Tweeding on the Park?

From A Walk in the Park:

The city has finally announced the compensation it will receive from the controversial new Tavern On the Green and not surprisingly it is far less than what it was previously offered, NYC Park Advocates has learned.

The fees to be paid to the city begin at just $1,000,000 a year and rise to $3,273,000 for the final year totaling $ 38.7 million over the twenty year agreement.

By comparison, Jennifer Leroy whose family had operated the iconic eatery since 1974 - agreed to pay the city $86 million in fees over a 20-year lease according to financial documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Law. Mayor Bloomberg rejected that proposal two years ago and instead awarded the license to Dean Poll who offered $57.3 million. Mr. Poll, who runs the nearby Boathouse Cafe - was unable to open the restaurant.

In addition to losing tens of million of dollars in lost revenue the City is also spending $ 10 million dollars in capital improvements fixing up the building for the new concessionaire who will then build out the space. The dramatic renovation has completely gutted the property.

The Bloomberg administration awarded the twenty-year Central Park bar and restaurant concession to the Philadelphia-based Emerald Green Group, where Jim Caiola, a brother-in-law of ex-deputy mayor - and current Bloomberg LP. employee Kevin Sheekey - is a partner. Mr. Sheekey is also the older brother of former Parks Department spokeswoman Megan Sheekey who was appointed by Bloomberg as the president of the Mayor's Fund to Advance New York City.

I think an investigation is in order.

How Bloomberg rewards his volunteers

From the NY Times:

Michael R. Bloomberg took his turn in the witness chair in one of the odder political trials in recent memory. Never glancing at the jurors, his facial muscles held in equipoise during cross-examination, he called to mind a lizard sitting in the sun.

Patricia E. Harris, the first deputy mayor, took off three months from her day job to “volunteer” in the mayor’s campaign, and walked away with a $450,000 thank-you from the mayor. Kevin Sheekey, the former deputy mayor, also “volunteered” and walked away with a pile. (He promised on his first day of testimony to ask his wife how much the mayor paid him; the next day, Mr. Sheekey explained that the couple had taken in a movie and darned if the question had not slipped his mind.)

It’s in this context that Mr. Haggerty finds himself sitting at the defense table staring at old friends. He was not so much a “volunteer” as a prized political operative who specialized in putting his candidates on the ballot, and trying to knock opponents off. He is adept at what is called ballot security in a courtroom — but voter suppression on the streets of New York.

From NY1:

Bloomberg largely kept his cool under intense cross-examination, even when the questions touched upon everything from his decision to run for a third term to a payroll scandal at City Hall.

He did, however, show a lack of knowledge about some key aspects of the case, namely the laws governing contributions to political parties.

“Quite frankly we were a little surprised with the number of questions that the mayor simply did not know the answer to,” said Dennis Vacco, attorney for John Haggerty.

At one point, in an apparent effort to discredit the mayor, the defense tried to use words from the mayor's own autobiography against him. The prosecution pounced, calling it courtroom theater.

“That is not an ambush when we are pointing to the witness’ own words in an autobiography. This is the DA’s witness. He is not ours. You would think that the DA would come better prepared,” said Vacco.

Haggerty points finger at Sheekey

From the Daily News:

Mayor Bloomberg's political mastermind was outed in court papers Friday as the architect of a plan to hide $1.1 million in Election Day poll-watching.

Indicted campaign aide John Haggerty said in a 41-page motion that former Deputy Mayor Kevin Sheekey convinced Bloomberg to hire the state Independence Party to do the monitoring - instead of using his own campaign team.

Bloomberg's money went into the party's "housekeeping account," which is supposed to support only general party activities.

The Independence Party wasn't required to report the spending until two months after Bloomberg's reelection on Nov. 3, 2009. The party simply listed payments to a shell company Haggerty set up.

"It was Mr. Sheekey who decided that Mr. Haggerty should contact the Independence Party and request that ballot security be conducted through that political party," Haggerty's lawyers wrote.

Sheekey, who is now at Bloomberg LP, did not respond to requests for comment.

From Huffington Post:

Bloomberg is also not above doing favors for wealthy friends. The children and relatives of Lloyd Blankfein, Goldman Sachs CEO, Peter Peterson, a founder of the Blackstone Group, former Deputy Mayor Daniel Doctoroff and Laurence Tisch, CBS chief executive, all jumped to the front of the line and received highly coveted internships at New York City Hall. So did Luke Russert, son of Tim Russert of NBC's "Meet the Press," Amy Secunda, daughter of a co-founder of Bloomberg's info-tech company, the daughter of the President of the city's Health and Hospitals Corporation, and Bloomberg's own daughter Emma.

While all this may have legally been honest graft, Bloomberg is now under scrutiny in an investigation into more traditional forms of graft such as theft and bribery. John Haggerty, Jr., a Republican Party consultant and a friend of Mayor Moneybags has been indicted for stealing over a million dollars from the 2009 Bloomberg reelection campaign. Haggerty was "supposed" to provide election day services to the Bloomberg campaign through the New York State Independence Party, but the Manhattan district attorney charges he pocketed the money instead and used it to buy a house. Haggerty faces a possible 25 years in prison.

I love to see Moneybags squirm and I am hoping for a big messy trial where Bloomberg is forced to testify, but I bet Haggerty cops a plea for a much reduced sentence, time served or probation and somehow ends up on the Bloomberg or Republican party payroll again. At a press conference, an annoyed Moneybags was grilled by reporters about the case and would only reply he had been asked by the District Attorney not to comment. Of course something like that never stopped him from pontificating before.

From True News from ChangeNYC:

Harold Wolfson who Replaced political guru, Kevin Sheekey, as deputy mayor is now caught up in the cover-up of the Haggerty 750,000 scandal and will have to exit City Hall soon. Yesterday, Wolfson said the money given a day before a hotly contested election by Bloomberg to the Independence Party was a donation and not for campaign expenses. Wolfson's current explanation of the money that wound up in Haggerty's pocket is 180 degrees different that the one her gave the NYP early this year (January 30th). At that time the Deputy Mayor said that the money that Bloomberg gave the party was for election day expenses. On June 10th in the NYP Wolfson also told the NYP that Haggerty was not authorized to keep any extra funds. Wolfson June 10th statement seem to agree with his January 30th statement that the $750,000 was for expenses. How can you return a donation which he claimed yesterday? Additionally the Village Voice Wayne Barrett wrote in February that Bloomberg's lawyers admitted the campaign broke the law. What the Manhattan DA must now investigate is why and who told Wolfson to now say the money was a donation to the Independence Party.

3rd term not exactly a charm

From the NY Post:

Four months into Mike Bloomberg’s third term — amid a fiscal crisis, the threat from Albany cutting 18,500 city jobs, and of a growing roll call of top aides departing City Hall — Bloomberg appears to be a Mayor alone, his old guard falling faster than the new blood trickles in.

Earlier this week Bloomberg’s longest serving and most loyal and powerful aide, Deputy Mayor of Operations Ed Skyler, announced that he would be leaving by the end of the month to run government relations for Citigroup, where he’ll earn a reported $1 million-a-year salary.

Skyler’s departure came on the heels of Deputy Mayor Kevin Sheekey’s March announcement that he would be assuming a lucrative top post at Bloomberg LP, as well as the departure of communications director James Anderson, who went to work for the Mayor’s charitable foundation.

Bloomberg’s sustainability guru and the architect of PlaNYC, Rohit Aggarwala, also announced this week that he will be following his wife to California after his April 10 wedding, where he’ll start looking for a new job.

After years of loyally beating the drum for their boss, Bloomberg’s top aides are now thinking first about what’s best for them before weighing what fits City Hall’s interests. In total, more than 15 high-level staffers and commissioners have announced their departure since Bloomberg decided to run for a third term.

The Daily News noticed as well.

Weiner wants to know

Rep. Anthony Weiner cries campaign foul on Mayor Bloomberg
By Erin Einhorn
DAILY NEWS CITY HALL BUREAU

Congressman Anthony Weiner accused Mayor Bloomberg on Sunday of breaking campaign finance rules by failing to disclose campaign expenses.

"There were reports months ago that he was polling, and yet we haven't seen any campaign filing that indicates polling expenses," said Weiner (D-Brooklyn), who hopes to block Bloomberg's run for a third term.

Weiner and other candidates for city office last week filed reports on campaign fund-raising and expenses.

Bloomberg, who plans to spend $80 million of his own fortune on his campaign, said he had neither contributors nor expenses and so won't need to file until March.

Bloomberg campaign adviser Howard Wolfson said no staffers joined the payroll before Jan. 11.

_________________________

You see no staffers joined the campaign payroll before January 11th because Deputy Mayor Kevin Sheekey has been acting as Bloomberg's campaign manager while on the city payroll. And now that Bloomberg is in official campaign mode, expect to be seeing an awful lot of him on TV today.

Time for a federal investigation

If Michael Bloomberg is so interested in trimming the city's budget, allow us to kindly suggest one way to save the city $250,008.00 in 2009: Fire Kevin Sheekey immediately. The pit bull deputy mayor, who championed Bloomberg's non-bid for the White House and then counseled his boss against running for a third term (advice his boss ignored, of course), is now on the hot seat for his aggressive efforts to get Caroline Kennedy named as Hillary Clinton's successor in the Senate.

The Last Straw for Kevin Sheekey

While on the city payroll. While they are cutting back on police, fire and sanitation services. I could go on...

Who have we heard this from before?

A defiant Caroline Kennedy says she "wouldn't be beholden to anybody" - including Mayor Bloomberg - if she's picked to become New York's next U.S. senator.

"I'm really coming into this as somebody who isn't, you know, part of the system, who obviously, you know, stands for the values of, you know, the Democratic Party," Kennedy told the Daily News Saturday during a wide-ranging interview.

"I know how important it is to, you know, to be my own person. And, you know, and that would be obviously true with my relationship with the mayor."

Kennedy, sipping on peppermint tea at an upper East Side diner, was responding to Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, who said she could be more beholden to Bloomberg than Gov. Paterson, who will make the Senate appointment.

JFK's daughter has been helped behind the scenes by the mayor's top aide, Kevin Sheekey. She has also hired a political consulting firm with ties to Bloomberg.

Caroline Kennedy tells Daily News: I wouldn't be beholden to anybody

And you're rich so you can't be bought by anyone, right?

Koch a fan of Bloomie; Sheekey a fan of Vallone

[Koch’s former chief of staff Diane] Coffey thanked Bloomberg for hosting the Koch birthday bash again, and said she and others “stand ready to canvass again, in Queens. Send us to Weiner territory,” referring to Representative Anthony Weiner, one Bloomberg's likely challengers. Then, for effect, Coffey added, “Yes we can.”

Other highlights from the party:

Hearing Deputy Mayor Kevin Sheekey greeting former City Council Speaker Peter Vallone Sr., saying loudly, "Here's my guy!"

At Koch's Birthday, Bloomberg's Backers 'Stand Ready to Canvass Again, in Queens.'

Please pass the barf bag...

He can't be bought, but he can buy everyone else

For a real education on what has taken place over the last few months, take some time out of your busy day to read the whole article linked to below:

Even his strongest allies have a hard time naming a memorable achievement from Bloomberg's second term—beyond his sparking a national gun-control campaign. Instead, he was fixated for most of the last two years by an always-improbable, yet ballyhooed pursuit of the presidency, followed by a largely unnoticed, two-month-long audition for the consolation prize of vice president.

In one of the most sordid performances by a city executive in modern history, Deputy Mayor Kevin Sheekey appeared on NY1 in May to declare that "the person who picks Mayor Bloomberg as their vice-presidential candidate wins the election," partly because Bloomberg would "help finance a campaign" with "between zero and a billion" dollars. This televised and indiscriminate bribe offer generated no takers and, more remarkably, drew not one word of fire from the city media.

The Transformation of Mike Bloomberg

The Bloomberg who came into office as the anti-politician, promising to transform city government, has been transformed himself. Some of us liked him precisely because his wealth insulated him from the kind of horsetrading that diminished his predecessors. But seven years later, Bloomberg has not only proved himself to be a master politician, as hungry for power as anyone we've ever seen, but he's also ended up putting nearly everyone who deals with the city deep into his political debt.

The New York City Campaign Finance Board (CFB), which the Times has called the "crown jewel of city political life," was compelled by the mayor and Quinn—who, together, appoint its members—to issue the "draft" of an advisory opinion designed to push undecided council members into the "yes" column. The board assured the council that if the extension passed and a member decided to run for re-election, the thousands of dollars that some term-limited members had already spent in seeking higher office would not count against their cap in a new council race. But it wasn't the substance of the ruling that was dismaying—it was the timing of it. According to sources close to the CFB, Bloomberg and Quinn staffers demanded that the board act before the council vote, with Quinn threatening to pass a similar bill—but with detrimental consequences—if the CFB failed to act. Asked twice if Bloomberg aides had lobbied the board to issue this unprecedented opinion in anticipation of a legislative vote, executive director Amy Loprest dodged the question and finally said: "I can't comment on that." Bloomberg even sullied his own charitable generosity, summoning nonprofits he funds to council hearings to pay homage despite their tax-exempt status, as if there is now a turnstile at his supposedly "anonymous" foundation.

Mario Cuomo trudged down to testify for the extension without revealing that the managing partner at his law firm is a director of Bloomberg L.P. and that the company is the law firm's top client. Ed Koch went from hosting his weekly show on Bloomberg Radio to celebrating the prospect of a third Bloomberg administration. Peter Vallone, who insisted when he was speaker that the only way to undo term limits was by referendum, switched sides without mentioning the $1.8 million in fees his family firm collected last year for lobbying City Hall (to say nothing about his son keeping the family seat). Five unions with fresh new contracts, thanks to Mike Bloomberg, rushed to the witness table, some closing their deals right before and some right after their appearance. Time Warner's Richard Parsons did a stint at the hearing and on his own channel (NY1), even while the Bloomberg administration was extending the company's lucrative cable franchise for six months and considering a 10-year renewal.

Mayor lobbying with our money

Mayor Bloomberg never showed up at hearings on whether he can run for a third term, but dozens of people waited hours to praise him anyway - many of them spurred by the best supporters money could buy.

It wasn't Bloomberg's money, though.

It was yours.

There was the mayor's legal counsel and the city's corporation counsel, both paid with tax dollars, testifying that Bloomberg can and should get another term.

There were aides from the mayor's Community Assistance Unit, who rounded up pro-Bloomberg speakers from the community and religious and civic groups they work with all day long - many of which thrive on city grants.

There were the dozens of "Ready, Willing and Able" guys from the Doe Fund, which gets funding from the city - and used its vans to bring people to the hearing.

And they were all working at the behest of Deputy Mayor Kevin Sheekey, Bloomberg's political operator, who is opposed to the third-term bid but is doing his $196,574 job anyway.

Hyping 3rd term for Hizzoner - your money

Cheeky Sheekey

Bloomberg's ballot plan - if he goes for it
by Kathleen Lucadamo
Daily News Staff Writer

Mayor Bloomberg has a "master plan" to get on the ballot in all 50 states should he decide to run for President, a political consultant close to City Hall said.

Deputy Mayor Kevin Sheekey, at Bloomberg's request, has organized a national network of volunteers for a potential campaign and has conducted extensive research on his boss' chances of winning, according to Doug Schoen, a consultant and Bloomberg's former pollster.

"To ask your aides to do background work and statistical analysis is a reasonable and appropriate thing," Schoen told New York 1's Dominic Carter on Friday.

"[Sheekey] has done a very, very sophisticated analysis of the electorate. I think Sheekey probably knows more about ... voters - and particularly these restless and anxious moderates - than anyone," Schoen said. "And I think he has a sense as to what the electorate is looking for. And armed with that information and how the race plays out in the next two or three weeks, on both the Democratic and Republican side, I think you will see if the mayor changes his mind."

Schoen said he speaks with Sheekey once or twice a week and that Bloomberg is willing to spend $500 million on a campaign. He predicts any move would come around March 5.

Bloomberg has repeatedly denied he's planning to seek the White House.

Interesting thing about this Sheekey fellow. He's been working on the mayor's campaign for more than a year when he was supposed to be working for us. Actually, Bloomberg created his high paying position on the city payroll exclusively for him as a 'thank you' for getting him re-elected. And when the press questions his whereabouts, this is what they get: "This is Kevin Sheekey; I'm REDACTED, but Please Leave a Message". This of course is all done with impunity.

Photo from NY Times

Need an axe?

Advisers have said Mr. Bloomberg, a billionaire many times over, might invest as much as $1 billion of his own fortune (he spent about $160 million on his two mayoral races) on a presidential campaign.

Bloomberg Moves Closer to Running for President

The key players — virtually the only players — in Mr. Bloomberg’s embryonic campaign are three of his deputy mayors, Kevin Sheekey, Edward Skyler and Patricia E. Harris. Another aide, Patrick Brennan, who was the political director of Mr. Bloomberg’s 2005 re-election campaign, resigned as commissioner of the city’s Community Assistance Unit earlier this year to spend more time exploring the mayor’s possible national campaign.

That's funny, I thought Brennan resigned to join the Parkside Group. Will they be running Bloomberg's campaign?

Oh, and Bloomie, as NY Mag recently put it, "Shit, or get off the pot."