Former QNS reporter is Liz Crowley's communications director

Former QNS reporter Maggie Hayes wrote quite a bit for the paper before 2015, when she became Liz Crowley's communications director. When I said someone called in a favor, I wasn't kidding.

Want more proof?

Perhaps QNS should have revealed this in their editorial about the shelter.

QNS writes pro-Crowley advertisement, passes it off as factual article on Maspeth shelter

Elizabeth Crowley quite obviously called in a favor to get the laughable QNS.com, which used to be the Times Newsweekly and Queens Courier, to write a piece attempting to discredit the Queens Crap story written about her making a deal to get the Glendale shelter off the table. They wrote an opinion piece and passed it off as actual news, which I am sure no readers except for Democratic operatives and the hopelessly gullible actually believe. (Note the use of inset campaign photo.)

I'd like to point out that the "paper" interviewed 2 Glendale civic leaders who have every reason to claim that the plan is still valid. It failed, however, to ask any Maspeth civic leaders what they thought about it. And that's because they knew what the response would be - OF COURSE IT WAS A SWAP.

Furthermore, I'd like to let you know of the deception that was employed here. Take a look at this email and pay attention to the highlighted parts:

Now get a load of this:

Because this rumor originated with Queens Crap, we asked how they received their information, with the understanding that they probably wouldn’t give us their exact source.

“NYPD,” the anonymous blogger behind Queens Crap wrote in response to a QNS reporter’s email inquiry. Those four letters were the extent of their message; no other specifics were provided. There are more than 51,000 employees of the NYPD, including more than 34,000 officers.

There was no follow up email from Anthony Giudice asking more questions. I supplied exactly what he asked for on the belief that they were actually investigating this and not in the process of writing a hit piece about my reporting while making Crowley look like a saint. "On background" means that your communication remains private and unsourced. And you'll notice that the reporter credited with the article is not the one that contacted me. This was in every aspect, a setup.

The funny thing is that after attempting to call me out on the carpet, they still didn't prove that there is no deal. The entire article is built on a DHS denial (we know they'd never lie) and speculation about whether or not Crowley would make a political gamble when she hasn't even declared that she will run for another term. It's really just a convoluted mess. In fact THIS part is gold because it goes against what they are alleging:

During an Aug. 3 meeting between representatives of the mayor’s office and local elected officials, Arcuri said, Crowley asked the city if the administration was taking the Glendale shelter plan “off the table.” None of the officials there answered her question, he noted.

Shouldn't the answer have been an emphatic "NO" if the true answer is no? And then this:

It is entirely possible that someone at the NYPD may have provided information about the Maspeth shelter to Queens Crap, but the statements of Crowley, city representatives and local civic leaders fighting the proposal seem to completely refute allegations of a secret deal.

Queens Crap stands by our original story. At an interdepartmental meeting with several government officials including representatives of the NYPD, the DHS said they are no longer interested in the Glendale site - mere blocks from Crowley's house - because they are opening another shelter in the district. The source of this information was present at the meeting and the source is SOLID. You readers can either choose to believe this blog which has been proven right way more often than wrong and is beholden to no one, or a paper with a history of giving meaningless awards to politicians and raking in holiday ad money from them.

Maybe QNS can investigate why, since the city has won every lawsuit regarding the Glendale site and the work permits have been approved, the shelter is not under construction if there hasn't been a deal to swap the sites. And why there was a secret meeting that all the electeds and the community board knew to show up at but failed to alert the local civic groups about.

Dear reporters, I hope it was worth it to lose all integrity for the sake of Liz Crowley.

You know when you are a blog that no politician will admit to reading, yet have been attacked by those very politicians and the lapdog media, that you are hitting a nerve and coming very close to exposing the truth.