Questions about Van Bramer's fundraising

From Progress Queens:

For this report, Councilmember Van Bramer's communications director, Sean Butler, did not answer on the record questions submitted in advance by Progress Queens. A request for an interview was also not answered about the top 40 days when donations were clustered. If Councilmember Van Bramer's committee to reelect did not use more intermediaries to raise the $520,000 that was reported to have been directly raised by committee officials, then the coordination that took place was done by the committee. As noted by the activism group Queens Anti-Gentrification Project on a post on the group's blog, more than $100,000 of the money raised by Councilmember Van Bramer during the recent Municipal election cycle came from the real estate industry. Councilmember Van Bramer has not publicly opposed large real estate industry-backed projects -- such as the proposed rezoning of Long Island City, the proposed trolley service that would run through the Brooklyn and Queens waterfronts, known as the Brooklyn-Queens Connector, and the proposed development of Sunnyside Yards -- that Queens activists say will spread gentrification into the City's second-most populous borough. Activists have charged that Councilmember Van Bramer was "firmly aligned with a real estate industry that shows no regard for the working class." In an editorial published by the nonprofit news Web site City Limits, a member of the Queens Anti-Gentrification Project also questioned the direction of Queens under Councilmember Van Bramer's leadership.

For this report, neither Councilmember Van Bramer nor Communications Director Butler disclosed whether Councilmember Van Bramer had formed a dedicated campaign committee for his speakership race or when Councilmember Van Bramer began his Council speaker campaign. A source familiar with the Campaign Finance Board's regulations directed Progress Queens to the list of declared campaign committees when asked whether Councilmember Van Bramer had formed a dedicated campaign committee for the Council speakership. A review of the list showed that Councilmember had not appeared to have formed a dedicated campaign committee for his speakership race that was registered with the Municipal campaign finance regulatory authority. A separate review of State campaign committees registered under Councilmember Van Bramer's last name showed no change from a prior list of registered campaign committees generated online by Progress Queens on or about the time the complaint was filed with the Federal prosecutors' office.

DeBlasio's unsuspecting donors

From the NY Posts:

Mayor de Blasio’s largest bundler this year reported raising $68,750 from 16 donors — but one says he has no idea how his name got on the list, another couldn’t recall the contribution and a third refused to discuss it.

The donations were rounded up by Arana Hankin, a senior vice president at WeWork, an office-space-sharing company that has been lobbying the city on a project in the Financial District.

The $68,750 rounded up by Hankin is the largest bundle received by de Blasio’s 2017 campaign to date.

One of the donors, Shlo­mo Khodara, told The Post he has “no idea” how his name ended up in official rec­ords as giving $4,950 — the maximum allowable under city law.

Meanwhile, the Campaign Finance Board let his non-profit off the hook.

Donor admits bundling for a quid pro quo

From the NY Post:

A high-profile cabby advocate whose wife needs the city’s OK for a women-only livery service admitted to The Post on Monday that he raised campaign cash for Mayor Bill de Blasio and funneled it through an unemployed Brooklyn woman.

Fernando Mateo, founder of the New York State Federation of Taxi Drivers, came clean about the blatant violation of election law after The Post learned he had personally solicited a donation for Hizzoner and then had Ahlam Jaoui take credit for it.

The 31-year-old Bay Ridge woman, who has no political or fundraising experience, claims in campaign finance records to have collected 15 donations totaling $18,800 that were given to the de Blasio campaign in January.

Mateo, a well-known Republican supporter, told The Post that he “called my people” to give money to Democrat de Blasio’s campaign and had Jaoui take credit for the donations. Mateo’s name does not appear on Jaoui’s January campaign finance report.

He claims that his motive was to help Jaoui land a city job.

The latest numbers from the Shafran campaign

Austin Shafran's campaign contribution breakdown

Total $58,802 as of 3/11/13
$87,217 as of 5/11/13

Disclosure Period 8                                    $28,415      3/12 to 5/11

Total Number of Contributions $28,415
Total Number of Contributors 169

Shafran Family/Friends                                         5                  $3,385

Political/Lobbyists                                               13                    $635

Real Estate / Developers / Construction               10                 $2,150

Lawyers                                                             28                  $4,640

Unions                                                                 6                   $4,150

Parker Jewish Institute                                         2                      $350

Union Plaza Nursing Home                                   1                  $1,000

57.4% of contributions come from these categories $16,310
38.5% of contributors come from these categories 65

Other important info:

Bundlers
Amount Bundled/Connected to Bundlers:             22                    $4,125

Christopher Renfroe                                            15                    $2,200

Ryan Walsh (ran unsuccessfully for 2001 City Council                  $1,925
race in the 20th District as a Republican)

36 of 169 contributors, or 21.3%, are from the 19th Council District.
$5,275* of $28,415 or 18.6%, is from the 19th Council District.

*However, $3,175 of that total is from himself; his mother; father; and aunt. Discounting those contributions, it's $2,100 or 7.4%.

Liu knew of bad campaign donations

From the Daily News:

Embattled City Controller John Liu may have known some contributions to his mayoral campaign were fishy, court records revealed as a second member of his political circle was busted Tuesday.

That news surfaced as the widening federal probe into Liu’s fund-raising for the 2013 mayoral race ensnared his campaign treasurer, Jia Hou. The feds accused her of steering 40 fraudulent donations to the campaign through a coordinated subterfuge that used straw donors to duck campaign finance laws.

The complaint alleges that Liu fund-raising bundler Xing Wu (Oliver) Pan — the other member of the Democratic controller’s camp to be pinched — coached an undercover FBI agent posing as a businessman to tell the candidate prior to a fund-raiser that this was his “event.”

Liu, the court papers quote Pan as saying, would “know what I meant” and understand that all the campaign contributions being collected at the event were really coming from the undercover agent’s “money.”

...City Councilman Peter Koo (D-Queens), a major Liu supporter and one of his top fund-raisers, said he should step down as controller if the insinuation that he may have known what was going on proves true.

“If he knew, he should consider resigning his position — if he knew,” Koo said.

Koo added that he saw Hou, whose family is close to the controller, a few days ago at a campaign function and she didn’t seem to know she was going to be charged.

The feds documented a flurry of instant messages that showed how Hou on July 14 of last year allegedly offered to reimburse one crooked donor. “Don’t worry about it,” she texted.

Hou also instructed campaign volunteers to “imitate the handwriting of campaign donors” to make their contributions look kosher, the court papers state. She is also accused of withholding potentially damning documents after she was slapped with subpoenas by government investigators last year.

Federal jury indicts Liu bundler

From the NY Times:

A federal grand jury on Wednesday indicted a top fund-raiser for the city comptroller, John C. Liu, on charges that he helped illegally direct thousands of dollars into Mr. Liu’s campaign account.

The five-page indictment against Xing Wu Pan, a New Jersey real estate developer who is also known as Oliver, did not add any new details to the original criminal complaint, which was filed in November.

But it did signify that the charges against Mr. Pan — one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of attempting to commit wire fraud, which carry a maximum sentence of 20 years — had passed the next legal hurdle. It also suggested that, contrary to speculation, no plea deal appeared to be imminent.

Liu fundraises on taxpayer time

From the Daily News:

City Controller John Liu likes to hit the fund-raising circuit in his free time, but he also powwows with campaign contributors during his work-day, the Daily News has learned.

A review of Liu’s public schedule for 2011 shows that he met with at least nine donors and moneymen while on the clock as the city’s top financial watchdog -- possibly breaking election laws.

Chapter 68 of the City Charter says city employees “may campaign only during their personal time and may not use their official city position to advance either their own candidacy or the candidacy of others.” But Liu, a likely mayoral candidate, penciled in work-time meetings with three bundlers - each within a month of them handing over thousands of dollars to his campaign.

Hugh Mo, a former NYPD deputy commissioner, had a tete-a-tete with Liu on Thusday, June 2, between 11:45 a.m. and 12:45 p.m., records shows.

That was the same month Mo collected $2,700 for Liu from other donors.

When asked about the meeting, and whether campaign financing was discussed, Mo repeatedly said, “No comment.”

City Councilman Peter Koo gathered $7,200 from nine different donors between July 7 and July 11. Then he got together with Liu on Thursday, July 21, from 4 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., records show.

State Assemblywoman Grace Meng, another a Liu bundler, was also at the July meeting. That month, she raised $4,000 from five different donors for the controller, records show.

Meng told the News she and Koo were at a press conference with Asian American media in which Liu thanked public officials for helping him get elected.

So calling press conferences to thank each other is now considered part of public service?

Koo, bundler for Liu, cries racism

From the Politicker:

Councilman Peter Koo, who recently switched parties to the Democratic Party, said the media’s treatment of New York City Comptroller John Liu has been biased and wrong in a recent interview with Roberto Perez.

“As an Asian-American politician, I think it’s really unfair,” he said. “I think the media, they ganged up against him.”

Last year, an FBI sting against one of Mr. Liu’s campaign bundlers caused Mr. Liu’s mayoral ambitions to take a significant hit.

Mr. Koo went on to defend Mr. Liu’s integrity. “It’s [not] proven that he directly knows about this, or his staff knows about this, so why do you link the two together?” he asked. ”The FBI used some sting operation, they offered cash to people, it’s like a political entrapment to me. I think it’s really unfair. Even though the guy is guilty, … only he’s guilty, he has nothing to do with John Liu.”

Liu's fundraising way down

From the NY Times:

The New York City comptroller, John C. Liu, reported a sharp drop in his campaign donations on Tuesday, providing the clearest indication yet that his aspirations for the mayor’s office have been hurt by a federal investigation into his fund-raising practices.

After raising $1 million in the first half of 2011 and outpacing his leading rivals for the Democratic nomination, Mr. Liu collected $517,000 in the second half, trailing everyone except Christine C. Quinn, the City Council speaker, who has already amassed the maximum for candidates accepting public money.

Mr. Liu also spent $325,000 in the second half of 2011 — more than six times what he spent in the first — with roughly two-thirds devoted to legal and other expenses related to the investigation.

Mr. Liu’s cash on hand — $1.6 million — remains significant. But in a reminder of just how much has changed since the filings in July, Mr. Liu also ended months of resistance on Tuesday and released the names of 59 bundlers who had solicited contributions for his campaign from friends, relatives, co-workers and others.

Any day now...

From the NY Times:

The New York City comptroller, John C. Liu, whose campaign finances are under federal investigation, plans to reveal the names of his biggest fund-raisers sometime next week, a spokesman said Friday.

Mr. Liu had resisted calls to immediately release the names of those people, known as bundlers, after a report in The New York Times raised questions in October about the source and legitimacy of some of his campaign contributions.

But three weeks ago, federal prosecutors arrested Xing Wu Pan, a fund-raiser for Mr. Liu, saying Mr. Pan had sought to help an F.B.I. agent posing as a businessman to circumvent campaign contribution limits.

Mr. Liu called the accusations of improprieties “quite embarrassing” and promised a full accounting.

And on Friday, his campaign promised to release the names of bundlers.

Photo from Epoch Times.