Quotes about Dan & Vince

From Facebook:


From City and State:

Amid the chaos surrounding New York City Councilman Dan Halloran’s alleged involvement in a corruption and bribery scheme with state Sen. Malcolm Smith and two city GOP operatives, Halloran has to defend his Council seat from one of a slew of Democratic opponents. Two of them, former Cuomo administration employee Austin Shafran and urban planner Paul Graziano, put out statements about Halloran’s troubles.

“These are serious and disturbing charges from the FBI which need to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” Shafran said in a statement. “Public service is a privilege, and violations of the public’s trust cannot be tolerated. Anyone involved in this scandal should immediately come clean because the people deserve to know the truth so justice can be done.”

Graziano released a statement noting that he had seen “a lot of things being done by Dan Halloran that I thought were inappropriate,” which led him to enter the race. Asked to elaborate, Graziano detailed his battles with Halloran over rezoning in District 19, where Halloran allegedly pushed for a zoning change to help the business of an associate with ties to the Gambino crime family.

Halloran did not respond to calls for comment about the rezoning dispute. Two other candidates challenging Halloran, attorney Paul Vallone and former Assemblyman John Duane, could not be reached for comment about Halloran’s corruption charges.

Of course, the above fails to mention that Shafran was Smith's spokesperson in Albany for quite a while...

Interesting choice of Facebook profile picture for a Republican...

The Queens Gazette carries a front page "article" on their front page this week, consisting only of a quote from Paul Vallone, who is currently vacationing in Florida, and no one else:

"The corruption charges against Dan Halloran are very troubling. If these allegations prove to be true, this conduct is an egregious violation of the public's trust and those who are found guilty in this scheme should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” said Vallone. “Now is the time for integrity and trust – principles which the Vallone Family have embodied for over three generations and which I will bring to the 19th City Council seat."

From the NY Times:

William C. Thompson Jr., another Democratic candidate, who said Ms. Quinn had failed to curb “a history of corruption and a broken system” of earmarks in the Council. A third Democratic candidate, Sal F. Albanese, accused Ms. Quinn of “abuse.”

From WNYC:

"Until we ban member items, it's just not been enough," argued De Blasio who said City Council should replace the member item practice with what he calls a merit-based system, or one that gives spending choices to groups of local residents, which some districts have tried on a smaller scale.

Comptroller John Liu, who's been embroiled in a fundraising scandal of his own, released a brief statement Tuesday morning calling the news, "shocking."

"When there is suspicion that taxpayers' money is being abused, investigations should be carried out quickly and thoroughly," Liu said. The trial of members of his campaign staff related to a straw donor scheme is scheduled to resume this month.

Republican mayoral candidate Joe Lhota says the arrests of local Republican leaders yesterday, including two who had endorsed his bid for mayor, demands more ethics reform in Albany and New York City.

"There needs to be a change here," Lhota said, offering a good government critique that also dings Quinn at the same time. "Transparency on all financial items. Whether it's in government or in the process of campaigning, on what agreements are made between the members of council and the organizations they're giving money to. The taxpayers of New York shouldn't be finding out about the actions of various elected officials through the prism of a US Attorney."

From Capital New York:

"I do not think this is a reason to conclude that member items should not be given," Quinn said today.

"In the case of Dan Halloran, this senior citizen group did nothing wrong," she continued. "Why should they become the victim of an alleged criminal's activities?"

Rather than call for their abolition, Quinn offered a full-throated defense of the member-item system in the Council, which has undergone substantial reform since the slush fund scandal of 2008.

"I think it is the tightest system you'll find in any legislative body in the country," said Quinn.

"When I became speaker, I largely inherited a process around member items that was an honor system," she said. "If a member said, 'Fund X group,' the assumption was...it was a good group. We no longer have that system. We have largely what is a verification system."

Quinn did, however, say the Council was reviewing all of Halloran's prior member items and stripping him of the ability to dole out new ones during the next budget cycle.

She also suggested he consider resigning.

"I think Councilmember Halloran owes the people of his district a great deal of thought about whether he is actually able to continue to serve them, conduct the defense I'm sure he believes he deserves, and do both of those at the same time," she said.

Quinn also said she disagrees with Bloomberg's argument that the allegations against Halloran and Smith present a strong argument in favor of nonpartisan elections, though she didn't explain why.

From the Daily News:

Ragusa said he first heard about the arrests on the radio this morning and "almost jumped out of bed."

He said he knew nothing about the case, including Tabone's alleged involvement, and was neither approached by anyone offering a bribe or interrogated by the feds ("Knock on wood, no. I hope they never show up either," he added.)

And to wrap up, from the NY Post: