Another de Blasio fundraiser busted

From the Daily News:

A Queens construction magnate who has pumped hundreds of thousands of dollars into campaigns across the state made illegal straw donations to Mayor de Blasio and other candidates during the 2013 election to gain political favor, prosecutors said Wednesday.

Husam Ahmad, whose deep pockets have helped fill the war chests of de Blasio, Gov. Cuomo and dozens of other elected officials, was arraigned in Manhattan Criminal Court for making false statements about the contributions.

He was also charged for his role in a massive corruption and bribery scheme that involved paying off a mid-level city official for inside information on contracts.

Ahmad — who until two months ago served on the board of the de Blasio-controlled Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York — leaned on HAKS employees to make political contributions at fundraising luncheons at the company’s 40 Wall St. office, prosecutors said.

The soirees — where finger food and sandwich wraps were served — were held for De Blasio, Joe Lhota and Bill Thompson, all mayoral candidates in 2013.

A HAKS administrative assistant would keep tabs on the employees’ donations, then Ahmad would reimburse them with year-end bonuses, according to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office. Federal and state laws prohibit an individual from reimbursing a donor for their contributions.

Lobbyist salivating over DeBlasio victory

From the Daily News:

Joe Lhota is so very right about Bill de Blasio taking us back to the bad old days of the David Dinkins era.

He is just wrong about why we should worry.

The biggest threat to the city in potential slippage is not a spike in crime or renewed riots that leave police cars spinning upside down like tops on the street, as Lhota’s ads suggest. No, the threat comes from the return of lobbyists like Sid Davidoff, who, with the rise of de Blasio, are returning like Freddy Krueger on Halloween.

If you do not recall the dalliance between Davidoff and the Dinkins administration, count yourself lucky. It went something like this:

Dinkins was a tennis fanatic. He played many mornings and had a good backhand. Naturally, there were many people looking to bounce a ball back and forth with the mayor.

Among them was Davidoff, another fine tennis player whose deep interest in city government began with his days in the John Lindsay administration and continued as head of a prosperous firm of lobbyists and lawyers.

Davidoff made an excellent living making sure that contracts, leases and variances for his clients won approvals. In those years, he was a regular fixture in the west wing of City Hall, where he was also close with the first deputy mayor, Norman Steisel, and closer still with Steisel’s chief of staff.

These ties served Davidoff well. With clients ranging from Donald Trump to water meter suppliers, his firm was the league champion among city lobbyists throughout the Dinkins years . It helped that every time the press reported that one of Davidoff’s clients had scored an unseemly gain from the public coffers, more clients appeared at his door.

Davidoff is now an honored senior citizen in the lobbying ranks. And he is also among the excited army of advocates-for-hire who, thanks to de Blasio’s rise, are already beating on the doors of City Hall, somewhat like those ravenous tribes of the undead that populate all the best television shows.

Ratner a big DeBlasio donor

From the Daily News:

Housing emerged as an issue in the mayoral race Monday when Bill de Blasio came under withering attack for the lack of affordable units in the Atlantic Yards development rising in his Brooklyn backyard.

De Blasio, who has focused his campaign on income inequality, has been uncharacterically quiet on the failure of developer Bruce Ratner to build 2,250 units of affordable housing promised as part of the project, mayoral rival Joe Lhota charged.

“He was silent because he was bought,” said Lhota, standing across the street from the gleaming Barclay’s Center, the anchor of the $5 billion development.

“The people who built the Barclay’s Center and promised to build all of the affordable housing have given contributions to him over and over again.”

As a City Council member from Brooklyn and then as the city’s Public Advocate, de Blasio bucked neighborhood opposition and supported the controversial project.

Ratner has received tax breaks and loans worth more than $760 million to build the project, which is supposed to include the 2,250 units of affordable housing. But nearly eight years after the project was approved, the first 181 affordable housing units won’t break ground until next year. And there is no concrete timetable for the other units.

Ratner and his associates at Forest City Ratner Companies have raised more than $73,000 for de Blasio’s campaign, records show.

Meet the soon-to-be boss, same as the old boss. The rest of the real estate community is also throwing huge wads of cash at BDB.

Lhota says protecting parkland important; DeBlasio wants soccer stadium

From the NY Times:

Early on Tuesday night, [Bill DeBlasio] was asked about Major League Soccer’s attempt to place a Spaceship-Enterprise-size soccer stadium in the midst of Flushing Meadows, Queens’s densest and most heavily used park. He cleared his throat with some populist rumbling about city tax giveaways. Then he allowed that, well, perhaps, maybe, a pro soccer stadium might raise the money needed to give that dowdy dowager of a park a face-lift.

It was left to Mr. Lhota to make the point that, perhaps fortunately for Flushing Meadows, appears to have won the day: Our urban parks are a precious patrimony, and in this densest of American cities it is rarely wise to auction off greensward. If Flushing Meadows-Corona Park needs money, and enough three-piece-suit-wearing worthies cannot be found to toss together a conservancy, a mayor should find a way to pay for that park.

“It shouldn’t be in that park,” Mr. Lhota said of the stadium. “We don’t have enough park space in this city as it is.”

Lhota not too enthused by the Queens GOP

From Crain's:

Republican mayoral candidate Joseph Lhota has a secret, sources say: He's been endorsed by the Queens Republican organization.

Two sources with direct knowledge of the situation said Lhota consultant Jake Menges informed leadership of the Queens Republican Party of the campaign's decision last weekend not to publicize the endorsement. Mr. Menges not only rejected Queens Republicans' offer to have an endorsement press conference, but asked the party not to issue a press release touting its backing of Mr. Lhota, the sources added.

According to one source privy to the campaign's thinking, Mr. Lhota's camp did not want to highlight dissension in the Queens Republican Party and in other Republican circles by publicizing the endorsement, which would have come six weeks after an ugly Republican mayoral primary and two weeks before the general election. The Queens Republican faction led by Queens Republican Chairman Phil Ragusa backed grocery billionaire John Catsimatidis in the primary, while the faction led by Queens Councilman Eric Ulrich backed Mr. Lhota.

Such an announcement could have also brought attention to infighting in Brooklyn Republican Party, and to the fact that Mr. Catsimatidis has not formally endorsed Mr. Lhota, the Lhota campaign feared.

But you know who wasn't ashamed of possibly snagging the endorsement of the Queens GOP? Paul Vallone. Back in 2009:

A source close to Vallone’s campaign said the candidate was interested in the GOP nomination because he believed in race against Democratic primary winner Kevin Kim, Vallone would “win the one-on-one match up with him easily.” Halloran added that Vallone, who faced attacks from his Democratic rivals during the primary campaign, would be supporting him over the Democratic nominee in the race, Kim. “Paul is really like a kindred spirit,” said Halloran.

And then there was his bid for the Conservative line...

According to Tom Long, chairman of the Queens County Conservative Party, however, Vallone told him this during a candidate screening with the party that he is, in fact, pro-life.

Despite once being considered for the GOP and Conservative lines, Vallone is now the Democratic nominee and he's pro-choice. How the hell did that happen?

CUNY mural saved by...Joe Lhota?

FYI... The mosaic mural at City Tech has been saved! The college hired a firm to take the mural down in sections and crate it. Actually Joe Lhota, who is a CUNY trustee, and others, spoke on behalf of saving it at one of the board meetings.

Since 1% of the new building cost must be set aside for art, they're hoping it will be re-installed somewhere in the new building. They're still working on the details. But even if that doesn't work out, at least it wasn't destroyed.

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:

Lots of Republicans running for mayor

From the Village Voice:

Day by day, the wide open upcoming race to replace Mayor Michael Bloomberg is getting more entertaining, and morphing into a new year's gift for reporters, political junkies, and maybe the public.

Last week, Mayor Giuliani's former deputy mayor, Joseph Lhota, a man not known for conversational subtlety, confirmed he was running as a Republican. This week, we learned that supermarket mogul John Catsimatides, an old-fashioned boot strap guy turned billionaire, put up $1 million of his own money to start building a campaign operation. Local newspaper publisher Tom Allon has raised $234,000. Doe Fund founder George McDonald has declared, but has yet to report any fundraising numbers.

MTA boss running for mayor

From AM-NY:

MTA chief Joe Lhota plans to announce Friday he is stepping down to run for New York City mayor as a Republican, a state government source said Tuesday.

Lhota, who was deputy mayor under Rudy Giuliani, has been lauded for leading the restoration of the transit system after Superstorm Sandy.

He was appointed to the MTA post Jan. 4, at Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo's recommendation. His term was to expire June 2015.

By law, Lhota cannot run for mayor while holding the chairman position.

MTA spokesman Adam Lisberg declined to comment. Lhota did not answer a phone call.

The source said Lhota will finish the year with the MTA.