Slush fund keeps former councilman in the money

From the NY Post:

Since leaving the council at the end of 2001, [Stephen] DiBrienza has continued to work out of his former district office, which now houses a not-for-profit group - founded by DiBrienza and funded with a total of $1.185 million in council grants, according to city, state and federal records.

In fact, DiBrienza's group, the Neighborhood Assistance Corp., has paid a salary and benefits to him, to several former members of his council staff and to his wife, who worked a year for the organization when it first started.

DiBrienza's group began receiving annual discretionary funds in 2002 from then-Council Speaker Gifford Miller for a not-for-profit he said he created to continue to provide the kinds of community programs that he had funded as a lawmaker.

But the grants have continued to roll in even since Miller was replaced by Council Speaker Christine Quinn - with the group receiving as much as $209,825 in 2006 alone.

Other than the group's name printed on the awning over DiBrienza's corner office, there's almost no other mention of the Neighborhood Assistance Corp. in any publication, press release or Web site.