The tweeding never ends

From DNA Info:

In the past two years, two city councilwomen went to bat for nonprofits employing their family members, writing letters of support for the groups to city officials deciding on their proposals to develop public land, records show.

City Councilwoman Maria del Carmen Arroyo and ex-city Councilwoman Diana Reyna each penned letters to officials at the city's Department of Housing Preservation and Development backing affordable-housing proposals, records obtained by DNAinfo New York show.

Arroyo's June 14, 2013, missive supported a Bronx nonprofit that had hired her ex-convict nephew six months earlier, while Reyna's Aug. 27, 2012, note praised a proposal by a Brooklyn nonprofit where her mother-in-law worked as a director.

What Quinn should and could do

From the NY Post:

...the Seabrook scandal wasn’t an isolated action but part of a persistent pattern. The responsibility for deterring corruption in the City Council lies with Quinn, who has failed to hold her members accountable.

In April 2008, the putrid swamp of slush funds touched the speaker herself. Her office apportioned millions of member-item dollars for what The Post called “bogus” or “phantom” grant groups, so the speaker could ladle out the member-item gravy later, at more propitious political moments. Moreover, the speaker benefited from this trickery: The Post reported then that about a quarter of the mystery funds went to Quinn’s own district in Manhattan.

In June of 2009, it was revealed that Councilwoman Carmen Arroyo directed member-item dollars to a charter school headed by her nephew, who was forced to resign after being charged with embezzlement. The next month, Councilman Miguel Martinez resigned and pleaded guilty, admitting to stealing more than $100,000 that he had directed to a not-for-profit he controlled. More than half of those pilfered funds were member-item funds. Only after all that did the Seabrook case come to light.

A principled speaker would have connected these dots and moved decisively to close the doors for such abuses. But Quinn has instead preferred to go along to get along.

She keeps a breathless schedule of thinly veiled campaign stops, using her colleagues as validating props, rather than putting protections in place to protect taxpayers from her members’ avarice.

What could she have done differently?

First, set up an independent system to review the quality of member-item proposals. Independent eyes should provide a thumbs-up on substance before a project is funded.

Second, institute a system where no member item gets funded without a signed statement from the sponsoring member of the City Council. That statement would attest that the member (and also his or her family and staff) has no business relationship with and has received no money (even indirectly) from the entity receiving the member item.

Had this provision been in place, Arroyo and Seabrook’s actions would have been per se violations of City Council rules. This reform should be augmented by a state law, treating a violation as a felony.

Third, announce that no member items will be funded until both those reforms are enacted. Cutting off the slush-fund spigot would get her members’ attention.

In fact, if Quinn were serious about protecting taxpayers, she could put all three measures in place now.

Well isn't this special?

From PolitickerNY:

One little-noticed result of last night's primary: the grandson of Assemblywoman Carmen Arroyo who was charged with embezzlement earlier this year was just elected as a delegate to the judicial convention.

Richard Izquierdo Arroyo defeated Linda Duke for the position, which is unpaid but would help decide the Democratic Party's picks for Supreme Court judgeships in the Bronx. Delegates are elected by Assembly district.

Photo from Daily News.

Heat lamps turned up on Council

From the Daily News:

Hours after Councilman Miguel Martinez admitted being a thief, prosecutors and investigators emphasized their inquiry into City Council slush money was far from over.

Already on their radar screen is Bronx Councilwoman Maria del Carmen Arroyo.

Like Martinez, Arroyo funneled hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars from the slush fund into a nonprofit controlled by relatives.

The relative was her nephew, Richard Izquierdo, and the nonprofit was the South Bronx Community Corp. Last month Izquierdo was arrested for stealing money from an SBCC affiliate.

The charges included using funds from the nonprofit to pay for flights to Puerto Rico and other warm locales for Arroyo and her mother - and Izquierdo's grandmother - Assemblywoman Carmen Arroyo.

Izquierdo also had the nonprofit supply a new floor for the assemblywoman's Bronx office, a criminal complaint said.

Relative of Assemblymember and Councilmember arrested for embezzlement

From the NY Post:

The nephew of a Bronx City Councilwoman and his associate were arrested today for stealing federal money from a non-profit to go on an expensive shopping spree, pay for trips to Puerto Rico and donate to political campaigns, the Department of Investigation charged today.

Richard Izquierdo, the nephew of City Councilwoman Maria del Carmen Arroyo and the grandson of Assemblywoman Carmen Arroyo, and his business partner Margarita Villegas were charged with embezzling $200,000 from the South Bronx Community Corp., a non-profit that helps low-income disabled and elderly tenants, DOI said.

They also are accused of spending $48,000 on travel expenses, including trips for the councilwoman; $34,000 on car rentals and $5,500 on florists.

They used the non-profit's money to make campaign contributions to the councilwoman's mother, Assemblywoman Carmen Arroyo (D-Bronx) and paid $3,800 to install floors in her district office.

So why haven't the pols been arrested, too?

More from the Daily News.