Gianaris aide involved in de Blasio scandal

From Sunnyside Post:

A representative of State Sen. Michael Gianaris’ office has been caught up in the campaign finance investigation that has embroiled the de Blasio administration.

Matt Lerch, an Astoria resident who represents Gianaris at community board meetings and local events, took on the role of being the campaign manager to reelect State Sen. Cecilia Tkaczyk in 2014, one of the three Democrats that de Blasio’s fundraising team backed to put the State Senate in the hands of the Democrats.

The State Board of Elections presented a campaign e-mail sent by Lerch as a key piece of evidence supporting its allegation that de Blasio’s fundraising team, the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee—headed by Gianaris — and two County Democrat committees were acting in concert to skirt campaign finance rules to get big contributions into the hands of the three must-win Senate candidates.

This e-mail was sent to Hayes Clement, the treasurer of the Ulster County Democrat Committee, asking about funds from a donor.

“Hayes, I am just following up…Has the check for $60K cleared? Below is our banking info, we need the 60 transferred over ASAP please,” Lerch wrote.

The e-mail was sent by Lerch on Oct. 16, 2014.

State campaign finance records show that the Ulster County Democratic Committee received a $60,000 contribution from the New York State Nurses Association on Oct. 14.

“This email shows that representatives of Friends of Cecilia Tkaczyk were aware Ulster County Democrat Committee had received a check from NYSNA, knew those funds would be passed on…and previously had discussions about this matter,” according to the BOE’s findings.

Smoking gun?

From the NY Times:

A senior aide to John C. Liu, the New York City comptroller, solicited campaign donations on his behalf from friends and family members and offered to reimburse them, according to statements by a lawyer and a prosecutor on Tuesday in Federal District Court in Manhattan.

The aide, Sharon Lee, who once served as press secretary for the comptroller’s office, is expected to testify for the government under an order of immunity at the trial next week of Mr. Liu’s former campaign treasurer, Jia Hou, a federal prosecutor said in court.

Ms. Hou and a co-defendant, Xing Wu Pan, a former fund-raiser, have been charged with conspiring to defraud the city by using so-called straw donors on behalf of Mr. Liu’s campaign. In such a scheme, people contribute to a candidate with money reimbursed by others.

In the case of Ms. Lee’s solicitations, only one person, her mother, made a donation, and she was not reimbursed, according to a letter to the judge from Ms. Hou’s lawyer.

Ms. Lee, who still works for the comptroller’s office in a research and liaison role, has not been charged with a crime. Her lawyer, Andrew M. Lankler, declined to comment.

Great timing

From the Daily News:

The top aide to embattled Brooklyn state Sen. John Sampson has resigned — in the nick of time.

Paul Rivera’s departure took effect Tuesday, sources said, three days before it was revealed Sampson was under criminal investigation by the FBI for allegedly accepting improper payments from a real estate agent who pleaded guilty in October to a $14 million mortgage fraud.

The timing raised eyebrows in Albany. But Senate insiders said Rivera’s resignation had nothing to do with the probe. He had been talking privately about leaving his job as special adviser for some time, the insiders said, and decided to do so after Sampson lost his position as head of the Senate Democratic conference in mid-December.

Council aide owes DOB $38,000

Pols want Dave to go

From 1010WINS:

Calls for Gov. David Paterson to abandon his election bid mounted Thursday as the state attorney general announced he would investigate whether the administration or state police committed a crime in talking to a woman who had filed a domestic violence report against a top aide to the governor.

Paterson's top criminal justice Cabinet member resigned Thursday over the burgeoning scandal, saying conduct by the state police was "distressing" for an administration that has devoted itself to reducing domestic violence.

Elected officials and other candidates for office clamored for Paterson to end his campaign, formally launched just five days ago, as the turmoil mushroomed around longtime adviser David Johnson. A police report detailed in The New York Times discusses a confrontation between Johnson and a woman over her Halloween costume.

The New York Times reported Wednesday on court papers showing a phone call between state police and the woman. Paterson's office acknowledges he talked to the woman but says she placed the call, and a spokesman for the governor denied anyone tried to keep the woman from pursuing a domestic violence case.

The state police said in a news release that they won't comment on any aspect of the case during the investigation by the office of Andrew Cuomo, the popular attorney general whom many would like to see run as the Democratic candidate for governor instead of Paterson.

The Paterson administration asked Cuomo's office to investigate the matter, and the attorney general's office said it would look into whether crimes or other wrongdoing were committed. The state police said Cuomo asked the agency not to open its own internal probe.

So here's the big Paterson bombshell...

From the NY Times:

David W. Johnson has worked for Gov. David A. Paterson for much of his adult life. He began as a young, ambitious intern from Harlem when Mr. Paterson was a state legislator. He rose to be Mr. Paterson’s driver, serving as a kind of protector and scheduler.

In recent months, however, Mr. Johnson’s ascent has been striking: he is now one of the most senior people in the governor’s administration, paid $132,000. He is described as Mr. Paterson’s closest confidant, a man with a designated room for his overnight stays in the Executive Mansion, and a broadening role in areas like campaign strategy, government initiatives and the management of the governor’s staff.

A review of Mr. Johnson’s rise and his history, undertaken after he emerged as perhaps the man closest to the state’s chief executive, shows that he was twice arrested on felony drug charges as a teenager, including a charge of selling cocaine to an undercover officer in Harlem.

The examination of his background, based on interviews and records, shows he has at least one other arrest, for misdemeanor assault in the 1990s, although there is very little publicly available about that case.

Mr. Johnson, 37, has also on three occasions been involved in altercations with women, two of which led to calls to the police. As recently as October, the police responded to a complaint of harassment at a Bronx address of a woman involved with him. It is unclear if the altercation was verbal or physical or both, but the case is listed as closed.

If they wanted to reveal something really dirty, they should look into the Aqueduct deal.