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More from Progress Queens:

In Queens, faith in Government institutions was revealed to be severely lacking after New York City Council candidate Paul Graziano filed a civil petition in New York State Supreme Court for Queens County, alleging criminality, such as fraud and forgery, in the ballot petitioning process carried out by incumbent Councilmember Paul Vallone (D-Bayside). On the Queens Crap blog, which attracts some of Queens most formidable civic-minded activists, some of the comments posted by readers to news of the court filing expressed concern that the justices of the Queens County court system would not be able to independently oversee the Court case. To some Government reform activists in Queens, the Graziano Court petition served as a symbolic Rorschach test, providing insight into the public's lack of faith in the Queens County court system. Many comments on the Queens Crap post raised questions about the "allegiance" that justices in the Queens County court system owed to leaders of the Queens Democratic County Committee, expressed concern that Mr. Graziano would not be able to receive a "fair hearing," and invoked the resignation that the "the [Queens] Machine will work to stop this at all costs."

Concerns about possible interference by the Queens Democratic County Committee were rooted in the fact that the County committee supports the reelection of incumbents as a way to earn political allegiance and to create a lockstep on power and authority over local elected officials. The role of money in politics is also a factor, because the County committee can marshal resources to support the reelection of incumbents, leaving primary challengers at a distinct financial disadvantage. Indeed, as reported by Progress Queens, Mr. Graziano ultimately discontinued his Court petition due to the high anticipated costs of having to litigate his case, reaffirming the belief to some Government reform activists that the role of money in politics even extends to being able to successfully petition the Government for a redress of grievances. The allegations made by the Graziano campaign against the Vallone campaign heightened new fears about the integrity of the voting process in Queens. In the 2016 election cycle, it was revealed that the New York City Board of Elections purged large numbers of voters without cause, triggering the filing of a Federal civil rights complaint in Brooklyn Federal Court that was later joined by both the U.S. Attorney's Office, headed at that time then by Mr. Capers, and by the office of the State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman (D-New York). To some Government reform activists, it has appeared that Queens voters have been disenfranchised for two years in a row, first, in 2016, when some voters were purged from the rolls, and, second, this year, when Federal prosecutors did nothing to investigate the allegations of criminality in the Graziano petition against the Vallone campaign, thereby allowing voters to cast their ballots for an incumbent, who may later be investigated for wrong-doing, although there is no indication that Federal prosecutors are presently conducting any such investigation. The press office of the U.S. Attorney's Office in Brooklyn did not answer advance questions submitted by Progress Queens for this report.

Seeking to amend gravity knife law

From CBS:

A new push has been launched to reform New York state law against gravity knives.

State Assemblyman Dan Quart (D-Manhattan) is pushing for amendments to the law, which is 50 years old.

The Village Voice reported the law was initially intended to ban large knives that resemble switchblades, but it has been applied in more recent years to common knives with folding blades that can be purchased at hardware stores.

[DA Cyrus] Vance’s office has said most gravity knife cases end with the cases being thrown out.

Board of Standards and Appeals Reform Legislation Passes New York City Council

City Hall – Yesterday, the New York City Council passed a package of legislation aimed at reforming the New York City Board of Standards and Appeals (BSA). In the past developers have been able to circumvent city zoning laws restricting building forms, use, height, density, through the BSA even though local Community Boards and elected officials objected to their decisions. This legislation aims to reform applications, decisions, notifications, staffing and transparency around the BSA to be more accountable to the public. The BSA is a five-member body tasked with reviewing requests for variances and special permits related to affordable housing and city planning in the zoning law. The package includes nine bills and featured bipartisan support from sponsors including Governmental Operations Chair Ben Kallos, Majority Leader Jimmy Van Bramer, Minority Leader Steven Matteo and Council Members Karen Koslowitz (D-29) and Donovan Richards (D-31).

Application Reform:

Introduction 1392-A, by Kallos – Sets minimum application requirements for developers to show why zoning laws should not apply to them including key financial disclosures with analysis by real estate professionals, neighborhood studies showing unique conditions, and affirmations under penalties of perjury with fines for knowing violations of up to $15,000.

Decision Reforms:

Introduction 418-A, by Koslowitz – The BSA will be required to write decisions with responses to recommendations from Community Boards and Borough Boards.
Introduction 282-A, by Van Bramer - The BSA will be required to write decisions that respond to any relevant evidence and arguments submitted by the City Planning Commission, Community Boards, Borough Boards, lessees and tenants as well as owners.

Notification Reforms:

Introduction 1200-A, by Richards –Proof of service will be required for applications and materials mailed to Council Members, Borough Presidents, Community Boards and other city agencies, with verification of receipt to be posted online.
Introduction 514-A, by Matteo - Notifies property owners when variances are expiring and penalties will be incurred in the coming six months.

City Staffing Reforms:

Introduction 1390-A, by Kallos -The Department of City Planning will appoint a BSA coordinator to appear before the BSA to submit testimony in defense of the zoning resolution, and such testimony would be available online.
Introduction 1391-A, by Kallos - A state certified real estate appraiser with no less than 5 years’ experience will be available to work for or consult with the BSA to review and analyze real estate financials provided by developers.

Transparency Reforms:

Introduction 1393-A, by Kallos - The number of pre-application meeting requests, number of applications, number approved or denied, and an average length of time until a decision would be reported biannually.
Introduction 1394-A, by Kallos – The location of all variances and special permit applications acted upon by the Board since 1998 would be available as a list and a layer on an interactive map of the city.

“We are taking away the rubber stamp from a government agency that used it far too often over the objections of residents. Developers will have, to be honest in applications that include the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. The Board of Standards and Appeals will have to consider community objections and write decisions outlining why they disagree. The City Planning Commission will have to watch over our zoning laws,” said Council Member Ben Kallos, Chair of the Committee on Governmental Operations, which has oversight of the Board of Standards and Appeals. “Thank you to the Municipal Art Society and Citizens Union for their reports and guidance, Borough President Brewer, as well as Council Members Koslowitz, Matteo, Richards, and Majority Leader Van Bramer for their long-standing leadership on this issue, and our Community Boards who fight the Board of Standards and Appeals on behalf of all New Yorkers every day.”

New anti-corruption law doesn't go very far

From NY1:

In the final hours of the legislative session in June, lawmakers passed what they called "ethics reform." But some believe it's more notable for what wasn't included.

"The ethics bill is a major step forward," said Governor Andrew Cuomo. "Is it everything? No. Ethics, in many ways, is like other activities in life. It's an ongoing pursuit."

But critics say the legislation does little to pursue actual corruption. In the last year and a half, the leaders of both legislative houses were tried and convicted on federal corruption charges.

"The legislature and the governor missed a huge opportunity in responding to the outcry," said Dick Dadey of Citizens Union. "Ninety percent of New Yorkers wanted action on ethics reform that basically dealt with preventing corruption, and they did nothing."

"Certainly, Albany had a bad year in terms of trust. You have members of the legislature who were indicted, went to jail. So, they needed an ethics reform," Cuomo said.

The ethics reform requires more stringent separation between campaigns and independent expenditure groups that advocate for specific causes. It also appears to target nonprofit and good-government groups by forcing them disclose their donors.

Calling for an end to Citizens United

From Gotham Gazette:

In a landmark year for corruption in the state legislature, 2015 saw the arrest and conviction of two of the most powerful political leaders in New York. A crescendo of voices across the state -- from good government watchdogs to lawmakers -- expressed outrage and demanded stronger ethics laws and campaign finance reforms. In one sense, Albany now has the opportunity to put its money where its mouth is -- and all it needs is one signature.

New York is one signatory away from becoming the 17th state in the country to call for a constitutional amendment to negate the Supreme Court’s 2010 decision in the Citizens United case, which gave entities such as corporations and unions the same rights as individuals in contributing to electoral campaigns.

A successful bipartisan appeal for a federal constitutional amendment in the State Assembly has yet to be replicated by the State Senate, where 31 senators -- one short of a majority -- support overturning Citizens United to minimize the role of money in politics. While agreement by a majority of each house from New York would only be advisory, like the other states that have reached consensus, a groundswell for negating Citizens United could influence Congress.

They want how much of a raise?

From the Daily News:

Poverty-crying City Council members are quietly plotting for a massive pay raise that will bring their six-figure salaries up to a whopping $192,500 — a 71% windfall — as cops face a proposed 1% hike, and firefighters will only see a 2.5% bump this year, sources told the Daily News.

More than half a dozen Council members — who earn base pay of $112,500 — have been holding hush-hush meetings to try to engineer the huge raises, which would bring their salaries above those of the governor and members of Congress, multiple Council sources said.

The members are hoping they can make the eye-popping raises more palatable to the public by agreeing to a slew of ethics reforms, which they hope will convince good government groups to back their plan, the sources said.

Judicial races are likely all that you'll vote for this year

From the Times Ledger:

Three county Supreme Court justice seats and three Civil Court justice seats are up for grabs on Election Day next Tuesday, with Queens District Attorney Richard Brown also seeking re-election to what would be his sixth-consecutive full term.

All registered Queens voters will be eligible to vote in any three of the races, but most of the votes will likely be cast in eastern and southeast Queens, where off-year Assembly and City Council races are going to get the greatest turnout.

Should you care enough about the judicial races to go out and vote tomorrow, the Ledger has a decent rundown of who's in each race.

What better time to start a petition drive to reform the elections process?

US being screwed out of jobs

From the Daily News:

Paragons of American corporate citizenship are perverting an immigration program that was designed to boost the country’s high-tech economy.

The U.S. Department of Labor has let businesses as prominent as Walt Disney World and Toys R Us use a special category of work-related visas not only to cut costs but to send jobs overseas.

President Obama wants immigration reform? It’s never going to happen this way.

So-called H-1B visas are intended to admit into the U.S. highly educated, highly skilled workers whose talents are desperately needed. For example, a company may apply to bring computer engineers from abroad if it cannot find enough of them in America. That, at least. was the theory.

Now, it turns out that consultants that specialize in helping companies move operations overseas are securing most of the 85,000 H-1B visas issued annually — and are using them to help eliminate jobs wholesale.

With calculating cruelty, the consulting firms obtain visas and bring workers in to copycat the tasks of U.S. workers slated, whether they know it or not, for the unemployment line.

When the knowledge download is done, the visa workers fly back overseas, often to India, to train their countrymen to join the company payroll at a much cheaper rate.

BDB losing support among black community

From the NY Times:

Dozens of black ministers, justice reform advocates and civil rights activists and four black members of Congress gathered last Monday at Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem to discuss a delicate matter: What to do about Mayor Bill de Blasio.

Over the course of the morning meeting, attendees voiced a series of concerns: Mr. de Blasio, some complained, seems to have lost his appetite for criminal justice reform. The mayor, they said, has been too slow to take action against the police officer whose use of a chokehold on Eric Garner, an unarmed black man on Staten Island, led to Mr. Garner’s death. Other participants grumbled that Mr. de Blasio and his staff have simply not done enough to communicate with black community leaders on issues like affordable housing.

The unusual congregation of community influencers, convened by the Rev. Calvin O. Butts III, was part gripe session, part strategic huddle, revealing the first hints of frustration with a mayor who won 96 percent of the black vote when he was elected in 2013.

Black voters have been an essential base of support for the mayor, remaining largely enthusiastic about him even as his support has wilted with other groups in the city. The bonds were forged in Mr. de Blasio’s early criticism of stop-and-frisk policing, and reinforced by politically resonant images of his biracial family broadcast during the 2013 campaign.

Yet the perception that Mr. de Blasio, a Democrat, has eased up on his commitment to police reform has plainly begun to rankle some: At a weekend gathering this month at the Rev. Al Sharpton’s National Action Network, Representative Hakeem Jeffries, a Brooklyn Democrat, publicly lamented that “broken windows policing,” the aggressive enforcement of minor violations, was still policy across the city.

Mr. Jeffries, who also attended the gathering at Abyssinian, said in an interview that there was “growing disenchantment with the administration in the black community.”

“The disenchantment relates to policing issues, the mayor’s support of broken windows, his lack of support for banning
chokeholds and his willingness to support making resisting arrest a felony,” Mr. Jeffries said, adding: “We’re very early in the mayor’s first term, and there’s a lot of room for progress.”

Cuomo ready to shut down the government over reform

From Capital New York:

Governor Andrew Cuomo laid out a five-point plan to combat corruption in the State Legislature during a speech Monday at New York University, promising to use his power in the state budget process to enact new reforms, even if it means shutting down the government.

“A governor’s maximum leverage, vis-a-vis the Legislature, is the budget process. In that exchange, the governor can effectively say to the Legislature, ‘Either pass my budget, or shut down the government,” Cuomo said, recalling the federal shutdown that occurred during his time working for the Clinton administration. “It was ugly, but sometimes ugly is necessary.”

The governor’s speech comes shortly after Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver was arrested by federal law enforcement officials and accused of taking millions in bribes and kickbacks as part of his work with two outside law firms. U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, whose office is prosecuting the case, said he is continuing to investigate lawmakers in Albany, which he has deemed a “cauldron of corruption."

Asked after the speech if he had “any clue of what was to come regarding Sheldon Silver,” Cuomo denied any prior knowledge.

“Absolutely not,” said Cuomo, whose Moreland Commission probed legislators' finances before it was disbanded. “No one had any clue. I was totally shocked on a number of levels.”

At the heart of Cuomo’s proposals are changes he’s previously presented: the creation of more robust campaign finance restrictions, alongside a public financing system and far greater disclosure of legislators' outside income.

The governor also said he would push for a change to the state constitution that would deprive a convicted public official of a pension, end the use of campaign funds for personal use and curtail legislative “per diem” payments to cover only actual expenses.

No more free legal rides for crooked pols

From the Queens Gazette:

Describing himself as “outraged” that public funds totalling more than $2 million were used to pay an ex-state senator’s legal bill recently, state Senator Michael Gianaris has introduced legislation to end the arrangement.

“It is sadly typical in the upside-down world of Albany that public financing for campaign committees only exists for those accused of crimes,” Gianaris stated as he introduced his legislation over-riding the existing law.

The Astoria lawmaker added: “This multimillion dollar payout is a glaring example of the desperate need to reform New York State election law, and we need to close this loophole immediately.”

Gianaris (D–Western Queens) said that just last week, the attorney general’s office was forced by statute to approve reimbursing former state Senator Joseph Bruno’s “long dormant” campaign committee to the tune of $1.51 million for legal fees accrued in defense of corruption and bribery charges.

In addition, Gianaris recounted, the state must reimburse a legal defense fund Bruno created in 2009 for an additional $564,547.

As of now, state employees are entitled to reimbursement for legal defense if the charges in question arose from their official duties and are subsequently dropped or the accused is acquitted.

Senator Gianaris’ bill would change current law so that neither campaign committees nor legal defense funds would be eligible for reimbursement, thus preventing any future payouts similar to the Bruno case.

Gianaris said the proposed bill would also require that any legal defense funds raised be utilized in full before any public reimbursement takes place, in order to insure that public funds are protected. Gianaris has long been a leading advocate for ethics reform and election law reform in particular, and believes this loophole needs to be closed immediately.

The NYPD's questionable no-bid contract

From the NY Post:

The NYPD is poised to issue a no-bid contract to a Martha’s Vineyard-based firm who’s boss is a pal of Bill Bratton who worked with the police commissioner when he was a private consultant, records show.

The department plans to sign the deal with Strategic Policy Partnerships to fulfill Bratton and Mayor de Blasio’s mandate to fix community policing in the wake of the Eric Garner case.

The firm would help high-ranking officers mend community relations and enhance cadet training among other tasks, according to a Dec. 19 notice in the City Record, the city’s official publication for procurements.

The consulting firm is run by Bratton friend Robert Wasserman. Bratton — who ran his own law-enforcement consulting firm, the Bratton Group, before taking over the NYPD’s top job last January — raked in more than $53,000 while working with Wasserman on a contract with the Baltimore Police Department in 2013.

Their firms also worked together as law-enforcement consultants in Oakland, Calif., where Bratton earned $125,000.

Last year, Wasserman’s firm had a contract “involving the transition of the Bratton administration in 2014” that was funded through the nonprofit Police Foundation, according to NYPD Deputy
Commissioner Stephen Davis.

But the new contract will be with the NYPD and will be paid for by taxpayers.

The NYPD refused to disclose the amount of the contract, and Police Foundation President Susan Birnbaum did not return calls.

Introducing Progress Queens

Dear All :

I have launched a news Web site called Progress Queens, which will primarily report about news and politics in the borough of Queens, but it will also include articles about New York city and state politics.

The site, which was launched on September 15, can be found here : http://www.progressqueens.com/

I'm currently looking for partners, to help me expand this platform. I envision Progress Queens to be supportive of an aggressive reform agenda and an opposition publication against the corrupt status quo.

Thanks,
-- Louis
louisflores@louisflores.com

Groups fight phony redistricting reform

From Crains:

Good-government groups have long sought to change the once-a-decade redistricting process in Albany that has resulted in oddly shaped legislative lines favoring incumbents. But with a proposal on the November ballot to finally and dramatically alter the process, the reformers are launching a campaign against it.

Common Cause New York, NYPIRG and others are opposing what they call "fake redistricting reform" that would be enshrined in the state's constitution if a majority of voters back it. The groups say the proposal is a far cry from truly impartial redistricting, which has been adopted in states such as California, because final approval of the district maps would remain in the hands of the Legislature.

"In the end, this is an attempt to constitutionally memorialize a system where both parties run roughshod over the voters," said Susan Lerner, executive director of Common Cause New York.

But some fear that reformers' solutions would run roughshod over the business community instead by facilitating a Democratic takeover of the state Senate, which could lead to more regulation and mandates for employers. Democratic voters outnumber Republicans two-to-one statewide, requiring the GOP to gerrymander to keep its numbers up.

Common Cause plans to raise money for a grassroots advocacy effort, though its funding is expected to be relatively modest.

Legislatures try to reform the library

From the Daily News:

City Hall and Albany both came down hard on the Queens Public Library this week after its embattled chief executive, Thomas Galante, refused to open the organization’s financial records.

In Albany, a bill to reform the library’s governance was approved by the State Senate by a vote of 59-1 on Friday. The measure was previously approved by unanimous vote of the Assembly, and Gov. Cuomo is expected to sign it into law.

Introduced by state Sen. Mike Gianaris (D-Queens), the bill would reduce the terms of the library’s trustees to three years, from five. It also would empower the mayor and the Queens borough president, who together appoint half of the library’s trustees, to remove an appointee at will. And it would subject the library to the state’s Freedom of Information Law.

In Albany, a bill to reform the library’s governance was approved by the State Senate by a vote of 59-1 on Friday. The measure was previously approved by unanimous vote of the Assembly, and Gov. Cuomo is expected to sign it into law.

The bill would allow Queens Borough President Melinda Katz, who championed the measure, to replace trustees who have rebuffed her demands to open the library’s books to the City Controller’s office and to suspend Galante from his $392,000-a-year post.

“I don’t want to remove members just to remove them, but I need for them to do the right thing,” Katz said Friday. “Taxpayers need to know the money they are spending on a great library system is being spent properly.”

The de Blasio administration’s budget deal with the City Council, reached Thursday night, granted the city’s three library systems just $10 million in new funding, far less than the $65 million they were seeking in order to restore full, six-day service at all branches.

The FBI and the city’s Department of Investigation launched probes of the library’s construction contracts after the Daily News revealed questionable expenditures by Galante, including a renovation of his executive suite that added a $27,000 private smoking deck.

The mayor’s office offered more money if the libraries agreed to open their books, two sources involved in the talks told The News. But when Queens library officials refused to do so, the administration limited the budget increase to just $10 million.

Cuomo challenger releases plan to clean up Albany

The Astorino/Moss Plan to Clean Up Albany

• Term Limits - Limit statewide elected officials to two terms (8 years) and state legislators to four terms (8 years).
  
• Limit Legislative Session - Convene regular session the first week in January and end on April 1, when the budget is due; Special session throughout the year can be called by a petition request from two-thirds vote of both legislative houses or by the Governor as defined in the State Constitution.
  
• Independent State Commission on Public Ethics (I-SCOPE) to replace J-COPE. Five members appointed by judiciary with independent budget to receive and investigate complaints of official misconduct, including sexual harassment and assault.
  
• Strengthen FOIL - Require proactive online posting of records and information required for release under FOIL requests; Information would be posted on single statewide database managed by State Comptroller.
  
• Defined Contribution Plan for Newly Elected - Require all newly elected officials to join SUNY's Defined Contribution Plan instead of the existing pension system.
  
• Pension Strip -Loss of taxpayer-funded pension for any elected official convicted of public corruption.
  
• Prohibit Personal Use of Campaign Money - Establish clear guidelines to limit donations solely to election-related activities.
  
• Ban Conflict of Interest Member Items - No "member items" to any non-profit or business affiliated with a state elected official or an immediate family member.
  
• Replace Per-Diem System and require receipts for travel, lodge and food.
  
• End Taxpayer-funded Vanity - Prohibit any building, facility or capital project that was paid for with taxpayer money to be named for any current elected official.

Sounds good, but will it happen? Polls show Cuomo with a very large lead over Astorino.

Melissa takes 1st step at reform

From the Daily News:

The City Council speaker would be stripped of the power to determine how much each lawmaker gets in member-item funding, under a set of rule changes to be proposed on Tuesday.

Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito is set to sponsor the bill, which a majority of council members have said they’d support. The bill would give each council district in this year’s budget the same amount of money, which lawmakers can dole out at their discretion, sources said. The allotment could be increased by up to 25% based on the poverty level in a district, sources said.

Critics have long bemoaned how the current arrangement allows the speaker to play favorites by slashing funding for opponents or those who simply failed to fall in line on a particular issue.

One last bill, thanks to Vito

From CBS New York:

The state Assembly has entered into two contracts worth $205,000 for an outside counsel to handle sexual harassment policy development and investigations after a high-profile scandal.

The state comptroller’s office says Tuesday the approval is for contracts with Rossein Associates. A spokesman for Democratic Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver says the firm was retained by the Ethics Committee as part of reforms announced in May.

Merrick Rossein is a law professor at the City University of New York Law School at Queens College.

Change may come to Speaker's role

From Capital New York:

A City Council coalition is pushing for a series of reforms to empower individual members at the expense of the Council's next speaker.

Thirty existing and incoming members have signed onto the changes, led by Brooklyn councilman Brad Lander, who co-chairs the body's growing Progressive Caucus.

Council bills require 26 votes to pass, so if all 30 supporters are re-elected on Tuesday and continue to back the measures, the new rules are likely to be enacted.

"We think we've seen time and again where you get reform, where you get more transparency, you actually get a more effective body," Lander said.

The councilman and his allies want discretionary funds for non-profits to be distributed evenly amongst the body's 51 members, or allocated based on the size, population and average income of those members' districts.

The current system, which is based on political clout and specific requests for funding from members, was the source of much criticism of outgoing speaker Christine Quinn during her unsuccessful mayoral campaign this year.

The 30 supporters, including several candidates for speaker, also hope to facilitate the introduction of bills and subsequent committee hearings by creating a legislative division that works independently of the speaker.

Presently, the Council's legislative division must either draft bills at members' requests in a certain timeframe, or provide reasons for why the measures will not be pursued, Quinn spokeswoman Maria Alvarado said.

Legislators desperately trying to hide sources of income

From the NY Times:

New York, like many other states, has a part-time Legislature; the 212 members get a base salary of $79,500, plus leadership bonuses and expenses. Now the Moreland Commission to Investigate Public Corruption, created by Gov. Andrew Cuomo and staffed with top-flight lawyers and prosecutors, has started asking about the private business deals lawmakers have kept hidden for decades.

Even where state law requires some minimal disclosure, legislators have made it hard to find the details. To take just one obstacle, lawmakers fill out disclosure forms by hand; when the form was posted on the Internet this summer, it took two public interest groups, Common Cause/NY and New York Public Interest Research Group; a newspaper, The New York World at Columbia University; and two interns working for two weeks to make sense of it all.

What they found merely whets the appetite for even greater disclosure. The Assembly speaker, Sheldon Silver, made up to $920,000 for his work with a law firm and his investments; the Senate Republican leader, Dean Skelos, earned as much as $263,000 in legal work, investments and deferred compensation. All told, 115 of the 212 legislators earned income on the side.

Crucially, however, these raw numbers do not show in detail where that money comes from, and thus where the conflicts of interest may lie. Is this legal client pushing a particular piece of legislation? Is that insurance company seeking a tax exemption?