It's who you know...

From the NY Post:

Deputy Mayor Patti Harris’ stepson enjoyed a meteoric city career, with nine raises in nine years, before he quit his $175,000 job last August and got a pretax $57,803 payment for unused vacation days, The Post has learned.
http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif
Michael Lebow is the son of Harris’ husband, MTA board member Mark Lebow.

Soon after Harris became Mayor Bloomberg’s top deputy, Michael, then 27, was hired by the Department of Information Technology and Telecommunication at $115,000 a year to help launch the 311 call-in system.

He’d dropped out of Washington University and held IT gigs at Bloomberg LP and Rudin Management. His first job required six years’ experience for those without a BA.

“It’s actually rare to find a tech person who didn’t start working in the field as a young student,” said City Hall spokesman Stu Loeser.

But an ex-DOITT worker griped: “No one knew exactly what he did, but it was ‘Hands off . . . He’s Patty Harris’ stepson.’ ”

Where does Patti spend her time?

From the NY Post:

Deputy Mayor Patti Harris, Mayor Bloomberg’s closest aide, makes $246,000 a year overseeing a dozen city agencies, but City Hall refuses to document how and where she spends her days.

Harris’ hours became an issue last year after the mayor tapped her to head his $1.75 billion Bloomberg Family Foundation. She and other city officials were spotted at the charity’s Upper East Side headquarters during city work hours.

The Post on Jan. 5 requested under the Freedom of Information Law a year of her public schedules.

Ten months later, City Hall has yet to comply, failing to give any explanation for the long delay.

How Bloomberg rewards his volunteers

From the NY Times:

Michael R. Bloomberg took his turn in the witness chair in one of the odder political trials in recent memory. Never glancing at the jurors, his facial muscles held in equipoise during cross-examination, he called to mind a lizard sitting in the sun.

Patricia E. Harris, the first deputy mayor, took off three months from her day job to “volunteer” in the mayor’s campaign, and walked away with a $450,000 thank-you from the mayor. Kevin Sheekey, the former deputy mayor, also “volunteered” and walked away with a pile. (He promised on his first day of testimony to ask his wife how much the mayor paid him; the next day, Mr. Sheekey explained that the couple had taken in a movie and darned if the question had not slipped his mind.)

It’s in this context that Mr. Haggerty finds himself sitting at the defense table staring at old friends. He was not so much a “volunteer” as a prized political operative who specialized in putting his candidates on the ballot, and trying to knock opponents off. He is adept at what is called ballot security in a courtroom — but voter suppression on the streets of New York.

From NY1:

Bloomberg largely kept his cool under intense cross-examination, even when the questions touched upon everything from his decision to run for a third term to a payroll scandal at City Hall.

He did, however, show a lack of knowledge about some key aspects of the case, namely the laws governing contributions to political parties.

“Quite frankly we were a little surprised with the number of questions that the mayor simply did not know the answer to,” said Dennis Vacco, attorney for John Haggerty.

At one point, in an apparent effort to discredit the mayor, the defense tried to use words from the mayor's own autobiography against him. The prosecution pounced, calling it courtroom theater.

“That is not an ambush when we are pointing to the witness’ own words in an autobiography. This is the DA’s witness. He is not ours. You would think that the DA would come better prepared,” said Vacco.

Expensive people in unnecessary jobs

From the NY Post:

Mayor Bloomberg’s new pension watchdog has a lackluster track record on investments — but that won’t stop her from making key decisions for one of the largest retirement funds in the country.

Ranji Nagaswami, 46, was hired last week as the first ever mayoral investment adviser.

The city is paying Nagaswami $175,000 a year to essentially do the same job that Comptroller John Liu’s chief investment officer, Lawrence Schloss, gets $224,000 to do: Oversee the city’s beleaguered $103 billion pension system.

The move signals Bloomberg is fed up with the city paying fat fees to poorly performing money managers — and he’ll step on Liu’s toes to change things, insiders say.

From the NY Post:

City Hall has a new address — Mayor Bloomberg’s Upper East Side charity foundation.

First Deputy Mayor Patricia Harris, Hizzoner’s longest-serving and most powerful aide, spends most of her time at the Bloomberg Family Foundation at 25 East 78th St. since being named CEO of the $1.6 billion charity in May, according to two government sources.

“She’s never at City Hall,” a high-ranking official told The Post. “Her chair is always empty. Everyone in government is talking about it.”

Last week, Harris — who gets a $246,000-a-year taxpayer salary for her City Hall job, and received a $400,000 campaign-consulting bonus from Bloomberg last year — was seen spending at least part of her day at the foundation’s $45 million, six-story Beaux Arts eadquarters. She was flanked by two assistants and was driven there in a city-owned,chauffeur-driven Buick Lucerne.

But Harris, 54, was not the only Bloomberg bigwig seen at the foundation, their chauffeured city vehicles at the curb, during the workday last week. Press Secretary Stu Loeser and Deputy Mayor for Education Dennis Walcott paid brief visits.

Bloomberg spends $1M to name building after sidekick

From the NY Times:

Many bosses reward hard-working employees with a pat on the back. Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg can build monuments to them.

The mayor, a billionaire, has quietly given at least $1 million to stamp the name of his most trusted deputy at City Hall on a new academic center at her alma mater, Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pa., according to two people familiar with the arrangement.

The unusual gift, in honor of Patricia E. Harris, the first deputy mayor, highlights what many say is the hidden glue that helps keep Mr. Bloomberg’s extraordinarily loyal, long-serving administration together: the mayor’s money, or at least the promise of it.

Mr. Bloomberg is famous for doling out eye-popping bonuses to staff members on his campaigns, referring sick workers to top doctors, even paying for the large funeral of a City Hall aide. In return, he expects absolute fealty.