Brattons continue to make controversial, out-of-town trips

PUBLISHED : SUN, 24 AUG 2014, 02:10 PM
UPDATED : SUN, 24 AUG 2014, 08:04 PM

The first time Commissioner Bratton resigned from NYPD, it was to stem an investigation into over 20 out-of-town trips during his first tenure

The Brattons were recently at the swanky Willowbend Country Club on the Cape. Who's paying this time ? In a gossip item published on The Boston Herald's Web site, NYPD Commissioner William Bratton was placed in the posh setting of the Willowbend Country Club in Mashpee, in Massachusetts' Cape Cod. Commissioner Bratton was said to have gathered with other law enforcement officials, including a local Cape district attorney, Michael O’Keefe. It's unknown if this was the same event that The New York Post reported that Commissioner Bratton reportedly skipped or if this was a separate event from that one. Either way, Commissioner Bratton's wife, Rikki Klieman, attended a function at the swanky country club for a July 18 cocktail party held in honor of the married couple. It's unknown how Mr. Bratton and Ms. Kleiman's arrangements were paid for that week-end jaunt. The Brattons are known for being intensely social. During his first term heading NYPD, Commissioner Bratton was often seen ending many late nights at Elaine's, the famous restaurant and bar in the Upper East Side, where Commissioner Bratton could rub elbows with the likes of Woody Allen, Mia Farrow, and other bold face names. In 1996, Bratton chose to resign the NYPD's commissionership to forego a formal investigation for having accepted multiple unauthorized trips paid for by corporations and individuals. While there were no allegations that Commissioner Bratton broke the law for having taken those trips during his first tenure, his resignation was the only way to do damage control by preventing the negative impression of accepting paid trips from getting worse. If Commissioner Bratton made a trip to the Willowbend Country Club subsequent to the July 18 honorary cocktail party, that would make at least two trips that the Brattons had arranged to make to the Cape. Last May, Commissioner Bratton made a trip to Israel, which he was careful to point out was "largely not personal." Before he was reappointed as NYPD commissioner by Mayor Bill de Blasio, Commissioner Bratton served as a policing and security consultant. In 2008, The Los Angeles Daily News published a report that as of November of that year, Commissioner Bratton had travelled for 71 days for that year during his term of his commissionership of the LAPD. According to the report, it was rumoured that Commissioner Bratton was networking amongst policing and security insiders in a lobbying campaign to head Scotland Yard in the U.K. or Homeland Security in America. Critics complained that Commissioner Bratton's travels made him absent during major crises in Los Angeles, and that he was more focused on politicking for his next gig. Building up new contacts with government officials in the security industry will prove valuable to Commissioner Bratton once he resigns from the NYPD and returns to consulting, as some New York police reform advocates now predict. How are the Brattons financing all of their trips during Commissioner Bratton's second term ? Have the Brattons returned to their habit of accepting trips paid for by corporations and wealthy individuals ? Conflict of interest rules prevent public servants from receiving valuable gifts when public servants are basically exploiting their office for private gain.

RELATED Commissioner Bratton parties at swanky Willowbend Country Club on the Cape (The Boston Herald) Bratton skips party to deal with chokehold death tragedy (The New York Post) L.A. Police Chief William Bratton's travels irk home crowd (The Los Angeles Daily News) Commissioner Bratton is out amid probe ; feared inquiry would taint him (The New York Daily News) NYPD Commissioner Bratton is bitten by travel bug (The New York Daily News)

Sen. Ruben Diaz doesn't want to start any trouble, but ...

Sen. Ruben Diaz, Sr., wrote a list of "Page Six" items about corrupt political reporters.

Given the culture of corruption in local and state government in New York, Sen. Ruben Diaz has decided to instead focus on corrupt political reporters by writing a round-up of riddles that allude to journalists who practise compromised media ethics.

His list is a form of pushback on how everybody assumes that only politicians are corrupt, but nobody considers the ethics of political reporters. Here are some of his "blind items" :

• Rumor has it that there are some folks in the media who do some pretty manipulative (and illegal) things behind the scenes, and I have to wonder, who investigates them.
• Rumor has it that there may be a radio personality in New York who uses his influence on the morning airwaves to push for his candidate for one of the 2013 Primary races, and that candidate may happen to be his partner. There’s no call to investigate if this is happening, or if the use of that in-kind-service-like air time for a family member is something the campaign financial board should take a close look at.
• Rumor has it that there may be a political reporter on TV who uses his evening air time for political maneuvering that may be right in line with the political will of his spouse, who might be found on the top of a list of the most politically influential New Yorkers. There’s no call to investigate those maneuverings.
• Rumor has it that there may be a Spanish language newspaper whose editorial board blocks the coverage of certain Hispanic elected officials who champion Hispanic New Yorkers, only because these elected officials will not cave in to the publication’s radical agendas. There’s no call to investigate if this is happening, and if the abuse of power by this type journalism is fraudulent or corrupt.
• Rumor has it that there may be a polling company that, more than one month before the Democratic Primary, decided to exclude in its poll the name of the only Latino candidate who is running for Mayor in New York City. There’s no call to investigate if such manipulative tactics to remove a candidate’s name from the race is, in fact, happening – and what consequences there may be if this is racist behavior.
• Rumor has it that there may be a political commentator who has freely and frequently used vulgarities and disparaging remarks on live television about Catholic Church leaders and about an elected official or two – and we all know that if any elected official used that language or attacked the Catholic Church, there would be serious consequences. There’s no call to evaluate the obvious mental instability of this type of commentator, and there is no investigation to find out if television sponsors who pay to air these types of broadcasts are comfortable sponsoring this kind of hate-speech.
• Rumor has it that there may be an editor in the print media who uses his power or influence even when he knows that he is lying to ruin the reputation of someone in elected office who may have offended the editor by holding a differing view. There’s no call to investigate the personal and professional damage that editor may have caused.
• Rumor has it that there may be a powerful political reporter who had once chummed up to a top elected official in New York State, using all of his resources to fawn over and sing the praises of that official, until the elected official took a differing position on a matter or two. There’s no call to investigate the abuse of journalism when these kinds of reporters use their columns and radio time to obviously attack elected officials when they turn a corner and personally disagree with them.
• Rumor has it that there may be a powerful political reporter from one of New York’s tabloids who accepts money and favors from elected officials when the elected officials want to get a bill passed in order to get covered. Rumor also has it that this same reporter goes out of his way to expose elected officials who take bribes. There’s no call to investigate this type of hypocrisy and bribery in the media.
• Rumor has it that some very powerful editorial boards in New York City that rightly condemn DWI cases, host Christmas parties where the hosts of the parties and even some of their ace reporters climb in behind the wheel to drive home after drinking too much at these events. There’s no call to investigate this type of hypocrisy or illegal behavior, even when they are putting people’s lives at risk.
• Rumor has it that there may be several journalists in New York who boast about what balanced and objective journalists they are, and even though they try to keep their writing balanced, they Tweet in professional capacity to spew their contempt for elected officials and issues they oppose. There’s no call for these journalists to stop lying to themselves or for anyone to investigate their apparent dual personalities.

Read more : Ruben Diaz’s Has Some Blind Items For The Press !