La rentrée 2014 : Election and Omnibus Update

Reforms come about by taking action

Remember the hospital closing crisis was manufactured by the Gov. Pataki's Berger Commission and by Gov. Cuomo's Medicaid Redesign Team AS NEW YORKERS PREPARE FOR THE ANNUAL REENTRY, it's that time of the year when everything happens all at once : the summer ends, a new school year begins, the high season of the arts is upon us, and the primary elections are only one week away. The last year has been remarkable for civic engagement and activism. We made many gains, like voting Christine Quinn out of office. We still face many challenges, like holding the de Blasio administration accountable to fully overhauling the New York Police Department and implementing other reforms. Voters are building upon this by vowing to hold Gov. Andrew Cuomo accountable in the Democratic Party primary election on Tuesday, Sept. 9. Ever since news broke of Gov. Andrew Cuomo's admitted interference with the Moreland Commission's anti-corruption investigations, the Cuomo administration has been in a downward spiral. Voters are angry that each year, politicians promise us a "change election," but no change ever comes. Gov. Cuomo campaigned for office in 2010, promising to end corruption up in Albany. By many press accounts, it took less than four years for Gov. Cuomo to embody the culture of corruption up in Albany. Back in 2010, the Cuomo campaign told St. Vincent's activists, "We'll see you after the election." What happened ? Not only did the governor fail to take action to save community hospitals in New York City, but he appointed mean old man Stephen Berger of the 1990's Berger Commission to keep closing full-service hospitals across New York City. Gov. Cuomo turned out to be another weasel of a politician, who had no intention of serving the common good. Instead, he was intent on an austerity agenda that would dismantle hospital infrastructure and enact Medicaid cuts that would negatively impact entire communities across New York City. This reoccurring pattern of political and community betrayal was what finally led voters to vote former Speaker Quinn out of office after 15 years of failure. That long period of time exasperated voters. It finally woke voters up to the opportunity cost of reelecting unprincipled incumbents, who gamed the system for their own benefit, not the communities'. Voters no longer have patience for wasting time on failed leadership. This impatience explains why activists began to protest mayor-elect Bill de Blasio last December, after he announced his regressive appointment of William Bratton as NYPD commissioner. In the time since, all New Yorkers have come to see how Mayor de Blasio was never fully committed about ending police brutality or overhauling other controversial police policies, like the Broken Windows approach to policing that essentially criminalises the poor and minorities. Minorities in New York get arrested trying to use public transportation. That stark example of discrimination that once ran rampant in the racist South now takes place right here in New York City. If the mayor was committed to a complete overhaul of the NYPD, then he would have each of appointed a culturally competent police commissioner, ended Broken Windows policing, and updated and strengthened civilian police oversight, disciplinary proceedings, and other forms of police accountability. The true test of reforms is very simple : Does the status quo come to a complete end once reforms are implemented ? Other issues awaiting the mayor that will determine if he is going to truly roll-out an aggressively progressive reform agenda, or if he is just going to keep recommending neoliberal policies that are approved by big business lobbyists. Only a civically-engaged electorate can hold elected officials' feet to the fire. As promised in a previous newsletter, here is an omnibus update : Governor's Race. Please remember that Gov. Cuomo exacerbated the hospital closing crisis in New York City by appointing Stephen Berger to close more hospitals on top of the large number of hospitals that closed following Mr. Berger's first commission report on hospital closures. Last Sept. 9, Mr. Berger was still advocating for more hospital closures. How fitting that exactly one year after that article was published, voters get to cast votes to reject these healthcare cuts that The New York Times reported went too far. Equally important, activists continue to call for reforms to end campaign and political corruption, but the media that made the Moreland Commission scandal an issue has since retired the issue, proving once again that, like with former Speaker Quinn, it is up to citizens journalists and activists to keep pressing for an end to corruption. Many bloggers are writing about the Moreland Commission (like the Perdido Street School blog and the Atlantic Yards Report blog), and it is up to voters to stay the course on an issue like this, especially when the media gets distracted or is subverted. Indeed, the bombshell report published by The New York Times about the Cuomo administration's reported obstruction of the Moreland Commission failed to mention the corrupt role of the Partnership for New York City in Albany politics. Likewise, The New York Times never reported Brad Hoylman's employment at the Partnership for New York City when he was overseeing Rudin's luxury condo conversion application at the same time when Bill Rudin was a director at the Partnership for New York City. When the media won't tell the whole story, it is up to us to keep each other informed. Keep seeking out new bloggers and alternative news Web sites. Take an average of multiple sources of information as a way to read between the lines. The Cuomo campaign is under so much stress from angry voters that Gov. Cuomo is reportedly considering dumping his running mate, former Rep. Kathy Hochul, in favor of embracing the reform candidate, Tim Wu. This is kind of what is looks like when the system turns on itself under the scaled-up participation of reform-minded voters. Whatever you do, I hope that on Tuesday, Sept. 9, you will please call your friends and families and make sure that everybody goes to the polls and votes Gov. Cuomo out of office. Christine Quinn. After almost 85% of Democratic Party primary voters voted former Speaker Quinn out of office last September, Ms. Quinn has been desperate to worm her way back into the business of politics. Baring an indictment by federal prosecutors or a negotiated plea deal calling for Gov. Cuomo to resign, Ms. Quinn's latest scheme is to shill for Gov. Cuomo in apparent exchange for a commissionership appointment in his next administration. As you may recall, last year Ms. Quinn exploited identity politics as an election year gimmick. Now, Ms. Quinn is using women's issues against another female candidate, Zephyr Teachout, to benefit a man, Gov. Cuomo, who sided with Republicans to jam the state legislature, one consequence of which was the stalled Women's Equality Act. This is a classic example of Ms. Quinn's corrupt approach to government : putting the most politically-expedient, self-serving politics ahead of long-over due reforms. It's no wonder that Ms. Teachout called out Ms. Quinn. "Christine Quinn is the one who stood in the way of paid sick days for New York City women," Ms. Teachout said, adding, "There are several ways Christine Quinn has stood in the way of core Democratic values. She was Mayor Bloomberg’s staunchest ally. She represents the corporate wing of the Democratic Party." Some political bloggers are privately worried that if the electorate is not careful, Ms. Quinn will attempt a political comeback similar to that of Richard Nixon after he lost the presidency in 1960 and the California governorship in 1962. GMHC. Many LGBTQ and AIDS activists have scored a major victory by pressuring Gay Men's Health Crisis to get rid of an entire slate of bad management. After an activist-driven campaign to force GMHC to reform itself, CEO Marjorie Hill, Chairman of the Board Mickey Rolfe, Director Manny Rivera, and former communications director Dirk McCall have separated from GMHC. Some activists have reservations about a new director, Roberta Kaplan, and the agency's new CEO, Kelsey Louie. However, if GMHC is to ever renew itself, then it certainly has a better chance now, under new leadership, than before. Time, and your continued oversight, will tell. LGBT Sell-Outs. Keep checking the LGBT Sell-Outs blog, as an updated poster will be revealed soon.

RELATED Married to a sleazy political consultant, Errol Louis uses NY1 to protect all political consultants (NYC : News & Analysis) Pledge 2 Protect latest advocacy organization to hire The Advance Group, masking donors behind a law firm (NYC : News & Analysis) Tone deaf to calls for NYPD reform, de Blasio stands by Bratton and Broken Windows policing (NYC : News & Analysis) USAO mum on new revelation about Cuomo's e-mail deleting policy (NYC : News & Analysis)

NYPD. Following the homicide of Eric Garner in Staten Island from an illegal choke hold by police, activists organised a rally outside City Hall calling for Commissioner Bratton's resignation, an end to the discriminatory Broken Windows approach to policing, and for a federal investigation into corruption at NYPD. Partly as a result of political cover provided by "veal pen" groups like VOCAL-New York and the Communities United for Police Reform umbrella group, the mayor has turned a deaf ear to grassroots activists calling for a complete overhaul of the NYPD. As with many political, social, and legal issues facing society, all one has to do is follow the money to identify what is blocking reforms. When one pulls back the curtain on the flow of money to some of the "veal pen" groups, one will see how in this year's city budget, over $7 million was allocated to some police reform groups, money which the de Blasio administration essentially used to strong-arm community groups to down-play police reform. This, and George Soros' financial connections to each of Communities United for Police Reform and to Mayor de Blasio, help to explain why a 1% policing policy, like Broken Windows, could be so vehemently defended by Mayor de Blasio, a blatant contradiction to the lip service he likes to give to his self-anointed progressive sensibilities. Again, reforms will only come about when the citizenry stays engaged, regardless of the empty rhetoric from politicians. Talk is not reform ; rather, reform can only take the shape of tangible changes that put an end to the status quo, in this case, of relentless incidence of police killings, police brutality, police discrimination against citizens -- all with no police accountability. Follow the money. The corrupt roles of big money donations and lobbyists continue to undermine elections in New York. In the 2009 municipal election cycle, the Working Families Party used an affiliate, Data and Field Services, Inc., to allegedly game the city's campaign finance laws. Those activities are now the subject of an investigation by an independent prosecutor. In the 2013 municipal election cycle, we saw how Working Families supporter The Advance Group and possibly other lobbyists coordinated their management of official campaigns with the activities of Super PAC's, a violation of the city's campaign finance regulations. And in this year's state election cycle, the Working Families Party is at it again : political operatives with connections to the Working Families Party were behind the use of Mayor de Blasio's 501(c)(4) nonprofit political arm, the Campaign for One New York, to send campaign-like literature spinning positives about the closure of Long Island College Hospital in the 52nd Assembly District in Brooklyn. That dark-money LICH mailer has propped up WFP-endorsed candidate Peter Sikora, because it takes some of the heat off the hospital closing. The value of that mailer, if indeed partly coordinated to benefit Mr. Sikora, may violate campaign finance regulations if not properly declared. Given the subversive activities of the Working Families Party during each of these election cycles, it is clear that their intention is to win political elections, not to save hospitals from closing. As if we all need to remember, 13 full-service New York City hospitals have closed or downsized since 2006. The true test of reform would have been the saving of LICH under Mayor de Blasio's watch. He failed ; LICH is closed. Now, voters in Brooklyn must decide for whom to vote in the Sept. 9 Democratic Primary in the 52nd Assembly District : Jo Anne Simon, who endorsed the disgraced Charles Hynes for Brooklyn District Attorney in last year's election, or Doug Biviano, who is the anti-lobbyist candidate calling for reforms to government. Whilst the de Blasio administration relies more and more on the same lobbyists behind the dark-money LICH mailer, such as BerlinRosen, government reform activists wonder if the media's initial reporting about the mayor's nonprofit political arm will go the same way of reporting about the Moreland Commission : by becoming history. Under conditions where those in elected office lack media scrutiny, it becomes essential that voters turn to bloggers and alternative news Web sites for information in order to cast informed ballots. Department of Justice. Besides voting, how else can average citizens participate in efforts to bring about unfinished reforms ? The first step is to test the system to determine how broken it is. This is what I have done with the U.S. Department of Justice. Under President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder, the Department of Justice has been politicised to enable and extend the Bush era's use of warrentless wiretapping, to crackdown on whistleblowers and activists, and to harass enterprising reporters in an effort to abridge freedoms of speech and of the press. Against this backdrop, I filed a Freedom of Information Act request to obtain records from the Department of Justice pertaining to the government's vindictive prosecution of Lt. Daniel Choi, who led the heroic effort to end the military's discriminatory "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy. The Department of Justice has promised to answer an appeal of its initial constructive denial of the FOIA request. The second step to reform is to see what happens when the system realises that it being tested. Juxtaposed with how the DOJ answers the FOIA request, I await how the U.S. Attorney's Office will act upon an updated statement I filed to support the complaint against the corrupt lobbying firm, The Advance Group. Either the DOJ makes good on each of the FOIA request and on investigating how politicians and lobbyists have made swiss cheese of campaign finance laws, the DOJ makes good on one but not on the other, or the DOJ makes good on neither. Either way, we will soon find out how much integrity the DOJ has when it comes to upholding the government's own principles of justice. Also outstanding are the U.S. Attorney's Office's own investigation into the unfinished work and the possible obstruction of the now-defunct Moreland Commission. Political bloggers speculate whether federal prosecutor Preet Bharara will hand down indictments in his Moreland investigation before this year's general election. On a larger scale, some activists believe that Attorney General Holder is expected to step down from his post. We will find out shortly in what shape he leaves the DOJ. NYC IBS Support. A new support and advocacy group for people living with Irritable Bowel Syndrome is forming in New York City. The group is searching for a doctor to be a medical information sponsor for the group. If you are a gastroenterologist and are interested in being the group's information sponsor, or if you live with IBS and would like to join, please send an e-mail to : newyorkcityibs (at) gmail (dot) com.

Pledge 2 Protect latest advocacy organization to hire The Advance Group, masking donors behind a law firm

Elected officials no longer listen to voters, unless a community forms a nonprofit organization and hires corrupt lobbyists in a scheme that cloaks the identity of donors

#BREAKING #ARRESTED 4 protesting E91st #MTS Barbara Jayson longtime resident of #Yorkville concerned citizen of #NYC pic.twitter.com/sh6zYvHUcz

— Pledge 2 Protect (@p2pnyc) August 26, 2014

Exploiting a loophole in campaign finance laws, the small Manhattan law firm Marquart & Small is hiding the identity of donors funding the Pledge 2 Protect advocacy group The community advocacy group, Pledge 2 Protect, which is nobly fighting the opening of a huge marine waste transfer station in the Upper East Side of Manhattan, is flouting campaign finance laws to do it, Crain's New York Business reported today. Pledge 2 Protect is using a law firm, Marquart & Small, to hide the identity of its big money donors. In two months of this year, those monies have been used to pay a small army of lobbyists and consultants : $78,000 to The Advance Group, a lobbying firm that doubles as a campaign consulting firm headed by Scott Levenson, was involved in the astroturf group, NYC Is Not For Sale ; $20,000 to The Black Institute, a nonprofit organization founded by former ACORN head Bertha Lewis ; The Black Institute shares office space with The Advance Group ; $20,000 to Gladstein Neandross and Associates, an environmental consulting firm based in California ; and $7,000 to Rubenstein Public Relations, which is also the official rep for New York Yankees baseball superstar Alex Rodriguez. The fact that Pledge 2 Protect is skirting campaign finance laws calls to mind the controversies engulfing another noble-purposed group, NY-CLASS. NY-CLASS is a group seeking a ban of horse-drawn carriages in New York City. Last year, NY-CLASS was the primary force behind a Super PAC named NYC Is Not For Sale ; both NY-CLASS and NYC Is Not For Sale received campaign consulting and lobbying assistance from The Advance Group. The city's campaign finance regulatory authority, the Campaign Finance Board, has ruled that a forbidden pattern of coordination took place between the Super PAC and official campaigns also managed by The Advance Group, and The Advance Group is the subject of a complaint filed with federal prosecutors on the fourth anniversary of the corrupt Supreme Court decision in Citizens United over its electioneering work. Now that Pledge 2 Protect seems to be trying to skirt disclosure laws through gimmicks and tricks, how long before regulators or prosecutors crack down on the shady structure set up to pass-through campaign donations to benefit Pledge 2 Protect ? Upon hearing news of Pledge 2 Protect's shadowy campaign finance structure, some of New York City's political bloggers lamented that elected officials refuse to listen to grassroots community demands. The only way elected officials seem to offer their ear is when dollar bills start exchanging hands with lobbyists with insider access to City Hall. Both The Advance Group and The Black Institute are headed by individuals with close ties to Mayor Bill de Blasio. What does it mean when the only way to impact City Hall is to pay-off individuals with close ties to the mayor ? Community groups wouldn't need to hire lobbyists if the character of officials elected to public office embodied a true ethic of public service. Perhaps before hiring lobbyists and setting up structures to cloak the identity of big money donors, the many nonprofit groups in New York City should first band together to vote out of office any politician, who makes hiring lobbyists as a condition precedent before listening to community demands, followed by a strengthening of campaign finance laws to close all loopholes ?

RELATED East Side garbage foes hide behind loophole (Crain's New York Business) Ongoing Levenson-Lewis-de Blasio political activities that may rise to be prohibited ? (YouTube) Using political entities, operatives close to mayor exploit campaign finance regulations through ''pattern'' of activities (NYC : News & Analysis)

With Cuomo's Moreland trouble, will leftists finally vote in a Green Party candidate for governor ?

PUBLISHED : MON, 04 AUG 2014, 11:50 PM
UPDATED : TUES, 05 AUG 2014, 07:10 PM

As the federal investigation heats up into Cuomo's interference with the Moreland Commission, will the governor's popularity with voters collapse, costing him the election, or will the governor resign in disgrace to avoid federal criminal charges ?

Gov. Cuomo is either a lame candidate or one facing impending resignation. Will activists from New York's political left finally wake up to the corrupt 2-party system that is owned by Big Business donors and their lobbyists ? AS GOV. ANDREW CUOMO FACES A FEDERAL INVESTIGATION overlapping with the unfinished corruption probes by the now-defunct Moreland Commission, the race for governor falls to three possible contenders : Republican candidate Rob Astorino, Green Party candidate Howie Hawkins, and long-shot Democratic contender Zephyr Teachout, if she survives the challenge to her ballot qualification. According to a new poll released today, Gov. Cuomo's favorability ratings plunged by 5% in the first poll to be taken after escalating reports that the Cuomo administration steered the corruption investigations by the Moreland Commission away from his political supporters, many press reports indicate. Several individuals associated with the failed corruption-fighting panel or the Governor's Office have either been subpoenaed to testify before grand juries, willingly volunteered to meet with federal prosecutors, or are actively cooperating with federal prosecutors. The steady drip-drip-drip of revelations only points to a sinking future for Gov. Cuomo. The last time a big-name Democrat was an early front-runner in a campaign only to see her election thwarted was former New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn. But former Speaker Quinn's campaign was doomed by a controversial Super PAC managed by the lobbying firm, The Advance Group. According to reports, The Advance Group may have coordinated the activities of the Super PAC to elect Bill de Blasio as mayor. Consequently, several investigations are now probing the relationship between The Advance Group, the Super PAC it managed, and the de Blasio campaign. The co-opting of the mayor's race to elect another closeted neoliberal Democrat as mayor resulted in the appointment of William Bratton, advocate of the neoconservative "Broken Windows" theory of policing, as police commissioner, the continued closing of community hospitals, and the blurring of the division of church and state with the mayor's reliance on churches to administer an expansion of universal pre-kinder, amongst a few examples of the conservative bent in the de Blasio administration. As Gov. Cuomo's political future appears to be headed in the same direction as former Council Speaker Quinn, or worse, will activists from the political left vote another official from the Democrat Party into office ? The Democratic Party is owned by some of the same big money donors as is the Republican Party. As soon as Democrats take office, they are swarmed by corrupt lobbyists and special interests, eventually forcing Democratic officeholders to keep exploiting the corrupt loopholes on special interest money. Witness the massive $35 million war chest that Gov. Cuomo has amassed from real estate and gambling interests. Campaign donations of that size only come with strings attached. Complicating matters for the Democratic challenger, Ms. Teachout, for example, is that she hails from the Working Families Party, itself the target of an investigation by a special prosecutor, who is probing into campaign corruption. This could be the year when activists vote into office a third party candidate untethered to the corrupt machinations of the corporate-controled, 2-party system. Can activists from the political left overcome the dumbed-down, local TV news broadcasts and organize behind Howie Hawkins from the Green Party ?

RELATED Crazed with anger, Cuomo fears the worst as first polls after scandal approach (The New York Post) Cuomo's Approval Ratings Down, Poll Shows (The Wall Street Journal) There's More ''Left,'' If You're Hungry -- For Change (NYC : News & Analysis) State’s biggest G.O.P. donors migrated to Cuomo (Capital New York) Special prosecutor issues new subpoenas in Working Families Party probe (Capital New York)

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)

When Cuomo closed the Moreland Commission, he was hoping to shut down all efforts to investigate political corruption

PUBLISHED : FRI, 18 JUL 2014, 08:27 PM
UPDATED : SUN, 20 JUL 2014, 01:45 PM

The Governor's interference with the Moreland Commission's efforting to combat corruption has prompted federal prosecutors to seek grand jury testimony in an inquiry into Gov. Andrew Cuomo's closure of the Moreland Commission Ever since the administration of Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D-NY) agreed to close the Moreland Commission as part of an unseemly budget negotiation with corrupt state lawmakers at the end of March, the sordid gossip amongst political bloggers has been whether any prosecutors would dare investigate whether allegations that Gov. Cuomo interfered with the Moreland Commission's investigations would rise to the level of obstruction of justice. When it was reported that members of the Moreland Commission were contemplating issuing subpoenas to real estate developers, including the Extell Corporation, which had made contributions to Gov. Cuomo's campaign committee account, the Cuomo administration was said to have become involved in managing those subpoenas. To the consternation of the control-obsesses Cuomo administration, the Moreland Commission was reported to have issued a subpoena to the corrupt state Democratic Party, that subpoena was later downsized and redirected under the specter of possible influence by the Cuomo administration, according to political bloggers. Finally, when the Moreland Commission dared to poke around in how the state's corrupt legislators earn outside income, that is when the state legislature brokered a backroom deal with the Cuomo administration to finally shut down the politically dangerous Moreland Commission, triggering a backlash that portrayed Gov. Cuomo as being a power-hungry megalomaniac. At one point, Gov. Cuomo publicly declared that he controlled the independent functions of the Moreland Commission in a Gollum-like "My Precious" tirade, saying, "The Moreland Commission was my commission," adding, “It’s my commission. My subpoena power, my Moreland Commission. I can appoint it, I can disband it. I appoint you, I can un-appoint you tomorrow. So, interference ? It's my commission. I can’t ‘interfere’ with it, because it is mine.” At each turn, whenever the Moreland Commission's investigations into political or campaign corruption threatened to splish-splash onto Cuomo administration officials, the governor or his staff appeared to be protecting their own political interests as they overlapped with the investigations by the Moreland Commission. Political bloggers wondered whether the Cuomo administration was trying to protect wealthy campaign contributors from the possibility of investigation or having the activities of wealthy campaign contributions come under review by Moreland Commission investigators. Actions reportedly by Cuomo administration officials or political operatives loyal to the Cuomo administration to downsize, redirect, or otherwise alter the investigative work by the Moreland Commission cast questions over the independence needed by investigative bodies, such as the Moreland Commission, conducting politically-unpopular but wholly-necessary criminal investigations into government and campaign corruption in New York state. That the Cuomo administration appeared to be heading off the possibility of investigations -- before the Moreland Commission could announce actual investigations or substantiated suspicions of wrong-doing -- created a sense of unease amongst political bloggers, because political bloggers wondered what activities were the Cuomo administration trying to conceal or hide from investigators. The culture of pay-to-play : Billionaire real estate development corporations make big money campaign donations, and then developers receive tax breaks, insider access to politicians During the period of time when the mainstream media was reporting that the Moreland Commission might investigate the culture of pay-to-play between campaign contributions made by wealthy real estate developers and the development of government policies that favored these developers, political bloggers cheered at the prospect that finally state investigators would look into corrupt real estate developers and their lobbyists. One of those lobbyists is the one-man power house, George Arzt. Mr. Arzt is a political adviser, lobbyist, spokesman, public relations consultant, and a very generous campaign contributor. Over the years, it is said that he made over $90,000 in traceable campaign contributions to various politicians in New York State. Critics of Mr. Arzt assert that Mr. Arzt buys access to top politicians with these sizable campaign contributions, and that that, plus his campaign consulting work and lobbying work, help to give his real estate developer clients an unfair advantage in gaming government policy for his clients. In this culture, where the right amount of campaign contributions, lobbying retainers, or the exchange of other funds, can give real estate developers an inside track to getting planning approvals for zone-busting real estate projects or tax breaks for billion-dollar skyscrapers, is what leads to so much corruption in government. The corrupt pay-to-play culture plays out like this : Mr. Arzt was a consultant for Extell Corporation, the developer of the billionaire luxury condo skyscraper on West 57th Street. Extell Corporation made sizable campaign contributions to Gov. Cuomo just before Gov. Cuomo signed into law multi-millions in tax breaks for Extell. All this money changing hands, and the local prosecutor for Manhattan, Cy Vance, abdicates his responsibility to investigate for bribes and corruption, leaving this matter for the Moreland Commission to investigate, except Gov. Cuomo shut the Moreland Commission down before any investigation could get off the ground. Last summer, Mr. Arzt was quoted by the mainstream media as an impartial observer during last year's mayoral race. However, political bloggers discovered that he had been part of a group of politicos having weekly meetings, strategizing how to install former New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn as Michael Bloomberg's successor. Closing the loop on Mr. Arzt is that he was a campaign manager for former Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes' doomed reelection campaign. Questions of public ethics violations and even possible embezzlement were raised when it was discovered that former D.A. Hynes had been using an official slush fund of money proceeds from seized cash from drug deals gone bad to pay for another campaign advisor, Mortimer Matz. While Mr. Arzt wasn't implicated in that campaign controversy, when D.A. Hynes used proceeds from seized criminal activities from the office accounts of the Brooklyn District Attorney's office to pay Mr. Matz millions for his consulting services, by some estimates, that left more money in D.A. Hynes campaign committee accounts to pay other campaign consultants. Besides Mr. Arzt, another consultant who worked for D.A. Hynes and was paid through D.A. Hynes' campaign committee account was the lobbying firm, The Advance Group. All corrupt legislative deals passed through Albany are marked with the same fingerprints. Whenever corrupt big business interests and their lobbyists need legislative help, the go-to-man is New York State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver. Several sources, who were involved in the tax break for wealthy real estate developers, including Extell Corporation, told The New York Daily News that Speaker Silver was the "creator of the lucrative tax relief." Over the years, Speaker Silver has been involved in so many corruption controversies that he has learned how to survive investigations into corruption by facilitating the corruption of other politicians. In the case of the tax breaks for wealthy developers, if Speaker Silver was ever fully challenged in a criminal corruption investigation, he could possibly expose the role of Gov. Cuomo's apparent pay-to-play deal to sign the tax breaks into law in exchange for large campaign contributions from the real estate developers, which stood to benefit from the tax law amendment. Many government reform activists and political bloggers estimate that Speaker Silver has been involved in so many self-serving or insider-serving deals that, if he were fully investigated by prosecutors, a take-down of Speaker Silver could potentially implicate over three-quarters of the entire state legislature. Indeed, one outcome of the low-level prosecution of former State Senator Shirley Huntley was her revelation that she would see “bags of cash" brought into the State Senate building. From whom was all that and other money coming from ? Who, in a leadership position, having received that money, got to divide that money up ? None of these, and other activities, ever get investigated by state law enforcement, whether that be the local district attorneys, who roll up to the state attorney general, or, as witnessed by the fate of investigative corruption panels under the Cuomo administration, by the Moreland Commission. Corrupt officials and political operatives have learned to game the weak-willed district attorneys and timid attorney general. Politicians and lobbyist know that the corruption in New York state runs so deep that, collectively, the size of some investigations would involve the prosecution of significant political or government individuals, which may pose special problems for the local prosecutor, making federal prosecutors, like U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, the only hope that political bloggers and government reform activists have at overhauling the corrupt political system running local and state governments across New York. It was Mr. Bharara's office, which issued a subpoena this week, seeking grand jury testimony from the assistant to the former executive director of the now shuttered Moreland Commission. Mr. Bharara took possession of the investigation files and correspondence of the former commissioners serving on the Moreland Commission, along with other records, to try to reconstruct the activities and involvements of various elected officials, lobbyists, and other political operatives. To complete his due diligence and review of all these potential criminal investigations, Mr. Bharara's office recently recruited the help of super lawyer Daniel Stein, a former top prosecutor with years of corruption prosecution experience, giving political bloggers hope that we are about to witness a once-in-a-century renewal of government integrity.

RELATED Is Gov. Andrew Cuomo under investigation for obstruction of justice ? (The New York Times)

Speaker Mark-Viverito's campaign paid a lobbying firm, which also lobbied back at her on behalf of clients

How much corruption has to happen, before progressive activists protest against City Council, demanding reforms to end the corruptive role of money and lobbyists in New York politics ?

How many Mark-Viverito-lobbyist exposés in The New York Daily News will it take before the Mark-Viverito administration and all of her teams of lobbyists come under federal investigation ? On the heels of yesterday's blog post about campaign finance questions pertaining to New York City Councilmember Melissa Mark-Viverito's successful Council speakership campaign, an article in today's The New York Daily News revisits on-going questions over the role of lobbyists in the Speaker Mark-Viverito's administration of the City Council. In the first few months of this year, Speaker Mark-Viverito has been paying approximately $28,000 to the lobbying firm of Pitta Bishop Del Giorno & Giblin -- at the same time when Pitta Bishop was lobbying Speaker Mark-Viverito on behalf of the lobbying firm's clients. The lobbying firm of Pitta Bishop essentially rescued Councilmember Mark-Viverito's speakership campaign last year when it appeared that Pitta Bishop took control over Councilmember Mark-Viverito's sagging speakership campaign after she became engulfed in a series of mainstream media exposés in connection with the lobbying firm, The Advance Group, which had been managing her lobbying campaign for the Council speakership. Various political campaigns managed by The Advance Group have since become the subject of a series of recent punitive findings and fines assessed by the city's Campaign Finance Board. Nevertheless, The Advance Group remained involved in Councilmember Mark-Viverito's speakership campaign at the time until she won her lobbying campaign. Since Speaker Mark-Viverito became indebted to her lobbyists, government reform activists question how could municipal ethics and campaign finance regulatory authorities condone her close relationship with these lobbyists. Not only can lobbyists close to the new Council speaker leverage her political indebtedness, but some of these same lobbying firms have also played a role in determining secondary and tertiary City Council leadership assignments, extending the control that lobbyists exert over the municipal legislative body. If you look the media, the City Hall press corps keeps looking the other way when it comes to concerns about illegality. "Simultaneously paying and being lobbied by the same firm is legal, but the practice has been criticized by good-government groups worried that such a cozy relationship can give lobbyists special access to a politician," reported The New York Daily News. For years, government reform activists have complained that the culture of corruption in government is allowed to get worse under the enabling eyes of do-nothing regulators, do-less good government groups, and non-plussed mainstream media reporters, who claim that some forms of government and campaign corruption are "perfectly legal." The situational ethics of political hacks acting in regulatory capacities is what undermines the public's confidence in government and in elected officials, but yet for every scandalous conflict of interest between elected officials, like Council Speaker Mark-Viverito, and lobbyists, like those at the firm of Pitta Bishop, is that good government groups and government reform activists rarely propose reforms that effectively render illegal the corruptive role of money and lobbyists in government. In the time leading up to the City Council vote to determine the next Council speaker, some political bloggers suggested a suite of proposed reforms to overhaul the role of lobbyists in determining leadership posts in the City Council. Some of those reforms, first published on November 24, 2013, in a YouTube video, included : reform the do-nothing Campaign Finance Board ; pressure progressives to enforce transparency ; improve Speakership electioneering reporting ; end subcontractor loopholes ; and end the provision of free campaign services, including for the Speakership. These recommendations, in addition to revoking the cloaking rule that allows lobbyists to avoid disclosure when they lobby the City Council for leadership or administrative appointments and banning campaign consultants who receive payments from the Campaign Finance Board's matching dollar program from acting as municipal lobbyists, can strengthen voter confidence in the integrity of government and in elected officials. Other reforms can be suggested by voters, government reform activists, and by good government groups. But the media neither invites voters to make recommendations for reforms, nor does the media launch government reform campaigns to support the recommendations of government reform activists working to overhaul this broken political system.

RELATED City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito paid $28G to lobbying firm for consulting, while they lobbied her on behalf of clients (The New York Daily News) Media reports show that Melissa Mark-Viverito evaded campaign finance caps by opening second account to fund Council speaker race (NYC : News & Analysis) More questions about Melissa Mark-Viverito's campaign finances and her lobbyists (NYC : News & Analysis)

Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito evaded campaign finance caps by opening second account to fund Council speaker race

City and state campaign finance regulatory authorities look the other way, as New York Councilmember Melissa Mark-Viverito uses a campaign committee account set up for a sham 2017 campaign to pay over $100,000 for her 2013 Council speaker race.

Not even former Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who was accused of being each of shady, unethical, and a political boss in the old-fashioned corrupt sense by many New York political bloggers, ever dared to be this blatantly egregious Updated information about campaign committee fundraising and expenditures were made this week by elected officials serving in New York State to the state's campaign finance regulatory authority, the New York State Board of Elections. The filing by New York Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito showed some activity since her January filing, but the latest disclosures of her 2017 campaign committee still showed no expenditures to pay for the lobbying services provided to Councilmember Mark-Viverito's successful speakership campaign that began in earnest following her successful reelection to the City Council. It was publicly reported that The Advance Group was providing lobbying services to Councilmember Mark-Viverito's speakership campaign. Those services were described as being provided for free, even though municipal campaign finance regulations require that in-kind contributions be declared. The Council speakership is a leadership post of the city's legislative body that is secondary to the leader's Council seat. The speakership is served concurrently for the term of the leadership post with the elected official's service of the underlying Council seat. Council Speaker Mark-Viverito's use of The Advance Group triggered extensive media scrutiny, notably by political bloggers and several mainstream media outlets. Further criticism were made when it was shown that many of the political operatives, who worked on Councilmember Mark-Viverito's successful speakership campaign were later given high-ranking patronage jobs with the City Council. Other lobbyists were reported to have been helping Speaker Mark-Viverito determine the assignments of secondary and tertiary leadership posts at the City Council. Candidates, who run for the City Council and who participate in the matching contribution program of the city's campaign finance regulatory authority, the Campaign Finance Board, as was the case with Councilmember Mark-Viverito, are subject to fundraising caps and spending limits. However, Councilmember Mark-Viverito opened a second campaign committee account with the state's campaign finance regulatory authority, and her campaign committee designated that second account for the 2017 election cycle. If the state Board of Elections had done its due diligence, it would have relatively easily discovered that Councilmember Mark-Viverito had just participated in the Campaign Finance Board's matching campaign contribution program, and that the leadership post she was very publicly seeking would be won through a lobbying campaign of her fellow City Councilmembers, who vote to select the Council speaker, rendering that second state campaign committee account to be a vehicle to fund the leadership post that would be served concurrently with her elected office. Until now, nobody knows the rationale for why the state's Board of Election continues to approve the fundraising and expenditures through Council Speaker Mark-Viverito's sham 2017 campaign committee account, when that account has been and is being used for a leadership post with dual mandate implications. A dual mandate is a controversial loophole that allows a person to serve more than one elected office at the same time, meaning, that an elected official would have competing interests as the office holder carries out his or her duties to the public. An elected official serving a dual mandate would be beholden to teams of lobbyists, campaign consultants, and big money donors that would trash the spirit of campaign finance laws and would open the door to appearances of conflicts of interest, steering patronage jobs to political operatives, allowing lobbyists a greater say over government business, and other questionable dealings. There is no known municipal precedent for dual campaign committee accounts to be authorized for the concurrent service of a publicly elected municipal office and a municipal leadership post that is secondary to the elected office. Furthermore, no other City Councilmember was allowed the unfair advantage of staying within the fundraising and expenditure caps of the Campaign Finance Board and still circumvent those caps with a state Board of Elections campaign committee account that is subject to no restrictions. When contacted last March, representatives of the state Board of Elections turned down a Freedom of Information Law request for the rationale for approving Councilmember Mark-Viverito's second campaign committee account, and, after negotiation, agreed to provide the account opening documents for her sham 2017 campaign committee.

RELATED Melissa Mark-Viverito spent big bucks on speaker's race, campaign filings show (The New York Daily News) Council speaker puts connected lobbyist on payroll (Crain's New York Business) Lobbyists aid Mark-Viverito transition (Crain's New York Business)

de Blasio spox tells PR underlings about "combative media environment," advises "attack" strategy to control media coverage

de Blasio administration PR staff told to "attack" the media in "incredible" and "truly historic" pep talk

RELATED Following bombardment of bad press, Mayor de Blasio spinning his way back to illusion of competency (NYC : News & Analysis) 'We need to attack, not react,' de Blasio press secretary tells PR staff in pep talk (The New York Daily News)

Mere weeks after Ginia Bellafante excoriated the de Blasio administration's record of accomplishment in a Sunday edition of The New York Times, the mayor's spokesman, Phil Walzak, strikes back ! “We need to attack, not react – no bunker mentality,” City Hall Press Secretary Phil Walzak said at a Thursday gathering of about 50 city agency PR staffers, according to a tipster to The New York Daily News, adding, "Be aggressive. Tell your story loudly and proudly," before he noted that, "We live in a very combative media environment." Mr. Walzak's instructions to "attack" the media came the same week when the de Blasio administration continued to deny reporters access to the police arrest report for City Hall supporter Bishop Orlando Findlayter, even though the court system reached a disposition of Bishop Findlayter's case in his favor, as City Hall expected. Bishop Findlayter peaded guilty to lesser charges in exchange for being sentenced to time served. Apparently, denying Freedom of Information Law, or FOIL, requests is now part of City Hall's efforts to "attack" and "control" the media. Is the de Blasio administration afraid of being held accountable for delivering on a progressive reform agenda that combats public corruption ? Many New York City-based political bloggers and reform activists wonder if Mayor de Blasio's new-found aggression towards media scrutiny of his administration has anything to do with the public corruption scandals playing out right now from City Hall all the way up to Albany.

More shady details emerge from Hynes-Matz scandal via Arzt deposition ; reform activists expect still yet more shady revelations

Hynes’ ex-spokesman Arzt testifies drug money advisor Matz held weekly meetings

RELATED Hynes’ ex-spokesman testifies advisor held weekly meetings (The New York Post)

What else did former D.A. Hynes' other campaign consultants know, and when did they know it ? In a sworn testimony provided in a deposition on Monday, establishment campaign consultant George Arzt, the former spokesman for disgraced Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes, stated that Mortimer Matz, the controversial campaign consultant reportedly paid for with cash proceeds from drug sales, attended D.A. Hynes' weekly campaign meetings. These weekly campaign meetings included staff from the Brooklyn District Attorney's office, and Mr. Matz advised the doomed Hynes reelection campaign, Mr. Arzt stated. Mr. Arzt was deposed on Monday, The New York Post reported, in connection with a $150 million lawsuit filed by Jabbar Collins. Mr. Collins man wrongfully convicted by former D.A. Hynes’ office and lost 15 years of his life locked up in jail, before he was finally exonerated. Still yet to emerge from startling allegations that the former Brooklyn District attorney used his access to criminal forfeiture cash to reportedly pay for Mr. Matz's campaign consulting services is the truth about how much did D.A. Hynes' other campaign consultants know about this allegedly illegal arrangement. Besides Mr. Arzt, the controversial campaign consultant and lobbyist Scott Levenson of The Advance Group, also worked on D.A. Hynes' failed reelection campaign last year. For his consulting work and for the costs of printing campaign literature, Mr. Levenson's firm was paid over $600,000 from D.A. Hynes's official campaign committee. If reports are true, namely, that former D.A. Hynes used his access to criminal forfeiture cash to pay for Mr. Matz's services, then that would have left greater resources in D.A. Hynes' official campaign committee account with which to pay other campaign advisors, such as Mr. Arzt and Mr. Levenson. Stay tuned . . . .

The parallel but opposite universe in the media's recounting of Melissa Mark-Viverito's speakership (thus far)

New York City Political Reporting Twilight Zone

RELATED No. 2 and Trying Harder : The Unlikely Rise of City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito (The New York Observer) The Advance Group Kept Working on Melissa Mark-Viverito's Speakership Campaign Until the Very End (NYC : News & Analysis) The Growing, Corruptive Role of Money and Lobbyists In NYC Politics Contravenes Progressive Values (NYC : News & Analysis)

A profile of New York City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito published on The New York Observer Web site whitewashes her controversial bid for the Council speakership, noting that "a lack of controversy has characterized her tenure so far," even though Councilmember Mark-Viverito's acceptance of free lobbying services, which is against the rules, played an important role in her selection as the Council speaker. Does mainstream media reporting of New York City politics operate in The Twilight Zone ? How could The New York Observer write that, "In the final weeks before she was voted speaker, no newspaper endorsed Ms. Mark-Viverito," but leave out the reasons that explain this situation ? While The New York Observer did make room in its profile to mention tabloid-like articles about voodoo hexes, a charge made by rivals, who absurdley implied that Councilmember Mark-Viverito commissioned Satanic murals with mixed motivations, but, somehow, The New York Observer conveniently left out the series of exposés in various newspapers, sometimes involving editorials by various boards of editors, ranging from The New York Daily News, amNewYork, Newsday, and The New York Times, each raising concerns about Councilmember Mark-Viverito's failure to declare any in-kind contributions in exchange for the valuable lobbying services that were provided to her speakership campaign all the way up until the very end ? Other ethics allegations, much minor in comparison, about Councilmember Mark-Viverito's failure to disclose rental income, were raised by various newspapers about Councilmember Mark-Viverito in the time leading up to her speakership selection, as well, yet those minor ethics violations were mentioned by The New York Observer, but the more serious allegations about undeclared in-kind campaign contributions and possible ethics violations regarding lobbyists, were not mentioned at all. It's not an unimportant occurance when many of the city's leading newspapers organically agree by raising questions about a speakership candidate's ethics. One single news outlet being an outlier might be a sign that a lobbyist planted a story. Howevr, when many news outlets (joined by several political bloggers) would agree about more serious campaign finance and ethics questions, that points to a serious issue, and it is fishy that The New York Observer would choose to leave that out. The lobbying firm, The Advance Group, which played a large role in Councilmember Mark-Viverito's selection to become the City Council speaker, has been beseiged by investigations by the city's campaign finance regulatory authority and, reportedly, by the FBI over allegations of wrong-doing. Several of The Advance Group's clients have been fined by the city's campaign finance regulatory authority over inappropriate activities connected with last year's municipal elections, which marked the first time when the corrupt Supreme Court decision in the Citizens United case opened the floodgates to corrupt Super PAC spending in the corrupt American election system. Another question about The New York Observer's profile of Speaker Mark-Viverito include the assertion that she "represents the hard and relentless left of the City Council," but that is at odds with the Council speaker's support of William Bratton as NYPD commissioner, an appointment made by the mayor that is certainly not supported by activists in the city's "hard and relentless left."

New revelations about possibly greater coordination between controversial anti-Quinn attack Super PAC and official campaigns

Anybody But Quinn Used Voter Info From Other Advance Group Campaigns : Sources

RELATED Anybody But Quinn Used Voter Info From Other Advance Group Campaigns: Sources (The New York Observer) Did New York State Election Officials Create a Dual Mandate Loophole to Campaign Finance Caps ? [UPDATED] (NYC : News & Analysis)

Somebody from the corrupt “Anybody But Quinn" Super PAC has leaked new information about possibly illegal campaign coordination to the reporter Will Bredderman of The New York Observer relating to how information sharing was done behind the scenes at The Advance Group. That customized voter registration information belonging to official campaigns was, inturn, used by the Super PAC adds to a pattern of coordination following revelations that campaign cash flowed circuitously amongst the Super PAC, its contributors, and the official campaigns managed by The Advance Group in the last election. As if that wasn't enough, many activists taking part in the Anybody But Quinn movement carried the banner for reforms to end Quinn-like government and campaign corruption. But as soon as the new mayor was elected, the entire Anybody But Quinn movement ceased their calls for reform, raising the obvious quesiton : what was the real intention of the Anybody But Quinn Super PAC, if it was not to press for reforms of the broken political system ? It's getting ugly, but it's only when the system turns against itself, as demonstrated by the leaker of these latest revelations that voter registration information was shared, that voters find out the real truth about the duplicitious role of dubious campaign consultants, lobbyists, and other political operatives in setting up corruptive Super PAC structures, and controversies such as these are the only things that can lead to reforms to end the corruptive role of Super PAC's in our elections system. But more people need to join the call to press Mayor Bill de Blasio to make good on his outstanding campaign promises made during last year's mayoral campaign to further reform the city's campaign finance system. "The important thing is to respect the fact that we may not like the way the law is, but it's the law," Mr. de Blasio said last year after he was confronted with questions over a controversial Super PAC's attack TV ads against former Council Speaker Christine Quinn. "I certainly will put energy going forward into trying to further reform the campaign finance system," he added, but Mr. de Blasio has so far failed to keep true to his campaign promise to reform the city's corrupt campaign finance laws. Here's an opportunity to use the growing campaign finance controversy engulfing The Advance Group to press for reforms. Voters can make this opportunity work for them, to bring about reforms, but voters need to take action to demand that the mayor keep his campaign promises to reform and update the city's corrupt campaign finance laws that allow Super PAC's to exploit our elections system.

Still no arrest by AG Schneiderman in "dirty DA" Hynes corruption probe

A stunning probe by the city’s Department of Investigations revealed last week that former Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes may have used drug money to pay more than $200,000 to the political Svengali Matz, and that was just in 2013.

RELATED The state’s top cop is looking into possible criminal charges against former Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes. (Attorney General Eric Schneiderman subpoenas former Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes aides in state theft probe, says source * The New York Daily News) Hynes's campaign committee paid over $600,000 to The Advance Group. (NYC : News & Analysis)

How broken is the system ? You have the normally do-nothing state Attorney General begrudgingly have to investigate corruption by one of his very own former district attorneys. This is the very tip of the iceberg of how corrupt the justice system is. Since this story first broke last week, police have raided housing projects for youth gang members not yet committing any crimes, but here you have the normally do-nothing city Department of Investigations and the press conclusively prove that Charles Hynes used the seized assets from drug deals gone bad to pay for one of his campaign consultants, and still there is no arrest. But the true booby prize is that we are only hearing about how corrupt former Brooklyn DA Hynes is because he was unfortunate enough to get on the wrong side of the mayor and his supporters, thus making the Hynes take-down all about dirty, vindictive politics -- and not actually about reforming the broken justice system. At this rate, the only way to expose the other dirty district attorneys, is to elect a mayor, who is their sworn political enemy. This is the best we can expect from the current state of the broken political system.