Anybody But Quinn Super PAC donor deflects questions about FBI investigation into campaign corruption

"I don’t have any comment on any of that."

Mayor Bill de Blasio's cousin, John Wilhelm, was the former leader of the union, UNITE HERE! The union made a large contribution of $175,000 to the animal rights group New Yorkers for Clean, Livable, and Safe Streets (NY-CLASS) on June 1, and, two days later, NY-CLASS regifted the same large contribution to a Super PAC that was funding a flood of TV attack ads against former City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who was the leading Democratic mayoral primary candidate at the time. When Mr. Wilhelm was asked by The New York Daily News to identify who directed UNITE HERE! to make the donation to NY-CLASS, Mr. Wilhelm replied that he had "no comment."

• RELATED : John Wilhelm, labor leader and cousin of Bill de Blasio, avoids questions about role in $175,000 donation to NY-CLASS that funded an anti-Christine Quinn Super PAC, leading to the election of Mayor de Blasio. (The New York Daily News)
• RELATED : EXCLUSIVE : FBI investigating donations to NYCLASS from men close to Mayor de Blasio that may have been used toward anti-Christine Quinn campaigners. (The New York Daily News)
• RELATED : Animal rights group's exotic campaign finances (Crain's New York Business)

The size and timing of the union's campaign contribution are enough to raise questions about coordination between the mayor's cousin and the anti-Quinn attack Super PAC, but the way that UNITE HERE! structured the donation to pass-through NY-CLASS first in order to get to the anti-Quinn attack Super PAC raises further legal problems, because the pass-through contribution was cloaked in "anonymity for months," The New York Daily News reported. NY-CLASS wasn't required to disclose UNITE HERE!'s contribution until NY-CLASS "began its own campaign spending, an event that occurred on Sept. 7, three days before the Sept. 10 mayoral primary." The $175,000 was practically hidden from voters and activists autonomously working to defeat former Speaker Quinn's mayoral campaign, because NY-CLASS "disclosed the contributions on Sept. 17, 10 days after the primary," The New York Daily News's report added. NY-CLASS's questionable finances have been the subject of a series of reports by Crain’s New York Business reporter Chris Bragg.

The union UNITE HERE! last triggered controversy when its former political director, Maura Keaney, was raising campaign donations from unions on behalf of former Speaker Quinn, even as Ms. Keany was working on municipal legislation involving unions. Ms. Keaney's actions were a "potential violation of the city’s conflicts of interest law," The New York Times reported at the time. At the conclusion of the city's investigation, Ms. Keaney was slapped on the wrist with a $2,500 fine to dispose of the corruption investigation into her political machinations. To dissipate political blow-back to Speaker Quinn, Ms. Keaney served on former Mayor Michael Bloomberg's 2009 reelection race. After Mayor Bloomberg won that election by a slim margin, he paid Ms. Keaney a lottery-sized bonus of $150,000, which more than made up for her ethics fine.

According to federal law, it is illegal for Super PAC's to coordinate their activities with official campaigns of politicians. Does handing off the same, sizable campaign contribution, apparently timed just right, through an intermediary meet the scrutiny test to prove coordination ?

Both NY-CLASS and the anti-Quinn Super PAC shared the same political lobbying firm, The Advance Group, which is headed by Scott Levenson, a political operative who further shares connections with Mayor de Blasio, given their long history of supporting the Working Families Party, one of the mayor's key political supporters. In the last election, Mr. Levenson further attracted scrutiny for possibly coordinating the 501(c)(4) political expenditures of NY-CLASS and other Super PAC monies with official political campaigns that he also managed in his capacity as a campaign consultant. The anti-Quinn Super PAC was known as NYC Is Not For Sale, but it organized under an astroturf campaign known as "Anybody But Quinn."

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.

The Parkside Group's Citizen's United Invisible Campaign Consultant/Lobbyist Operates in Dark Pools

• From True News From Change : Parkside Groups Citizen's United Invisible Campaign Consultant/ Lobbyist Operates in Dark Pools

NY's Corrupt Campaign Culture Enablers

The Parkside Group's Evan Stavisky is using the Supreme Court's Citizen United ruling to completely hide from the city and state campaign disclosure reporting reporting system. Despite being involved in over 50 campaigns this year, the Parkside name is not in the Campaign Finance Board or NYS Board of Elections campaign disclosure reporting files. How about that Moreland Commission ? Stavisky ran the so-called independent expenditure PSC Jobs4NY, which spent $10 million to elect council members and is now working with the Queens' Democratic organization and other PAC's to elect the next speaker. Last year, Parkside made $1.8 million in lobbying fees. Parkside also took in $2.77 million from Albany legislators' campaigns.

New York's Culture of Corruption is Caused By The Consultants Who Elect Politicians. Campaign Consultants/Lobbyists are often "connected at the hip,” said NYPIRG’s Bill Mahoney. What the NYPIRG worker was saying their is a secret bond between elected officials and those that run their campaigns. What NYPIRG has not looked at is the secret bonds between campaign consultants many of whom are also lobbyist. These secret bonds were not caused by the courts but by the state's weak campaign reporting requirements. Parkside which was paid over $2 million by the Democrat Senate Campaign Committee hires other consultants to do some of the work, but does not have to disclose who they are paying. The big money and lack of rules have developed a secret world of Dark Pool where campaign consultants make deals giving each other work and trade support for their lobbyists clients.

Campign Consultants Working On More Than One Side in the Same Time. This secret horse trading world has not only created a monopoly on who becomes a campaign consultant the money and power the chosen consultants are making and amassing has caused them to become sloppy arrogant as they go for the big money. Incredibly with the help of Citizens United they have found a way to work on more than one side in the same race. The advance group got paid $28,000 by gay city council candidate Yetta Kurland at the same time the firm worked secretly to promote her opponent Cory Johnson’s candidacy through an IE paid for by the UFT via a company called Strategic Consultants—apparently a dummy shell corporation set up to obscure the Advance Group’s double-dealing.True New is working on more examples of campaign consultants working together to game New York's election system and why the DAs, Moreland and AG is silent on the Advance Groups Corruption

Jobs4NY Parkside Helped Elected to the New Council : Margaret S Chin (1), ), Inez E Dickens (9), Andrew Cohen (11), Andrew King (12), Fernando Cabrera (14), Vanessa L Gibson (16), Paul A Vallone (19), Costa G Constantinides (22), Costa G Constantinides (22), Rory Lancman (24), Laurie Cumbo (35), Ritchie Torres (36), Rafael L Espinal, Jr. (37), Alan Maisel (46), Mark Treyger (47), John Mancuso (50)

How Come the Millions Spent By PACS are Not Included in the Lobbyists Tally. About $105 million was spent on lobbying in the first six months of the year, the lowest in five years, according to a JCOPE report.

Another Secret Attack Between Two Elected Officials Through A PAC. Independent Expenditure Effort Raises Eyebrows in the Bronx(NYO) Ms. Mark-Viverito and Assemblyman Luis Sepulveda were two of mayoral front-runner Bill de Blasio’s earliest backers. But behind the scenes–as the two appeared together at press conferences–Mr. Sepulveda’s chief of staff, Kenneth Thomas, was serving as a board member on a political action committee that had set its sights against her.

Who is Dick Dadey ? How has he improved voter participation ?

When Dick Dadey was the executive director of the Empire State Pride Agenda, he was visible in the effort to redraw the boundaries of the Third City Council District in Manhattan that made it possible to elect an LGBT candidate for the first time from that district. In 1991, Tom Duane was elected to the New York City Council. At the time, Mr. Duane’s campaign manager was Christine Quinn. In the time since, up to and including Mr. Dadey’s term as the executive director of Citizens Union, Mr. Dadey has had a close association with Ms. Quinn, the present City Council Speaker and mayoral candidate.

Earlier this year, information about the role that each of Mr. Dadey and the Pride Agenda had in the 1991 campaign to bring Mr. Duane and Ms. Quinn to power used to be found on the Pride Agenda’s Web site. But now that information has been deleted.

Why was the Pride Agenda’s redistricting activities removed from its Web site ?

Because of the close association that still exists between Mr. Dadey and Speaker Quinn, Mr. Flores questions the independence of Citizens Union, especially since each time that Speaker Quinn’s slush fund continues to lead to more public corruption cases, Mr. Dadey is always ready to provide political cover for Speaker Quinn. After The New York Post published a critical editorial of Speaker Quinn’s slush fund, hours later Mr. Dadey was quoted as defending Speaker Quinn in The New York Times. Another example follows where Speaker Quinn’s spokesperson used Mr. Dadey’s own remarks to deflect responsibility away from Speaker Quinn for the on-going corruption tied to Speaker Quinn’s slush fund.

This week, WNYC published an interactive online map documenting the extremely low voter turnout during the 2009 mayoral election. One of the reasons few citizens vote is because good-government groups like Citizens Union make a promise to be a “watchdog” over our government. Yet, under Mr. Dadey’s leadership, Citizens Union was informed last week by the New York State Board of Elections that Citizens Union must register as a political action committee as a consequence of all of its electioneering activities. Among its questionable recent activities is the contemplation of endorsing one of its previous benefactors.

If Citizens Union is going to engage in political favoritism and make campaign endorsements, then how independent can Citizens Union remain under immense political pressures, including those of the Speaker Quinn’s political machine ? During the 10 years that Mr. Dadey has been at Citizens Union and the 15 years that Speaker Quinn has been a councilmember, have any meaningful, transformational reforms been brought about to increase voter participation in the matters of our own governance ?

2013-08-08 Roots of Betrayal - Who is Dick Dadey Press Release by Connaissable