty of about 10 cents on the dollar for the infraction amounts that the Super PAC failed to declare.

That NYC Is Not For Sale flouted city campaign finance regulations revealed how some of the long-term reform activists, who were initially excited for the Super PAC's help to defeat former Speaker Quinn's mayoral campaign, were not fully aware that NYC Is Not For Sale represented trouble.

The Super PAC, NYC Is Not For Sale, supplanted the long-term reform activists by launching a million-dollar TV commercial campaign against Speaker Quinn when she was ahead in the polls, rendering the long-term activists to nothing more but useful idiots to the Super PAC.

Following the Campaign Finance Board's announcement of the fine, reform activists were troubled by the relatively small penalty against the Super PAC. The whole purpose of the activism to defeat former Speaker Quinn was to reform government processes to end corruption and the appearance of corruption. Since the board members of the Campaign Finance Board answer to Mayor Bill de Blasio and the present Council speaker, Melissa Mark-Viverito, it is not known how independent the Campaign Finance Board can be in reviewing violations of groups that have relationships with the administration. Both the mayor and the Council speaker have close ties to the coalition of left-leaning unions, Democratic donors, and animal rights activists that formed NYC Is Not For Sale. NYC Is Not For Sale was advised, in turn, by the political lobbying firm, The Advance Group, which is headed by Scott Levenson. The Advance Group and Mr. Levenson have close ties to the mayor and to the Council speaker. If city campaign finance regulators only assessed this politically-connected Democratic Super PAC with a nominal financial penalty, then reform activists may not reasonably expect just outcomes in respect of complaints about other controversial electioneering work during last year's municipal elections. For example, many of the campaigns and/or Super PAC's advised or administered by The Advance Group have triggered critical press reports questioning possible financial or ethical improprieties.

Notwithstanding, the Campaign Finance Board denied John Liu any public matching dollars in last year's mayoral race over questions of the integrity of his fundraising. Yet, the Campaign Finance Board allowed Councilmember Mark-Viverito to keep all of her public matching dollars, even though she exceeded the spending cap by opening a second campaign finance account with the state Board of Elections in Albany during the same election cycle to fund her speakership race. Separately, the Progressive Caucus of the City Council employed their own lobbyist, Alison Hirsch, in the Council speaker race. However, the Campaign Finance Board has not indicated whether it is comfortable with allowing undeclared or possibly unpaid electioneering work made at the direction of elected officials that take place during an election cycle that subjected those same election officials to spending caps and other public matching dollars restrictions ?

The regulations for campaign finance do not guarantee that every politician is owed a right to keep raising money for post-election leadership races, like the campaign for Council speaker, during the same election cycle where there were spending caps and other matching public dollar restrictions. Every time that politicians raise money, they create opportunities for the undue influence of wealthy campaign donors and lobbyists to have even great influence over our public officials, always at the expense of the mere voter. By allowing Councilmember Mark-Viverito to exceed the spending cap, the Campaign Finance Board has now opened a backdoor to allow any public official to open up campaign accounts with the state Board of Elections that can be used for electioneering purposes that would effectively allow those public officials to game the public matching dollar system through the Campaign Finance Board and still raise more money through a state Board of Elections account. This is a dangerous precedent that the Campaign Finance Board has set. Compounding the concerns of reform activists, the board members of the Campaign Finance Board are now partly answerable to the Councilmember Mark-Viverito, because she has since become the Council speaker as a direct result of questionable electioneering work that falls under the jurisdiction of the Campaign Finance Board.

Judging by the tiny fraction of a fine levied on NYC Is Not For Sale, the Campaign Finance Board is not sufficiently independent to review complaints of campaign finance violations of parties, such as The Advance Group, Mr. Levenson, the animal rights group NY-CLASS, and others, who have as close, if not closer, ties to each of the mayor and the Council speaker than the coalition of left-leaning unions and Democratic donors that formed NYC Is Not For Sale. Indeed, as the Campaign Finance Board continues with its post-election audit, one of the very campaign accounts it must review belongs to the Council speaker, herself.

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Monday, March 10, 2014

Proposed NYS public matching dollars at risk of being gamed, just like with "model" NYC campaign finance system

  • During the same election cycle, campaign finance loopholes allowed Melissa Mark-Viverito to accept, on one hand, New York City public matching dollars hinged on a spending cap through a city campaign finance account with indifferent oversight from the New York City Campaign Finance Board for a total election cycle spend of $284,000 ;
  • Followed by a parallel state campaign account, that allowed Councilmember Mark-Viverito to raise and spend more campaign money subject to no cap and with no oversight by the New York State Board of Elections for her speakership campaign for an additional spend of $72,000 ; and
  • And book-ended by another city Campaign Finance Board account that allowed Councilmember Mark-Viverito to raise $30,000 from real estate developers and other supporters for her transition/inauguration celebration.
    •

The Moreland Commission, a state panel formed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo and delegated with the charge to investigate public corruption, is recommending nominal reforms to the campaign finance system for New York State elected officials.

"New York needs comprehensive campaign finance reform. The Commission recommends, among other things, lowering contribution limits and closing campaign finance loopholes, empowering regular New Yorkers with a small donor matching system of public financing, limiting the use of campaign funds, and creating tough new disclosure rules for shadowy outside spending groups," the Commission is recommending on its Web site.

But the general Moreland Commission recommendations will do nothing to address how municipal candidates can open several campaign accounts at city and state levels to exceed spending caps imposed on the city level. Because city campaign regulators are not accountable to state Board of Elections and vice versa, candidates for public office can exploit weaknesses of laws relating to lobbying, conflicts of interest, and public ethics, as was seen in the case of the $386,000 spent by New York City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito during one single election cycle when the private spending cap imposed by the New York City Campaign Finance Board was $168,000 for her official post at the City Council -- a limit more than once over exceeded.

The "compliance apathy" noted by Moreland Commission co-chair Kathleen Rice in the panel's report calls into question how city and state campaign finance regulators will police spending caps, public matching dollars, and rules violations when some candidates can jurisdiction-shop for the loopholes between city and state regulations. Extending the New York City model of campaign finance to the rest of New York State will do nothing to curb the undue influence of large-money donations and lobbyists in our elections if there is no robust regulatory compliance review. What effect does a spending cap have on the campaign finance account of a candidate in one jurisdiction, if the candidate can skirt that spending cap by opening a campaign finance account in another jurisdiction ?

Campaign finance regulators with the state's Board of Elections should have been able to determine that Councilmember Mark-Viverito's intent in opening a state campaign finance account was to skirt the spending cap imposed by the city's Campaign Finance Board. But the Board of Elections did nothing to stop the exploitation of the loophole that did not subject state Board of Elections account openings to spending caps governing an elected official's public post. In this past election cycle, Councilmember Mark-Viverito was running for reëlection. Campaign finance laws help candidates run for public office ; these laws do not promise that candidates, once elected, can keep opening further campaign finance accounts to fund further political campaigns, either for leadership posts, to lobby other publicly-elected officials, or for other purposes -- during the same election cycle. If candidates can open a series of parallel campaign finance accounts across various jurisdictions, what good is it to impose spending caps ?

The dangerous precedent set by Melissa Mark-Viverito : An elected official can hire outside lobbyists to "lobby" other elected officials.

By receiving lobbying services from The Advance Group, Pitta Bishop Del Giorno & Giblin LLC, and others, Councilmember Mark-Viverito effectively outsourced official acts, which she needed to personally undertake, to seek the speakership post. This means that Councilmember Mark-Viverito very visibly retained, as an elected official, teams of lobbyists, either paid or unpaid, to lobby other elected officials with dangerous consequences to transparency and democracy. Cloaked behind the imperfections of the same campaign finance regulations which allowed Councilmember Mark-Viverito to open three campaign finance accounts during the same election cycle, these lobbyists skirted the reach of the do-nothing Campaign Finance Board ; took advantage of the fact that only dollar amounts associated with their activities, not their activities themselves, would be disclosable to the public ; took advantage that some payments, if any, for post-Election Day work could be had by opening a Board of Elections campaign finance account in Albany ; may have enjoyed the opportunity made available by the further loophole that allows subcontractor operatives to skirt disclosure requirements ; and took advantage of the fact that the dueling city and state regulators would not have exclusive authority over the provision of free campaign services. The combined effect of this imperfect system gave unfair advantages to each of (i) The Advance Group, other lobbyists, and the clients of those lobbyists over other lobbying firms and (ii) Councilmember Mark-Viverito over other candidates for the City Council speakership. When elected officials are allowed to hire lobbyists to do the public's business, all the work that those lobbyists do constitutes a subversion of the government's work.

Indeed, it was believed that this was the first reported instance when a public official intentionally opened at least three campaign finance accounts during one election cycle for the same elected office, but the public official, flush with about $400,000 in cash, still needed, for economic or other reasons, to receive free lobbying services. At each step of the way, Councilmember Mark-Viverito's "need" to raise money opened new opportunities for wealthy campaign contributors to have a role in and to influence Councilmember Mark-Viverito's public activities. It was reported by Crains Insider that Jon Del Giorno, a lobbyist with Pitta Bishop, on Councimember Mark-Viverito's behalf, was "involved in setting up the structure of an 'appointments committee' charged with council staffing." Another lobbyist, Alison Hirsch, also worked to select the Councilmember Mark-Viverito as Council speaker, but Ms. Hirsch's work was reported to have been being provided on behalf of the Progressive Caucus of New York City Councilmembers. It's not known who was paying for the post-Election Day functions of Pitta Bishop or Ms. Hirsch in relation to Councilmember Mark-Viverito's "transition." Were members of the Progressive Caucus expected to file fundraising and expense disclosure reports to campaign finance regulators, too, for the outside lobbying services they directed ? If so, to which campaign finance regulators, at city or state levels, or both, were the Progressive Caucus supposed to report ? Moreover, further reporting by Crains Insider has revealed that, that separate from campaign finance regulation loopholes, another exception that lobbyists exploit are City Clerk Office's disclosure rules that specifically do not require the reporting of lobbying for leadership posts. These serious questions and loopholes come on top of the fact that neither The Advance Group nor Ms. Hirsch were not paid through Councilmember Mark-Viverito's state Board of Elections campaign account for their roles in Councilmember Mark-Viverito's successful speakership campaign. When lobbyists are not paid for work they provide to elected officials, the provision of these free lobbying services are said to violate city ethics regulations. "The city’s conflict of interest rules bar public officials from accepting freebies from lobbyists, and they prohibit lobbyists from dispensing same to public officials," wrote the Editorial Page editors of The New York Daily News.

Councilmember Mark-Viverito accepted public matching dollars from the Campaign Finance Board in exchange for promising to keep her political expenditures under a cap during the 2013 election cycle. But she opened a state campaign finance account to skirt around the cap under the loopholes of state regulations, opening the door for others to do the same.

Campaign finance regulations aim to each of expand disclosure and transparency, enforce spending caps to limit undue influence of special interests, and to add elements of public financing, like matching public dollars, to level the playing field. Campaign finance regulators are supposed to monitor electioneering to maintain voters' faith in the acts of elected officials. Regulators maintain the integrity of fair elections by curtailing the situations whereby contributors of large campaign donations or free lobbying services give some candidates unfair advantages over other candidates. It's supposed to be a level playing field.

Since Councilmember Mark-Viverito raised nearly $400,000 through three separate campaign accounts, she signaled to other Councilmembers that big business interests and other wealthy constituents had voted with their dollars to give her a special dominance over other elected officials. One consequence of this unfair advantage is that voters of other Councilmembers, seemingly equal to Councilmember Mark-Viverito's own voters, have had their voices and roles diminished before the City Council compared to the contributors to Councilmember Mark-Viverito's three campaign finance accounts. This opens the door to lobbyists and insiders, like The Advance Group, Pitta Bishop, Mr. Levenson, Mr. Del Giorno, Ms. Hirsch, NY-CLASS, and other Super PAC-funded groups, to have greater access to Councilmember Mark-Viverito than mere voters, especially voters, who were not wealthy enough to be campaign contributors.

Besides determining whether there was illegality in each of the provision of unpaid lobbying services and the possible coordination of independent expenditures, city and state campaign finance regulators must deal with how "compliance apathy" and "regulatory apathy" have created Swiss cheese out of city and state campaign finance and ethics regulations. But as has been noted before, city campaign finance regulators answer to the mayor and to the Council speaker, leaving voters to conclude that city campaign finance regulators are not independent enough over the public officials whose campaign finance accounts they are charged to regulate.

The politicized Campaign Finance Board spent the first municipal election cycle under the undue influence of Citizens United by seemingly persecuting John Liu's campaign, but not focusing on the obviously corruptive role of Super PAC's.

Councilmember Mark-Viverito was allowed to keep her public matching dollars, even though she opened three campaign finance accounts through two different jurisdictions, but former Comptroller John Liu was denied public matching dollars when his mayoral campaign was beset by controversy when it was reported that his campaign may have received "straw donations," an illegal tactic that masks the true identity of donors in an attempt to game the city's public matching dollars. Mr. Liu's campaign challenged the allegations, but his campaign's ex-treasurer and a former fund-raiser were charged with wrong-doing. Martin Connor, Mr. Liu's campaign finance attorney, acknowledged issues with 35 out of more than 6,300 donations, but the Campaign Finance Board, in an unusual move, denied any matching money to Mr. Liu's mayoral campaign in a move that did not seem proportional to the problem, if it was, indeed, isolated to only a small percentage of donations at the same time when, for example, Crains Insider was reporting serious questions with the finances of some Super PAC's operating during the same election cycle.

The impact of the Campaign Finance Board's controversial decision essentially put an end to Mr. Liu's mayoral campaign. Because he was denied matching money, totaling approximately $3.5 million, he was put in a "severe financial disadvantage," The New York Times reported, "because he will now have significantly less money to buy television advertising." To the last, Mr. Liu challenged the decision by city campaign finance regulators, because he said that his campaign committed no wrong-doing, and prosecutors never had proof of wrong-doing against he himself. "There’s no question that this weakens my campaign. For the last couple of years, I have taken body blow after body blow," Mr. Liu said after the Campaign Finance Board's decision. Many astute political observers never understood why The New York Times metropolitan reporters seemed obsessed with taking down Mr. Liu's campaign, since it was The New York Times, which first reported these allegations in 2011 after having sent reporters to stalk Mr. Liu's donors, and The New York Times never seemed to let up, in spite of the questions being isolated to such a small proportion of donations. Less than three weeks after the Campaign Finance Board dealt its lethal blow to Mr. Liu's mayoral campaign, the editors of The New York Times endorsed Mr. Liu's rival, former City Council Speaker Christine Quinn in the Democratic mayoral primary. Speaker Quinn, who had a role in approving the board members of the Campaign Finance Board, was said to have a close working relationship with the editors of The New York Times, some activists said.

2014-03-08 Moreland Commission - Follow-Up E-Mail Re Loopholes

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Saturday, March 8, 2014

Scott Levenson, NY-CLASS, Citizens United Super PAC Investigation (Updated)

SPECIAL NEWS UPDATE: FRI, 25 APR 2014, 09:50 AM
Scott Levenson NY-CLASS Christine Quinn Bill de Blasio FBI Investigation into Campaign Corruption photo 2014-04-25TheNewYorkDailyNewsFBIReport_zps189d95ac.png

In the past few weeks, FBI agents have been asking questions about the campaign by the animal rights group NY-CLASS to strong arm former Council Speaker Christine Quinn (center) to support a ban on the iconic horse-drawn carriages, two sources familiar with the matter told The New York Daily News. The horse lobbyists in question include Scott Levenson, and they are linked to Mayor Bill de Blasio (inset). (FBI investigating claim that Christine Quinn was threatened by Scott Levenson for refusing to support carriage horse ban during the mayoral race * The New York Daily News)

PUBLISHED : SAT, 08 MAR 2014, 02:06 AM
UPDATED : FRI, 25 APR 2014, 12:17 PM

The mayor and his Council speaker, who both reject checks-and-balances, oversee city campaign regulators nominally tasked to investigate campaign corruption of groups with close ties to the de Blasio-Mark-Viverito administration.

In an article posted on The Daily Beast, NY1 political reporter Josh Robin reported that "city campaign regulators have begun investigating" Scott Levenson, the lobbyist-advisor to NY-CLASS, the animal rights group that organized Super PAC's to defeat Mayor Bill de Blasio's chief mayoral challenger, former City Council Speaker Christine Quinn.

Information about this investigation was first reported by Michael Powell in The New York Times back in November 2013.

When questions were first brought to the city's Campaign Finance Board about the role of Mr. Levenson and his lobbying firm, The Advance Group, doing unpaid lobbying work in the New York City Council speaker race, city campaign regulators looked the other way as Mr. Levenson provided a valuable gift to Councilmember Melissa Mark-Viverito to possibly influence her performance as Council speaker in respect of official acts that could benefit The Advance Group and its lobbying clients.

But the board members of the Campaign Finance Board are selected by both the mayor and the Council speaker, thereby preventing it from rendering an independent review of the controversies that surrounding Mr. Levenson, who likes to accept responsibly for each of Mayor de Blasio's primary win and for Ms. Mark-Viverito's selection as Council speaker. As a reward for Mr. Levenson's NY-CLASS's crucial support, the mayor attended a fundraiser for NY-CLASS, which was closed to the press. Meanwhile, Speaker Mark-Viverito, who benefitted from free lobbying work provided to her by The Advance Group, has expressed support for enacting legislation sought by NY-CLASS. This cross-support has all the appearance of a quid pro quo.

An undeniable perception exists that the Campaign Finance Board is a political organ of the occupants of City Hall. As was noted in a comment to The New York Times story, "The real scandal is the Campaign Finance Board, which spent most of its resources tracking down addresses of donors to John Liu rather than paying attention to the big money controlled by the likes of Scott Levenson." This is among the many reasons why the Campaign Finance Board cannot be trusted to lead an investigation into the co-electioneering activities of Mr. Levenson and the NY-CLASS Super PAC's.

If the Campaign Finance Board answers to the mayor and to the Council speaker and if the mayor and the Council speaker have close ties to Mr. Levenson and to NY-CLASS, then can city campaign regulations exert enough independence to fully investigate whether possible coordination of independent political campaign expenditures and free gifts of lobbying services were violations of federal laws that ban, respectively, Super PAC coordination and bribery ?

Separate from violating campaign finance laws, the role of each of Mr. Levenson and the NY-CLASS Super PAC's had damaging effects on the opportunity for reform in a post-Quinn municipal government. Because of the independent campaign expenditures that nearly totaled $2 million, the influence of NY-CLASS perverted the ability of other issue reformers from being taken seriously by the media. Witness how the media accepted the controversial appointment of William Bratton as police commissioner, even though he still supports unconstitutional tactics, such as stop-and-frisk and the broken windows theory of policing, which unfairly targets low-income communities and people of color -- but does nothing to combat the white collar crimes by political operatives or by Wall Street. Further, the NY-CLASS Super PAC's misappropriated the grassroots work by reform activists, including tenants' rights activists like John Fisher, police reform activists, QUILTBAG civil rights activists, and St. Vincent's Hospital activists, who each had separately and collectively spent years organizing to vote the former Council Speaker Quinn out of office. There was even a serialized book, recounting former Council Speaker Quinn's long record of community and political betrayals.

Using the distorting influence of Super PAC money to control media attention, political operatives loyal to Mayor de Blasio, chief amongst them, Mr. Levenson, usurped activists' abilities to continue pressing the new administration to roll out a truly progressive reform agenda, not one that has been noted to be slipshod in its attempts at "reform," like the education advocates pushing for universal pre-kinder only for New York City at the same time when those same education advocates are neglecting to call for an expansion of kindergarten to become a full-day program in its own right for the rest of New York State. While NY-CLASS awaits the enactment of its noble-minded ban on horse drawn carriages, other reform activists are left scratching their heads, wondering what happened at real attempts at government reform, like ending the Council speaker's slush fund, reforming the corrupt ULURP zone-busting approval process that continues to favor large real estate developers, the need to finally allocate all the resources that can provide shelter to the homeless, and pursuing other humane policies that would use the gains of our economy to help the people most in need.

The issue of reforming the process of zone-busting real estate development projects becomes all the more impossible with Mr. Levenson and NY-CLASS, since one of the group's founders is Steve Nislick, a real estate developer, who, in a shady confluence of events, is said to be trying to develop a zone-busting project on land currently used as horse stables for the horse-drawn carriage industry that he is coincidentally trying to outlaw. Add to that the fact that Mayor de Blasio has appeared to be courting large real estate developers and their lobbyists, such as James Capalino.

As Mr. Levenson and NY-CLASS continue to advance the narrative that the sole actions of the NY-CLASS Super PAC's defeated Speaker Quinn and helped to elect Mayor de Blasio, that should help federal prosecutors seal their investigation into coordinated campaign corruption, a karmically-doomed trap that Mr. Levenson and NY-CLASS operatives have documented in a series of press reports that they were too blind to see. But the still larger question for Democrats, who are said to largely favor campaign finance reform, is why do they accept that the Democratic mayor and his Council speaker have yet to call for campaign finance reform to end the corruptive role of lobbyists and big business and special interest money in the election system. As was noted in the comments below, if Mayor de Blasio and Speaker Mark-Viverito lack the political will to enact real campaign finance reforms on the municipal level, then they also have the option of pressing on Washington or Albany to enact federal- or state-level reforms. But all voters seem to get is nothing.

The Advance Group, which provided unpaid consultants to Mark-Viverito, worked for the City Action Coalition PAC, which lists 'traditional marriage' as its platform and supported opponents of gay City Council candidates.
(The New York Daily News)		 Did Scott Levenson sabotage LGBT civil rights attorney Yetta Kurland's political campaign ?
(Scott Levenson : Biggest Loser Of The Week * NY Pop Culture & Politics)

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Monday, February 24, 2014

Under campaign finance scrutiny, animal-rights advocates NY-CLASS ditches The Advance Group, moves out, lawyers up

Some fall-out of the poisonous impact of Citizens United on the recent past municipal election cycle

From Crains Insider :

"Crain's has confirmed that the Campaign Finance Board is looking into NYCLASS' outside spending on behalf of animal-friendly City Council candidates in the 2013 elections, while the Advance Group simultaneously ran the campaigns of several of those candidates out of the same office. Super PACs are not allowed to coordinate with candidates' campaigns. ... NYCLASS has hired Martin Connor, the former state Senate minority leader, to represent the nonprofit, while the Advance Group has hired well-known attorney Lawrence Mandelker. Messrs. Connor and Mandelker did not return requests for comment Monday. Others involved in the probe, such as individual City Council candidates, are also expected to separately hire attorneys if necessary."

Scott Levenson and Melissa Mark-Viverito photo Scott-Levenson-Melissa-Mark-Viverito_zps79ef0787.jpg

Besides its questionable involvement with NYCLASS, The Advance Group also sparked controversy after it worked for free on Councilmember Melissa Mark-Viverito's successful Council speaker campaign, the subject of which, along with the allegations referred to in the above Crains Insider article, were referred to federal prosecutors and to select members of the anti-corruption investigation panel, the Moreland Commission.

Maybe if activists would target Hillary Clinton and President Barack Obama for their reliance on Super PAC's, it would shame the Democrats into actually doing something about ending the poisonous impact of Citizens United on the election process ?

The Advance Group, which provided unpaid consultants to Melissa Mark-Viverito's speakership campaign, worked for the City Action Coalition PAC, which lists 'traditional marriage' as its platform and supported opponents of gay City Council candidates.
(The New York Daily News)		 Did Scott Levenson sabotage LGBT civil rights attorney Yetta Kurland's political campaign ?
(Scott Levenson : Biggest Loser Of The Week * NYC : News & Analysis)

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Sunday, December 29, 2013

NY-CLASS member Robert A. Halperin defends corrupt backroom speakership deals

Animal-lovers "adopt" corruption playbook, just like LGBT activist Christine Quinn did ages ago.

Robert A. Halperin, a member of NY-CLASS, the animal rights group that helped to fund a controversial $1 million Super PAC in the recent mayoral election, today defended mayor-elect Bill de Blasio's offers of Council leadership posts, the disbursements of lulus, and other inducements, to strong-arm the City Council to pick Melissa Mark-Viverito as the next Council speaker.

It further appears that Mr. Halperin was defending the in-coming de Blasio administration from comparisons to out-going Council speaker, Christine Quinn, who had a reputation for making backroom deals, thwarting the democratic process of the City Council, and of using Council leadership positions and the distribution of corresponding lulus as ways to undermine the independence of Councilmembers.

What is notable is that in the campaign for mayor, candidate de Blasio aggressively pursued the Madame Speaker as violating the principles of checks-and-balances, because, essentially, Mr. de Blasio accused Speaker Quinn of subverting the will of the Council in deference to outgoing Mayor Michael Bloomberg's big business agenda. In the past, others have also noted that Speaker Quinn had subjugated herself to Mayor Bloomberg years ago, but when she first started out in politics, Ms. Quinn had been a flamboyant torch-bearer for the progressive brand. The same thing happens to everybody in politics, who start out as firebrands for reform : they flame out the minute they adopt the corruption playbook of the broken political system.

Now that it's Mayor-elect de Blasio, who is the Council's puppet master, all the phony reformers, if that's how you'd classify Mr. Halperin, have backtracked, finding no problem with how the mayor-elect plans to subvert the independence of the City Council himself.

Where are the progressive reforms ?

Isn't it sad to see a progressive-influenced movement, like the campaign to end the horse carriage trade, be corrupted into playing by the corrupt rules of the broken political system ? Isn't there an honest way to bring about reforms without having to play by the same dirty tricks as the corrupt politicos, who have spent years refusing to ban the use of horses to pull the carriages through Manhattan ?

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Thursday, December 26, 2013

Pay-To-Report News Brainwashing : The Effect Of Endless Political TV Ads

It is only through a full debate of ideas that all sides can come to an appreciation for one another, an informed participation by voters, and the hope of an agreement on issues.

Citizens-United-Campaign-Commerical-Media-Control-News-Ethics-Electioneering photo town-hall-media-spoonfeeding-cartoon-campaign-commercials-citizens-united_zpse02455f0.jpg

But that's not what's happening now.

From True News From Change NYC :

Pay to Report Local TV News Control. Spending on advertising has fueled the increase in TV lobbying costs. Well-funded special interests funnel millions to lobbyists for public campaigns to sway lawmakers on hot-button issues. (TU) Local News which is mainly weather, traffic, cooking and dog segments is making millions in lobbyists spending. Union and business interest like the pro fracking interest are also spending millions on ads to local stations. All this money is coming in as local news dumbs down.

Pols and Interests Groups Use Local News By Pushing Their Paid Ads To Win Support For Their Issues

News Brainwashing. The only real news on dumb down local TV are in the paid ads which are not news but bias views of the pol or interests group who paid for the ads to gain public support. Local TV stations stand to profit from boom in super-PAC spending (The Hill) * CSNY’s budget blitz: $3.9 million (updated) (TU) * Save NY airing tax cap ad (TU) * Budget opponents up their ads and mailers (TU) * Bloomberg Blames Negative Ads For Poor Showing In Education (Politico) * Save NY now airs ad on school money (TU) * NYC's Bloomberg Pays for TV Ads Backing Cuomo's Pension (Bloomberg News) * Bloomberg Defends His Administration With TV Ad (NY1) * Local TV News For $ale: How Special Interests Control News Content and Public Opinion (True News)

What Has Happen to the Watchdog Groups of Government or Politics ? An explosion of online news sources in recent years has not produced a corresponding increase in reporting, particularly quality local reporting, a federal study of the media has found.Coverage of state governments and municipalities has receded at such an alarming pace that it has left government with more power than ever to set the agenda and have assertions unchallenged, concluded the study. “In many communities, we now face a shortage of local, professional, accountability reporting,” said the study, which was ordered by the Federal Communications Commission and written by Steven Waldman, a former journalist for Newsweek and U.S. News and World Report. “The independent watchdog function that the Founding Fathers envisioned for journalism — going so far as to call it crucial to a healthy democracy — is in some cases at risk at the local level.

Because newspapers have always served as tip sheets for local television reporters and for reporters on the national level, newspapers cutbacks because of the loss of readership to the Internet have had “ripple effects throughout the whole media system." With fewer reporters available to tackle in-depth topics, news releases from politicians and policy makers end up having more influence in some cases, he said, contributing to a kind of power shift toward institutions and away from citizens. * Local News : The Dumbing Down of Journalism (True News)

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Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Melissa Mark-Viverito, The Advance Group May Have Violated City Ethics Rules

Will The Conflict of Interest Board Investigate Mark-Viverito's Acceptance Of Unpaid Assistance From The Advance Group ?

Scott Levenson and Melissa Mark-Viverito photo Scott-Levenson-Melissa-Mark-Viverito_zps79ef0787.jpg

New York City Councilwoman Melissa Mark-Viverito may have violated city ethics rules by accepting unpaid assistance from the Advance Group, a lobbing firm, to further her candidacy for Council speaker, The New York Daily News reports (City Council Speaker candidate Melissa Mark-Viverito and her lobbying firm, The Advance Group, may have violated city ethics rules) .

"The Conflicts of Interest Board must investigate, and the Council must disqualify Mark-Viverito from consideration for so blatantly violating the rules. Elevating her to speaker would send the message that the Council is up for sale," wrote the Editorial Board of The New York Daily News. (No To Melissa Mark-Viverito)

But so far, nobody's asked whether The Parkside Group is working for free to provide any support to the pro-Big Business candidate, Mark Weprin, or whether Alison Hirsh, the 32BJ union lobbyist that was hired by Progressive Caucus of Councilmembers to promote Ms. Mark-Viverito, is being paid, or if Ms. Hirsh is working for free, too. Ms. Mark-Viverito is also receiving help from two other consultant-lobbyist firms, Bishop Pitta Del Giorno and the Mirram Group, Crains Insider reported. Indeed, Ms. Mark-Viverito opened a new campaign committee called "Viverito NY" on Election Day. Who is funding that campaign committee ? Who is receiving payments from that campaign committee ? (Friday wrap-up examines consultants in the speaker race, and more * Crains Insider)

Besides investigating possible violations of campaign finance law or conflicts of interest, this is a great time to update campaign finance laws.

Given that the violations involving the provision of free campaign services to elected officials is being referred to the Conflicts of Interest Board instead of to the Campaign Finance Board shows that campaign finance laws are not keeping up with the times. To roll back some of the worst impacts that Citizens United is having on the selection of the Council Speaker and on the rest of our municipal elections, we can begin by updating campaign finance laws by : (i) reforming the do-nothing Campaign Finance Board ; (ii) pressuring progressives to enforce transparency ; (iii) improving Speakership electioneering reporting ; (iv) ending subcontractor loopholes ; and (v) ending the provision of free campaign services, including for the Speakership.

If making reforms is seen as not enough, others, like Howie Hawkins, have suggested a fully-public campaign system.

The Growing Influence Of Lobbyists In Determining The Council Speaker, Other Investigations Against Scott Levenson

New York City’s county bosses face challenges from lobbyists over the election of the Council Speaker. (Despite Denials, De Blasio Team Met With Weprin and Mark Viverito About Speakership * City & State)

The flood of money into politics from Citizens United is creating a "clash of the titans" between the County Political Bosses and Big Business, on one side, and Lobbyists and Special Interest Money, on the other. With campaign finance law failing to keep up with the changes in money in politics, the voters are being kept in the dark about the true way that the speaker is selected. (NYC Council Speaker Race Campaign Finance Controversies * YouTube)

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Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Levenson, Advance Group Face CFB Investigation, But No Criminal Probe, Yet

SPECIAL NEWS UPDATE: FRI, 25 APR 2014, 09:50 AM
Scott Levenson NY-CLASS Christine Quinn Bill de Blasio FBI Investigation into Campaign Corruption photo 2014-04-25TheNewYorkDailyNewsFBIReport_zps189d95ac.png

In the past few weeks, FBI agents have been asking questions about the campaign by the animal rights group NY-CLASS to strong arm former Council Speaker Christine Quinn (center) to support a ban on the iconic horse-drawn carriages, two sources familiar with the matter told The New York Daily News. The horse lobbyists in question include Scott Levenson, and they are linked to Mayor Bill de Blasio (inset). (FBI investigating claim that Christine Quinn was threatened by Scott Levenson for refusing to support carriage horse ban during the mayoral race * The New York Daily News)

PUBLISHED : TUES, 26 NOV 2013, 12:44 PM
UPDATED : FRI, 25 APR 2014, 11:17 AM

Scott Levenson Super PAC LGBT marriage equality City Council gay candidates photo ScottLevensonSuperPACLGBTmarriageequalityCityCouncilgaycandidates_zps0598bfb3.jpg

Scott Levenson And The Advance Group Are Being Investigated By The Campaign Finance Board For Possible Violations Resulting From Coordinating Super PAC Money With Public Matching Dollars, But No Mention Is Being Made Of Allegations Of Undue Influence And Other Possible Violations Of Campaign Finance Law, Nor Any Criminal Investigation

"… New York City saw a spasm of unregulated campaign money, most of it unleashed by wealthy Democrats and unions. And no one channeled those rivulets of cash more aggressively than Scott Levenson and the Advance Group, the strategic consulting firm he heads," writes Michael Powell in The New York Times, adding, "The United Federation of Teachers dropped millions of dollars and Mr. Levenson took at least a $370,000 cut. A group putatively devoted to carriage horses but focused intently on defeating the speaker of the City Council, Christine C. Quinn, spent a golden lode, and again Mr. Levenson took a cut," and noting that, "Now the Campaign Finance Board is investigating the Advance Group’s role." (In Campaign, Cash Flowed Circuitously)

“The board takes very seriously any allegation that campaigns have benefited from spending by an outside group where spending is coordinated,” the CFB spokesman Eric Friedman told the NYTimes, adding, “It gives a big advantage.”

Scott Levenson Keeps Changing His Story

To The New York Daily News, Mr. Levenson told one story about why he agreed to be paid to run several anti-gay attack ads :

The firm admitted its work for City Action Coalition PAC was problematic. “We did a favor for a political operative that we have a longstanding relationship with by sending his mailer to a printer,” an Advance Group spokeswoman said. “It was a mistake that we regret and is completely inconsistent with our history.” (EXCLUSIVE: Melissa Mark-Viverito's consulting firm choice may be hurting her Council Speaker bid)

But to the NYTimes, Mr. Levenson told a different story :

“It was in the heat of the moment,” he said. “I didn’t do my due diligence.” (In Campaign, Cash Flowed Circuitously)

The Panic Of Backroom Deals To Select The Next City Council Speaker

New York City Council Speaker Race : Clash of the Titans (NY Pop Culture & Politics)

Big player in her corner : The Advance Group is pushing Melissa Mark-Viverito's speaker candidacy. (Politicker) Who is paying Advance Group for helping Melissa Mark-Viverito ?
(Bill de Blasio Sold Out)
Union power play in council speaker race
(The New York Post)		 In race for City Council speaker, Labor's influence is on the rise. (Crains)
Examining the role of consultants in the speaker race, and more (Crains) Political consultants, who work to elect lawmakers, are turning around and lobbying them on behalf of private clients.
(The New York Daily News)

Will There Be A Criminal Investigation Of Scott Levenson ?

A super PAC formed by the powerful city teachers' union paid more than $370,000 to an apparently fictitious political consulting firm, which was actually the well-known New York firm the Advance Group, records and interviews show. (Teachers union paid $370K to fake consultant * Crains Insider)

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. (Crains Insider)

Will good government groups ask that the Manhattan D.A. Cy Vance appoint a special prosecutor to investigate Scott Levenson and The Advance Group ?

Even Though Levenson And Advance Identify As "Progressive," They Represented An Anti-Gay Attack Super PAC

Will LGBT Groups Protest Scott Levenson Over Anti-Gay Attack Ads ? (NY Pop Culture & Politics)

Sign our Change.org Petition : Bill de Blasio : Do not attend NYCLASS fundraiser to benefit Scott Levenson

And Still No Word From The Media About How The Farcical Speaker Candidate Forums Are Hogwash, Because The Next Council Speaker Will Be Picked By Backroom Deals

The flood of money into politics from Citizens United is creating a "clash of the titans" between the County Political Bosses and Big Business, on one side, and Lobbyists and Special Interest Money, on the other. With campaign finance law failing to keep up with the changes in money in politics, the voters are being kept in the dark about the true way that the speaker is selected. NYC Council Speaker Race Campaign Finance Controversies (2013) (YouTube)

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Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Who is Paying the Advance Group to Lobby For Melissa Mark-Viverito ?

''If you can find a loophole, then the law is not doing what the law is supposed to be doing.'' -- Peter F. Vallone, former City Council speaker

Isn't it against Campaign Finance Board rules for politicians to receive political consulting services that are neither declared nor paid for ?

The Advance Group, one of the city’s leading political consulting firms, has been laboring behind-the-scenes for almost a month to assist Ms. Mark-Viverito.
(Advance Group Helping Melissa Mark-Viverito in Speaker’s Race * Politicker)		 SEIU 1199, the city’s powerful healthcare workers union says they are lobbying for one City Council speaker hopeful, Melissa Mark-Viverito.
(1199 Leads Effort Boosting Mark-Viverito * Politicker)

The Advance Group has been laboring behind-the-scenes for almost a month to assist Councilwoman Melissa Mark-Viverito in her quest to become the next speaker of the City Council, Ross Barkan is reporting on Politicker, adding, "When reached by Politicker earlier today, the firm’s president, Scott Levenson, confirmed he had been assisting Ms. Mark-Viverito, but declined to discuss any additional details. 'We’re just helping,' he said."

In 2001, The New York Times reported that it was against Campaign Finance Board rules for Alan Hevesi to receive free consulting services from Hank Morris.

photo hank-morris_zpsdc283853.jpg

As part of the deal, Mr. Hevesi offered to pay his chief political consultant, Hank Morris, an extra $240,000 for work leading up to the Democratic primary on Sept. 11. Mr. Hevesi's opponents had charged that he was circumventing the campaign finance spending cap by allowing Mr. Morris, a longtime friend, to work for free or provide his firm's help at a steep discount. (Comptroller Alan G. Hevesi struck a compromise with the Campaign Finance Board * The New York Times)

Peter F. Vallone, the City Council speaker in 2001 and an author of New York City's campaign finance law, told The New York Times, ''The whole point of the law was to make it a level playing field so that money doesn't determine the outcome. So if you can find a loophole, then the law is not doing what the law is supposed to be doing.'' (What's a Campaign Debt Between Friends ? * The New York Times)

Political consultants, who work to elect lawmakers, are turning around and lobbying them on behalf of private clients.

Dark Pool Politics - Lobbyists, Meetings, and Backroom Deals are Hidden - Bill de Blasio photo DarkRoomPoliticsSlideExport_zps8f346168.jpg

"A growing trend in the state capital is raising alarms for ethics watchdogs: political consultants who work to elect lawmakers, then turn around and lobby them on behalf of private clients. At least two dozen political consulting firms are also registered lobbyists with the state, according to an analysis done for the Daily News by the New York Public Interest Research Group," Kenneth Lovett reported in The New York Daily News, adding, "The Advance Group was paid $756,907 in political consulting fees the past two years while also lobbying. Firm president Scott Levenson said he doesn’t get special favors from pols his firm helped elect, but he doesn’t deny that his firm emphasizes its access to lawmakers when drumming up business."

“We’re a lobbying organization,” Mr. Levenson told Mr. Lovett. “One of the things we do is talk about our ability to have access.” Mr. Lovett concluded his report by stating that, "Levenson also noted that straight lobbying firms often bundle money from clients for candidates."

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