Five weeks into a federal probe of City Council slush funds, Mayor Bloomberg revealed yesterday that he kept his own secret taxpayer-funded cash stash - and used it to reward favored lawmakers. ET TU, BLOOMY? MIKE BARES OWN SLUSH FUND
The mayor's $4.5 million slush fund had never before been made public - and some council members said they weren't even aware of it.
After being doled out to selected lawmakers, the money was passed along to dozens of nonprofit groups supported by legislators - including at least one with a checkered history.
The largest chunk, $1.9 million, went to Councilman Simcha Felder (D-Brooklyn), one of the mayor's most ardent supporters.
One source said seven out of the eight council members who received funds endorsed Bloomberg for re-election in 2005.
10 comments:
Simcha, of course, chief supporter and co-religionist!
No wonder Brookln is getting buried in over development!
If they want transparency, they need to establish a process that involves groups submitting detailed grant requests with a public review to determine the "worthiness" of the requests. After receiving funds, groups should be required to provide documentation that the purpose of the request and the services provided coincide. No request for discretionary funds should pay for staffing.
Are any elected officials going to go to jail for stealing member items $$$$. Every time they find something wrong all they do is talk about fixing it. Somebody put these bums in jail.
No wonder the mayor said the council is 99.9999% honest he is in on the corruption. Our elected officials have become bagman offering money to groups and family for two reasons to help they to stay in office and a give jobs to members of they family who can't get work
H-m-m-m.....
so there's another slush fund cookie jar to reward the tweeded!
First it was "Quinn's Cookies", now it's "Bloomberg's Cookies".
I wonder who got the idea first?
Are there any other cookie jars
stashed on some back shelf of city government?
Bring on the "Cookie monster". He'll sniff 'em out!
Now we know why 30 councilmembers voted for congestion pricing.
Bloomberg bribed them with public dollars.
It all makes sense now.
So. Bloomberg was "way too rich" to ever be corrupt?
Name the rich man who ever said: "I already have enough money." Or, name the government employee who ever said: "I have enough power."
What man has ever announced he has "enough" of anything?
We who do vote are entirely to blame for the corruption in the City Council, the CC members, the corruption of the mayor and each other elected official.
We are swayed by "celebrity" events, fawning newspapers and TV. Some of us (too many) are impressed that a candidate shakes our hand or speaks to us.
If a candidate is dirty during campaigning, the candidate will be dirty in office.
If a candidate has a dirty past, the candidate will have a dirty future in office.
The dirty deeds will always be with our tax dollars. And, to keep the secret, our tax dollars have to be spread around to the other dirty officials.
In the meantime, our problems and concerns are never handled. They are needed in the next campaign.
After receiving funds, groups should be required to provide documentation that the purpose of the request and the services provided coincide.
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Here is a hot potato: funding based upon broad appeal, as oppossed to niche markets - for example, the Bulkarians get ton$ of money - enough to put in full pages ads - yet their programs are of limited appeal.
Thalia Theatre gets tons of money (like six figures), for solid, yet sleepy progamming aimed at a narrow specific tweeded audience.
On the other hand, donations from developers and politicans are great at distorting the political discourse in a community. For example, groups that get funding from these sources litterly froth at the mouth over a narrow strip of waterfront (about six blocks from a sewage plant, tank farm, and the like), while prime waterfront land, that should be earnmarked for a public park and can benefit the community, finds disengenous arguements to be ignored.
The agenda of the greens groups are distorted as they are funded by developers and polticians.
Is Bloomberg spelled with 1 impeach or 2?
Disgusting! NYers must have one of the highest tax burdens in the nation. This year I had to pay way more to NY than to the Fed. I expect my money to go to essential services and that's it! This is criminal.
Isn't tree pruning the Parks Dept. job?
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