CFB

CFB Should Require Candidates to Post A 25,000 Bond Before They Get Any City Money

 A February court ruling that New York City candidates can no longer be held personally liable for wasting taxpayer-provided campaign matching funds is starting to take its toll. Yesterday the Campaign Finance Board said Councilwoman Helen Foster owed the city a $65,000 repayment from her 2009 campaign, but Foster had only $42,000 left in her campaign account, and the CFB can no longer compel her to make up the difference. A CFB audit found Foster had misused campaign funds following her successful re-election campaign - including $4,000 spent by Foster's campaign treasurer at Embassy Suites - but the CFB now has little choice but to eat the expense.  Councilwoman Helen Foster Has Worst Attendance in Council(Bronx Chatter)

 

 

  Meet the New State Senator Financial Problems

Replaces Senator Under Indictment

Swap of pols with $$ woes(NYP)Southeast Queens residents traded one politician who’s under indictment for allegedly covering up the theft of state funds for another who is in hot water with the state Board of Elections.  State elections officials said last week that they were preparing to sue James Sanders for failing to file proper expenses in his campaign report due 10 days after his Sept. 13 state Senate primary. After The Post’s inquiry, the Democrat updated his filing over the weekend.  The board has also sued Sanders four times over the past three years for ignoring required disclosure reports from 2009 Council race, which he won easily.  “(Campaign) people have called over the years to find out what’s missing and then promised to make the filings and then they haven’t made the filings,” Board spokesman John Conklin said.


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Liu to Sue

John Liu To Sue Over Campaign Finance Board's Matching Funds Denial | New York Daily News

 

Bloomberg Sock Puppet CFB Allows Him to Break the Law  . . .

Mayor Broke Election Law, Admit His Own Lawyers (2010, Village Voice)

NYCCFB dismisses complaint against @MikeBloomberg 2009 campaign. Votes 3 to 1 -- Rich Davis votes no
The $1.1 Million Gift Bloomberg Made to the Independence Party and Haggerty Got Was Away Considered Illegal . . .  Now the CFB Finally Rules

Bloomberg Honored Letter, but Not Spirit, of Campaign Finance Law, Board Finds(NYT) The city’s Campaign Finance Board said that an undisclosed $1.2 million payment to the Independence Party by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s 2009 re-election campaign broke no rules. The $1.1 was deposited in the independence party house keep account and $750,000 was forwarded to Haggerty for election day security.  Which is an illegal used of housekeeping account.  No much from the House Keeping account according to the election law can be used for campaigning. But Laurence D. Laufer, the election lawyer and former general counsel to the board who filed the 2009 complaint on behalf of Mr. Thompson, said that the board merely “passes the buck” to Albany. Don't expect the State Board of Elections go after Bloomberg any time soon or ever. 

Elex board eyes ‘Indie gift’(NYP) The city Campaign Finance Board is probing a $1.1 million payment Mayor Bloomberg’s campaign made in 2009 that was largely ripped off by a political operative, who was tried and convicted last year. The board will hold a hearing today on a complaint against the campaign’s “pre-election payments to the Independence Party.” The complaint — which spokesman Eric Friedman would not discuss ahead of the hearing — could result in a fine to the billionaire mayor’s self-financed 2009 re-election bid. The CFB will hear a complaint about Mayor Bloomberg’s $1.1 million to the state Independence Party in 2009, $750,000 of which was funneled to GOP operative John Haggerty, who was convicted of grand larceny and money laundering in December. The NYC Campaign Finance Board found no punishable violation committed by Mayor Bloomberg in connection to the $1.1 million he contributed without disclosure to the state Independence Party in 2009, determining there was no evidence the money was spent to assist his campaign because GOP operative John Haggerty stole it.

Bloomberg Sucessful Effort to get Out of and Election Law Fine Created  A New Loophole to the State's Election Law

In an email to CrainNY, a spokesman for the board wrote that the rule election law rules, “just doesn’t apply to the facts” because “there is no evidence there were actual expenditures for ballot security or poll watchers.” (That’s because Mr. Haggerty ended up stealing Mr. Bloomberg’s money instead of running a ballot security operation.) The spokesman said that the BOE rule would not apply because no poll watchers were actually hired by the Independence Party. * Bloomberg campaign ruling could open spending loophole (CrainsNY) * Regulators Issue No Violations for Bloomberg's 'Secret' Donations Gotham Gazette  * Finding Jobs, but Working for Less Pay(WSJ) Economists and business leaders are increasingly troubled by a trend in New York City employment statistics: The lion's share of job growth has come in high-wage and low-wage industries, while middle-income work has lagged. * As the rest of the state continues to add jobs at a moderate pace, WNY lost jobs for the second straight month during September.