Bill sticking taxpayers with quite a tab

From the Daily News:

Add another $2.6 million to the city budget — to cover Mayor de Blasio’s legal bills.

The city quietly posted notice of a proposed $2.6 million contract between the Law Department and Kramer Levin Naftalis and Frankel LLP — Hizzoner’s law firm — in the City Record Friday.

The contract is “to provide Legal Services to the mayor in connection with an investigation by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York and related work” from 2016 to 2018.

The firm represented de Blasio and others at City Hall in a series of investigations into his dealing with fund-raisers — including Harendra Singh, the businessman who pleaded guilty to bribing the mayor. The mayor and his staff were not charged or convicted of any crimes during the year-long probes — but racked up quite a legal bill.

And the taxpayer-funded tab is expected to keep climbing.

“No,” spokesman Eric Phillips said when asked if the $2.6 million was the full legal bill to the city. “When there is a final, complete amount we will release that figure.”

Taxpayers on the hook for BDB legal fees

From the Daily News:

Mayor de Blasio has decided to “let” taxpayers foot most of the $2.3 million bill he owes the lawyers who defended him in probes that found he’d intervened on behalf of donors seeking favors from City Hall.

After months of insisting he would never ask the public to pay what he owed, the mayor put up a brief explanation of his reversal on Medium.com early Friday entitled “Our Legal Bills.”

He revealed that “after giving this a great deal of thought,” he’s decided the city will pay $2 million for legal work “tied to my government service.”

Another $300,000 in legal work he said is related to his non-governmental service will come from private donors via an as-yet-to-be created legal defense fund.

From 2016 through March, the Manhattan U.S. Attorney, the Manhattan District Attorney and the state Joint Commission on Public Ethics investigated de Blasio’s fund-raising activities.

On March 16 the U.S. Attorney and DA both announced they had closed their investigations without finding evidence of criminal culpability against de Blasio or his aides.

Acting U.S. Attorney Joon Kim, however, made clear that he did find evidence that de Blasio and his aides “solicited donations from individuals who sought official favors from the City.” In turn, Kim noted, “the mayor made or directed inquiries to relevant City agencies on behalf of those donors.”

De Blasio raised $4.3 million for a nonprofit Campaign For One New York that promoted his causes. The News found at least $3 million came from entities seeking favors from City Hall.

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.

Judge Rules Plaintiffs in Atlantic Yards Legal Case Entitled to Fees; Forest City Ratner Must Pay

Developer, State Must Compensate Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn,
Other Community Groups
NEW YORK, NY — A judge today ruled that the Empire State Development Corporation ("ESDC") is liable for legal fees incurred by community groups that sued successfully to compel a supplemental environmental impact study (SEIS) for the second phase of Forest City's controversial Atlantic Yards project. She referred the parties to a referee to determine the amount of the award, which under an agreement with ESDC, Forest City Ratner will then have to pay.

The ruling was issued by New York State Supreme Court Justice Marcy S. Friedman, who in July of 2011 held that the second phase of the Atlantic Yards project must undergo re-analysis because of significant changes in the originally claimed 10-year construction timeline. Justice Friedman noted that this review "should lead to ‘consideration of alternatives [to the currently proposed project] that may more effectively meet the ostensible goal of the project to alleviate blight and create affordable and market-rate housing with less adverse environmental impacts.'" ESDC and Forest City Ratner lost their appeal of Justice Friedman's ruling at the Appellate Division, and the Court of Appeals, New York's highest court, refused to hear the case. The ESDC, the quasi-governmental entity overseeing the project, has yet to issue the draft SEIS required by the courts.

In reaching her decision that the plaintiffs were entitled to their attorneys fees as the prevailing party, Justice Friedman expressly denounced ESDC's claim that it was justified in continuing to use a ten year timeline when its own Development Agreement with Forest City Ratner reflected a buildout of up to 30 years, calling the claim "no small audacity, in light of the court's prior findings . . [including] the ESDC's ‘deplorable lack of transparency.'"

"Justice Friedman's ruling today is another reminder of the sordid 10-year history of the Atlantic Yards project, which to this day has largely failed to deliver on the promises that were used to sell it to the people of New York," said Candace Carponter, Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn's legal director. "We're gratified by today's decision, but the fact remains that, as Justice Friedman suggests, had the ESDC and Forest City Ratner not knowingly misrepresented the facts to the court, the entire Atlantic Yards project, including the heavily subsidized Barclays Center, would never have gotten off the drawing board."

"Justice Friedman has rendered a strong decision that vindicates what the community has been saying for a long time. One can only wonder whether this project would have ever moved forward if, as Justice Friedman noted, ESDC had disclosed the project's true timeline", said Jeffrey S. Baker, lead attorney for Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn and a partner in Young, Sommer LLC. "It is time for ESDC to finally engage in an open and honest process that considers the full range of alternatives for Phase II of this project, not just the interests of Forest City Ratner."

Was it worth it?

From the Wall Street Journal:

New York City's fight to shield emails about the appointment of former schools Chancellor Cathie Black cost taxpayers about $160,000 in legal fees.

The city agreed Friday to reimburse a former Village Voice intern's lawyers about $134,500 in legal fees, on top of at least $25,000 the city spent internally defending the case. The agreement was dated Wednesday and publicly released Friday.

Sergio Hernandez, now an editor at the Week magazine, had requested emails between the Bloomberg administration and Ms. Black in the lead-up to her nomination in November 2010 as chancellor. The city denied the request and Mr. Hernandez sued.

Taxpayers on legal hook for Bloomberg's folly

Eminent domain legal fee reimbursement decision by unitedtriangle

From Willets Point United:

New York State Supreme Court judge Jaime A. Rios has denied a motion made by the city to dismiss the claim of Willets Point United Inc. ("WPU") seeking reimbursement of legal and expert fees incurred by WPU when defending against the city's failed attempt to use eminent domain to forcibly acquire our properties.

The decision means that WPU's claim against the city in the amount of $1,102,035.41 is valid, and will proceed in court. We are confident that the city will have to pay the fees that we are entitled to recover – adding to the already exorbitant amount of city funds being spent to pursue the proposed Willets Point development.

Way to go, EDC!

The perks of public office

From the Daily News:

The explosion of Capitol corruption scandals in recent years has turned a bunch of campaign accounts into legal defense funds.

Twenty elected officials since 2004 spent a combined $6.78 million on legal fees related to criminal and ethical investigations against them, a Daily News/New York Public Interest Research Group analysis shows.

The list has included some of the most powerful elected officials in Albany, including former Gov. David Paterson, convicted former Controller Alan Hevesi, former Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and pervy Assemblyman Vito Lopez.

In the past two years alone, state lawmakers spent nearly $2 million in campaign funds on legal fees, led by the $1.5 million paid by former state Sen. Carl Kruger. He’s serving seven years in federal prison after pleading guilty in 2011 to bribery and other corruption charges.

The state Board of Elections in a 1989 formal opinion ruled the use of campaign cash for lawyer bills is legal if the investigations are related to someone’s office or campaign.

Some lawmakers and government reformers say that needs to change.