New York's top elected leaders are shamefully enabling rampant corruption
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Judging by his resigned acceptance of political corruption in New York, Gov. Cuomo is being swallowed by the dark side. He chalked up state Sen. Malcolm Smith’s plot to buy a spot on the mayoral election ballot to the ebb and flow of inevitable personal frailties.
“People do stupid things, frankly. People do illegal things. People in power abuse power. It’s part of the human condition,” the governor said, employing a cliche to divert attention from the seamy truth that surrounds him.
It’s the Albany condition. It’s the New York City condition. It’s the New York State condition.
The arrest Thursday of Bronx Assemblyman Eric Stevenson in a naked bribery case, in which fellow Bronx Assemblyman Nelson Castro wore a wire after secretly taking his own criminal fall, brought to 40 the number of state or city officeholders convicted, arrested, penalized or booted for serious wrongdoing since 2003.
On tape, Stevenson declared:
“Bottom line . . . if half the people up here in Albany were ever caught for what they do . . . they . . . would probably be (in jail). So who are they bulls----ing?”
His words were a variation on the theme enunciated on tape by Queens City Councilman Dan Halloran, who was busted in the Smith case.
“That’s politics, that’s politics, it’s all about how much, not about whether or will, it’s about how much, and that’s our politicians in New York, they’re all like that, all like that,” Halloran allegedly said, adding: “You can’t get anything without the f--king money.”
New York is ruled by a criminal class whose motto is, “Where’s mine?” and whose members expect the answer in cash. They betray the public trust because they harbor cancered souls and because to be elected in New York is to plunge into a culture where power begets money begets power begets cynicism begets an outstretched hand.
Hey, if Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver can legally earn fees working with a trial lawyers firm while protecting the legislative interests of trial lawyers, why should Stevenson think twice about getting paid for doing the bidding of businessmen who run a senior citizens day care center?
Hey, if Mayor Bloomberg can legally pour $400,000 into the Independence Party, plus $650,000 into causes beloved by the party’s cultlike leaders, after they gave him their ballot line, why should Smith shy from paying off Republican Party leaders for essentially the same favor?
The respected and the rotten go hand-in-hand.
Silver has lowered the Assembly into a house worthy of a banana republic. Operating almost entirely behind closed doors, he demands dronelike fealty from his Democratic majority.
They vote with him, their paychecks get bigger and they get to deliver taxpayer-funded pork to their districts. He’ll also conceal their offenses when they run into trouble. They break ranks, their incomes fall and their districts starve. In organized crime, this would be called extortion. In Albany, it’s called the system.
State Senate Republican Leader Dean Skelos has practiced the same boss rule — leading his members to sell out principles to public employee unions and other deep-pocketed interests.
It was Skelos who cut a deal with Pedro Espada in the notorious Senate coup of 2009. It was Skelos who served obediently under former Majority Leader Joe Bruno, saying nothing as Bruno enriched himself with “consulting fees” from favor seekers.
Silver and Skelos are now Cuomo’s partners in governing. After vowing to clean up Albany, the governor set aside a threat to establish a powerful anti-corruption investigating panel, caved to creation of a hogtied Joint Commission on Public Integrity — which has done virtually nothing — and retreated into the backrooms with Silver and Skelos.
Casting transparency to the wind, the governor has demonstrated that the private deal is the foundation of public business. He takes consolation in having secured on-time budgets and legislative accomplishments, but he did no one a favor by describing his working group as “the best legislative body in the nation.”
Here in the city, Council Speaker Christine Quinn enforces her authority with money — more than a half-billion doled out annually to members who stand with her. She also has withheld funding if a member has so much as issued an unauthorized press release that omitted Quinn’s name.
Public Advocate Bill De Blasio , who slams Quinn over the so-called member item system as the two vie for mayor, dipped into the slush fund while in the Council. He doled out more than $7 million. He funneled $439,000 to six groups and reaped $90,000 in campaign contributions from people associated with the organizations.
Controller John Liu presided over a campaign that used straw donors to get public funding from the Campaign Finance Board.
Currying favor with the Republican leaders allegedly bribed by Smith, billionaire Republican mayoral candidate John Catsimatidis poured more than $100,000 into the city’s GOP.
Catsimatidis also hired Queens Republican Vice Chairman Vincent Tabone as a $100,000-a-year counsel for his supermarket firm. Tabone is charged with taking $25,000 in Smith’s plot.
Announcing Stevenson’s arrest, Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said: “The people of New York should be more than just disappointed. They should be angry. . . . When it is more likely for a New York state senator to be arrested by the authorities than to be defeated at the polls, they should be angry.”
The fury should extend far beyond those led away in handcuffs, to those who created the climate for the handcuffing.
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/fundamentally-lousy-article-1.1308145#ixzz2Pho2AZ6U
Saturday, April 6, 2013
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
What Sotomayor is Starting -- The Evolution of Latino Politics
By Ellis Cose | NEWSWEEK
Published Aug 14, 2009
From the magazine issue dated Aug 31, 2009.
From the moment of her nomination in May, it was clear that, barring some unforeseen scandal, Sonia Sotomayor would be confirmed to the Supreme Court. It was equally clear that her nomination would take on huge symbolic significance. She was portrayed as someone who embodies the values of grit, faith, family, and friendship, and as a living example of the power of the American dream. For Latinos, in particular, she was a sign of long-awaited change. "To have her ascend to the highest court in the land, it is such a strong feeling of belonging," says Lillian Rodríguez López, president of the Hispanic Federation. Sotomayor's nomination was "recognition of the contributions our communities…have made to the United States."
At the White House reception in Sotomayor's honor on Aug. 12, President Obama paid tribute to the power of her story. "This moment is not just about her," he said. "It's about every child who will grow up thinking to him- or herself, 'If Sonia Sotomayor can make it, then maybe I can, too.' " That line, which drew the most prolonged applause of Obama's short speech, provided a perfect setup for Sotomayor's own applause line: "It is this nation's faith in a more perfect union that allows a Puerto Rican girl from the Bronx to stand here now."
To say Sotomayor's story is compelling is an understatement; every chapter is worthy of Hollywood. At her Senate confirmation hearings, she sat calmly through days of tendentious questions, refusing to let on that she was in excruciating pain due to an ill-fitting cast on her broken ankle. When she finally did let her feelings show, it was at her moment of triumph. After the Senate voted to confirm her, Sotomayor collapsed in tears into the arms of Theresa Bartenope, her longtime aide. Later, during a celebration at her home, surrounded by well-wishers, she beamed, announcing: "I have the best friends in the world. There is not anybody as blessed as me."
But there is also a story beyond Sotomayor, one that helps explain why her appointment elicited such excitement. That story has to do with the state of American politics and the role that Latinos play in it. Even before her nomination, various groups—including the Hispanic Congressional Caucus, chaired by New York Congresswoman Nydia M. Velázquez—approached influentials inside and outside the White House arguing that it was time to name a Hispanic to the court. And once Sotomayor was tapped, those same groups engaged in what was essentially a full-time effort to counter the inevitable criticisms that came her way. In the process, they forged a new coalition—not just among Latinos, but among African-Americans, Asians, and liberal whites—that aspires to become a new political force.
Indeed, some have suggested that senators who voted against confirming Sotomayor may soon feel the coalition's fury as Latinos and their allies mobilize to turn the lawmakers out of office. But that seems unlikely. Of the anti-Sotomayor senators expected to run for reelection in 2010, virtually none come from a state with a large Hispanic population. California has a massive Latino population, but no Republican senators, and Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas isn't up for reelection until 2012. Who knows what issues will be in play at that point?
"It's quite clear the Republicans made a decision that it was…important for them to try to keep their base together, even if it meant losing Latino votes," says César Perales, president of –Latino Justice PRLDEF (an organization that once counted Sotomayor as a board member). The danger for Republicans is not in the short term, or even, necessarily, for the senators who voted against Sotomayor. It is in the impression left by one action after another signaling that those who aren't already part of the base need not apply. "The message they keep sending out is that they're not really interested in supporting our communities," says Karen Narasaki, executive director of the Asian American Justice Center. And eventually, says Brent Wilkes, executive director of the League of United Latin American Citizens, "they're going to run out of their base to work with."
The future, of course, is unknowable. But we do know, in America, that the future will be more Latino. We also know that, even before the Sotomayor dust-up, Republicans had alienated many Latinos—largely because of concerns with Republican policies, particularly on immigration. A survey by the Pew Hispanic Center last year found 65 percent of registered Latino voters leaning toward the Democrats and only 26 percent to the Republicans; it was the largest partisan gap reported in the past 10 years. The attacks on Sotomayor will likely drive even more Latinos from the party. That's a risky strategy for a party with a demographically shrinking base facing a newly energized coalition. For though it may pay off today, it could easily spell disaster tomorrow.
Cose is a NEWSWEEK contributing editor.
Find this article at http://www.newsweek.com/id/212024
© 2009
Published Aug 14, 2009
From the magazine issue dated Aug 31, 2009.
From the moment of her nomination in May, it was clear that, barring some unforeseen scandal, Sonia Sotomayor would be confirmed to the Supreme Court. It was equally clear that her nomination would take on huge symbolic significance. She was portrayed as someone who embodies the values of grit, faith, family, and friendship, and as a living example of the power of the American dream. For Latinos, in particular, she was a sign of long-awaited change. "To have her ascend to the highest court in the land, it is such a strong feeling of belonging," says Lillian Rodríguez López, president of the Hispanic Federation. Sotomayor's nomination was "recognition of the contributions our communities…have made to the United States."
At the White House reception in Sotomayor's honor on Aug. 12, President Obama paid tribute to the power of her story. "This moment is not just about her," he said. "It's about every child who will grow up thinking to him- or herself, 'If Sonia Sotomayor can make it, then maybe I can, too.' " That line, which drew the most prolonged applause of Obama's short speech, provided a perfect setup for Sotomayor's own applause line: "It is this nation's faith in a more perfect union that allows a Puerto Rican girl from the Bronx to stand here now."
To say Sotomayor's story is compelling is an understatement; every chapter is worthy of Hollywood. At her Senate confirmation hearings, she sat calmly through days of tendentious questions, refusing to let on that she was in excruciating pain due to an ill-fitting cast on her broken ankle. When she finally did let her feelings show, it was at her moment of triumph. After the Senate voted to confirm her, Sotomayor collapsed in tears into the arms of Theresa Bartenope, her longtime aide. Later, during a celebration at her home, surrounded by well-wishers, she beamed, announcing: "I have the best friends in the world. There is not anybody as blessed as me."
But there is also a story beyond Sotomayor, one that helps explain why her appointment elicited such excitement. That story has to do with the state of American politics and the role that Latinos play in it. Even before her nomination, various groups—including the Hispanic Congressional Caucus, chaired by New York Congresswoman Nydia M. Velázquez—approached influentials inside and outside the White House arguing that it was time to name a Hispanic to the court. And once Sotomayor was tapped, those same groups engaged in what was essentially a full-time effort to counter the inevitable criticisms that came her way. In the process, they forged a new coalition—not just among Latinos, but among African-Americans, Asians, and liberal whites—that aspires to become a new political force.
Indeed, some have suggested that senators who voted against confirming Sotomayor may soon feel the coalition's fury as Latinos and their allies mobilize to turn the lawmakers out of office. But that seems unlikely. Of the anti-Sotomayor senators expected to run for reelection in 2010, virtually none come from a state with a large Hispanic population. California has a massive Latino population, but no Republican senators, and Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas isn't up for reelection until 2012. Who knows what issues will be in play at that point?
"It's quite clear the Republicans made a decision that it was…important for them to try to keep their base together, even if it meant losing Latino votes," says César Perales, president of –Latino Justice PRLDEF (an organization that once counted Sotomayor as a board member). The danger for Republicans is not in the short term, or even, necessarily, for the senators who voted against Sotomayor. It is in the impression left by one action after another signaling that those who aren't already part of the base need not apply. "The message they keep sending out is that they're not really interested in supporting our communities," says Karen Narasaki, executive director of the Asian American Justice Center. And eventually, says Brent Wilkes, executive director of the League of United Latin American Citizens, "they're going to run out of their base to work with."
The future, of course, is unknowable. But we do know, in America, that the future will be more Latino. We also know that, even before the Sotomayor dust-up, Republicans had alienated many Latinos—largely because of concerns with Republican policies, particularly on immigration. A survey by the Pew Hispanic Center last year found 65 percent of registered Latino voters leaning toward the Democrats and only 26 percent to the Republicans; it was the largest partisan gap reported in the past 10 years. The attacks on Sotomayor will likely drive even more Latinos from the party. That's a risky strategy for a party with a demographically shrinking base facing a newly energized coalition. For though it may pay off today, it could easily spell disaster tomorrow.
Cose is a NEWSWEEK contributing editor.
Find this article at http://www.newsweek.com/id/212024
© 2009
The Awakening Giant
El Diario/La Prensa New York
Friday, August 14, 2009
Hispanic voters are the nation’s fastest growing voting population. In a report released yesterday, the Immigration Policy Center (IPC) notes that Latino voters increased by 28.4%—from 7.6 million in 2004 to 9.8 million in 2008. The number of Asian and African American voters also dramatically increased during this same period.
The political implications of this record participation level were evident in the 2008 presidential election. For example, in six of the nine states that went from “red” to “blue” in the election, the number of Latino and Asian voters significantly exceeded Barack Obama’s margin of victory over John McCain, according to the IPC.
One of the states that went from red to blue was Florida, where migrations from the northeast and from Puerto Rico and Latin America have driven a rise in Democratic voting. What is also very worth noting is that Latinos are dispersing beyond the eastern and western seaboards. The number of Hispanic voters has dramatically increased in future potential swing states such as Georgia and Tennessee.
These growth trends reflect a broad demographic revolution. They are also a testament to the work of national Latino voter campaigns last year. But there is more to come.
The National Institute for Latino Policy pointed out in an analysis released last month that of the 19.5 million Latinos who were U.S. citizens and at least 18 years old, only 59.4 percent were registered to vote last year and only 49.9 percent actually voted.
We caught an inspiring glimpse of a stirring giant in 2008. But Latino organizations must remain focused on sustaining and increasing Latino voter participation. Then we can finally put the sleeping giant metaphor to bed.
Friday, August 14, 2009
Hispanic voters are the nation’s fastest growing voting population. In a report released yesterday, the Immigration Policy Center (IPC) notes that Latino voters increased by 28.4%—from 7.6 million in 2004 to 9.8 million in 2008. The number of Asian and African American voters also dramatically increased during this same period.
The political implications of this record participation level were evident in the 2008 presidential election. For example, in six of the nine states that went from “red” to “blue” in the election, the number of Latino and Asian voters significantly exceeded Barack Obama’s margin of victory over John McCain, according to the IPC.
One of the states that went from red to blue was Florida, where migrations from the northeast and from Puerto Rico and Latin America have driven a rise in Democratic voting. What is also very worth noting is that Latinos are dispersing beyond the eastern and western seaboards. The number of Hispanic voters has dramatically increased in future potential swing states such as Georgia and Tennessee.
These growth trends reflect a broad demographic revolution. They are also a testament to the work of national Latino voter campaigns last year. But there is more to come.
The National Institute for Latino Policy pointed out in an analysis released last month that of the 19.5 million Latinos who were U.S. citizens and at least 18 years old, only 59.4 percent were registered to vote last year and only 49.9 percent actually voted.
We caught an inspiring glimpse of a stirring giant in 2008. But Latino organizations must remain focused on sustaining and increasing Latino voter participation. Then we can finally put the sleeping giant metaphor to bed.
Rise to a Higher Standard
El Diario/La Prensa
New York Monday, August 17, 2009
As the confetti settles around the appointment of now Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Latinos should take a look at how the leadership and mobilization bar has been raised in our community.
The Sotomayor appointment was not merely an individual success—it was a political achievement. Latinos pushed this deserved appointment. We closed ranks around Sotomayor’s nomination. National and local leaders brilliantly advocated for her and mounted sharp campaigns against vicious attacks.
We were excited about the caliber of Sotomayor, the prospect of a Latina serving on the nation’s highest court and the model that she, and the organizing behind her, provide.
We have seen what we as a community have the power to accomplish. This is our point of comparison—which is why the state of affairs among local elected officials leaves so much to be desired.
In New York, and on the other side of the Hudson as well, too many of our elected leaders have acted like unwise Latinos. Scandals and corruption are certainly not exclusive to our community. But that is little consolation to districts that are in urgent need of principled and aggressive representatives.
To be fair, there are a number of elected officials who put the well-being of the communities they represent first. They deserve more of our attention. But they should not be waging lonely and individual fights.
It is high time to put this house in order. Here are some of the urgent steps that need to be taken:
--We need a convener. One of our senior Latino elected leaders should call New York colleagues into a private session with the aim of building a strategic agenda based on community needs.
--We need a cohesive effort by community leaders and grassroots organizations to monitor and tug the collars of elected representatives. They must also work with politicians to move policies forward.
--The family dynasties clogging the leadership pipeline must end. And those dissatisfied with these political monopolies must not remain passive—challengers must step up to plate.
Elected leaders who cannot provide the quality representation our community needs must move aside or be shown the way out.
New York Monday, August 17, 2009
As the confetti settles around the appointment of now Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Latinos should take a look at how the leadership and mobilization bar has been raised in our community.
The Sotomayor appointment was not merely an individual success—it was a political achievement. Latinos pushed this deserved appointment. We closed ranks around Sotomayor’s nomination. National and local leaders brilliantly advocated for her and mounted sharp campaigns against vicious attacks.
We were excited about the caliber of Sotomayor, the prospect of a Latina serving on the nation’s highest court and the model that she, and the organizing behind her, provide.
We have seen what we as a community have the power to accomplish. This is our point of comparison—which is why the state of affairs among local elected officials leaves so much to be desired.
In New York, and on the other side of the Hudson as well, too many of our elected leaders have acted like unwise Latinos. Scandals and corruption are certainly not exclusive to our community. But that is little consolation to districts that are in urgent need of principled and aggressive representatives.
To be fair, there are a number of elected officials who put the well-being of the communities they represent first. They deserve more of our attention. But they should not be waging lonely and individual fights.
It is high time to put this house in order. Here are some of the urgent steps that need to be taken:
--We need a convener. One of our senior Latino elected leaders should call New York colleagues into a private session with the aim of building a strategic agenda based on community needs.
--We need a cohesive effort by community leaders and grassroots organizations to monitor and tug the collars of elected representatives. They must also work with politicians to move policies forward.
--The family dynasties clogging the leadership pipeline must end. And those dissatisfied with these political monopolies must not remain passive—challengers must step up to plate.
Elected leaders who cannot provide the quality representation our community needs must move aside or be shown the way out.
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Daily News finds 2 Bronx lawmakers have cozy ties to nonprofit organizations
By Robert Gearty and Barbara Ross
rgearty@nydailynews.com
Sunday, May 10th 2009
Welcome to the Bronx - where allegations of corruption and collusion seem to grow on trees.
In a twin probe, the Daily News has found two Democratic state lawmakers with close campaign ties to nonprofit groups that use taxpayer funds. Federal law bars nonprofits from giving money or resources to political campaigns.
One, Sen. Pedro Espada Jr., dubbed the Bronx's "Teflon Pol," has repeatedly dodged charges of using a publicly funded health clinic for political purposes.
The other, Assemblyman Peter Rivera, sponsored nearly $1.3 million to a nonprofit whose employees helped his campaigns.
The probe follows The News' revelations that former Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion Jr. did not pay an architect who designed Carrion's home renovation. Carrion had approved zoning changes and sponsored $7 million in tax money for a project the architect designed.
Carrion, now a White House deputy, recently paid the bill — two years after the job was done and after The News exposed the arrangement.
Here's what The News found about Rivera and Espada.
Espada's pals at health clinic
Pedro Espada is in the middle of another campaign funding mess.
After years of ducking charges that he uses the resources of his Soundview Health Clinic to promote his political campaigns, the Daily News found a new crop of such allegations again last fall.
In a bruising race in which he defeated incumbent Sen. Efrain Gonzalez Jr., many Soundview employees, medical vendors and Espada relatives who work for the clinic gave to his campaign.
Espada campaign literature printed in full-color on glossy paper was mailed to the same voters who got remarkably similar literature from Soundview.
One clinic ad featured four pictures of Espada, including one identical to the campaign literature; the same bulk mailing permit number appears on both campaign and clinic pamphlets.
Espada's campaign staff distributed leaflets at the same time and locations as Soundview clinic health fairs where staff distributed free condoms and food, including granola bars stamped "Vote for Pedro Espada."
In an interview, Espada — dressed in a pink shirt with monogrammed French cuffs, powder blue floral tie and matching pocket hankie — scoffed at the idea he uses the clinic to get elected.
"Soundview Health Clinic does not participate in political rallies. We participate in health fairs," he said. When clinic staff distributed free food, "you did not need to be a registered voter or even a citizen" to get some, he added.
Espada's effort to distinguish between his political and medical careers comes after years of the two being inseparable.
At one time, Soundview — supported primarily by public funds — paid Espada up to $379,000 in salary and benefits. He no longer receives that salary. Soundview also hires its own affiliates – which are controlled by Espada – to clean and guard its three clinics.
In 2000, Espada was brought to trial on charges of using $200,000 from a Soundview HMO to pay off a 1996 campaign debt. He was acquitted after arguing that the HMO can do what it wants with federal money.
In 2005, six Soundview employees were convicted of multiple counts of misusing the clinic's taxpayer funds to aid the campaigns of Espada and his son.
They admitted they ordered clinic staff to do campaign work on taxpayer time, told them to write checks to Espada's campaign so he could get matching money, reimbursed the employees in cash, gave voters food intended for poor mothers and children and closed an HIV clinic on Election Day 2000 so employees could get out the vote.
Soundview even paid the legal fees of the indicted staffers. Nonprofits are allowed to pay legal bills of employees accused of wrongdoing, but the employees must pay it back if convicted.
The News estimates the bill exceeded $1.4 million. Espada concedes the costs were extensive: "We had huge legal bills because of the investigation. . . . The individuals, once accused, have a right [to a lawyer] under our bylaws which were approved by the state."
Soundview's board included two of the four indicted supervisors: Sandra Love, the clinic's $239,904 senior vice president, and Maria Cruz, its $141,131 vice president of operations.
All but one of the convicted Soundview employees are back at the clinic. Espada claims the six have paid back their loans.
Espada contends he was the real target of then-Attorney General Eliot Spitzer's investigation: "Do you think for one minute that Mr. Steamroller was after these ladies? No! He was after me! And I was totally cleared!"
Espada has also repeatedly ignored laws requiring pols to reveal who gives them donations and what they do with them.
For more than three years the city Campaign Finance Board has tried to collect $61,750 in fines for illegal actions by Espada's Soundview staff in his 2001 run for borough president.
Espada has agreed to come up with the cash by August.
"He has absolutely done a cha-cha around the campaign finance law — spirit and letter," fumed one prominent Bronx political veteran.
Espada pulled the same stunt in the most recent election, running up $13,000 in fines by failing to file six campaign finance disclosure reports.
Last August, the state Board of Elections told Espada he'd be held liable for $13,553in fines. Espada blamed the problem on an "inexperienced" clinic lawyer.
Group got $1.3M and Rivera got lots of help
Peter Rivera took a slightly different approach, sponsoring nearly $1.3 million in taxpayer money for a nonprofit group whose workers have helped his campaigns.
Rivera arranged for up to $979,000 to go to NETS (Neighborhood Enhancement for Training Services), a nonprofit that has employed his son, campaign treasurer and treasurer of his political club.
Some NETS workers have carried petitions for Rivera and, in one case, pressed to keep his district intact when the Legislature was redistricting in 2001.
The troubled group appears to have done little with the money, spending $430,000 in state funds for a community center that has yet to open after seven years.
The group has spent only $80,000 of the $549,000 in "member items" Rivera has sponsored or co-sponsored since 2005, so last month he responsored $319,000 for the group.
NETS hasn't filed tax documents in years and is no longer considered a registered charity by the state attorney general.
Rivera, an eight-term Democrat who last year sponsored a bill requiring all New York public schools to view "An Inconvenient Truth," defended his use of taxpayer dollars to support NETS.
"I think it's very worthwhile," Rivera said of NETS. "They do a whole bunch of programs. They have seniors they support. They have after-school programs they have worked on, activities that they take people around."
He emphasized that NETS "is not involved in my campaign at all. Individuals [at NETS] have, but to a minimal capacity."
The Rivera/NETS relationship is longstanding. NETS' Web site says Rivera has been its sponsor since 1992, the year he was first elected to the Assembly.
Several NETS employees have actively supported Rivera's political ambitions.
David Griffiths, NETS' director since 2003, is Rivera's campaign treasurer. Griffiths' predecessor as NETS' director, Luis Diaz, was a Rivera staffer.
The head of NETS' board, Pat Tomasulo, is president of Rivera's political club, the Community Democratic Club. NETS' program director, Lizandra Martinez, is the club's treasurer. Both carried petitions for Rivera in the last election, records show.
In 2001, Martinez, Diaz and Rivera's son, Peter Jr., then a NETS' employee, testified at a Senate hearing on reapportioning legislative districts. They advocated leaving some districts intact, including Rivera's, to ensure adequate Latino representation.
Rivera also recruits from NETS. The head of his Assembly staff is a former NETS employee. NETS and Rivera's law office shared a Parkchester address for several years.
About seven months ago, NETS moved to White Plains Road — to the same address Rivera uses for his campaign.
NETS also reported on its tax return that the books were in the care of Rivera's law firm, although Rivera claimed that wasn't true, stating "I'm a little surprised it says that."
What NETS does with all this money remains a mystery, in part because the last tax form it filed dates to 2005.
For instance, in 2002 NETS bought a former synagogue, a transaction arranged and subsidized with taxpayer help by Rivera. The plan was to turn it into a community center.
NETS' director Griffiths said the group bought the Young Israel Temple on Virginia Ave. for $430,000 with a bond-backed state grant. Another $375,000 in capital funds from Rivera went to renovate the first floor.
Rivera insisted NETS has run services out of the building. The community center has never opened and the building has been vacant for years. Three weeks ago, the front door windows were covered with paper and no one answered the door.
rgearty@nydailynews.com
Sunday, May 10th 2009
Welcome to the Bronx - where allegations of corruption and collusion seem to grow on trees.
In a twin probe, the Daily News has found two Democratic state lawmakers with close campaign ties to nonprofit groups that use taxpayer funds. Federal law bars nonprofits from giving money or resources to political campaigns.
One, Sen. Pedro Espada Jr., dubbed the Bronx's "Teflon Pol," has repeatedly dodged charges of using a publicly funded health clinic for political purposes.
The other, Assemblyman Peter Rivera, sponsored nearly $1.3 million to a nonprofit whose employees helped his campaigns.
The probe follows The News' revelations that former Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion Jr. did not pay an architect who designed Carrion's home renovation. Carrion had approved zoning changes and sponsored $7 million in tax money for a project the architect designed.
Carrion, now a White House deputy, recently paid the bill — two years after the job was done and after The News exposed the arrangement.
Here's what The News found about Rivera and Espada.
Espada's pals at health clinic
Pedro Espada is in the middle of another campaign funding mess.
After years of ducking charges that he uses the resources of his Soundview Health Clinic to promote his political campaigns, the Daily News found a new crop of such allegations again last fall.
In a bruising race in which he defeated incumbent Sen. Efrain Gonzalez Jr., many Soundview employees, medical vendors and Espada relatives who work for the clinic gave to his campaign.
Espada campaign literature printed in full-color on glossy paper was mailed to the same voters who got remarkably similar literature from Soundview.
One clinic ad featured four pictures of Espada, including one identical to the campaign literature; the same bulk mailing permit number appears on both campaign and clinic pamphlets.
Espada's campaign staff distributed leaflets at the same time and locations as Soundview clinic health fairs where staff distributed free condoms and food, including granola bars stamped "Vote for Pedro Espada."
In an interview, Espada — dressed in a pink shirt with monogrammed French cuffs, powder blue floral tie and matching pocket hankie — scoffed at the idea he uses the clinic to get elected.
"Soundview Health Clinic does not participate in political rallies. We participate in health fairs," he said. When clinic staff distributed free food, "you did not need to be a registered voter or even a citizen" to get some, he added.
Espada's effort to distinguish between his political and medical careers comes after years of the two being inseparable.
At one time, Soundview — supported primarily by public funds — paid Espada up to $379,000 in salary and benefits. He no longer receives that salary. Soundview also hires its own affiliates – which are controlled by Espada – to clean and guard its three clinics.
In 2000, Espada was brought to trial on charges of using $200,000 from a Soundview HMO to pay off a 1996 campaign debt. He was acquitted after arguing that the HMO can do what it wants with federal money.
In 2005, six Soundview employees were convicted of multiple counts of misusing the clinic's taxpayer funds to aid the campaigns of Espada and his son.
They admitted they ordered clinic staff to do campaign work on taxpayer time, told them to write checks to Espada's campaign so he could get matching money, reimbursed the employees in cash, gave voters food intended for poor mothers and children and closed an HIV clinic on Election Day 2000 so employees could get out the vote.
Soundview even paid the legal fees of the indicted staffers. Nonprofits are allowed to pay legal bills of employees accused of wrongdoing, but the employees must pay it back if convicted.
The News estimates the bill exceeded $1.4 million. Espada concedes the costs were extensive: "We had huge legal bills because of the investigation. . . . The individuals, once accused, have a right [to a lawyer] under our bylaws which were approved by the state."
Soundview's board included two of the four indicted supervisors: Sandra Love, the clinic's $239,904 senior vice president, and Maria Cruz, its $141,131 vice president of operations.
All but one of the convicted Soundview employees are back at the clinic. Espada claims the six have paid back their loans.
Espada contends he was the real target of then-Attorney General Eliot Spitzer's investigation: "Do you think for one minute that Mr. Steamroller was after these ladies? No! He was after me! And I was totally cleared!"
Espada has also repeatedly ignored laws requiring pols to reveal who gives them donations and what they do with them.
For more than three years the city Campaign Finance Board has tried to collect $61,750 in fines for illegal actions by Espada's Soundview staff in his 2001 run for borough president.
Espada has agreed to come up with the cash by August.
"He has absolutely done a cha-cha around the campaign finance law — spirit and letter," fumed one prominent Bronx political veteran.
Espada pulled the same stunt in the most recent election, running up $13,000 in fines by failing to file six campaign finance disclosure reports.
Last August, the state Board of Elections told Espada he'd be held liable for $13,553in fines. Espada blamed the problem on an "inexperienced" clinic lawyer.
Group got $1.3M and Rivera got lots of help
Peter Rivera took a slightly different approach, sponsoring nearly $1.3 million in taxpayer money for a nonprofit group whose workers have helped his campaigns.
Rivera arranged for up to $979,000 to go to NETS (Neighborhood Enhancement for Training Services), a nonprofit that has employed his son, campaign treasurer and treasurer of his political club.
Some NETS workers have carried petitions for Rivera and, in one case, pressed to keep his district intact when the Legislature was redistricting in 2001.
The troubled group appears to have done little with the money, spending $430,000 in state funds for a community center that has yet to open after seven years.
The group has spent only $80,000 of the $549,000 in "member items" Rivera has sponsored or co-sponsored since 2005, so last month he responsored $319,000 for the group.
NETS hasn't filed tax documents in years and is no longer considered a registered charity by the state attorney general.
Rivera, an eight-term Democrat who last year sponsored a bill requiring all New York public schools to view "An Inconvenient Truth," defended his use of taxpayer dollars to support NETS.
"I think it's very worthwhile," Rivera said of NETS. "They do a whole bunch of programs. They have seniors they support. They have after-school programs they have worked on, activities that they take people around."
He emphasized that NETS "is not involved in my campaign at all. Individuals [at NETS] have, but to a minimal capacity."
The Rivera/NETS relationship is longstanding. NETS' Web site says Rivera has been its sponsor since 1992, the year he was first elected to the Assembly.
Several NETS employees have actively supported Rivera's political ambitions.
David Griffiths, NETS' director since 2003, is Rivera's campaign treasurer. Griffiths' predecessor as NETS' director, Luis Diaz, was a Rivera staffer.
The head of NETS' board, Pat Tomasulo, is president of Rivera's political club, the Community Democratic Club. NETS' program director, Lizandra Martinez, is the club's treasurer. Both carried petitions for Rivera in the last election, records show.
In 2001, Martinez, Diaz and Rivera's son, Peter Jr., then a NETS' employee, testified at a Senate hearing on reapportioning legislative districts. They advocated leaving some districts intact, including Rivera's, to ensure adequate Latino representation.
Rivera also recruits from NETS. The head of his Assembly staff is a former NETS employee. NETS and Rivera's law office shared a Parkchester address for several years.
About seven months ago, NETS moved to White Plains Road — to the same address Rivera uses for his campaign.
NETS also reported on its tax return that the books were in the care of Rivera's law firm, although Rivera claimed that wasn't true, stating "I'm a little surprised it says that."
What NETS does with all this money remains a mystery, in part because the last tax form it filed dates to 2005.
For instance, in 2002 NETS bought a former synagogue, a transaction arranged and subsidized with taxpayer help by Rivera. The plan was to turn it into a community center.
NETS' director Griffiths said the group bought the Young Israel Temple on Virginia Ave. for $430,000 with a bond-backed state grant. Another $375,000 in capital funds from Rivera went to renovate the first floor.
Rivera insisted NETS has run services out of the building. The community center has never opened and the building has been vacant for years. Three weeks ago, the front door windows were covered with paper and no one answered the door.
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Hispanics have Earned a Place at the Table of Justice
The U.S. Supreme Court has never had a Hispanic justice. It is time for President Barack Obama to change the glaring invisibility of Latinos on the nation’s highest court.
The simple argument for a Latino appointment is that Hispanics are the largest and fastest-growing demographic group in the United States. Hispanics are 15 percent of the nation’s population and by 2050, one in four Americans will be Latino.
Hispanic Americans sit in the board rooms of many of the prestigious corporations in the world. Latinos guide some of this country’s leading universities and its most respected cultural and artistic institutions. Hispanic officers have risen to the highest levels of the military and have born the heavy load of leading American armies in war.
With this growing presence, the absence of a Hispanic on the Supreme Court is even more conspicuous. And the overall representation of Hispanics in the federal judiciary—where Latinos make up only seven percent of judges— leaves plenty of room for improvement.
But the Latino share of the American experience is not merely a claim about numbers and fair representation. This is a story about the changing complexion of America. It is about the critical history that Latinos have written, and are writing daily, in and for America. This moment is a reflection of how Latinos have worked to move our nation towards its promise of a more perfect union. Those great sacrifices and contributions have been made even in the face of discrimination and great odds.
Ask Sylvia Mendez. Years before Brown v. the Board of Education, Mendez’s Mexican-Puerto Rican parents stood up to discrimination against Latino students, on the basis of national origin, in California. The landmark Mendez v. Westminster case led to the de-segregation of schools in that state, and laid the groundwork for officially ending racial segregation in public schools across the nation.
Ask one of the remaining 65,000 Puerto Rican soldiers who served in Korea. Not one of them has ever received a Medal of Honor for the acts of bravery exhibited by the 65th Infantry in that battlefront.
Ask Latinos who remember what it was like trying to exercise their right to vote decades ago in New York City. Then, literacy and language requirements that resonated with the Jim Crow South were used to shut out Latinos. The battles that Puerto Ricans and others engaged in to eliminate those barriers helped open the ballot for a range of voters.
Countless Hispanics have toiled in farmlands to factories, from the west to the east, alongside Americans of all colors to build and strengthen our nation. Their labor is too often missing from the chronicles about our nation.
Latinos have lived and loved and fought for and died for this country for many generations. This struggle is an irreducible part of what makes our country great. And we have much more to give in the years to come.
We urge President Obama to make history, again, and give Latinos a well-earned seat at the table of justice we call the Supreme Court.
The simple argument for a Latino appointment is that Hispanics are the largest and fastest-growing demographic group in the United States. Hispanics are 15 percent of the nation’s population and by 2050, one in four Americans will be Latino.
Hispanic Americans sit in the board rooms of many of the prestigious corporations in the world. Latinos guide some of this country’s leading universities and its most respected cultural and artistic institutions. Hispanic officers have risen to the highest levels of the military and have born the heavy load of leading American armies in war.
With this growing presence, the absence of a Hispanic on the Supreme Court is even more conspicuous. And the overall representation of Hispanics in the federal judiciary—where Latinos make up only seven percent of judges— leaves plenty of room for improvement.
But the Latino share of the American experience is not merely a claim about numbers and fair representation. This is a story about the changing complexion of America. It is about the critical history that Latinos have written, and are writing daily, in and for America. This moment is a reflection of how Latinos have worked to move our nation towards its promise of a more perfect union. Those great sacrifices and contributions have been made even in the face of discrimination and great odds.
Ask Sylvia Mendez. Years before Brown v. the Board of Education, Mendez’s Mexican-Puerto Rican parents stood up to discrimination against Latino students, on the basis of national origin, in California. The landmark Mendez v. Westminster case led to the de-segregation of schools in that state, and laid the groundwork for officially ending racial segregation in public schools across the nation.
Ask one of the remaining 65,000 Puerto Rican soldiers who served in Korea. Not one of them has ever received a Medal of Honor for the acts of bravery exhibited by the 65th Infantry in that battlefront.
Ask Latinos who remember what it was like trying to exercise their right to vote decades ago in New York City. Then, literacy and language requirements that resonated with the Jim Crow South were used to shut out Latinos. The battles that Puerto Ricans and others engaged in to eliminate those barriers helped open the ballot for a range of voters.
Countless Hispanics have toiled in farmlands to factories, from the west to the east, alongside Americans of all colors to build and strengthen our nation. Their labor is too often missing from the chronicles about our nation.
Latinos have lived and loved and fought for and died for this country for many generations. This struggle is an irreducible part of what makes our country great. And we have much more to give in the years to come.
We urge President Obama to make history, again, and give Latinos a well-earned seat at the table of justice we call the Supreme Court.
Monday, April 27, 2009
Hispanic Resolution --Tired of Being on the Periphery, Latinos are Determined to Become a Force in State Government
By DAN IRIZARRY
Albany Times Union (April 26, 2009)
The 22nd renewal of the Puerto Rican/Hispanic Legislative Task Force's Somos El Futuro (We Are the Future) Conference should underscore the fact that the future is now for the Latino community.
When viewed against the backdrop of the 2008 presidential election, where the Latino vote proved decisive to the outcome, Hispanic conferencegoers had reason to feel elated. The procession of officeholders and aspiring candidates making the rounds during the April 3-5 meeting in Albany was a veritable who's who of New York politics. Their ubiquity at luncheons, in workshops and at the gala leaves no doubt that our community has come into its own.
However, a report released by the state Civil Service Commission on the eve of the conference had a sobering effect on many participants.
The report, "Diversity in the New York State Government Workforce, A Look at the Last Decade, and the Next," paints a disheartening picture of a work force where Hispanics are acutely underrepresented. To some of us Latinos working in state government, this bit of bad news was not news at all.
The report states that "Hispanics make up nearly 13 percent of the statewide labor force, but represent only 4.44 percent of the State (government) work force. Further, while 8.3 percent of the State work force is employed above the SG-23 (pay) level, only 5.1 percent of Hispanics are employed above that level."
Translation: Even when we manage to get in the door, we remain on the periphery.
One of the most troubling observations was that while 27.1 percent of state jobs are located in the Capital Region, the largest share statewide, only 1.7 percent of state government's minority work force lives here. While Hispanics are a small, albeit growing, part of the population, these facts virtually guarantee a perpetual ethnic imbalance.
That is, unless Albany, the company town where the state is the company, ceases to be that insular place where Hispanics and other minorities have little chance to prosper.
What was most troubling to many a Somos attendee is the yawning lack of Hispanic representation at the executive level of state agencies so clearly delineated in the report. Such underrepresentation means that government policies, which have a significant impact on Latinos statewide, are being created without meaningful input from our community. This is reprehensible to the task force, especially members like Assemblyman Peter Rivera, D-Bronx, for years an outspoken critic of the state's hiring practices. Thankfully, Gov. David Paterson has deemed it unacceptable as well.
There have been some notable exceptions to this disappointing record, which have produced a great sense of pride in the community: One is Paterson's appointment of Judge Luis Gonzalez as presiding justice of the Appellate Division of state Supreme Court for the First Judicial Department. Another is Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith's appointment of Angelo Aponte as secretary of the Senate.
Having worked with Gonzalez in his days as a Bronx Civil Court judge, and also for Aponte, the affordable housing czar under Gov. Mario Cuomo. I must say I feel deeply gratified to see Latino public servants of such standing in my community rise to positions of equivalent stature.
At the same time, let me offer a word of caution to our leaders: When wielding the blade of fiscal retrenchment, be mindful that cutting resources and employment in my community is tantamount to pouring salt on a gaping wound.
Before the tremors were being felt on Wall Street, the earthquake was already under way in the Latino community. Predatory lending and foreclosure were ripping our neighborhoods apart long before the talking heads on cable TV news caught wind of it.
The challenge is to increase promotional opportunities for Hispanics in the existing work force, and factor equitable representation into plans for legacy hiring. As the Civil Service Commission report notes, "Despite another hiring freeze, critical positions will continue to be filled to replace baby boomer retirements and staff critical missions. This will create opportunities to improve representation of minorities..." State leaders should take this advice to heart.
Albany, as the seat of state power, must begin to more closely reflect New York's changing demographics.
As the Somos Conference has proven over its 22-year existence, it may have taken Hispanics a while to arrive, but make no mistake, as our numbers grow, so, too, will our sway on the future of the Empire State.
Dan Irizarry, a state employee, is also a writer, community activist and member of the board of directors of Hispanic Outreach Service, an agency of Catholic Charities/Albany Diocese.
Albany Times Union (April 26, 2009)
The 22nd renewal of the Puerto Rican/Hispanic Legislative Task Force's Somos El Futuro (We Are the Future) Conference should underscore the fact that the future is now for the Latino community.
When viewed against the backdrop of the 2008 presidential election, where the Latino vote proved decisive to the outcome, Hispanic conferencegoers had reason to feel elated. The procession of officeholders and aspiring candidates making the rounds during the April 3-5 meeting in Albany was a veritable who's who of New York politics. Their ubiquity at luncheons, in workshops and at the gala leaves no doubt that our community has come into its own.
However, a report released by the state Civil Service Commission on the eve of the conference had a sobering effect on many participants.
The report, "Diversity in the New York State Government Workforce, A Look at the Last Decade, and the Next," paints a disheartening picture of a work force where Hispanics are acutely underrepresented. To some of us Latinos working in state government, this bit of bad news was not news at all.
The report states that "Hispanics make up nearly 13 percent of the statewide labor force, but represent only 4.44 percent of the State (government) work force. Further, while 8.3 percent of the State work force is employed above the SG-23 (pay) level, only 5.1 percent of Hispanics are employed above that level."
Translation: Even when we manage to get in the door, we remain on the periphery.
One of the most troubling observations was that while 27.1 percent of state jobs are located in the Capital Region, the largest share statewide, only 1.7 percent of state government's minority work force lives here. While Hispanics are a small, albeit growing, part of the population, these facts virtually guarantee a perpetual ethnic imbalance.
That is, unless Albany, the company town where the state is the company, ceases to be that insular place where Hispanics and other minorities have little chance to prosper.
What was most troubling to many a Somos attendee is the yawning lack of Hispanic representation at the executive level of state agencies so clearly delineated in the report. Such underrepresentation means that government policies, which have a significant impact on Latinos statewide, are being created without meaningful input from our community. This is reprehensible to the task force, especially members like Assemblyman Peter Rivera, D-Bronx, for years an outspoken critic of the state's hiring practices. Thankfully, Gov. David Paterson has deemed it unacceptable as well.
There have been some notable exceptions to this disappointing record, which have produced a great sense of pride in the community: One is Paterson's appointment of Judge Luis Gonzalez as presiding justice of the Appellate Division of state Supreme Court for the First Judicial Department. Another is Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith's appointment of Angelo Aponte as secretary of the Senate.
Having worked with Gonzalez in his days as a Bronx Civil Court judge, and also for Aponte, the affordable housing czar under Gov. Mario Cuomo. I must say I feel deeply gratified to see Latino public servants of such standing in my community rise to positions of equivalent stature.
At the same time, let me offer a word of caution to our leaders: When wielding the blade of fiscal retrenchment, be mindful that cutting resources and employment in my community is tantamount to pouring salt on a gaping wound.
Before the tremors were being felt on Wall Street, the earthquake was already under way in the Latino community. Predatory lending and foreclosure were ripping our neighborhoods apart long before the talking heads on cable TV news caught wind of it.
The challenge is to increase promotional opportunities for Hispanics in the existing work force, and factor equitable representation into plans for legacy hiring. As the Civil Service Commission report notes, "Despite another hiring freeze, critical positions will continue to be filled to replace baby boomer retirements and staff critical missions. This will create opportunities to improve representation of minorities..." State leaders should take this advice to heart.
Albany, as the seat of state power, must begin to more closely reflect New York's changing demographics.
As the Somos Conference has proven over its 22-year existence, it may have taken Hispanics a while to arrive, but make no mistake, as our numbers grow, so, too, will our sway on the future of the Empire State.
Dan Irizarry, a state employee, is also a writer, community activist and member of the board of directors of Hispanic Outreach Service, an agency of Catholic Charities/Albany Diocese.
Friday, April 10, 2009
Latinos Missing from Assembly Leadership
El Diario/La Prensa Editorial
April 10, 2009
With at least one vacancy expected in the leadership of New York’s Assembly Majority, Speaker Sheldon Silver has the opportunity to address the absence of Latinos on that body.
On Wednesday, Assemblyman Ruben Diaz Jr. announced that he is naming Assemblywoman Aurelia Greene as deputy borough president of the Bronx. With no real opposition, Diaz Jr. is considered a shoe-in for the Bronx borough presidency. His appointment of Greene, a veteran legislator, will leave a vacancy in the Assembly’s Majority Leadership, where she serves as Speaker Pro Tempore. In that position, she is second to Silver in presiding over the Assembly.
As it stands right now, there are 20 positions in the majority leadership. Not one of them is held by a Hispanic, despite the fact that there are 1.5 million eligible Latino voters and counting in New York. Clearly, Silver should take Greene’s pending departure, and others that are anticipated, to address his Latino-less leadership.
With rumors that more Assembly members may cast their lots for city races, other vacancies may arise. This means that Latino legislators must convene to ensure that Hispanics are meaningfully represented in new leadership and committee chair opportunities.
The issue of the lack of Latinos in Assembly leadership positions has already been put on Silver’s radar. And there are legislators who are in talks about pending openings. While some of them may feel more effective as heads of committees, this does not negate the need and importance of having Latino representation in the leadership conference of the Assembly.
Yes, at the helm of the Assembly, there are traditional carrots – a bigger stipend and prestige. But the important reality is that being in the Assembly’s leadership opens political access and a pipeline to larger statewide positions.
We encourage Latino legislators to be proactive in seizing—and creating—leadership opportunities and Speaker Silver to effectively respond to a growing community that deserves equitable representation.
April 10, 2009
With at least one vacancy expected in the leadership of New York’s Assembly Majority, Speaker Sheldon Silver has the opportunity to address the absence of Latinos on that body.
On Wednesday, Assemblyman Ruben Diaz Jr. announced that he is naming Assemblywoman Aurelia Greene as deputy borough president of the Bronx. With no real opposition, Diaz Jr. is considered a shoe-in for the Bronx borough presidency. His appointment of Greene, a veteran legislator, will leave a vacancy in the Assembly’s Majority Leadership, where she serves as Speaker Pro Tempore. In that position, she is second to Silver in presiding over the Assembly.
As it stands right now, there are 20 positions in the majority leadership. Not one of them is held by a Hispanic, despite the fact that there are 1.5 million eligible Latino voters and counting in New York. Clearly, Silver should take Greene’s pending departure, and others that are anticipated, to address his Latino-less leadership.
With rumors that more Assembly members may cast their lots for city races, other vacancies may arise. This means that Latino legislators must convene to ensure that Hispanics are meaningfully represented in new leadership and committee chair opportunities.
The issue of the lack of Latinos in Assembly leadership positions has already been put on Silver’s radar. And there are legislators who are in talks about pending openings. While some of them may feel more effective as heads of committees, this does not negate the need and importance of having Latino representation in the leadership conference of the Assembly.
Yes, at the helm of the Assembly, there are traditional carrots – a bigger stipend and prestige. But the important reality is that being in the Assembly’s leadership opens political access and a pipeline to larger statewide positions.
We encourage Latino legislators to be proactive in seizing—and creating—leadership opportunities and Speaker Silver to effectively respond to a growing community that deserves equitable representation.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Exclusive: NY Senators push for a Hispanic on the Supreme Court
April 2, 2009
In a letter sent to the White House, New York Senators Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, both Democrats, called on President Obama to appoint a Latino to the United States Supreme Court should a vacancy arise.
The senators emphasize that not one Latino has been appointed to the Supreme Court in the history of the nation. They recommend that Obama focus on Judge Sonia Sotomayor, of New York, and Ken Salazar, currently the secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior. A copy of the letter was made available to El Diario/La Prensa.
Schumer told El Diario/La Prensa that Sotomayor would make an excellent selection. “We are blessed in the New York area to have someone who is supremely qualified to serve on the Supreme Court,” the senator said.
Gillibrand said she plans to follow up on the letter by meeting with Obama's Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and with the president himself. "I will be a very strong advocate for Sotomayor with the administration directly," Gillibrand said.
While there are no vacancies on the Court at this time, Schumer said he wanted to make his position clear to the president before there were any deliberations on nominations.
The health and age of a few of the current justices has sparked discussion over potential nominations. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the only woman on the Court, recently underwent surgery for pancreatic cancer and Justice John Paul Stevens is 88 years old.
Schumer, who sits on the Senate’s judiciary committee, said Obama understands the important of diversity. “It would be one of the great achievements of his presidency to appoint one of the first Latinos to the Supreme Court,” he said.
Schumer also believes Sotomayor would successfully wade through tough confirmation hearings because he said she has an excellent record and is a political moderate.
Sotomayor is the first Hispanic federal judge in New York State. She received appointments to the judiciary by both President George H.W. Bush and President William J. Clinton. Salazar is a lawyer who served as a senator from Colorado. He also served as that state's attorney general.
In a letter sent to the White House, New York Senators Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, both Democrats, called on President Obama to appoint a Latino to the United States Supreme Court should a vacancy arise.
The senators emphasize that not one Latino has been appointed to the Supreme Court in the history of the nation. They recommend that Obama focus on Judge Sonia Sotomayor, of New York, and Ken Salazar, currently the secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior. A copy of the letter was made available to El Diario/La Prensa.
Schumer told El Diario/La Prensa that Sotomayor would make an excellent selection. “We are blessed in the New York area to have someone who is supremely qualified to serve on the Supreme Court,” the senator said.
Gillibrand said she plans to follow up on the letter by meeting with Obama's Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and with the president himself. "I will be a very strong advocate for Sotomayor with the administration directly," Gillibrand said.
While there are no vacancies on the Court at this time, Schumer said he wanted to make his position clear to the president before there were any deliberations on nominations.
The health and age of a few of the current justices has sparked discussion over potential nominations. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the only woman on the Court, recently underwent surgery for pancreatic cancer and Justice John Paul Stevens is 88 years old.
Schumer, who sits on the Senate’s judiciary committee, said Obama understands the important of diversity. “It would be one of the great achievements of his presidency to appoint one of the first Latinos to the Supreme Court,” he said.
Schumer also believes Sotomayor would successfully wade through tough confirmation hearings because he said she has an excellent record and is a political moderate.
Sotomayor is the first Hispanic federal judge in New York State. She received appointments to the judiciary by both President George H.W. Bush and President William J. Clinton. Salazar is a lawyer who served as a senator from Colorado. He also served as that state's attorney general.
A Hispanic for the Supreme Court
El Diario/La Prensa Editorial
April 02, 2009
Senators Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York are urging President Obama to appoint a Latino to the United States Supreme Court. EL DIARIO/LA PRENSA joins their call.
Recognizing that the president is likely to have the opportunity to nominate a justice, Schumer and Gillibrand have asked him to consider two high caliber candidates-Judge Sonia Sotomayor and U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar.
Latinos are 15 percent of the U.S. population. But you would never know that from looking at the federal judiciary, where only seven percent of judges are Hispanic. That gross underrepresentation must come to an end-at the highest levels.
A native New Yorker, Sotomayor has been supported by both Republicans and Democrats in her appointments to the federal bench. She served as District Court Judge for the Southern District of New York prior to her 1998 appointment to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
Salazar, a former senator and attorney general of Colorado, also has a distinguished record. But we must note another glaring imbalance on the Supreme Court: out of its nine justices, only one is a woman.
Should a vacancy emerge on the Court, Sotomayor should be at the top of Obama’s list. She is an experienced judge with excellent credentials. And she happens to be Hispanic.
The Supreme Court is a cornerstone of our democracy. Its decisions reverberate throughout the nation, affecting public and private spheres and everyday citizens. The individuals who uphold this institution must reflect the diversity from which our nation draws its strength.
Obama should seize the opportunity to build on his message of inclusion, fairness and diversity. The president can make more than a historic appointment-he can set the tone for our children and generations to come.
April 02, 2009
Senators Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York are urging President Obama to appoint a Latino to the United States Supreme Court. EL DIARIO/LA PRENSA joins their call.
Recognizing that the president is likely to have the opportunity to nominate a justice, Schumer and Gillibrand have asked him to consider two high caliber candidates-Judge Sonia Sotomayor and U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar.
Latinos are 15 percent of the U.S. population. But you would never know that from looking at the federal judiciary, where only seven percent of judges are Hispanic. That gross underrepresentation must come to an end-at the highest levels.
A native New Yorker, Sotomayor has been supported by both Republicans and Democrats in her appointments to the federal bench. She served as District Court Judge for the Southern District of New York prior to her 1998 appointment to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
Salazar, a former senator and attorney general of Colorado, also has a distinguished record. But we must note another glaring imbalance on the Supreme Court: out of its nine justices, only one is a woman.
Should a vacancy emerge on the Court, Sotomayor should be at the top of Obama’s list. She is an experienced judge with excellent credentials. And she happens to be Hispanic.
The Supreme Court is a cornerstone of our democracy. Its decisions reverberate throughout the nation, affecting public and private spheres and everyday citizens. The individuals who uphold this institution must reflect the diversity from which our nation draws its strength.
Obama should seize the opportunity to build on his message of inclusion, fairness and diversity. The president can make more than a historic appointment-he can set the tone for our children and generations to come.
Congressman Nydia Velazquez - Op Ed from El Diario
Feb 28, 2009
One of the greatest privileges of the presidency is the ability to appoint Supreme Court justices. Nine out of the last ten presidents have done so, with Jimmy Carter being the one exception. In fact, only a handful of presidents have not had this distinct honor. Given the odds, it is likely that Barack Obama will get a chance to make his own nomination. In doing so, he will have a unique opportunity to give a historically excluded community a seat at the table.
It is high time for a Latino or Latina to serve on this nation’s highest court. We now make up 15 percent of the U.S population, and by 2050 that number is expected to reach 30 percent. As the fastest growing community in the nation, we have a deep pool of talent to draw from. Already, Hispanic leaders from new Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to recently confirmed Labor Secretary Hilda Solis are changing the face of American leadership. The presence of a Hispanic Supreme Court Justice would underscore the growing influence of our community, and would bring pride to millions. Just as importantly, it would inspire greater confidence in the integrity of the process, and contribute to the quality of judicial decisions.
Because the Supreme Court is the highest judicial body in the United States, its actions deeply impact the lives of ordinary people. It has the power to protect our liberties, and to uphold the highest ideals of American democracy. At the same time, it can close the courthouse door to those seeking relief from discrimination, prejudice and all forms of injustice. That is why the composition of the Court is so critical and why it must reflect the population and the hopes and aspirations of the people it serves. A Justice who has shared the life experiences of the least privileged among us would bring a valuable perspective to the promises of the Founding Fathers. He or she should also be an outstanding figure in the community who has impeccable academic credentials and work experience. Of course, any nominee must be intellectually honest, of the highest integrity and must possess sound judgment, outstanding character and a profound sense of fairness.
Our standards are lofty, but our hope is realistic. Greater diversification of the High Court to include, for the first time, a Judge of Latino/a heritage, can only serve to further broaden the contours of justice. I call upon the President to see that the highest court in the land becomes all that it can be and nominate-when the time comes-a Latino/a to our highest court so that this nation can live up to the words engraved in stone on the Supreme Court: “Equal Justice Under Law.”
Nydia M. Velazquez, U.S. Representative
Chairwoman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus
One of the greatest privileges of the presidency is the ability to appoint Supreme Court justices. Nine out of the last ten presidents have done so, with Jimmy Carter being the one exception. In fact, only a handful of presidents have not had this distinct honor. Given the odds, it is likely that Barack Obama will get a chance to make his own nomination. In doing so, he will have a unique opportunity to give a historically excluded community a seat at the table.
It is high time for a Latino or Latina to serve on this nation’s highest court. We now make up 15 percent of the U.S population, and by 2050 that number is expected to reach 30 percent. As the fastest growing community in the nation, we have a deep pool of talent to draw from. Already, Hispanic leaders from new Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to recently confirmed Labor Secretary Hilda Solis are changing the face of American leadership. The presence of a Hispanic Supreme Court Justice would underscore the growing influence of our community, and would bring pride to millions. Just as importantly, it would inspire greater confidence in the integrity of the process, and contribute to the quality of judicial decisions.
Because the Supreme Court is the highest judicial body in the United States, its actions deeply impact the lives of ordinary people. It has the power to protect our liberties, and to uphold the highest ideals of American democracy. At the same time, it can close the courthouse door to those seeking relief from discrimination, prejudice and all forms of injustice. That is why the composition of the Court is so critical and why it must reflect the population and the hopes and aspirations of the people it serves. A Justice who has shared the life experiences of the least privileged among us would bring a valuable perspective to the promises of the Founding Fathers. He or she should also be an outstanding figure in the community who has impeccable academic credentials and work experience. Of course, any nominee must be intellectually honest, of the highest integrity and must possess sound judgment, outstanding character and a profound sense of fairness.
Our standards are lofty, but our hope is realistic. Greater diversification of the High Court to include, for the first time, a Judge of Latino/a heritage, can only serve to further broaden the contours of justice. I call upon the President to see that the highest court in the land becomes all that it can be and nominate-when the time comes-a Latino/a to our highest court so that this nation can live up to the words engraved in stone on the Supreme Court: “Equal Justice Under Law.”
Nydia M. Velazquez, U.S. Representative
Chairwoman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Diazes May Not Be Off Investigation Hook Yet
NY Daily News
Tuesday, March 24th 2009, 1:44 AM
Just as the U.S. attorney has reportedly ended his two-year-long investigation into State Sen. Ruben Diaz Sr. and Assemblyman son Ruben Jr., state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has stepped in to take a look.
Cuomo's office may be picking the bones of the fed probe to see if any state charges might apply to either or both of the Diazes.
We're told Cuomo's people have been talking to some folks connected with the nonprofit Soundview Community in Action, which the Diazes founded, then defunded after its director, Ed Padilla, accused them of turning it into their personal political fiefdom.
Two weeks ago, the Diazes' lawyers told the Bronx Boro News that Acting U.S. Attorney Lev Dassin's office informed them its investigation had been "terminated ... with no finding of wrongdoing."
Both Dassin and Cuomo's offices had no comment. As of deadline, also no comment from the Diaz camp.
Bronx GOP Mike-less
Mayor Bloomberg, who has raised the old "Ten bucks and a pint of Night Train" style of buying votes to new heights, was a no-show at Thursday's Bronx GOP fund-raiser.
The city's five GOP county leaders meet May 6 to pick a mayoral candidate, and Bloomberg is lusting for their ballot line.
It may wind up money over principle, since he could easily fill the cash-poor party's coffers. But ex-Dem Bloomie treated it like a cheatin' boyfriend, using it to get a party line, then dumping it to run independent.
Bronx Chair Jay Savino told us he's likely to support former City Council Minority Leader Tom Ognibene of Queens for mayor, pretty much a symbolic gesture.
"It's about policies and issues that the people we represent care about," said Savino.
One of the night's honorees, billionaire/mayoral wanna-be John Catsimatidis, had to bow out with a family emergency, but ex-Bronx Dem Party Boss Jose Rivera was at his table.
Meanwhile, campaign finance board filings show GOPer Anthony Ribustello, who's pushing a boulder up the hill running against Ruben Diaz Jr. for borough president, has raised $200 compared to $279,680 by Rubencito, who has spent $172,102 of it.
My name is Earl
Earl Brown, acting borough president until the April 21 election, now has - on the BP's Web site, www.bronxboropres.nyc.gov - his pix and bio posted.
Efrain boosting Ruth
Ex-State Sen. Efrain Gonzalez is hosting a fund-raiser for state Sen. Ruth Hassell-Thompson Friday at the Pelham/Split Rock Golf Course.
Efrain, who has been making the political rounds without a seeming care in the world, is due to go on federal trial in May, charged with pocketing funding to nonprofits.
Pedro's peeved
We're told state Sen. Pedro Espada isn't returning our calls because he's got his tail in a sling over that Wascally Wabbit nickname.
He didn't seem to mind before he became somewhat of a minor power in Albany. That thanks to the Three Amigos (Banditos) - Espada, Ruben (The Rev.) Diaz Sr., and Brooklyn's Carl Kruger - shaking down Malcolm Smith in exchange for giving him a one-vote majority leadership.
But based on general opinion in Bronx political circles, we'll stick with the nickname - for now.
Odds on Maria
Maria Baez continues to have THE very worst unexcused attendance record in the City Council - among her many other faults.
But it looks like she has a lock on getting reelected to her west Bronx seat, since she needs only 1,500 votes to pull it off.
And with a verrrrrry crowded field of at least five challengers so far, they'll just be diluting the vote. God bless democracy.
Bill minus Adolfo
Adolfo Carrión's departure from the race for City Controller has hurt mayoral candidate Bill Thompson's quest for Latino votes, according to a piece by former Daily News Bronx bureau intern Andrew Hawkins in the current online City Hall News (www.cityhallnews.com/). The plan was for AC and Bill to link arms on the campaign trail, amigo and bro.
rkappstatter@nydailynews.com
Tuesday, March 24th 2009, 1:44 AM
Just as the U.S. attorney has reportedly ended his two-year-long investigation into State Sen. Ruben Diaz Sr. and Assemblyman son Ruben Jr., state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has stepped in to take a look.
Cuomo's office may be picking the bones of the fed probe to see if any state charges might apply to either or both of the Diazes.
We're told Cuomo's people have been talking to some folks connected with the nonprofit Soundview Community in Action, which the Diazes founded, then defunded after its director, Ed Padilla, accused them of turning it into their personal political fiefdom.
Two weeks ago, the Diazes' lawyers told the Bronx Boro News that Acting U.S. Attorney Lev Dassin's office informed them its investigation had been "terminated ... with no finding of wrongdoing."
Both Dassin and Cuomo's offices had no comment. As of deadline, also no comment from the Diaz camp.
Bronx GOP Mike-less
Mayor Bloomberg, who has raised the old "Ten bucks and a pint of Night Train" style of buying votes to new heights, was a no-show at Thursday's Bronx GOP fund-raiser.
The city's five GOP county leaders meet May 6 to pick a mayoral candidate, and Bloomberg is lusting for their ballot line.
It may wind up money over principle, since he could easily fill the cash-poor party's coffers. But ex-Dem Bloomie treated it like a cheatin' boyfriend, using it to get a party line, then dumping it to run independent.
Bronx Chair Jay Savino told us he's likely to support former City Council Minority Leader Tom Ognibene of Queens for mayor, pretty much a symbolic gesture.
"It's about policies and issues that the people we represent care about," said Savino.
One of the night's honorees, billionaire/mayoral wanna-be John Catsimatidis, had to bow out with a family emergency, but ex-Bronx Dem Party Boss Jose Rivera was at his table.
Meanwhile, campaign finance board filings show GOPer Anthony Ribustello, who's pushing a boulder up the hill running against Ruben Diaz Jr. for borough president, has raised $200 compared to $279,680 by Rubencito, who has spent $172,102 of it.
My name is Earl
Earl Brown, acting borough president until the April 21 election, now has - on the BP's Web site, www.bronxboropres.nyc.gov - his pix and bio posted.
Efrain boosting Ruth
Ex-State Sen. Efrain Gonzalez is hosting a fund-raiser for state Sen. Ruth Hassell-Thompson Friday at the Pelham/Split Rock Golf Course.
Efrain, who has been making the political rounds without a seeming care in the world, is due to go on federal trial in May, charged with pocketing funding to nonprofits.
Pedro's peeved
We're told state Sen. Pedro Espada isn't returning our calls because he's got his tail in a sling over that Wascally Wabbit nickname.
He didn't seem to mind before he became somewhat of a minor power in Albany. That thanks to the Three Amigos (Banditos) - Espada, Ruben (The Rev.) Diaz Sr., and Brooklyn's Carl Kruger - shaking down Malcolm Smith in exchange for giving him a one-vote majority leadership.
But based on general opinion in Bronx political circles, we'll stick with the nickname - for now.
Odds on Maria
Maria Baez continues to have THE very worst unexcused attendance record in the City Council - among her many other faults.
But it looks like she has a lock on getting reelected to her west Bronx seat, since she needs only 1,500 votes to pull it off.
And with a verrrrrry crowded field of at least five challengers so far, they'll just be diluting the vote. God bless democracy.
Bill minus Adolfo
Adolfo Carrión's departure from the race for City Controller has hurt mayoral candidate Bill Thompson's quest for Latino votes, according to a piece by former Daily News Bronx bureau intern Andrew Hawkins in the current online City Hall News (www.cityhallnews.com/). The plan was for AC and Bill to link arms on the campaign trail, amigo and bro.
rkappstatter@nydailynews.com
GOVERNOR PATERSON APPOINTS JUSTICE LUIS A. GONZALEZ AS PRESIDING JUSTICE OF THE APPELLATE DIVISION, FIRST JUDICIAL DEPARTMENT
For Immediate Release: March 24, 2009
Contact: Errol Cockfield Errol.Cockfield@chamber.state.ny.us 212.681.4640 518.474.8418
Governor David A. Paterson today announced the historic appointment of Justice Luis A. Gonzalez to serve as Presiding Justice of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court for the First Judicial Department.
Justice Gonzalez has been an Associate Justice on the Appellate Division, First Department for the last seven years. He has held a variety of civil, criminal and administrative judicial posts. He was the Administrative Judge of the Bronx Supreme Court from January 1999 to March 2002. In 1998, he served on the Appellate Term, First Department, and from 1993 to 1997 was a Justice of the Supreme Court, Bronx County. He was an Acting Justice in that same court in 1992 and from 1987 to 1992 was a Judge of the Civil Court of the City of New York. From 1985 to1986 he was in the Housing Part of the Civil Court, and prior to that was a Hearing Officer with the New York State Division of Housing and Community Renewal. From 1980 to 1981 Mr. Gonzalez was General Counsel of the South Bronx Community Housing and Development Corporation and from 1978 to 1980 was General Counsel to the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico as legal counsel to the National Director. Mr. Gonzalez was in private practice from 1976 to 1978 and was an Investigator with the New York City Department of Investigation from 1975 to 1976.
Justice Gonzalez, who is the first Latino to be appointed to this position, received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Eastern Mennonite University in 1968 and his Juris Doctor from Columbia University School of Law in 1975.
“Throughout his career, Justice Gonzalez has displayed the strength of character and profound respect for the law that makes him an outstanding choice,” said Governor Paterson. “Justice Gonzalez has a compelling and inspiring life story and I have no doubt that he will continue to serve New Yorkers with great distinction. He is a true leader”
Justice Luis A. Gonzalez said: “I am humbled and grateful to the Governor for entrusting in me the stewardship of the Appellate Division, First Department. I am committed and dedicated to preserving the preeminence that this court enjoys in the legal community. I am very much aware of the historical importance of this appointment and his trust and faith, I repeat, will always be appreciated.”
The First Department Judicial Screening Committee submitted seven names, each a sitting member of the court, to the Governor, all of whom were deemed “highly qualified.” All of the seven candidates displayed integrity, independence, leadership, intellect, legal ability, judgment, temperament and experience.
Governor Paterson added: “I was presented with outstanding candidates from which to choose and I salute each of them. Justice Gonzalez will assume leadership of a very talented and tremendously significant court.”
Under the New York State Constitution and Judiciary Law, the Governor has the authority to appoint the Presiding Justice of each Appellate Division from among those who have been elected as Justices of the Supreme Court. The Governor’s appointment is not subject to Senate confirmation.
The annual salary for the Presiding Justice is $147,600.
Contact: Errol Cockfield Errol.Cockfield@chamber.state.ny.us 212.681.4640 518.474.8418
Governor David A. Paterson today announced the historic appointment of Justice Luis A. Gonzalez to serve as Presiding Justice of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court for the First Judicial Department.
Justice Gonzalez has been an Associate Justice on the Appellate Division, First Department for the last seven years. He has held a variety of civil, criminal and administrative judicial posts. He was the Administrative Judge of the Bronx Supreme Court from January 1999 to March 2002. In 1998, he served on the Appellate Term, First Department, and from 1993 to 1997 was a Justice of the Supreme Court, Bronx County. He was an Acting Justice in that same court in 1992 and from 1987 to 1992 was a Judge of the Civil Court of the City of New York. From 1985 to1986 he was in the Housing Part of the Civil Court, and prior to that was a Hearing Officer with the New York State Division of Housing and Community Renewal. From 1980 to 1981 Mr. Gonzalez was General Counsel of the South Bronx Community Housing and Development Corporation and from 1978 to 1980 was General Counsel to the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico as legal counsel to the National Director. Mr. Gonzalez was in private practice from 1976 to 1978 and was an Investigator with the New York City Department of Investigation from 1975 to 1976.
Justice Gonzalez, who is the first Latino to be appointed to this position, received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Eastern Mennonite University in 1968 and his Juris Doctor from Columbia University School of Law in 1975.
“Throughout his career, Justice Gonzalez has displayed the strength of character and profound respect for the law that makes him an outstanding choice,” said Governor Paterson. “Justice Gonzalez has a compelling and inspiring life story and I have no doubt that he will continue to serve New Yorkers with great distinction. He is a true leader”
Justice Luis A. Gonzalez said: “I am humbled and grateful to the Governor for entrusting in me the stewardship of the Appellate Division, First Department. I am committed and dedicated to preserving the preeminence that this court enjoys in the legal community. I am very much aware of the historical importance of this appointment and his trust and faith, I repeat, will always be appreciated.”
The First Department Judicial Screening Committee submitted seven names, each a sitting member of the court, to the Governor, all of whom were deemed “highly qualified.” All of the seven candidates displayed integrity, independence, leadership, intellect, legal ability, judgment, temperament and experience.
Governor Paterson added: “I was presented with outstanding candidates from which to choose and I salute each of them. Justice Gonzalez will assume leadership of a very talented and tremendously significant court.”
Under the New York State Constitution and Judiciary Law, the Governor has the authority to appoint the Presiding Justice of each Appellate Division from among those who have been elected as Justices of the Supreme Court. The Governor’s appointment is not subject to Senate confirmation.
The annual salary for the Presiding Justice is $147,600.
###
Monday, March 23, 2009
Increase Hispanic Judicial Appointments
El Diario-New York
Monday, March 23, 2009
When a New York judicial commission failed to nominate any Latinos or women for the position of chief judge, Governor David Paterson slammed the panel for not reflecting the diversity of the state. He now has a chance to move beyond words to action.
Paterson is soon expected to appoint a presiding justice for the Appellate Division, First Department of the state’s Supreme Court. A vacancy was created when Paterson selected Jonathan Lippman from the no-female, no-Hispanic slate to become head of the Court of Appeals.
The commission that put Lippman’s name on the table came under heavy fire for excluding Latina judge Carmen Beauchamp Ciparick, who has served on the Court of Appeals since 1994. Paterson was also criticized for proceeding with an appointment instead of leaving Ciparick to act as interim chief judge. Lippman has more of a record as an administrator than as a jurist and has long had the political backing of New York Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver.
Paterson is now in the process of interviewing four candidates to replace Lippman as presiding justice of the First Department. The candidates include two Hispanics and one woman.
The Appellate Division, First Department covers the Bronx and Manhattan. But out of its 18 judges, only two are from the Bronx. The county with the city’s largest Latino population is grossly underrepresented.
Both State Senator Ruben Diaz and Assemblyman Peter Rivera have demanded that Hispanics no longer be denied an opportunity to serve at all levels of the judiciary. And State Senator John Sampson, who heads the Senate’s judiciary committee, said the governor is also aware of the need for increased Bronx representation.
Paterson can begin to right a wrong. A Latino appointment from the Bronx would be a step in that direction.
Monday, March 23, 2009
When a New York judicial commission failed to nominate any Latinos or women for the position of chief judge, Governor David Paterson slammed the panel for not reflecting the diversity of the state. He now has a chance to move beyond words to action.
Paterson is soon expected to appoint a presiding justice for the Appellate Division, First Department of the state’s Supreme Court. A vacancy was created when Paterson selected Jonathan Lippman from the no-female, no-Hispanic slate to become head of the Court of Appeals.
The commission that put Lippman’s name on the table came under heavy fire for excluding Latina judge Carmen Beauchamp Ciparick, who has served on the Court of Appeals since 1994. Paterson was also criticized for proceeding with an appointment instead of leaving Ciparick to act as interim chief judge. Lippman has more of a record as an administrator than as a jurist and has long had the political backing of New York Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver.
Paterson is now in the process of interviewing four candidates to replace Lippman as presiding justice of the First Department. The candidates include two Hispanics and one woman.
The Appellate Division, First Department covers the Bronx and Manhattan. But out of its 18 judges, only two are from the Bronx. The county with the city’s largest Latino population is grossly underrepresented.
Both State Senator Ruben Diaz and Assemblyman Peter Rivera have demanded that Hispanics no longer be denied an opportunity to serve at all levels of the judiciary. And State Senator John Sampson, who heads the Senate’s judiciary committee, said the governor is also aware of the need for increased Bronx representation.
Paterson can begin to right a wrong. A Latino appointment from the Bronx would be a step in that direction.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Dad and Son Diaz are Off U.S. Attorney's Hook
New York Daily News
Tuesday, March 17th 2009, 7:02 AM
While former Bronx Borough President/Obama urban policy czar Adolfo Carrion has been squirming under the investigative spotlight, the feds have reportedly dropped their two-year-long investigations into Assemblyman and BP candidate Ruben Diaz Jr. and his state senator dad, Ruben (The Rev.) Diaz Sr.
Their lawyers tell us Acting U.S. Attorney Lev Dassin's office told them the grand jury investigations were "terminated" with "no finding of wrongdoing."
A spokeswoman for Dassin said office policy is to neither confirm nor deny information in such matters.
As we previously reported exclusively, the feds were looking at the Diazes allegedly using workers at Soundview Community in Action for campaign work on nonprofit time and at potential voter registration fraud.
The Diazes cut SCA funding after director Ed Padilla charged them with using it as a political fiefdom. Reps. Jose Serrano, Joe Crowley, and Councilwoman Annabel Palma have kept it funded.
Ed's brother Ken Padilla is district leader in Assemblyman Peter Rivera's 76th A.D. and backed a challenger against Rubencito in his recent assembly race.
Then-Attorney General Eliot Spitzer wrist-slapped Daddy Diaz in 2005, making him repay $5,000 in state and fed funds to SCA that he used to buy furniture for his district office as well as campaign loudspeakers.
El-i-ot, phone home
No, we're not talking about E.T., but Rep. Eliot Engel, who suffered the embarrassment last week of being outed on his questionable residency issue.
The state of Maryland rejected his request for a 7G tax break on his $1 million family manse there, though Engel claimed it was his official residence.
Guess that Bronx apartment on his voter registration is just his crash pad when he's working the campaign circuit.
Where's dat Wascal?
A lot of west Bronx constituents are wondering just when and where newly elected State Sen. Pedro (The Wascally Wabbit) Espada Jr. is finally going to open a district office.
His senate Web site lists his Albany phone number and a questionnaire asking for contact information - and if you're registered to vote.
News blogger Liz Benjamin recently reported Pedro is eying offices at 400 E. Fordham Road. We, however, have received no phone nibbles back from the Wabbit.
Chicken with pork
We asked the borough's three congressmen to give us the top earmarked item they inserted among the 8,500 in the new omnibus spending bill signed by President Obama, who was not all that happy with the pork-larded document.
But as of deadline, two of them basically chickened out on the pork-barrel items.
Rep. Jose Serrano (D-South Bronx) said in a statement: "All the projects that I fund are important and worthwhile. I would have trouble ranking their significance against one another because, in so many ways, they are all vital to our community."
Rep. Eliot Engel (D-North Bronx) didn't respond, and Rep. Joe Crowley (D-East Bronx) didn't give us his top money item.
One congressman's aide, whom we shall mercifully spare with anonymity, told us, "Problem is, one group sees how much another one's getting and they get pissy."
Those board appointments
Since Adolfo left all those open community board appointments hanging fire, folks are wondering what's next.
City Council members appoint half the members, leaving the BP the rest, for each of the 12 37-member boards, with the BP's office screening for a final okay.
It's not likely Acting BP Earl Brown will want to approve any of the reappointment and new appointment applications.
A source in Rubencito's camp said he's ready to review and approve them (though maybe not all) should he win the special election, rather than wait for the winner of the general November election (wonder who?) to take office in January.
Fox update
Councilman Larry (The Fox) Seabrook is still NOT running for boro prez, if anyone cares.
Grand Old Party
The Bronx Republican Party and chairman Jay Savino are throwing a "Spring Reception" Thursday at the Marina del Rey, honoring supermarket mogul and mayoral wanna-be John Catsimatidis. Be interesting to see if the Man Who Would Be King Bloomberg stops by.
rkappstatter@nydailynews.com
Tuesday, March 17th 2009, 7:02 AM
While former Bronx Borough President/Obama urban policy czar Adolfo Carrion has been squirming under the investigative spotlight, the feds have reportedly dropped their two-year-long investigations into Assemblyman and BP candidate Ruben Diaz Jr. and his state senator dad, Ruben (The Rev.) Diaz Sr.
Their lawyers tell us Acting U.S. Attorney Lev Dassin's office told them the grand jury investigations were "terminated" with "no finding of wrongdoing."
A spokeswoman for Dassin said office policy is to neither confirm nor deny information in such matters.
As we previously reported exclusively, the feds were looking at the Diazes allegedly using workers at Soundview Community in Action for campaign work on nonprofit time and at potential voter registration fraud.
The Diazes cut SCA funding after director Ed Padilla charged them with using it as a political fiefdom. Reps. Jose Serrano, Joe Crowley, and Councilwoman Annabel Palma have kept it funded.
Ed's brother Ken Padilla is district leader in Assemblyman Peter Rivera's 76th A.D. and backed a challenger against Rubencito in his recent assembly race.
Then-Attorney General Eliot Spitzer wrist-slapped Daddy Diaz in 2005, making him repay $5,000 in state and fed funds to SCA that he used to buy furniture for his district office as well as campaign loudspeakers.
El-i-ot, phone home
No, we're not talking about E.T., but Rep. Eliot Engel, who suffered the embarrassment last week of being outed on his questionable residency issue.
The state of Maryland rejected his request for a 7G tax break on his $1 million family manse there, though Engel claimed it was his official residence.
Guess that Bronx apartment on his voter registration is just his crash pad when he's working the campaign circuit.
Where's dat Wascal?
A lot of west Bronx constituents are wondering just when and where newly elected State Sen. Pedro (The Wascally Wabbit) Espada Jr. is finally going to open a district office.
His senate Web site lists his Albany phone number and a questionnaire asking for contact information - and if you're registered to vote.
News blogger Liz Benjamin recently reported Pedro is eying offices at 400 E. Fordham Road. We, however, have received no phone nibbles back from the Wabbit.
Chicken with pork
We asked the borough's three congressmen to give us the top earmarked item they inserted among the 8,500 in the new omnibus spending bill signed by President Obama, who was not all that happy with the pork-larded document.
But as of deadline, two of them basically chickened out on the pork-barrel items.
Rep. Jose Serrano (D-South Bronx) said in a statement: "All the projects that I fund are important and worthwhile. I would have trouble ranking their significance against one another because, in so many ways, they are all vital to our community."
Rep. Eliot Engel (D-North Bronx) didn't respond, and Rep. Joe Crowley (D-East Bronx) didn't give us his top money item.
One congressman's aide, whom we shall mercifully spare with anonymity, told us, "Problem is, one group sees how much another one's getting and they get pissy."
Those board appointments
Since Adolfo left all those open community board appointments hanging fire, folks are wondering what's next.
City Council members appoint half the members, leaving the BP the rest, for each of the 12 37-member boards, with the BP's office screening for a final okay.
It's not likely Acting BP Earl Brown will want to approve any of the reappointment and new appointment applications.
A source in Rubencito's camp said he's ready to review and approve them (though maybe not all) should he win the special election, rather than wait for the winner of the general November election (wonder who?) to take office in January.
Fox update
Councilman Larry (The Fox) Seabrook is still NOT running for boro prez, if anyone cares.
Grand Old Party
The Bronx Republican Party and chairman Jay Savino are throwing a "Spring Reception" Thursday at the Marina del Rey, honoring supermarket mogul and mayoral wanna-be John Catsimatidis. Be interesting to see if the Man Who Would Be King Bloomberg stops by.
rkappstatter@nydailynews.com
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Mayor Bloomberg Awaits OK from Department of Justice for Third Term Run
By Adam Lisberg
Daily News (March 15, 2009)
Mayor Bloomberg has wriggled free of every force that tried to block his bid for a third term, but he still hasn't heard from one body he can't sweet talk, bulldoze or buy off.
The Departmetn of Justice's section for voting rights must decide by Tuesday whether the October term limits extension will hurt minority voters.
If it does, every two-term incumbent in the November elections would be suddenly ineligible - sending Bloomberg and a boatload of other politicians on a retirement cruise.
The city Law Department filed 1,789 pages with Justice to make sure that doesn't happen, saying that "term limits by definition affect all candidates and their constituencies in precisely the same manner" without any racial overtones.
Norman Siegel and Randy Mastro - lawyers on the other side of the issue - sent their own sheaf of paper to Justice pointing out what should be glaringly obvious to anyone who looks at the City Council: Without term limits, incumbents stay in their seats.
"Since 1993, no minority candidate has ever unseated a white incumbent for any municipal office in New York City," Mastro said. "It's a textbook case of a civil rights violation."
Granted, white challengers also have a hard time ousting white incumbents, which is why we have term limits in the first place. And Mastro has already lost a separate lawsuit to block the term limits law.
He may be on to something, though. Three of New York's representatives in Congress - Ed Towns and Gregory Meeks, who are black, and Nydia Velazquez, who is Hispanic - have written Justice to say the law is discriminatory.
The funny thing is nobody quite knows whether their political pressure will help or hurt.
Career lawyers in Justice's voting rights section mutinied when they felt pressured by the Bush administration to slant their decisions his way.
They now report to a Democratic President and an attorney general who believe Justice should still oversee changes that affect the Voting Rights Act.
Bloomberg, meanwhile, never showed President Obama much electoral love on the campaign trail - and he acknowledged last week that he hasn't spoken to the President since before the inauguration.
But Justice lawyers may also feel newly empowered to ignore political pressure from all sides, whether from a mayor with plenty of Washington tentacles or from Congress members who see minority voting rights being in peril.
"There's always political pressure, but historically, the Justice Department has fought that," said Joseph Rich, who headed Justice's voting rights section from 1999 to 2005. "It should make no difference. They should be looking at whether this third term hurts black voters."
Daily News (March 15, 2009)
Mayor Bloomberg has wriggled free of every force that tried to block his bid for a third term, but he still hasn't heard from one body he can't sweet talk, bulldoze or buy off.
The Departmetn of Justice's section for voting rights must decide by Tuesday whether the October term limits extension will hurt minority voters.
If it does, every two-term incumbent in the November elections would be suddenly ineligible - sending Bloomberg and a boatload of other politicians on a retirement cruise.
The city Law Department filed 1,789 pages with Justice to make sure that doesn't happen, saying that "term limits by definition affect all candidates and their constituencies in precisely the same manner" without any racial overtones.
Norman Siegel and Randy Mastro - lawyers on the other side of the issue - sent their own sheaf of paper to Justice pointing out what should be glaringly obvious to anyone who looks at the City Council: Without term limits, incumbents stay in their seats.
"Since 1993, no minority candidate has ever unseated a white incumbent for any municipal office in New York City," Mastro said. "It's a textbook case of a civil rights violation."
Granted, white challengers also have a hard time ousting white incumbents, which is why we have term limits in the first place. And Mastro has already lost a separate lawsuit to block the term limits law.
He may be on to something, though. Three of New York's representatives in Congress - Ed Towns and Gregory Meeks, who are black, and Nydia Velazquez, who is Hispanic - have written Justice to say the law is discriminatory.
The funny thing is nobody quite knows whether their political pressure will help or hurt.
Career lawyers in Justice's voting rights section mutinied when they felt pressured by the Bush administration to slant their decisions his way.
They now report to a Democratic President and an attorney general who believe Justice should still oversee changes that affect the Voting Rights Act.
Bloomberg, meanwhile, never showed President Obama much electoral love on the campaign trail - and he acknowledged last week that he hasn't spoken to the President since before the inauguration.
But Justice lawyers may also feel newly empowered to ignore political pressure from all sides, whether from a mayor with plenty of Washington tentacles or from Congress members who see minority voting rights being in peril.
"There's always political pressure, but historically, the Justice Department has fought that," said Joseph Rich, who headed Justice's voting rights section from 1999 to 2005. "It should make no difference. They should be looking at whether this third term hurts black voters."
Mayoral Challenger: Judge Wrong in Portchester Voting Rights Case
By Theresa Juva The Journal News (March 15, 2009)
PORT CHESTER, NY - Republican mayoral candidate Bill Villanova believes a federal judge was wrong in ruling that the village needs a new voting system and says, as mayor, he would lead trustees to fight the U.S. Justice Department if cumulative voting isn't approved.
"Judges are not always right," the Rye town deputy supervisor said. "It's the judge's interpretation of the law."
Trustee elections have been halted since 2006 after the Justice Department and one-time trustee candidate Cesar Ruiz sued Port Chester for violating the Voting Rights Act of 1965. U.S. District Judge Stephen C. Robinson ruled against the village last year and found that Hispanics had consistently backed certain candidates but failed to elect them in Port Chester's at-large voting system.
The Justice Department has pushed for a voting-district system, with six districts each represented by a trustee. Village officials have advocated cumulative voting, which would allow each voter to cast the same number of votes as open board seats, allowing them to vote multiple times for the same candidate.
Mayor Dennis Pilla and Villanova both support cumulative voting, but differ on how to handle the case if Robinson orders the village to create districts. Legal fees are reaching close to $1 million.
Villanova has said he would use private money to appeal both the remedy order and the original ruling.
"If you don't fight, you don't know if you are going to win," he said, adding that he doesn't think the village's at-large voting system violates the law.
Villanova argued that the political process has always been open to everyone, but that "political hacks" and "a few bad apples" corrupted it.
He also disagrees with how the village has been portrayed.
"The village of Port Chester is not a racist community," he said. "For the Department of Justice to think that the village of Port Chester is a racist community, that we don't embrace different cultures and religions ... the village of Port Chester is the snapshot of America."
Pilla said he respects the judge's original decision and doesn't favor appealing it. He accused Villanova of trying to attract "bigoted" voters to the polls.
"Basically, everybody who is an expert in the field agrees at this point that it is unwise to fight on liability," he said. "That's not to say I don't want to fight for the people of Port Chester. I think we deserve the remedy of our choice. I think we need to see how the judge rules."
Pilla also emphasized that elections need to resume as soon as possible.
"I'd rather avoid the six-district plan, but I don't want to hold up elections for three more years, and I don't want to drain the village coffers," he said.
The mayoral election is Wednesday.
PORT CHESTER, NY - Republican mayoral candidate Bill Villanova believes a federal judge was wrong in ruling that the village needs a new voting system and says, as mayor, he would lead trustees to fight the U.S. Justice Department if cumulative voting isn't approved.
"Judges are not always right," the Rye town deputy supervisor said. "It's the judge's interpretation of the law."
Trustee elections have been halted since 2006 after the Justice Department and one-time trustee candidate Cesar Ruiz sued Port Chester for violating the Voting Rights Act of 1965. U.S. District Judge Stephen C. Robinson ruled against the village last year and found that Hispanics had consistently backed certain candidates but failed to elect them in Port Chester's at-large voting system.
The Justice Department has pushed for a voting-district system, with six districts each represented by a trustee. Village officials have advocated cumulative voting, which would allow each voter to cast the same number of votes as open board seats, allowing them to vote multiple times for the same candidate.
Mayor Dennis Pilla and Villanova both support cumulative voting, but differ on how to handle the case if Robinson orders the village to create districts. Legal fees are reaching close to $1 million.
Villanova has said he would use private money to appeal both the remedy order and the original ruling.
"If you don't fight, you don't know if you are going to win," he said, adding that he doesn't think the village's at-large voting system violates the law.
Villanova argued that the political process has always been open to everyone, but that "political hacks" and "a few bad apples" corrupted it.
He also disagrees with how the village has been portrayed.
"The village of Port Chester is not a racist community," he said. "For the Department of Justice to think that the village of Port Chester is a racist community, that we don't embrace different cultures and religions ... the village of Port Chester is the snapshot of America."
Pilla said he respects the judge's original decision and doesn't favor appealing it. He accused Villanova of trying to attract "bigoted" voters to the polls.
"Basically, everybody who is an expert in the field agrees at this point that it is unwise to fight on liability," he said. "That's not to say I don't want to fight for the people of Port Chester. I think we deserve the remedy of our choice. I think we need to see how the judge rules."
Pilla also emphasized that elections need to resume as soon as possible.
"I'd rather avoid the six-district plan, but I don't want to hold up elections for three more years, and I don't want to drain the village coffers," he said.
The mayoral election is Wednesday.
Friday, March 13, 2009
Protest Assails Díaz for Opposing Bridge Tolls
March 12, 2009, 5:32 pm
By Mathew R. Warren
The New York Times City Room
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/12/protest-assails-diaz-for-opposing-bridge-tolls/?pagemode=print
About 30 protesters turned up outside the office of State Senator Rubén Díaz Sr. to protest his opposition to East River bridge tolls.
In front of State Senator Rubén Díaz Sr.’s storefront office on East 172nd Street in the Bronx, some 30 people turned out Thursday afternoon to protest his refusal to support tolls on the East River bridges — a core element of a proposed financial rescue plan for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
They held up signs that read: “Toll Bridges to Save Mass Transit” and “Transit Equity for all Communities.” And they chanted: “Díaz: Don’t betray our trust, our people ride the bus,” and “It’s not fair to raise our fare.”
“I’m a true believer that the senator is going to do what’s right for his constituents,” said Anna Vincenty, 60, assistant director of Nos Quedamos, a Bronx community group that helped organize the protest. “It’s only a $2 toll, which is the same thing that we pay on the train or on a bus.”
(Other groups in the protest included Youth Ministries for Peace and Justice; Sustainable South Bronx; and The Point C.D.C., a community development corporation.)
The coalition of groups said that 67 percent of households in Mr. Díaz’s district have no access to cars and are dependent on mass transit, and that 140,000 of his constituents use mass transit each day.
Ms. Vincenty, who lives in Throgs Neck, said that even though she owns a car, she supports the toll because of how it would affect many of her neighbors, especially seniors.
“The people that are going to suffer the brunt of this will be our seniors,” said Ms. Vincenty.
Carl VanPutten, 76, a retired taxicab driver from the South Bronx, said that he takes the Bx4 bus, one of the lines threatened by the authority’s fiscal crisis, to get to his health-maintenance organization for check-ups and other medical appointments. He said he could take the subway but there are no elevators, making it difficult for him.
“Climbing the stairs to the subway which is above it is a problem because they don’t have elevators,” said Mr. VanPutten. “I take the bus, I get off right in front of it. I can go in and come back out.”
Mr. VanPutten added: “There’s a thousand of us, all seniors. I’m also a constituent of the senator. I have supported him, voted for him. I’m a native New Yorker who’s voted for over 50 years and I don’t miss any of the voting.”
Marta Rodriguez, 33, a Hunts Point resident said she and her two children depended on the Bx6 bus line.
“The 6 line is the only line that goes into Hunts Point and the service cut in that seems ridiculous to me,” said Ms. Rodriguez. “I know that most of us, especially in Hunts Point, where 23 percent of the people are unemployed right now, can not afford another fair hike.”
Ms. Rodriguez added, “I ask our representative: Please, please consider your people and not the people that drive cars because we’re the ones that need the buses, we’re the ones that need the trains and we’re the ones who vote for you when you need our vote.”
Inside the senator’s office, a staff member spoke to the protesters about Mr. Díaz’s position.
“A sufficient number of people in this community take taxis across the east river bridges and it will impact this community,” said Luis Perez, the staff member. “These cab drivers are not going to absorb that cost, that’s going to be passed on to the people who take the cab.”
Mr. Perez said Mr. Díaz would prefer to reinstate a commuter tax on suburban payrolls, rather than bridge tolls.
“People who work in New York City and make a living in New York City, why not make them pay for the services?” Mr. Perez asked. “Why should they go home then, upstate out of the city and get the benefit from the city and not pay for that.”
Mr. Perez added: “The biggest problem we have with the tolls is that the M.T.A. is refusing to open up its books. We don’t know how much money is in there. If the M.T.A. opened up its books I guarantee you we wouldn’t be having this discussion today.”
Regarding cuts to bus service that could hurt seniors Mr. Perez said: “If they were to do that, they’re going to have to at a minimum provide elevators or something for seniors to get up there. So we’re aware of that problem.”
By Mathew R. Warren
The New York Times City Room
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/12/protest-assails-diaz-for-opposing-bridge-tolls/?pagemode=print
About 30 protesters turned up outside the office of State Senator Rubén Díaz Sr. to protest his opposition to East River bridge tolls.
In front of State Senator Rubén Díaz Sr.’s storefront office on East 172nd Street in the Bronx, some 30 people turned out Thursday afternoon to protest his refusal to support tolls on the East River bridges — a core element of a proposed financial rescue plan for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
They held up signs that read: “Toll Bridges to Save Mass Transit” and “Transit Equity for all Communities.” And they chanted: “Díaz: Don’t betray our trust, our people ride the bus,” and “It’s not fair to raise our fare.”
“I’m a true believer that the senator is going to do what’s right for his constituents,” said Anna Vincenty, 60, assistant director of Nos Quedamos, a Bronx community group that helped organize the protest. “It’s only a $2 toll, which is the same thing that we pay on the train or on a bus.”
(Other groups in the protest included Youth Ministries for Peace and Justice; Sustainable South Bronx; and The Point C.D.C., a community development corporation.)
The coalition of groups said that 67 percent of households in Mr. Díaz’s district have no access to cars and are dependent on mass transit, and that 140,000 of his constituents use mass transit each day.
Ms. Vincenty, who lives in Throgs Neck, said that even though she owns a car, she supports the toll because of how it would affect many of her neighbors, especially seniors.
“The people that are going to suffer the brunt of this will be our seniors,” said Ms. Vincenty.
Carl VanPutten, 76, a retired taxicab driver from the South Bronx, said that he takes the Bx4 bus, one of the lines threatened by the authority’s fiscal crisis, to get to his health-maintenance organization for check-ups and other medical appointments. He said he could take the subway but there are no elevators, making it difficult for him.
“Climbing the stairs to the subway which is above it is a problem because they don’t have elevators,” said Mr. VanPutten. “I take the bus, I get off right in front of it. I can go in and come back out.”
Mr. VanPutten added: “There’s a thousand of us, all seniors. I’m also a constituent of the senator. I have supported him, voted for him. I’m a native New Yorker who’s voted for over 50 years and I don’t miss any of the voting.”
Marta Rodriguez, 33, a Hunts Point resident said she and her two children depended on the Bx6 bus line.
“The 6 line is the only line that goes into Hunts Point and the service cut in that seems ridiculous to me,” said Ms. Rodriguez. “I know that most of us, especially in Hunts Point, where 23 percent of the people are unemployed right now, can not afford another fair hike.”
Ms. Rodriguez added, “I ask our representative: Please, please consider your people and not the people that drive cars because we’re the ones that need the buses, we’re the ones that need the trains and we’re the ones who vote for you when you need our vote.”
Inside the senator’s office, a staff member spoke to the protesters about Mr. Díaz’s position.
“A sufficient number of people in this community take taxis across the east river bridges and it will impact this community,” said Luis Perez, the staff member. “These cab drivers are not going to absorb that cost, that’s going to be passed on to the people who take the cab.”
Mr. Perez said Mr. Díaz would prefer to reinstate a commuter tax on suburban payrolls, rather than bridge tolls.
“People who work in New York City and make a living in New York City, why not make them pay for the services?” Mr. Perez asked. “Why should they go home then, upstate out of the city and get the benefit from the city and not pay for that.”
Mr. Perez added: “The biggest problem we have with the tolls is that the M.T.A. is refusing to open up its books. We don’t know how much money is in there. If the M.T.A. opened up its books I guarantee you we wouldn’t be having this discussion today.”
Regarding cuts to bus service that could hurt seniors Mr. Perez said: “If they were to do that, they’re going to have to at a minimum provide elevators or something for seniors to get up there. So we’re aware of that problem.”
Watchdog Group Calls for Investigation of Adolfo Carrion, Bronx Borough President Tapped as Obama's Urban Czar
By Greg B. Smith DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Thursday, March 12th 2009, 1:26 PM
A government watchdog group asked the U.S. attorney general's office Thursday to open a bribery investigation into White House urban czar Adolfo Carrión.
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) sent a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder in response to several Daily News reports about Carrión's dealings while he was Bronx borough president.
"If the era of pay-to-play politics is over, Adolfo Carrión did not get the message," said Melanie Sloan, executive director of the Democrat-leaning CREW.
The News' reported numerous developers made tens of thousands of dollars in campaign donations to Carrión around the same time he was considering approving their projects in the Bronx.
Carrión also hired an architect for one of the biggest projects to design a renovation of his home. The job was complete in February 2007, but Carrión has not paid the architect.
The White House has repeatedly declined to comment on the News' findings except to say Carrión should pay the bill, which is slightly over $3,600.
Crew asked Holder "to initiate an immediate investigation into pay-to-play allegations" outlined in The News.
"It appears Mr. Carrión routinely approved development projects in exchange for campaign contributions," Sloan said.
"In addition, Mr. Carrión personally benefitted by accepting free design work from an architect who needed his official assistance. This is exactly the kind of conduct that makes Americans skeptical of our politicians."
Thursday, March 12th 2009, 1:26 PM
A government watchdog group asked the U.S. attorney general's office Thursday to open a bribery investigation into White House urban czar Adolfo Carrión.
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) sent a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder in response to several Daily News reports about Carrión's dealings while he was Bronx borough president.
"If the era of pay-to-play politics is over, Adolfo Carrión did not get the message," said Melanie Sloan, executive director of the Democrat-leaning CREW.
The News' reported numerous developers made tens of thousands of dollars in campaign donations to Carrión around the same time he was considering approving their projects in the Bronx.
Carrión also hired an architect for one of the biggest projects to design a renovation of his home. The job was complete in February 2007, but Carrión has not paid the architect.
The White House has repeatedly declined to comment on the News' findings except to say Carrión should pay the bill, which is slightly over $3,600.
Crew asked Holder "to initiate an immediate investigation into pay-to-play allegations" outlined in The News.
"It appears Mr. Carrión routinely approved development projects in exchange for campaign contributions," Sloan said.
"In addition, Mr. Carrión personally benefitted by accepting free design work from an architect who needed his official assistance. This is exactly the kind of conduct that makes Americans skeptical of our politicians."
Monday, March 2, 2009
Solis in as Labor Secretary
President Obama finally has a labor secretary, leaving his picks at commerce and health and human services still to go to complete his cabinet.
The Senate late this afternoon voted 80-17 to confirm California congresswoman Hilda Solis at labor, two months after Obama nominated her. Her nomination was held up by Republican concerns over her pro-union activities, then by reports of tax liens against her husband's business.
Labor groups have been aggressively pushing for Solis, and immediately applauded her confirmation.
"The confirmation of Rep. Hilda Solis is a huge victory: finally Americans will have a Secretary of Labor who represents working people, not wealthy CEO’s. It is also a historic moment as Rep. Solis becomes the first Hispanic Secretary of Labor," AFL-CIO president John Sweeney said in a statement.
"The delay of Rep. Solis’s nomination for partisan and ideological reasons was overcome by the grassroots support of millions of Americans who are struggling and desperately need a secretary of labor who will be their voice," he added, calling her "uniquely qualified to help struggling families through these difficult economic times because she knows firsthand what they are going through."
"She grew up in a working class family and understands what programs our nation’s workers need the most. She will fight to improve skills development and job creation programs, including development of 'green collar' jobs," Sweeney added. "She will work to assure that workers get the pay they have earned and that they work in safe, healthy, and fair workplaces. She’s ready to address the retirement security crisis and will work hard to protect every worker from job discrimination, regardless of race, sex, veteran status, or disability."
"In the midst of this economic crisis – when thousands of jobs are lost every day – it is crucial to make the economy work for working people again. Americans need a plan to help put families back to work, back in their homes, and back on the path of prosperity. In addition to bold economic recovery plan, America’s workers need a strong Department of Labor," added Anna Burger, chairwoman of the Change to Win coalition.
“Hilda Solis is the right person to lead that charge. She has long been a champion of working families. She has fought for fair pay for women, health care for children, green jobs and the right for workers to have a voice in the workplace to improve wages, conditions and benefits. We applaud Congress for their confirmation of Hilda Solis as U.S. Secretary of Labor and look forward to working alongside her. We are confident that she will help restore the economy, rebuild the middle class and renew the American Dream for America’s workers.”
The Communications Workers of America, along with other unions, highlighted her support for a bill that would make it easier for workers to organize.“Secretary Solis has long been an effective voice for workers’ rights,” said CWA President Larry Cohen.
Ellen R. Malcolm, president of EMILY's List, which supports female candidates who back abortion rights, added her congratulations.
"Today, I congratulate Secretary Hilda Solis and wish her well as our new Secretary of Labor. Along with the thousands of EMILY’s List members who petitioned Senate Republicans standing in her way, I am heartened to see the Senate confirm Solis and put progress ahead of partisan politics. It is critical that the Department of Labor have a strong, intelligent, and effective leader like Secretary Solis to advocate for our nation’s workers during these tough economic times,” she said in a statement.
Tom Daschle withdrew at health and human services over tax problems, and though reports have suggested Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius is in line for the appointment, Obama has yet to announce it.
As soon as Wednesday, Obama is expected to nominate former Washington Governor Gary Locke as his third try at Commerce. New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson withdrew over an investigation into state contracts, then Republican Senator Judd Gregg of New Hampshire jilted Obama at the political altar, saying he had too many policy differences with the new Democratic president.
http://www.boston.com/news/politics/politicalintelligence/2009/02/solis_in_as_lab.html
The Senate late this afternoon voted 80-17 to confirm California congresswoman Hilda Solis at labor, two months after Obama nominated her. Her nomination was held up by Republican concerns over her pro-union activities, then by reports of tax liens against her husband's business.
Labor groups have been aggressively pushing for Solis, and immediately applauded her confirmation.
"The confirmation of Rep. Hilda Solis is a huge victory: finally Americans will have a Secretary of Labor who represents working people, not wealthy CEO’s. It is also a historic moment as Rep. Solis becomes the first Hispanic Secretary of Labor," AFL-CIO president John Sweeney said in a statement.
"The delay of Rep. Solis’s nomination for partisan and ideological reasons was overcome by the grassroots support of millions of Americans who are struggling and desperately need a secretary of labor who will be their voice," he added, calling her "uniquely qualified to help struggling families through these difficult economic times because she knows firsthand what they are going through."
"She grew up in a working class family and understands what programs our nation’s workers need the most. She will fight to improve skills development and job creation programs, including development of 'green collar' jobs," Sweeney added. "She will work to assure that workers get the pay they have earned and that they work in safe, healthy, and fair workplaces. She’s ready to address the retirement security crisis and will work hard to protect every worker from job discrimination, regardless of race, sex, veteran status, or disability."
"In the midst of this economic crisis – when thousands of jobs are lost every day – it is crucial to make the economy work for working people again. Americans need a plan to help put families back to work, back in their homes, and back on the path of prosperity. In addition to bold economic recovery plan, America’s workers need a strong Department of Labor," added Anna Burger, chairwoman of the Change to Win coalition.
“Hilda Solis is the right person to lead that charge. She has long been a champion of working families. She has fought for fair pay for women, health care for children, green jobs and the right for workers to have a voice in the workplace to improve wages, conditions and benefits. We applaud Congress for their confirmation of Hilda Solis as U.S. Secretary of Labor and look forward to working alongside her. We are confident that she will help restore the economy, rebuild the middle class and renew the American Dream for America’s workers.”
The Communications Workers of America, along with other unions, highlighted her support for a bill that would make it easier for workers to organize.“Secretary Solis has long been an effective voice for workers’ rights,” said CWA President Larry Cohen.
Ellen R. Malcolm, president of EMILY's List, which supports female candidates who back abortion rights, added her congratulations.
"Today, I congratulate Secretary Hilda Solis and wish her well as our new Secretary of Labor. Along with the thousands of EMILY’s List members who petitioned Senate Republicans standing in her way, I am heartened to see the Senate confirm Solis and put progress ahead of partisan politics. It is critical that the Department of Labor have a strong, intelligent, and effective leader like Secretary Solis to advocate for our nation’s workers during these tough economic times,” she said in a statement.
Tom Daschle withdrew at health and human services over tax problems, and though reports have suggested Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius is in line for the appointment, Obama has yet to announce it.
As soon as Wednesday, Obama is expected to nominate former Washington Governor Gary Locke as his third try at Commerce. New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson withdrew over an investigation into state contracts, then Republican Senator Judd Gregg of New Hampshire jilted Obama at the political altar, saying he had too many policy differences with the new Democratic president.
http://www.boston.com/news/politics/politicalintelligence/2009/02/solis_in_as_lab.html
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