Mayor de Blasio's thirst for power led to kids getting dumber

NY Post

 Mayor Bill de Blasio was personally involved in a deal with Orthodox Jewish leaders to delay a long-awaited report on shoddy yeshivas in exchange for an extension of mayoral control of city schools, emails obtained by The Post show.

Internal emails among de Blasio and his top aides at City Hall and the Department of Education reveal that the mayor made key phone calls to the powerful religious leaders to clinch the support of two state lawmakers voting on his power to run the nation’s largest school system.

“These internal communications reveal what we suspected all along: Mayor de Blasio abused his power by interfering with the yeshiva investigation,” said Nafuli Moster, founder and executive director of Young Advocates for Fair Education (YAFFED). The group filed complaints against 39
 Brooklyn yeshivas in July 2015 for allegedly shortchanging children on secular subjects such as math, English, science and history.

The DOE launched an investigation of the yeshivas, but as it dragged on, critics charged City Hall was delaying the probe to curry favor with the Orthodox Jewish voting bloc.

Even an investigation of the mayor’s suspected interference was stalled, whistle-blowers told The Post. In response to that complaint, the Department of Investigation and the Special Commissioner of Investigation for city schools finally issued a report last December confirming “political horsetrading” on the mayoral control issue.

For the first time ever, an incriminating email from the de Blasio administration is not redacted

And it exposes Emma Wolfe as de Blasio's political gun moll.

 

Mayor de Blasio used city government workers for electioneering during re-election campaign

NY Daily News

A city-run tenant outreach program led by one of Mayor de Blasio’s top political operatives is strongly believed to have doubled as an arm of his 2017 reelection bid, according to sources who worked for the program.

The Public Engagement Unit, which falls under the city’s Human Resources Administration, had workers knock on “thousands” of tenants’ doors to gather personal information, including names and addresses — in what former staffers described as an effort to lay the groundwork for 2017.

David Andrade, a former PEU tenant support specialist, described the unit as “very shady” and said he has no doubt the data it gathered was directed to de Blasio’s political operation.

"This wasn't kosher," he said. "It wasn't talked about ... but you could connect the dots. I knew it would be migrated."

Andrade said a connection to the campaign wasn’t spoken about openly, but was laid out to him by co-workers with ties to Rick Fromberg, who worked as de Blasio’s 2017 campaign manager and the PEU’s senior adviser from January 2015 to May 2016.

“It was wink wink, like this is going to be helpful in 2017 — that’s the way the senior adviser [Fromberg] would talk about it,” said another former PEU staffer. “Everybody could smell that it was sketchy.”

Public records confirm Fromberg was politically active at the time.

A March 2015 email obtained by the Daily News shows that while working at the unit, Fromberg wrote to former de Blasio adviser Peter Ragone about devising political strategy at the behest of City Hall.

“Emma/Boss gave me point on putting together a suburbs/upstate political strategy,” Fromberg wrote, referring to top de Blasio advisor Emma Wolfe. “She lets me know you’ve (very generously, of course) offered some guidance here. Got some time to connect on it?”

A month later, Fromberg followed up with Ragone about "suburban strategy."

“Boss is meeting with [former Nassau County Executive] Ed Mangano next week, and a couple other elements are in play for some regional partnerships,” he wrote. “Would love to wrap this all together. What do you think?”

 Fromberg denied sending PEU data to the campaign.

“We unequivocally did not move data between the PEU and the de Blasio campaign,” he said. 

“Anyone insinuating that we did is both misinformed and uninformed.”

Before working for the city, Fromberg worked for the Global Strategy Group, a public affairs firm that specializes in political campaigns.

The case against Bill de Blasio

From the NY Times:

When a New York restaurateur who had donated to Mayor Bill de Blasio’s campaign grew increasingly desperate to get a lease renewed, he sent an email directly to one of the city’s most powerful people: Emma Wolfe, a top aide to the mayor.

“Hope you had a great holiday season,” the restaurateur, Harendra Singh, wrote in January 2015. “I would love to speak with you at your convenience.”

Ms. Wolfe took just nine minutes to respond: “Absolutely,” she wrote, “let’s talk on Monday.”

A meeting was soon arranged — part of a longstanding effort that federal prosecutors say Mr. de Blasio and his aides undertook to help Mr. Singh in return for campaign contributions.

The emails were among a raft of evidence related to the alleged scheme that was revealed in Federal District Court here on Wednesday, as part of a case that has revived discussions of possible impropriety by Mr. de Blasio, despite his not actually being involved in the trial.

From the Daily News:

Asked if de Blasio ever called him and solicited donations, Singh replied, “He was always looking for money for himself.”

In court in Central Islip, L.I., Singh made clear that he openly discussed his ties to the mayor with top de Blasio aides as he sought their help resolving a rent dispute with the city.

And they responded by pressuring the Department of Citywide Administrative Services to go easy on back rent he owed for the restaurant he owned on city land in Queens.

In a March 22, 2014, email to top de Blasio aide Emma Wolfe, Singh wrote, “I humbly request you to get me some time to get some issue in front of some City officials. I am very loyal and very early friend of Bill and not (to) be able to get in touch with anyone is a little heart wrenching.”

Soon after, one of Wolfe’s assistants responded, “happy to see if I can help.”

DCAS director fired for complaining about conflict of interest

From the Daily News:

Mayor de Blasio avoided questions Sunday about his alleged intervention on behalf of a big campaign donor who threw two free fund-raisers for him.

The Daily News broke the story on its website Saturday, revealing that a former city deputy claims he was fired after protesting City Hall's interference for Harendra Singh, whose Queens restaurant owed the city nearly $750,000 in back rent.

The News revealed that de Blasio's campaign didn't bother paying the bill for fund-raisers in 2011 and 2013 at Singh's Water's Edge restaurant until the city Campaign Finance Board demanded documentation during an audit in 2015.

The News also revealed that de Blasio's top aide, director of governmental relations Emma Wolfe, personally intervened in the Water's Edge rent dispute with the city Department of Citywide Administrative Services.

Ricardo Morales, DCAS' deputy commissioner for asset management, was handling the Water's Edge negotiations and says he was fired in February because he complained that City Hall's "inappropriate involvement" violated city conflict-of-interest rules.

Electeds knew about Queens shelter plan in 2014 - did nothing

During a debate held in Rockaway on Wednesday evening, Joseph Addabbo revealed that Queens elected officials were told by Director of Intergovernmental Affairs Emma Wolfe at a meeting in 2014 that Queens was about to be bombarded with homeless shelters because we didn't have "our fair share" of them.

These fantastic representatives of ours strangely sat on this information and allowed the rollout to happen rather than raise holy hell in an effort to stop it. And they think they deserve re-election?

In fairness, the response of the challenger, Mike Conigliaro, is presented.

Keep the subpoenas coming!

From the Wall Street Journal:

Some of New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s closest political allies have received subpoenas as part of coordinated federal and state investigations into his fundraising activities, people familiar with the matter said.

City Hall has also been subpoenaed and will cooperate fully, but Mr. de Blasio “has not been personally served,” Maya Wiley, counsel to the mayor, said Wednesday night.

The allies who received subpoenas include Emma Wolfe, the mayor’s director of intergovernmental affairs and his chief political aide; Ross Offinger, his top fundraiser; and BerlinRosen, a consulting firm that works on the mayor’s political campaigns and was co-founded by Jonathan Rosen, a top adviser to Mr. de Blasio.

Other political consultants and firms close to the mayor have also gotten subpoenas, the people said.

Neither the mayor nor his allies have been accused of any wrongdoing. A spokeswoman for the mayor’s office said Ms. Wolfe’s integrity shouldn’t be questioned and that she had followed all laws. Mr. Offinger declined to comment through a spokesman.

Mr. Rosen said, “We have acted appropriately and in accordance with the law at all times.”

The subpoenas are seeking documents related to the mayor’s unsuccessful effort in 2014 to bring the state Senate under Democratic control and fundraising for the Campaign for One New York, a nonprofit set up by Mr. de Blasio’s allies to advance the mayor’s agenda, the people said.