USAO mum on new revelation about Cuomo's e-mail deleting policy

PUBLISHED : TUES, 12 AUG 2014, 11:21 AM
UPDATED : TUES, 12 AUG 2014, 02:41 PM

As Gov. Cuomo was forming the Moreland Commission, he instituted a new policy that would purge state employees' e-mails

Did Gov. Cuomo have something to hide ? In a shocking new report, ProPublica reporter Theodoric Meyer raises new questions about an e-mail deletion policy instituted by the Cuomo administration for state employees. The new policy, rolled out last year, automatically deletes state employees' e-mails after 90 days if they are not deliberately and methodically saved for various reasons. Under new rules for archiving e-mails as records, if state employees don't make the extra, tedious effort to code e-mails under a maze of classification options, then state e-mails are left to be automatically purged, a default move that violates the spirit of government transparency and public records access that are intended to keep elected officials and state government accountable to voters. The revelation of the e-mail deleting policy comes atop of known Cuomo administration paranoia over the use of electronic communications. Two years ago, The New York Times reported that top Cuomo aides routinely communicated with the governor through unarchivable Blackberry PIN messages, to enshroud the work of running the state government's business in secret. In an Orwellian move, the New York State Archives under the Cuomo administration determined that most e-mails "are not records in need of preservation." The timing of the new e-mail deleting policy, announced under a memorandum, which the Cuomo administration kept secret for over one year, is suspect. The memorandum was dated June 18, 2013 -- just two weeks before Gov. Cuomo announced on July 2, 2013 the formation of a corruption-fighting panel named the Moreland Commission. The Moreland commissioners were deputized as assistant attorneys general and were conferred subpoena power to investigate corruption across New York state government. That Cuomo accelerated the state's e-mail deleting policy just as he was launching the doomed Moreland Commission has raised concerns amongst government reform activists. Gov. Cuomo disbanded the Moreland Commission after a host controversies, chief amongst them the coordinated activities by his own top aides to obstruct the investigative work of the Moreland commissioners and their staff, earning the ire of the powerful federal prosecutor, Preet Bharara, the U.S. Attorney for New York's southern district. Mr. Bharara sent a warning letter to Gov. Cuomo after it appeared that Gov. Cuomo was possibly engaging in witness tampering. A press official in Mr. Bharara's office was asked this morning how could voters count on the integrity of the federal investigation into the Cuomo administration's controversial acts that led to the premature closing of the Moreland Commission if Gov. Cuomo instituted a policy of deleting e-mails, but the press official refused to comment.

RELATED Why is the Cuomo Administration Automatically Deleting State Employees’ E-mails ? (ProPublica) New Cuomo e-mail retention policy kills e-mails after 90 days (The Times Union) E-mail retention memo raises new questions about the state's rationale for its deletions policy (ProPublica) Michael Hayes, LMT, has practiced massage for more than 20 years as a licensed massage therapist in New York City. The offices of Flatiron Massage are located in the Flatiron District of Manhattan.

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.

Former Moreland Commission co-Chair William Fitzpatrick Issues Statement to Press

Former co-chair of the now-defunct Moreland Commission, Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick, issued a press release Monday morning, addressing various issues over the premature closing of the troubled anti-corruption investigation panel. Federal authorities are investigating allegations that officials with the Cuomo administration steered investigators away from the questionable fundraising and other activities of some of the governor's big money campaign contributors.

For Immediate Release From Da Fitzpatrick 7-28-14 by Nick Reisman

Alteration of Headline by The New York Times Aimed to do "Damage Control" for Embattled Governor Cuomo

Did political operatives for Gov. Cuomo bully The New York Times into changing its headline ?

the @nytimes are a changing. #BeforeAndAfter cc @tmcgev @joepompeo @HuffPostMedia @brianstelter @onthemedia pic.twitter.com/dHT4cLXxsw

— Azi (@Azi) July 1, 2014

RELATED G.O.P. Power Broker in Albany Accused of Lying to F.B.I. (The New York Times)

When The New York Times published its article about the federal indictment of State Senator Thomas Libous, the headline read, "G.O.P. State Senator, Ally of Cuomo, Is Indicted." Minutes later, the headline was altered to remove any reference to embattled Gov. Andrew Cuomo, "State Senate's No. 2 Republican is Indicted." The alternation of the headline, mentioned on Twitter by intrepid reporter Azi Paybarah, triggered scrutiny from Mr. Paybarah's Twitter followers. Rebecca Baird-Remba replied to Mr. Paybarah's tweet with, "hmm. is there a particular reason they edited cuomo out of the headline?" Many political bloggers and government reform activists await the fallout of grand jury findings and other investigatory outcomes as a result of the premature implosion of Gov. Cuomo's Moreland Commission. The Moreland Commission was a state-wide, corruption-fighting panel with subpoena power, staffed with various hot-shot district attorneys. But before the Moreland Commission could indict any corrupt politicians, or publicly name corrupt politicians facing corruption-related investigations, Gov. Cuomo bargained away the Moreland Commission's existence for short-term political gains. In the time since the Moreland Commission ceased to exist, a few local and state level indictments have been made, but so far the heavy hand of the powerful federal prosecutors in the U.S. Attorney's Office for New York's Southern District have yet to fully open the flood gates to what bloggers and activists anticipate may be a deluge of corruption indictments that reach higher than local and state prosecutors have ever dared to attempt. The backpedalling in The New York Times headline may be an indication that political operatives close to Gov. Cuomo fear a public relations backlash, or worse, as federal prosecutors ratchet up their investigation of corruption up in Albany. If State Senator Thomas Libous "flips" on other corrupt high-ranking Albany politicians, does his indictment foreshadow the opening of the floodgates of the federal corruption crackdown that government reform activists have been expecting since the break-up of the Moreland Commission ? The indictment against State Sen. Libous came about as a result of a sitting grand jury in the Southern District's White Plains office. Three months after Gov. Cuomo pulled the plug on the Moreland Commission, scandal and controversy still swirls around his motivations. Moreland Commission Executive Director Regina Calcaterra is still drawing her annualized salary of $175,000 after Gov. Cuomo disbanded the corruption investigation panel, The New York Daily News reported, leading some astute political observers to question the reason why Ms. Calcaterra needs to be being paid off like this.

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.

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.

Will GOP Congressmen call for hearings to investigate Attorney General Eric Holder ?

False information from the Department of Justice tricked the U.S. Supreme Court into dismissing a case that challenged the N.S.A.'s unconstitutional surveillance program.

• RELATED : Two Senators accused the Department of Justice of lying about N.S.A. warrantless surveillance to the U.S. Supreme Court last year, and those falsehoods all but ensured that mass spying on Americans would continue. (Everyone should know just how much the government lied to defend the NSA * The Guardian)

If the House of Representatives, under Republican Party control, didn't have such a bad reputation, they should hold hearings into how corrupt the Justice Department has become under Attorney General Eric Holder. Mr. Holder's already been found in contempt on another matter, for failing to turn over documents sought by a committee investigation. If the House had its stuff together, the lies to the Supreme Court would be a natural way to force Mr. Holder to resign from the Department of Justice and to hold the Department of Justice to account. But the House Republicans are part of the problem, too.

Lack of checks-and-balances haunts de Blasio's scandalous jail favor for Bishop Findlayter

Who has oversight over a mayor, whom many question may have abused his authority ?

Facing questions from the media on Friday about Mayor Bill de Blasio's questionable interference with a judge's order in the case against Bishop Orland Findlayter, New York City Public Advocate Tisch James essentially told a reporter from The New York Post that it was not her job to question the mayor's judgment.

Several people followed Ms. James from City Hall to her office on Friday, asking her to comment on the growing scandal that has forced the mayor to cancel one press conference, forced Bishop Orlando Findlayter to cancel a public statement, and forced the Rev. Al Sharpton to contort himself into a politically expedient embrace with his arch-nemesis, the former racist mayor, Rudolph Giuliani. Mayor de Blasio has defended his intervention in Bishop Findlayter's detention as "absolute appropriate."

Outside City Hall, Ms. James was asked to comment about the mayor's actions that sprung Bishop Findlayter, a crucial political supporter, out of jail, a move seen by many as a favor granted by the mayor to a member of his inaugural committee. As public advocate, Ms. James is tasked with challenging the city government if she sees wrong-doing.

"You are the public advocate, do you have anything to say ?" a reporter asked.

"No comment, no comment," was her first response -- before a reporter repeatedly asked the public advocate for her opinion, finally prompting the public advocate to say, "I will defer to the mayor of the City of New York."

Tish James from yoav gonen on Vimeo.

• RELATED : Mark-Viverito, Letitia James avoid mayor-pastor controversy (The New York Post)
• RELATED : Bill's Buddies : Too much coziness for comfort in Mayor de Blasio's City Hall (The New York Daily News)

Just last summer, Ms. James demonstrated she was able to speak truth to power, when she challenged Gov. Andrew Cuomo to place a moratorium on hospital closings. She has it in her to stand up to powerful men. Left unexplained is why Ms. Tames is standing beside Mayor de Blasio as his young administration becomes engulfed in serious questions about abuse of authority and, quite possibly, obstruction of justice.

In respect of Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, during her campaign for the speakership, many raised serious concerns about her ability, or her willingness, to serve as a check on the mayor's power. Because the mayor lobbied on her behalf during the Council speaker race, Speaker Mark-Viverito owes her political allegiance to the mayor. There's no check on the mayor's power.

In respect of the scandal resulting from the mayor's defense of his call to police to help his political supporter, Speaker Mark-Viverito has predictably sided with defending the mayor.

The importance of checks-and-balances in a government plays an important role in being able to reign in the uncontrolled power if one branch exceeds its authority. But checks-and-balances also comes into play to prevent one branch of government from getting into trouble with the law. If the police had told the mayor that they could not let Bishop Findlayter go before his scheduled appearance before a judge, then the de Blasio administration would not be having all these problems. A courageous cop could have stopped all this from snowballing into an uncontrollable scandal. Checks-and-balances exist to both protect the integrity of our three branch government system, as well as to protect political insiders from abusing their authority or obstructing justice. Because the mayor was obsessed with extending his power and influence into every corner of city government, only wanting "Yes men" -- and "Yes women" -- around him, now he has to deal with a mess of his very own creation. For a mayor with major control issues, this is like a form of karmic justice.

To prove that there is no check on the mayor's power, when serious questions were raised about the electioneering activities of one of the mayor's political supporters, the lobbying and campaign consulting firm known as The Advance Group, the matter was referred for investigation to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York, precisely because the mayor appoints officials to the Campaign Finance Board and the Conflicts of Interest Board, two city agencies that would be tasked to investigate allegations of wrong-doing by the mayor's political supporters. The matter was also referred to select members of Gov. Andrew Cuomo's public corruption investigation panel, the Moreland Commission.

• RELATED : Shadow of a Doubt : Questions about independence of DOI chief nominee Mark Peters (City & State)

More concerns were raised by the publication, City & State, in a the publisher's editorial column, questioning the independence of the mayor's nominee, Mark Peters, another close political ally of Mayor de Blasio, to head the city's Department of Investigations.

The possible political damage to Mayor de Blasio's agenda

Because Mayor de Blasio's administration is now in full crisis mode over the police's early release of Bishop Findlayter, this means that Gov. Cuomo will be able to run roughshod over the de Blasio administration's weakened state of governing. The mayor's team is too distracted now with politically protecting the mayor that the mayor is no longer able to fully press for his tax rate hike for the very wealthy. Mayor de Blasio needs the tax rate increase to fulfill on his campaign promise to fund pre-kinder for all New York City toddlers. The mayor's other plans to raise the minimum wage may also be in jeopardy. Until City Hall releases the e-mails that City Hall officials sent to the NYPD leading up to Bishop Findlayter's release and fully answers questions about what appears to be political favors that the mayor may be granting to his campaign supporters, Mayor de Blasio will be be governing from a diminished position.

NYPD Rejects Freedom of Information Request for Freedom of Information Handbook

From Obama to de Blasio, Democratic administrations block freedom of information

No surprise. Citizens can be duped more easily if they are kept ignorant of the true workings of their own government. It's sad to see this, but that's where things are headed. The lazy mainstream media, the one with the resources, need to challenge this, but that would mean that they would have to actually call out what is happening : a deliberate subversion of the truth. You won't see The New York Times do shit, though. Like Goldilocks trying out chairs, it took three articles spread out over three days (first)(second)(third) for them to finally do a decent reporting on the bishop being busted out of jail for free story, and that was only after every major daily (and the AP wire) had out-reported The NYTimes. There was once a time when I used to think of The NYTimes as the "Bible" of journalism. There are some times when they are spot on, but more and more each edition seems like the apocryphal texts of journalism.

As much as I have pushed "progressive" LGBT activists to speak out on other betrayals by the new administration, I'm now resigned to see how many LGBT activists sweep this one under the rug, too. There was once a time in New York when LGBT activists were on the forefront of pushing forth new progressive achievements. That was back then.

In an era when the media refuses to "vet" politicians for the truth, we only have activists to rely upon, and perhaps good government groups. But the way that the New York Civil Liberties Union has retreated from holding the NYPD accountable, who is left to apply pressure politics to government officials, forcing them to adopt a truly progressive reform agenda ?

• RELATED : NYPD Rejects FOI Request for FOI Handbook (MuckRock)
• RELATED : Most recent update on Freedom of Information Act Request pertaining to vindictive prosecution of Lt. Daniel Choi (NYC : News & Analysis)

LGBT activists fought so hard to come out of the closet, but now they feel so right at home locked up in the veal pen.

Will NYPD ever adopt @NYCLU police reform recommendations following 2003 anti-war protest ? @CommissBratton http://t.co/mMGeHlSBNB

— Bold Progress NYC (@boldprogressnyc) February 9, 2014

Although a lawsuit connected to the 2003 anti-war protest was settled, police abuses later continued against Occupy Wall Street demonstrators. What do "settlements" mean, if there is on-going compliance or oversight of the NYPD when it comes to broader constitutional rights and civil liberties reforms ?

Will NYPD ever adopt @NYCLU police reform recommendations following 2004 RNC protest ? @CommissBratton http://t.co/59XSIpxEiY

— LGBT Progress NY (@LGBTProgressNY) February 9, 2014

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• RELATED : MuckRock Podcast : FOIA By Numbers

St. Vincent's Document Shredding

Bankruptcy Judge Cecelia Morris has let the management of St. Vincent's avoid Freedom of Information requests and has let the Rudin Family to gut St. Vincent's and is about to let the Family take a wrecking ball to it. Now, Judge Morris is going to let the Management and the Family destroy evidence.

Management of St. Vincent's Asks Bankruptcy Court to Approve Document Destruction, So That No Investigation Can Ever Determine Why the Hospital Closed Abruptly And Without Any Legally-Mandated Closure Plan.

No politician -- not CB2 Chair Brad Hoylman, not City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, or Senator Tom Duane -- is willing to do anything to prevent the luxury condo conversion of St. Vincent's. With the shredding trucks about to pull into the ambulance bays of St. Vincent's, the obstruction of justice will be complete : there may be no more hope to ever investigate the shady decisions that lead the hospital to close on April 30, 2010. It's exactly as Sarah Jessica Parker said : ''The community needs a hospital — and I think there’s been some clever obfuscation.''

1782-Motion Re Info Mgmt Services and Trust Ageement and Document Retention Plan

SAIC and Technodyne Lobbying Scandal : Did it Rise to the Level of Obstruction of Justice ?

Keeping in mind that Mayor Bloomberg is skilled at funneling campaign money in many ways that go undetected and undisclosed, a skill he shares with Speaker Quinn, who still maintains her shady City Council slush fund. These experts at funneling and slushing money around in opaque structures and technicalities are the ones, who never detected the massive $600 million CityTime Fraud. Really ?

During the 3 terms of the Bloomberg administration, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn kept approving each year's city budget, which included all the approvals and sign-offs on the CityTime cost over-runs.

During the Bloomberg-Quinn administration, lobbyists for the primary CityTime contractors, Scientific Applications International Corporation and Technodyne, kept teams of expensive lobbyists on their payroll to do exactly what ? Were lobbyists being paid to prevent any government agency to investigate the 2003 Richard Valcich letter ?

2003 02 19 Richard Valcich Letter SAIC CityTime Corruption Scandal

In 2003, Mr. Valcich was the Executive Director of the Office of Payroll Administration. In his 6 page letter to SAIC, Mr. Valcich questioned the motivations behind SAIC's poor performance on the CityTime contract ; SAIC kept dragging out deadlines and delivering product that Mr. Valcich described as "below acceptable standards."

As of the time of the writing of Mr. Valcich's letter, New York City had spent $35 million thus far on the doomed CityTime project. Current cost estimates put the price tag at over $700 million, of which $600 million has been described as "fraud."

During all this time, though, the principal outsourced companies working on CityTime were dispatching teams of lobbyists, to keep the cost over-runs being paid, and maybe for other motives.... The newsroom of WNYC, the public radio station, cannot pinpoint the exact role of the shady CityTime lobbyists.

"What prosecutors have yet to publicly discuss is the role played by former city officials from both the Giuliani and Bloomberg administrations that acted as lobbyists on behalf of SAIC and subcontractors such as New Jersey-based Technodyne. ...

"The city's lobbying database shows a small army of former prominent city officials who did work for SAIC and Technodyne. Defense contractor SAIC has retained former City Comptroller Liz Holtzman, Peter Powers, who served as Mayor Giuliani's top deputy Mayor for operations, and Seth Kaye, who worked in both the Giuliani and Bloomberg administrations. Technodyne's lobbyists include former Bloomberg Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications Commissioner Gino Menchini and Agostino Cangemi, who also held key posts in both administrations.

"National Strategies, the lobbying firm that employs Menchini and Cangemi, says the firm had no role in CityTime and discontinued working "on general business procurement" for Technodyne as soon as the criminal allegations surfaced. (Another Technodyne lobbyist of record, Sal Salamone, was director of the Mayor’s Office of Computer Planning and has worked for SAIC.)"

No journalism outlet has yet to report the extent of lobbying by other CityTime subcontractors, such as Spherion and Gartner. If the lobbyists were trying to thwart any investigation into the $600 million CityTime fraud, would those lobbying activities rise to the level of obstruction of justice ?