Department of Justice had to approve federal investigation into Cuomo's interference with Moreland Commission

Department of Justice had to sign-off on Cuomo investigation : NYPOST

Preet Bharara’s investigation of Gov. Cuomo needed pre-approval from the Justice Department in Washington. In today's column, Michael Goodwin of The New York Post reminded New Yorkers that U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara's investigation into the Cuomo administration's reported obstruction of the Moreland Commission needed to be signed-off by the Justice Department. "Bharara’s office is sending public signals that the governor might even have a legal problem, a move the prosecutor wouldn’t make without a green light from the Justice Department, which holds veto power over high-profile criminal cases." Mr. Bharara, who is leading the charge on a once-in-a-lifetime renewal of government integrity, testified last year before the first hearing of the Moreland Commission, a corruption-fighting panel appointed by Gov. Cuomo and deputized by state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman. Mr. Bharara's testimony before the Moreland Commission took place one month after Kenneth Lovett of The New York Daily News reported that Gov. Cuomo's campaign committee had received $100,000 in campaign contributions from Extell Development Company in the time leading up to the governor signing into law tax breaks worth $35 million for one of the developer's projects. Eventually, Extell was reported to have contributed over $300,000 to the governor's campaign committee. These and other revelations forced the Moreland Commission to issue subpoenas to Extell and four other developers. Even before Mr. Bharara delivered his testimony before the Moreland Commission on the evening of Sept. 17, 2013, the stage was set by journalists and Moreland commissioners, who had already begun to draw attention to Gov. Cuomo's involvement in the unscrupulous machinations that makes Albany a cesspool of corruption. Leaving the only unanswered question : when did Mr. Bharara seek approval from upper level Department of Justice officials in Washington, DC ? Was it last September, as he walked into the Moreland Commission to make his entry of appearance, by which point it was already know that Gov. Cuomo was playing dirty, or was it only very recently, based on Gov. Cuomo's alleged witness tampering of Moreland commissioners, by which point it was already known that Gov. Cuomo was playing even dirtier ? As Mr. Bharara proceeds full-speed ahead on completing his office's due diligence of the unfinished Moreland Commission investigations and the separate investigation into the Cuomo administration's reported obstruction of the Moreland Commission's investigations, he has the full faith and support of the Washington office of the Department of Justice, meaning that Gov. Cuomo has no friends in D.C. to whom he could possibly appeal to, in turn, tell Mr. Bharara, "Pull it back."

RELATED Latest governor poll shows Albany needs to address the sleaze (The New York Post) A government attorney should seek pre-approval if a case consists of violations of State law, but involves prosecution of significant or government individuals, which may pose special problems for the local prosecutor. (9-110.310 Considerations Prior to Seeking Indictment) Michael Hayes, LMT, has practiced massage for more than 20 years as a licensed massage therapist in New York City.

Mayor de Blasio "too busy" to follow Moreland Commission scandal, even as it may yet ensnare him

Should Mayor de Blasio worry about The Advance Group federal complaint that was referred to the Moreland Commission ?

In Orwellian twist, Mayor de Blasio professes Gov. Cuomo's "integrity," even though the Cuomo administration is under federal investigation over the corrupt closure of the Moreland Commission When asked earlier today by reporters about the Moreland Commission scandal engulfing the Cuomo administration, Mayor Bill de Blasio said, "I'm not following it, because I have a lot of other things to do." The mayor, just back from a 10-day vacation to the Italian Riviera, is acclimating himself to a new political landscape upended by an ethics controversy that may claim the political career of Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who disbanded a corruption-fighting panel known as the Moreland Commission at the end of last March. In the wake of protestations by government reform activists, who opposed Gov. Cuomo's unseemly closure of the Moreland Commission, Mayor de Blasio strong-armed the Working Families Party two months ago into endorsing Gov. Cuomo's reelection campaign. Now that Mayor de Blasio is vulnerable to a political backlash for having endorsed a candidate under possible federal investigation, the mayor is trying to distance himself from the governor's scandal. However, as federal prosecutors conduct their promised due diligence of the unfinished Moreland Commission's corruption investigations, amongst the information that prosecutors will be reviewing is the federal complaint against The Advance Group, which was referred to the Moreland Commission after it was filed with the U.S. Attorney's Office. Last year was the first time when the corrupt Supreme Court decision in the Citizens United case allowed big money campaign contributors to compromise the integrity of New York's municipal elections, ensnaring the de Blasio mayoral campaign in the activities of a controversial Super PAC managed by The Advance Group.

RELATED Mayor de Blasio is too busy to follow Moreland Commission brouhaha, but hails Cuomo's "integrity" (The New York Daily News) The Advance Group Federal Complaint Referred To Moreland Commission (NYC : News & Analysis) Mayor de Blasio privately asks Working Families Party to back Gov. Cuomo for reelection (The New York Daily News)

Corruption of New York City Council slush funds leads to another guilty verdict, this time for Ex-Councilmember Dan Halloran

PUBLISHED : TUES, 29 JUL 2014, 09:36 PM
UPDATED : MON, 04 AUG 2014, 11:05 AM

Amongst the charges for which former Councilmember Halloran was found guilty was plotting to funnel $80,000 in City Council slush funds as bribes to others

Controversy over City Council slush funds continue under the new Council speaker, Councilmember Melissa Mark-Viverito Former New York City Councilmember Daniel Halloran was found guilty today by a jury, concluding a federal trial for corruption charges stemming from his arrest for participating in a scheme to buy the GOP ballot line for State Sen. Malcom Smith, a wannabe mayoral candidate in last year's municipal elections. Former Councilmember Halloran's accepted money in what was described as a bribe for his role in the corruption scheme. In exchange, he had pledged, in part, to use $80,000 in City Council slush funds for further bribes in this corruption scheme. Former Councilmember Halloran had planned to funnel the $80,000 from the monies awarded to him by the City Council speaker, who, at her discretion, awards member items to Councilmembers for further payment to various nonprofit groups. The practice of distributing member items from the speaker's discretionary fund has been a historical source of corruption in the City Council. Government reform activists also see the use of these slush funds as ways to keep community groups locked up in proverbial "veal pens," preventing, for example, some community groups, such as VOCAL-New York, from pressing for a complete overhaul to end corruption at the New York Police Department. Previously, three Councilmembers : Larry Seabrook, Hiram Monserrate, and Miguel Martinez, and two former council staffers of then Councilman Kendall Stewart : Asquith Reid and Joycinth Anderson, have been charged in connection with corruption related to the slush fund scandal. After former Councilmember Halloran's arrest, his slice of the slush funds came under review by former Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who was once the target of a federal investigation into her own, larger slush fund scandal. After the outcome of last year's municipal elections, former Speaker Quinn was succeeded by Councilmember Melissa Mark-Viverito as speaker. Speaker Mark-Viverito had promised to reform the politically-corrupt process of doling out the Council's slush funds. However, this year, Speaker Mark-Viverito sparked controversy when she was caught allocating millions of dollars in slush funds to a charity group founded by one of her key campaign consultants. This year's allocation of slush funds were further complicated when Councilmember Ruben Wills was arrested on unrelated corruption charges. Councilmember Wills' cut of this year's slush funds were reportedly to be divided up amongst groups in his Council district at the direction of Speaker Mark-Viverito's office and other Councilmembers of the Queens delegation, Capital New York reported. As the U.S. Attorney for New York's southern district, Preet Bharara, continues his campaign to prosecute government corruption cases, former Councilmember Halloran's conviction shows voters that federal prosecutors know where to keep looking : at the role that the Council's slush funds plays in elected officials' machinations to "sell out their offices." How many more Councilmembers and their staff must be ensnared in corruption cases by federal prosecutors before the Council's slush funds are either reformed with true integrity or ended entirely ?

RELATED Former Councilmmember Dan Halloran Found Guilty in Corruption Case (The New York Observer) Another campaign consultant tied to Council Speaker Mark-Viverito in still yet another controversy (NYC : News & Analysis) Quinn in the Slush (New York Magazine) Lulu heroes and zeroes : End the City Council’s legal bribery (The New York Daily News) City Council members can’t prove they donated bonuses to charities (The New York Post)

Cuomo to be in Buffalo today, as ex-Moreland Commission figure testifies before a federal grand jury

Andrew Cuomo's obstruction of the Moreland Commission : a moment of truth for New York's political reporters

Gov. Andrew Cuomo is scheduled to speak at 10 a.m. this morning at the University of Buffalo, his first public appearance since a damning article in The New York Times last week accused the governor of directing criminal investigations away from his political allies. The governor's appearance is timed to overshadow the Grand Jury testimony of Heather Green, who was the assistant to the former Executive Director of the now-defunct Moreland Commission, Regina Calcaterra.

To further establish Gov. Cuomo's obstruction of the Moreland Commission's investigations, will the media examine allegations of corruption by Cuomo allies : the Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY), the Partnership for New York City (PFNYC), and the now-shuttered Committee to Save New York (CSNY) ? If Gov. Cuomo truly obstructed the corruption investigations by the Moreland Commission, what were his motivations ? By all accounts, the media has reported that Gov. Cuomo was acting to hide the questionable fundraising and other activities of his big money campaign contributors and other political supporters -- people, who had business before the state. If true, the actions of Cuomo administration officials to carry out Gov. Cuomo's obstructive orders will undoubtedly become the focus of some of today's Grand Jury testimony. What light can Health Green show on Cuomo administration officials' backchannel communications with Ms. Calcaterra, the former Moreland Commission executive director, who was Gov. Cuomo's plant on the investigative panel ? Whose pay-to-play activities were the governor trying to hide ? So far, we know that the Cuomo administration was sensitive to the activities of REBNY, the Extell Development Company, the campaign commercial-related firm Buying Time, and the Committee to Save New York (and its funders) from coming under scrutiny. As the press looks for angles to keep alive this complicated story of obstruction of justice, will the press have the guts to further investigate the apparent pay-to-play implications of the questionable fundraising and other activities of Gov. Cuomo's big money campaign contributors ? We know how whistleblowers have had to deal with intimidation and retaliation from the Cuomo administration. How do intimidation and retaliation of the press factor into allegations of obstruction ? In a roundtable of reporters on last Friday's Inside City Hall on NY1, Senior editor for Politics and Policy at WNYC Radio, Andrea Bernstein, spoke about the hostility that reporters must put up with from Cuomo administration officials over criticisms in the press. Will reporters back down under the Cuomo's retaliatory mode in the fallout of the Moreland Commission scandal, or will reporters find the courage to finally report the whole truth about the years of pay-to-play corruption in New York State politics ? Stay tuned.

RELATED Cuomo’s Office Hobbled Ethics Inquiries by Moreland Commission (The New York Times) Cuomo should shoulder blame for defunct anti-corruption panel, say irate commission members (The New York Daily News) Cuomo, Astorino to Be in Western New York as Fallout from Corruption Report Continues (Time Warner Cable News)

Corruption, with a capital "C" for "Cuomo"

Gov. Cuomo has not yet delivered on his promise to clean up Albany out of fear that he might implicate his political enablers, or, worse, himself

Taxpayers' best hope in cleaning up government corruption rests with U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, who has proven his effectiveness operating outside of Albany. When former New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo ran for governor four years ago, he made a promise central to his campaign that he was going to clean up Albany of the scourge of political and campaign corruption. Four years later, Gov. Cuomo has done nothing to clean up Albany. Indeed, more and more state legislators keep getting indicted, arrested, or sentenced to jail for political or campaign corruption, and the corrupt legislators on top, like Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, remain firmly in power. This vacuum in progressive reform leadership has created a pass through which U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara has rode into Albany as the new out-of-town, anti-corruption sheriff that can't be bought off by the corrupt bandits running our government. The clock is about to tick "High Noon." The corrupt bandits still think the old rules of the broken political system apply, but the new sheriff with his federal posse are ready. Everybody microwave your popcorn, because the part where the sheriff cleans up the town is about to begin.

RELATED Corruption with a Capitol ‘C’ (The New York Daily News) Another Indictment in Albany (The New York Times) Albany outsider cracking down on corruption (The Democrat & Chronicle)

No transparency on Democratic backroom deals in new State Senate coalition pact

A new alliance between New York State Senate Democrats and an obstructionist breakaway faction was negotiated behind closed doors.

RELATED New York State Senate Coalition Ends ; Independent Democrats Shun GOP as Threats of Primary Elections Loom Large (The Wall Street Journal) Feds Won't Rule Out Cuomo-Moreland Probe (WNYC) Real estate interests continue to open checkbooks for Bill de Blasio (Bill de Blasio Sold Out)

Democrats make a priority of taking back control of the State Senate over enacting long-overdue reforms to address Albany corruption and ethics scandals Backroom deals negotiated by New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and Gov. Andrew Cuomo will keep the same corrupt Albany politicians in office, although the mainstream media is spinning this sad state of affairs as a political win for state Democrats. Earlier this year, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Preet Bharara, highlighted the broken political system up in Albany that does nothing to fully address how a spree of political scandals can be traced back to a lack of government ethics reforms. Indeed, Mr. Bharara criticized Gov. Cuomo for going soft on ethics reforms, and the top federal prosecutor in Manhattan refused to rule out a probe, if necessary, to determine whether Gov. Cuomo improperly interfered with, and later negotiated away the disbanding of, the Moreland Commission. "We're going to look at the documents, we're going to see what the facts are, and if there are questions that are appropriate to ask...there are strong-willed and aggressive — but fair — people in my office who will ask those questions," Mr. Bharara said on WNYC’s The Brian Lehrer Show. During Mr. Bharara's appearance on WNYC last April, he made the observation that it appeared that Gov. Cuomo may have bargained away the opportunity to bring about corruption and ethics reforms for short term political gain. Fast-forward to this month, and it appears that Mayor de Blasio formed a pact with Gov. Cuomo for short-term political gain to form a new Democratic Party alliance in the State Senate that also overlooks the long-over due overhaul to the state's corrupt political system. Already, some reporters are printing observations that Mayor de Blasio is taking political credit for the new State Senate alliance, but the press refuses to acknowledge that the same corrupt politicians are staying in power. Moreover, the new State Senate accord reached by Mayor de Blasio and Gov. Cuomo speaks nothing to the long string of political, campaign, and public corruption scandals playing out right now from City Hall all the way up to Albany. One wonders whether now that Mayor de Blasio has gotten the same dirty Albany grime under his fingernails, if that means that by continuing to put reforms on the back burner in exchange for short-term political gains, then Mayor de Blasio is going to be fully seen as keeping the corrupt Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver in power in one legislative house, even though Speaker Silver is second only to Gov. Cuomo to obstructing corruption and ethics reforms up in Albany. Already, Mayor de Blasio is being seen by more and more reform activists as looking for opportunities to prioritize the scoring of cheap political points over reforms. Many mainstream reporters mock the mayor for describing routine City Hall announcements as "historic" and "transformative" that have no basis in reality. Furthermore, many independent political bloggers note how Mayor de Blasio's rhetoric about being a "progressive" neglects to address the need to enact underlying structural reforms to overhaul the broken political system here in New York City. Tellingly, one of the mayor's outstanding campaign promises that has never been mentioned since his inauguration is the mayor's promise made last summer to bring further reforms to the city's corruptible campaign finance system.

Gov. Cuomo Solicits Campaign Donations From LLC's, Exploiting Loophole In State's Campaign Finance Regulations

The governor has called for closing a gap in the state’s campaign finance laws, but he’s taken far more through the loophole than his predecessors, much of it from real estate developers.

RELATED NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo Has Raised Millions Through Loophole He Pledged to Close (ProPublica)

New York State campaign finance laws make it illegal for corporations to give more than $5,000 a year to candidates and political committees, ProPublica notes in its damning examination into New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's campaign finances leading up to this year's gubernatorial election, but Gov. Cuomo has violated the spirit of this rule by drawing on corporation donations from limited liability companies, a form of corporate organization that corporations and individuals can set up in unlimited numbers, essentially gutting the state's campaign finance regulations. The scathing ProPublica investigation identifies numerous campaign contributions that Gov. Cuomo received, which appear to be timed to influence the governor's conduct of state business that would, in turn, impact the business of his campaign donors. The ProPublica article observes when Gov. Cuomo shut the whole Moreland Commission down, the panel's recommendation to close the LLC loophole was bargained away. Government reform activists are waiting to see if federal prosecutors, who assumed the investigative work of the now-defunct Moreland Commission, as well as other ethics complaints, will find any legal evidence that politicians may have obstructed the justice and reform work of the Moreland Commission.

Long history of prosecutorial and ethical misconduct by Brooklyn D.A. Hynes triggers proposal for state disciplinary commission

In New York, the state Attorney General has lost control over his wayward District Attorneys. Now, the State Legislature wants to appoint a disciplinary commission to review the corrupt acts of the state's "Dirty D.A.'s"

RELATED Prosecutor misconduct commission moves forward in “Hynes” legislature (The Brooklyn Paper) After Bitter Election Loss, Charles Hynes Shredded His Office Documents : Sources (The New York Observer)

The New York State legislature, that swamp of corruption, is hoping to create an independent commission to investigate the prosecutorial misconduct of New York’s state prosecutors. The commission members would be able to recommend disciplinary actions against prosecutors engaging in "improper activity or whose performance displays a degree of incompetence not suited for the office," The Brooklyn Paper reported. The possibility that the state's district attorneys have become corrupt is too much for the state's attorney general, Eric Schneiderman, to handle. The only way hot political corruption cases like this can be handled is to outsource it to an incompetent commission, which Gov. Andrew Cuomo can then disband if the political heat becomes too much to bear, like what he did with the do-nothing Moreland Commission. The scandal with Brooklyn D.A. Hynes is only coming up now, because Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara is investigating JCOPE ethics complaints and Moreland Commission corruption files. Were it not for Mr. Bharara's ongoing campaign to clean up government corruption, the city's lazy Department of Investigations would not have investigated any of the corrupt district attorneys in New York's five boroughs, much less D.A. Hynes. Naturally, there are rumors being shared amonst activists that the DOI probe into former D.A. Hynes may have been politically-motivated, like all the other take-downs in New York City. Of course, nothing is going to happen in respect of this proposed district attorney investigation commission, unless Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver blesses this commission, which voters know he won't, because Speaker Silver has a long history of enabling corruption all across New York state. But some New York City-based bloggers and activists privately wonder if just the fear of the idea of this commission will scare the crap out of some corrupt local district attorneys, like Manhattan D.A. Cy Vance, who many good government reform activists believe avoids prosecuting political corruption cases. Besides Mr. Vance, the new Brooklyn district attorney, Ken Thompson, also avoids thorny political cases. For example, Mr. Thompson failed to examine the slimy circumstances of how one of the mayor's loyal political supporters was allowed to basically get out jail for free. The long-time Queens district attorney, Richard Brown, refused to find any wrong-doing when the New York Police Department kidnapped and held prisoner the whistleblower Adrian Schoolcraft in the psychiatric ward of a Queens hospital. In New York, whenever political or law enforcement corruption becomes so bad, the only way the corrupt justice system handles it is by outsourcing the investigation to an independent commission or to an independent prosecutor, because the district attorney, attorney general, or federal prosecutor with normal jurisdiction doesn't want the political blowback from these kinds of investigations. Look at how the Staten Island district attorney appointed a special prosecutor to investigate the corrupt Working Families Party ; the Staten Island D.A. didn't want to touch that investigation. These kinds of cases are TOO HOT for the normal investigators to handle. Investigators race to outsource probes to others, who can either afford to take the political heat or who are too stupid to know the difference. But if only voters could see why these investigations have to get outsourced, then that would show voters how the justice system truly has become corrupt, because there should be no reason why there should be a "tale of two justice systems" for political corruption. Meanwhile, as Albany considers more and more layers of supervision over the state's crumbling law enforcement apparatus, it was reported this week that Mayor Bill de Blasio has yet to appoint a chair to the city's Civilian Complaint Review Board, a do-nothing oversight panel meant to push papers about in respect of civilian complaints against the NYPD, in spite of the fact that the NYPD appear to be openly engaging in racing profiling in respect of the low-level marijuana arrests that police are making under the de Blasio administration.