Communities United for Police Reform replaces BerlinRosen as public relations firm as CPR ramps up NYPD criticism of de Blasio

BerlinRosen is closely linked to the de Blasio administration. It's lobbyists regularly counsel Mayor de Blasio. BerlinRosen even represents Mayor de Blasio's own lobbying outfit, the Campaign for One New York.

BerlinRosen's close ties to de Blasio meant that CPR couldn't make aggressive demands for NYPD reform, because BerlinRosen wouldn't allow Mayor de Blasio to be outflanked or embarrassed by police reform activists. In a move that may spell political trouble for Mayor Bill de Blasio (D-New York City), the police reform group, Communities United for Police Reform (CPR), has hired a new public relations firm, Progressive Cities, to replace BerlinRosen. Dan Morris at Progressive Cities will replace Daniel Levitan at BerlinRosen as CPR's spokesperson. When BerlinRosen was supervising CPR's external communications, City Hall was in a better position to keep CPR in check. For example, CPR effectively sided with Mayor de Blasio's regressive appointment of William Bratton as commissioner of the New York Police Department (NYPD). Mr. Bratton is known for his support of policing tactics that unfairly target Blacks and Latinos ; nevertheless, many Latino elected officials issued statements of support to the press in a campaign some government reform activists said echoed the hallmarks of lobbyist-generated synchronicity for the convenient packaging of Latino elected officials' approvals. Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito (D-Harlem) and Senator José Peralta (D-Queens) were joined by U.S. Representative Nydia Velázquez (D-Brooklyn), Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr. (D-The Bronx), Assemblymember Luis Sepulveda (D-The Bronx), and Councilmember Ydanis Rodriguez (D-Manhattan) in supporting the Bratton appointment, even though grassroots police reform activists were protesting the appointment out of concern for Commissioner Bratton's reliance on a racial policing theory known as "Broken Windows." Yesterday, the online news publication Progress Queens sent an e-mail request to Mr. Levitan, asking if BerlinRosen worked on pre-swearing in public relations work for Mayor de Blasio, and, if so, asking how BerlinRosen was being paid. However, Mr. Levitan did not answer the request. A few hours later, news broke that BerlinRosen was being replaced by Progressive Cities as CPR's public relations firm. In the time since Mayor de Blasio was sworn into office, BerlinRosen has regularly courted controversy. BerlinRosen has advised City Hall's non-profit, lobbying arm, the Campaign for One New York, which relies on funding from the mayor's political supporters. Through the Campaign for One New York, Mayor de Blasio is actively engaged in a non-stop campaign of lobbying other government officials using private monies, subverting government work into the hands of public relations officials, lobbyists, and private donors. BerlinRosen was also the mastermind behind a controversial "dark money" mailer that sought to quell voter anger in the time leading up to the closure of Long Island College Hospital (LICH) in Brooklyn. (The thin-skinned mayor and his political operatives were trying to deflect voter anger at Mayor de Blasio's betrayal on the LICH closure.) In an exposé published by The New York Post, it was revealed that Mayor de Blasio seeks counsel from lobbyists, including those at BerlinRosen, comprising the integrity of government work at City Hall. BerlinRosen also positioned itself itself in the middle of a $1.5 billion, zone-busting real estate development deal for the old Domino Sugar refinery in Brooklyn, that may have duplicitous implications for impropriety, since BerlinRosen led discussions between the real estate developer and the same de Blasio administration its firm regularly counsels. Eventually, City Hall approved the waterfront development deal. Mr. Morris, the Progressive Cities chief, formerly worked at the campaign consulting firm Red Horse, before founding Progressive Cities, according to a report in The New York Observer. Red Horse is closely associated with Mayor de Blasio and Council Speaker Mark-Viverito. Police reform activists were hoping that the change in the public relations firm advising CPR would lead to aggressive demands for police reforms. However, the close political ties to City Hall and City Council may make Mr. Morris another administration flack, perhaps less than Mr. Levitan. Whilst it is known that CPR plans to publicly challenge Commissioner Bratton's "Broken Windows" theory of policing, which the mayor and the First Lady have supported, it is not known if CPR will call for Commissioner Bratton's resignation, as have grassroots police reform activists.

RELATED Liberals growing frustrated with Bill de Blasio (The New York Times) Leading police reform group pushing NYPD for major changes (The New York Daily News) Mayor de Blasio has failed to end racial policing in New York City (Progress Queens) Mayor Criticized for Not Moving Faster on Marijuana Policy (The Wall Street Journal) Amid reports of friction, de Blasio and Bratton assail the media (Capital New York) Michael Hayes, LMT, has practiced massage for more than 20 years as a licensed massage therapist in New York City.

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

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

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

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

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This Week In Bill de Blasio Conflicts of Interest : Rafael Cestero

Bill de Blasio transition advisor may be creating conflict of interest : The New York Daily News

Dick Dadey, a Christine Quinn loyalist who never confronted Quinn's administration of the City Council over corruption, is now coming forward to charge that the incoming de Blasio administration is guilty of more conflicts of interest.

The affordable housing developer Rafael Cestero is vetting possible agency heads for the New York City Housing Authority and the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, The New York Daily News is reporting, adding that, "Cestero's role creates the possibility that one day he might be lobbying or doing business with the appointees he's helped to select, creating a conflict of interest, experts said."

However, Cestero's role has been being hidden from voters and the media, and in the opaque shadows of developers and lobbyists controlling government leadership positions, the only thing that can result is corruption.

If the de Blasio administration doesn't do something to stop all these conflicts of interest, maybe we just have to wait for Cestero to rig development deals with NYCHA and NYCHPD, resulting in the kind of embarrassing scandals that will perhaps lead to reforms in how the mayor-elect will choose his deputies ?

Hard to forget how @deBlasioNYC's new deputy for dvlpmt okayed one of Giuliani's most blatant giveaways to a crony.. http://t.co/GwdDORSbzn

— Tom Robbins (@tommy_robb) December 23, 2013