Wednesday, December 25, 2013

A Tale of Two CFBs: Albanese vs Campaign PAC NYCLASS, UFT's United for the Future 179






Under de Blasio the UFT Has Become A Bigger Stronger Political Machine $182 Million Budget That NY Pols Fear and Use for Their Reelection 

Boom times for the teachers union, even as more schools fail (NYP) Most “graduates” of the city’s public schools lack the skills to prosper in college or the workplace, but at least business is booming for the United Federation of Teachers.  As Carl Campanile reported in Monday’s Post, the city teachers union is spending more furiously than a drunken sailor: In the year ending last June 30, the UFT upped outlays by $13 million over the year before, to $182.1 million. That equals the entire budget for the city of Albany.   It helped that the union collected an extra $7 million in dues (to $151 million total), thanks to 7,000 new teachers hired under Mayor de Blasio’s Universal Pre-K program.   UFT boss Michael Mulgrew’s smug justification for it all? “Defending public education is increasingly expensive.”   Starting with his pay: The former middle-school shop teacher gets $283,804 — more than Mayor de Blasio, and $56,000 more than Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña.   Heck, six UFT staffers out-earn Fariña, who runs de Blasio’s $24 billion, 1 million-student Department of Education. Another 65 staffers pull down more than $150,000.  The UFT also spent $3 million on catered meals, and more for baseball tickets and for junkets to Orlando, New Orleans and Vegas. To be fair, the union also helps its outside friends, handing $3 million to various community and advocacy groups. And it ponied up $125,000 for de Blasio’s nonprofit, United for Affordable NYC. No, the mayor’s housing agenda has nothing to do with education — but pleasing de Blasio is vital to the UFT’s real work, which is preserving its members’ privileges.   Ironically, news of the union’s spending boom follows fresh word of the failure of the mayor’s UFT-friendly Renewal program, which was supposed to turn around dozens of failing city public schools. Thanks to plummeting enrollment and/or still-stagnant scores, Fariña is closing another six Renewal schools, and merging three others with less-dysfunctional schools with which they share buildings.   In all, the chancellor is closing or merging 22 failing schools, a tacit retreat from de Blasio’s bluster, back when he started the Renewal farce, that “we reject the notion of giving up on any of our schools.”No apologies yet from City Hall to the kids stuck attending these schools in the years before the de Blasio-Fariña-Mulgrew regime finally stopped pretending.


Will de Blasio Be Fined By the CFB for the Illegal Use of the Campaign PAC NYCLASS That Destroyed Quinn?
De Blasio to face fine for violating campaign-finance rules (NYP) de Blasio will be socked with a large fine Thursday for violations of campaign-finance regulations during his 2013 run for City Hall, sources told The Post. “It’s going to be another bad day for the mayor,” said a city official was briefed on the matter. “We’re talking about a significant amount of money.” The official said Wednesday that de Blasio is slated to be hit with a penalty of “tens of thousands of dollars” by the Campaign Finance Board, which regulates the program that provides taxpayer matching funds to candidates.

























Under de Blasio the UFT Has Become A Bigger Stronger Political Machine $182 Million Budget That NY Pols Fear and Use for Their Reelection 
Boom times for the teachers union, even as more schools fail (NYP) Most “graduates” of the city’s public schools lack the skills to prosper in college or the workplace, but at least business is booming for the United Federation of Teachers.  As Carl Campanile reported in Monday’s Post, the city teachers union is spending more furiously than a drunken sailor: In the year ending last June 30, the UFT upped outlays by $13 million over the year before, to $182.1 million. That equals the entire budget for the city of Albany.   It helped that the union collected an extra $7 million in dues (to $151 million total), thanks to 7,000 new teachers hired under Mayor de Blasio’s Universal Pre-K program.   UFT boss Michael Mulgrew’s smug justification for it all? “Defending public education is increasingly expensive.”   Starting with his pay: The former middle-school shop teacher gets $283,804 — more than Mayor de Blasio, and $56,000 more than Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña.   Heck, six UFT staffers out-earn Fariña, who runs de Blasio’s $24 billion, 1 million-student Department of Education. Another 65 staffers pull down more than $150,000.  The UFT also spent $3 million on catered meals, and more for baseball tickets and for junkets to Orlando, New Orleans and Vegas. To be fair, the union also helps its outside friends, handing $3 million to various community and advocacy groups. And it ponied up $125,000 for de Blasio’s nonprofit, United for Affordable NYC. No, the mayor’s housing agenda has nothing to do with education — but pleasing de Blasio is vital to the UFT’s real work, which is preserving its members’ privileges.   Ironically, news of the union’s spending boom follows fresh word of the failure of the mayor’s UFT-friendly Renewal program, which was supposed to turn around dozens of failing city public schools. Thanks to plummeting enrollment and/or still-stagnant scores, Fariña is closing another six Renewal schools, and merging three others with less-dysfunctional schools with which they share buildings.   In all, the chancellor is closing or merging 22 failing schools, a tacit retreat from de Blasio’s bluster, back when he started the Renewal farce, that “we reject the notion of giving up on any of our schools.”No apologies yet from City Hall to the kids stuck attending these schools in the years before the de Blasio-Fariña-Mulgrew regime finally stopped pretending.


Dear Daily News: the UFT Which Broke the Law With It PAC United for the Future is In the Bag for De Blasio in 2017

Michael Mulgrew, president of the United Federation of Teachers, said he doesn’t believe de Blasio gets the credit he deserves, although he stopped short of saying the UFT would endorse him for reelection, the Daily News reports. * Teachers union leader backs up de Blasio despite leader of Transport Workers Union blasting the mayor (NYDN)
UFT Illegal PAC United for the Future



As the CFB Ignores PAC Corrdination With Consultants UFT's UF, NYCLASS, But Goes After A 25 Year Old 
Authorities said Celia Dosamantes, a young Queens politico who ran for New York City Council in 2015, was arrested for faking donations to get 6-for-1 matching taxpayer funds for her losing campaign and received nearly  $19,530 from the city, the Post writes.

SHADY SECRECY: Mayor de Blasio fighting to keep cop records from public in unprecedented blow to transparency (NYDN)

The Times writes that de Blasio needs to wake up and shut down the carnage of J’ouvert, the overnight ritual of music, dancing, shootings and stabbings that precedes each year’s West Indian American Day Parade, even if it means facing angry constituents. The Daily News criticizes de Blasio’s attempts to keep from the public the disciplinary history of the police officer who choked Eric Garner to death and argues the mayor’s description of state law is wrong and imposes too much secrecy on police discipline.* IF IT AIN'T BROKE: NYPD, outgoing Bill Bratton defend controversial 'broken windows' tactics after DOI critique(NYDN) * Damn liars and statistics: NYPD IG's broken broken-windows report(NYDN)  * Irish, Puerto Rican Communities Outraged Following De Blasio’s Comparison To J’Ouvert Violence (WCBS) *  After the NYPD inspector general concluded this summer that cracking down on minor offenses had no effect on reducing more serious crimes, the department rolled out its own detailed report defending “broken windows” policing, The Wall Street Journal reports. The Daily News criticizes the New York City inspector general’s report that found quality-of-life policing to be a crime-reduction sham and stands by peer-reviewed studies about the relationship between NYPD enforcement and declining crime rates.*  New York law makes the disciplinary history of police officers “confidential and not subject to inspection or review,” but that means the taxpaying public has no right to know when those cops misbehave or whether they have been disciplined, Newsday writes. * 'JUST CAUSE YOU LOVE BLACK P---Y DOESN'T MEAN YOU LOVE BLACK LIVES': Erica Garner blasts de Blasio for refusal to release discipline record of NYPD officer whose chokehold led to father's death (NYDN) * Michael Bloomberg to host fund-raiser for ex-aide running for New York State Senate(NYDN) * Bratton’s blast back at the IG’s smear of the NYPD(NYP) * In one of his last acts as New York City police commissioner, Bill Bratton appeared with Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña to announce that the 2015-16 school year was the safest on record for New York City’s public schools, The New York Times reports. * After it was revealed the officer who killed Eric Garner with a chokehold boosted his salary with overtime pay, officials announced overtime for cops accused of misconduct will have to be approved in advance by the NYPD’s highest-ranking uniformed officer, the Daily News writes.'*  Bill Bratton's Legacy Is Mixed as He Leaves NYPD, Police Observers Say (DNAINFO) Fans say his crime-fighting tactics set the standard, while critics say "Broken Windows" was toxic.




The City is Trying to Cover Its Ass As Feds Ready Charges Against PACs That the CFB Has Allowed
Behind ClosedDoors, Measures to Reform City’s Campaign Laws Raise Concerns (NYT) Three years after the 2013 elections revealed serious flaws in New York City’s campaign finance laws, the City Council may finally be moving to fix some of the worst problems — but not without including a few changes that would benefit individual Council members. Up to a dozen new bills are being shaped behind closed doors, and although no drafts have been released yet, word coming from the Council has alarmed some of the city’s most persistent and careful advocates for better and fairer elections. At least some of the legislation being discussed would make it easier for candidates to amass war chests of public money for future races, or to spend campaign money on expenses that are not permitted by the city law but are for state politicians. By way of egregious example, one powerful state senator used campaign money to buy covers for his swimming pool, somehow deeming them not to be a personal expense.* Mayor De Blasio’s Donors Are Avoiding Democrats in State Senate Races  (2014)In 2014, Mayor Bill de Blasio’s allies gave generously to Democratic groups outside New York City amid his bid to remake the State Legislature. That money has dried up this year amid fund-raising inquiries.




The New York City Council plans to consider legislation aimed at regulating political nonprofits, a move that comes months after Mayor Bill de Blasio disbanded his nonprofit amid criticism from ethics groups, The Wall Street Journal writes. * The New York City Council may finally be moving to fix some of the worst problems in the city’s campaign finance laws, which were revealed in the 2013 elections, but are including changes that would benefit individual council members, The New York Times reports. * The bundling of campaign contributions by elected officials for fellow candidates in New York City is not new or unusual, but it raises questions about an unexplored area of campaign finance law, the Gotham Gazette writes. 


Citizens United PACS and the Consultant Lobbyists Who Control Them Have Destroyed the City's Campaign Finance System
The 2013 primaries and general elections for mayor and City Council were swamped with nearly $13 million in what was, in essence, unmarked cash from secretive groups, operating as technically “independent” organizations that were exercising their right to free speech. They were attack dogs operating on behalf of specific candidates. In other forays, lobbyists and others in the influence business were able to get $1.2 million in city matching funds by bundling contributions.  Back in 2006, the Council contemplated not matching “bundled” contributions, but passed on it. Three years ago, the city’s Campaign Finance Board proposed changes that would exclude the bundled money of lobbyists from being matched. The change was supported by the mayor. The Council, inexplicably, has sat on the legislation, but is now getting ready to take action, Council officials said. It is also prepared to curtail the fund-raising of groups like Campaign for One New York, an organization associated with Mayor Bill de Blasio that accepted contributions up to $350,000. The campaign board said that since the group was involved in advocating the mayor’s legislative agenda, its fund-raising was not a violation of the city’s campaign law. But the chairwoman of the board, Rose Gill Hearn, said that “more than 95 percent of the funds it received would have been prohibited under the laws that apply to candidates for office — including contributions from corporations, limited liability companies and people doing business with the city.”

The City's Matching Fund Program Was Stated After Mayor Koch's CitySorce Scandal Where he Gave Control of the Parking Violations Bureau to the Bronx and Queens Machines
That CFB law rewarded candidates who collected many small donations over those who got big ones. The first $175 of a contribution is matched at a rate of $6 in public money for each $1 donated. An individual may give up to $4,950, but only the first $175 is matched. That is a way to spread financial power to people of moderate means.










Is the The CFB is Ground Zero of the Federal Corruption Investigation? We Will Know Soon
CFB Cover-Up: Cannot Produce A Final Audit Because of PACs and Straw Donors As Commissioner Quits
Auditors still haven’t finished review of de Blasio’s 2013 campaign (NYP) They’ve had three years, but auditors for the city’s Campaign Finance Board still haven’t completed a review of Mayor de Blasio’s 2013 campaign.  Audits are supposed to be completed within 18 months. Records show de Blasio’s campaign received $3.9 million in public matching funds in 2013. The board’s review will determine how much of that money, if any, needs to be returned to the city and will also factor into whether his 2017 campaign qualifies for matches. “De Blasio is entering a danger zone where if the CFB comes out with a negative audit in the middle of the primary season, it could be very damaging Former Comptroller John Liu learned a month before the 2013 mayoral primary he wouldn’t be receiving as much as $3.5 million in matching funds — a blow that made it impossible to compete in the homestretch.  “We had been asking them for guidance for a year and a half,” Liu recalled. “They could have acted far earlier in a way that would have given us enough time to appeal.” * Rose Gill Hearn, chairwoman of New York City’s Campaign Finance Board, has resigned effective Dec. 3, meaning Mayor de Blasio gets to fill the seat – and we look forward to seeing what happens next with the city’s campaign-finance watchdog, the Post writes.









Will de Blasio Pick A New Head of CFB to Shut Down an Investigation Of Himself and Use It to Hurt His Opponent 
Will Mayor de Blasio leash the city’s campaign-finance watchdog? (NYP) Rose Gill Hearn, who chairs the Campaign Finance Board, has resigned, effective Dec. 31. So Mayor de Blasio gets to fill the seat — when the board is still in the process of auditing his 2013 campaign, even as his 2017 re-election campaign is gearing up. Now, the CFB has a lot of power: It shifted the course of the 2013 mayoral race when it shut down public funds for John Liu, de Blasio’s rival for left-wing votes, over problems in Liu’s 2009 run to become city comptroller. We’ve expressed our worries over the CFB’s independence before: The board’s five members serve staggered five-year terms; the mayor and City Council speaker each appoint two members who must be enrolled in different parties. But enrollment doesn’t speak to actual loyalties — which means that, over time, the board can be stacked.  And now de Blasio will de facto choose the next board chair in consultation with his ally, Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito. His lone appointment so far is Nancy Zauderer — a registered Working Families Party voter who heads the CUNY faculty union, the Professional Staff Congress. On Zauderer’s watch, the PSC gave $5,000 to NYC Is Not For Sale — an outfit notable for spending over $1.1 million to defeat Christine Quinn, de Blasio’s rival during the 2013 primaries. The CFB later fined the group $7,040 for failing to report $70,000 in expenditures. Going back to 1999, the PSC has given $108,400 to the WFP, which is also closely allied with the mayor.  Also of note: Last July, in a probe of the mayor’s relationship with his pet nonprofit, The Campaign For One NY, the CFB let him skate. But federal and state prosecutors are now on the case. So: Where is the board headed? Its past chairs, such as Fr. Joseph O’Hare and Fritz Schwarz, Jr. — each with long public careers working on behalf of New Yorkers — were highly regarded as smart and independent. Bloomberg appointee Gill Hearn had served as his Department of Investigation commissioner — and even before taking that job had “the patina of absolute integrity,” according to veteran political consultant Hank Sheinkopf. After all, she’d been a deputy chief in the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District. In contrast, de Blasio appointed his campaign treasurer Mark Peters to the DOI post. In other words, he prefers “watchdogs” of proven loyalty.



It Takes A Crook to Know One Hank Baby51 Taking Taking the 5th in A Bid Rigging Investigation  Lobbyists Sheinkopf Calls CFB's Hearn "Patina of Absolute Integrity" Fleeing Before the Feds Come Down on Campaign for 1NY She Helped Cover Up


No matter what he does, he can’t win here,” said veteran political consultant Hank Sheinkopf. “Rose has the patina of absolute integrity. At a time when he’s under investigation, he’s going to name the replacement for an investigator. It doesn’t look good.

Campaign Finance Board chief to resign (NYP) Rose Gill Hearn was appointed board chair by Mayor Bloomberg in December 2013, just days before de Blasio took office.  In a written statement, she said her “increasingly heavy work schedule no longer permits me to devote the time warranted” for the board. A former federal prosecutor, Gill Hearn works full-time as a principal at Bloomberg Associates, a consulting firm founded by the former mayor.  While her departure — effective on Dec. 31 — opens the door for de Blasio to appoint his own figurehead to the board, it also puts him in a delicate position. The Campaign Finance Board is still in the process of auditing de Blasio’s 2013 campaign.  US Attorney Preet Bharara is also examining whether government favors were traded for donations to the mayor’s campaign and non-profits.* Independent expenditure committees have spent $5.42 million in this year’s state Senate general elections and supported candidates from both major parties at similar rates, with education groups dominating the spending, Politico New York reports.  * Independent expenditure committees have spent $5.42 million in this year’s state Senate general elections and supported candidates from both major parties at similar rates, with education groups dominating the spending, Politico New York reports.
NYP's Gartland You Left Out Lobbyists Sheinkopf Record

Head of Campaign Finance Board Stepping Down As the Feds Get Ready to Pounce on Campaign for 1NY PAC
Head Of The NYC Campaign Finance Board Is Stepping Down  Rose Gill Hearn is stepping down as head of the NYC Campaign Finance Board “because of her primary job as a principal at Bloomberg Associates, a consulting firm founded by former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg to help city governments around the world.” * NYC Campaign Finance Board chief resigning tofocus on day job at consulting firm (NYDN) The head of the city’s Campaign Finance Board will quit the post at the end of the year, leaving the job empty ahead of 2017’s citywide elections, she said Wednesday.  Rose Gill Hearn, who was appointed by former Mayor Michael Bloomberg just before he left office, said she’s stepping down because she’s gotten too busy with her day job at Bloomberg’s consulting group, Bloomberg Associates.
ATale of Two CFBs: Albanese vs Campaign PAC NYCLASS, UFT's United for the Future 




























NYP: Mahattan DA Or U.S. Attorney Bharara Should Investigate de Blasio Horse Deals

De Blasio’s suspicious obsession with killing the carriage trade (NYP Ed) Mayor de Blasio says the transit union’s demand for an investigation into his secretive deals to kill the city’s horse-carriage trade is “just foolish.”Sorry, Bill — the union has a good idea. Well, basically: Transport Workers Union President John Samuelson wants Attorney General Eric Schneiderman to head the probe. Likely better choices? Manhattan DA Cy Vance, who has no apparent political ambition at the moment, or US Attorney Preet Bharara, a proven corruption-fighter. But someone should be looking into the mayor’s obsession with ridding the city of horse carriages — and whether some special obligation to reward special-interest donors is behind it.Granted, the mayor and Samuelson have had their differences on other issues. * The Growing Call for An Investigation of de Blasio HorseGate Corruption All the Way Back to the 2013 NYCLASS Election
And the union has been cozying up to de Blasio’s rival, Gov. Cuomo. But the TWU’s charges have plain merit. After all, this was never about animal rights, for all the claims to the contrary. Those who sank money into de Blasio’s 2013 campaign — and worked to sink his chief rival, Christine Quinn — were real-estate developers with eyes on the West Side parcels that house the horse stables. Asked about that link Monday, the mayor insisted he doesn’t “think it’s an issue.”Sorry: Lots of New Yorkers don’t buy it. Why is he so reluctant to say he just can’t deliver on this promise? De Blasio also claims the press is making too much of his anti-horse-carriage crusade, telling reporters to “really think about what’s important.”But it was Bill de Blasio who called the issue so urgent that he vowed to ban the horse carriages on “Day One” of his mayoralty. And it’s de Blasio who won’t take no for an answer — coming back this year to a fight that humiliated him last year. And then, the moment his latest “deal” collapsed in flames, immediately setting out to find an alternative. Something strange is going on here — so strange the issue deserves a closer look.
How the Advance Group Conspired to Steal the 2009 and 2013 Election


de Blasio TWU's Call for Investigation Into the Horses A Foolish Idea
De Blasio wants the press to pipe down about his horse carriage fail (NYP) Mayor de Blasio has spent two years trying to ban carriage horses from city streets — but he told the press Monday to focus on more important issues. “You guys think I’ve been spending more energy than I’m spending,” he said at a press conference in Chinatown. “I think this legislation is necessary, but I think you guys are interpreting it in ways that don’t reflect reality.” After questions kept coming at him on the same topic, the mayor had enough.* NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio dismissed as “foolish” the push by the Transport Workers Union for a state investigation into his drive to ban horse drawn carriages in Central Park.



TWU Asks the AG Who Gave A Low Fine to the Advance Group Which Ran NYCLASS to Look Into deBlasio's Quests to Kill the Horse Carriage Industry 
A letter indicates that Transportation Workers Union President John Samuelsen will ask Attorney General Eric Schneiderman to weigh in on de Blasio’s “ quest to kill the horse carriage industry,” the Daily News reports:  *  Transport union joins push for Mayor de Blasio to end his anti-horse carriage plan (NYDN) * Mayor dismisses call to probe anti-horse carriage plan as"foolish" (NYDN) He noted the union has clashed with him on other issues, especially the Vision Zero law to charge drivers who hit pedestrians who have the right of way, which has led to arrests of bus drivers. “I have disagreements with that union as we are trying to protect the lives of New Yorkers,” de Blasio said. “I think it’s just politics.” The union shot back with a reference to two disgraced ex-legislative leaders both convicted of corruption. “That’s what Dean Skelos and Sheldon Silver said,” TWU Local 100 President John Samuelsen said. “If anyone’s a fool, it’s the mayor. He tried to rip the livelihoods from hundred of pedicab and horse carriage workers to reward his rich campaign donors and real-estate interests, and thinks he can get away with it.” He brushed off the effect of his political contributions, from people associated with the group NYCLASS. “I don’t think it’s an issue,” he said.


NYP: CFB AG Chump Change Fines Say BullShit to Fair Election in NY
NYC’s campaign cops hand down champ-change fines (NYP) Stop the presses: The City Campaign Finance Board slapped a consultant with a $15,000 fine for breaking the rules. Finally, the world is safe for democracy. Or so you might think from Thursday’s big-noise announcement. If only. In fact, the fine — plus a $10,800 one from state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman — merely highlights the lunacy of the city’s campaign-finance scheme. In 2013, the consultants at The Advance Group repped four Democratic candidates while also working with two “independent” groups: the teachers union and the anti-horse-carriage folks, NYCLASS. The two special interests shelled out tens of thousands to promote TAG’s candidates, but failed to build a “firewall” between themselves and the campaigns. The board says TAG’s dual roles amounted to “coordination” — a no-no under the rules. “Today’s agreement sends a clear message that campaign coordination is unacceptable in New York,” huffed the AG. Bull. These fines are chump change compared to the cash these interests toss into city politics. And what’s wrong with “coordination”? Well, says Schneiderman, the lack of a bright line between outside groups and campaigns “distorts the democratic process.” Huh? Democracy is better served if the middleman puts up some barrier between the campaigns and the groups, then everyone winks and nods around it? That’s all the law requires, and what plenty of players do. In truth, all the rules and fines do is shut out the amateurs, and empower the insiders — i.e., the special-interest groups whose influence the system supposedly reins in. Benefit democracy? The central point of the First Amendment is to protect political speech (e.g., advertising), allow free debate — and so improve democracy. Gotham’s system works to limit speech and debate. For all this, taxpayers get to pay millions for the public-financing part of the law. Oh, and have their intelligence insulted by the moral preening of Schneiderman and the Campaign Finance Board.
 Flaws in @NYCCFB public dollars on political campaigns are wrong & the results of the election stand! That's wrong! 

Advance Gets A Slap On the Wrist Fine No Criminal Investigation from CFB and AG In An Incomplete Fine On Their Campaign Coordination in the 2013 Election
Political insider fined for playing too many sides of 2013 elections (NYP) A political consultant has agreed to pay $26,000 in penalties after authorities accused him of double dealing in the 2013 municipal elections. Scott Levenson’s The Advance Group played both sides of the fence by advising the political arm of the United Federation of Teachers and the anti-horse carriage group, New Yorkers for Clean, Livable and Safe Streets, to influence contested city-wide and council races. At the same time, he also represented four candidates: first-term Council members Laurie Cumbo (D-Brooklyn) and Mark Levine (D-Manhattan), Comptroller Scott Stringer and Manhattan borough president candidate Robert Jackson. “Today’s agreement sends a clear message that campaign coordination is unacceptable in New York City and state politics.” The UFT had spent more than $40,000 combined on behalf of TAG clients Cumbo, Levine, Jackson and Stringer. NYCLASS spent $20,000 on the campaigns of Cumbo, Levine and Stringer. TAG presdient Levenson was the political director of NYCLASS and its campaign was run out of his Manhattan office, while at the same time the group spent money to promote the candidacies of two of Levenson’s clients — Levine and Cumbo.

Levenson also created an “altar ego” called Strategic Consultants — apparently to keep secret his consultant work with the UFT while also repping candidates the union supported, the findings said. The action “suggests that TAG understood that its dual role potentially violated CFB’s role against coordination . . .” the settlement  *Advance Group fined $26k by Schneiderman, CampaignFinance Board (TU) The attorney general’s office, in part, found that the Advance Group had set up an “alter ego” corporation, Strategic Consultants, which obscured its working both for candidates, and for an outside spending group funded by the United Federation of Teachers that supported some of the same candidates. “The very fact that [Advance Group] created an alter ego, Strategic Consultants, to act as its public face in connection with the UFT…suggests that TAG understood that its dual role potentially violated the CFB’s rule against coordination…” the attorney general’s office stated in its settlement agreement with Advance, “and intentionally attempted to deceive its clients, the CFB, and the public about its role with respect to UFT and its individual clients.” *  Schneiderman, NYC Campaign Finance Board Settle With Advance Group (YNN)Advance Group fined $26k by Schneiderman, Campaign Finance Board Albany Times Union (blog)




NYP: CFB AG Chump Change Fines Say BullShit to Fair Election in NY
NYC’s campaign cops hand down champ-change fines (NYP) Stop the presses: The City Campaign Finance Board slapped a consultant with a $15,000 fine for breaking the rules. Finally, the world is safe for democracy. Or so you might think from Thursday’s big-noise announcement. If only. In fact, the fine — plus a $10,800 one from state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman — merely highlights the lunacy of the city’s campaign-finance scheme. In 2013, the consultants at The Advance Group repped four Democratic candidates while also working with two “independent” groups: the teachers union and the anti-horse-carriage folks, NYCLASS. The two special interests shelled out tens of thousands to promote TAG’s candidates, but failed to build a “firewall” between themselves and the campaigns. The board says TAG’s dual roles amounted to “coordination” — a no-no under the rules. “Today’s agreement sends a clear message that campaign coordination is unacceptable in New York,” huffed the AG. Bull. These fines are chump change compared to the cash these interests toss into city politics. And what’s wrong with “coordination”? Well, says Schneiderman, the lack of a bright line between outside groups and campaigns “distorts the democratic process.” Huh? Democracy is better served if the middleman puts up some barrier between the campaigns and the groups, then everyone winks and nods around it? That’s all the law requires, and what plenty of players do. In truth, all the rules and fines do is shut out the amateurs, and empower the insiders — i.e., the special-interest groups whose influence the system supposedly reins in. Benefit democracy? The central point of the First Amendment is to protect political speech (e.g., advertising), allow free debate — and so improve democracy. Gotham’s system works to limit speech and debate. For all this, taxpayers get to pay millions for the public-financing part of the law. Oh, and have their intelligence insulted by the moral preening of Schneiderman and the Campaign Finance Board.
 Flaws in @NYCCFB public dollars on political campaigns are wrong & the results of the election stand! That's wrong! 

Advance Gets A Slap On the Wrist Fine No Criminal Investigation from CFB and AG In An Incomplete Fine On Their Campaign Coordination in the 2013 Election
Political insider fined for playing too many sides of 2013 elections (NYP) A political consultant has agreed to pay $26,000 in penalties after authorities accused him of double dealing in the 2013 municipal elections. Scott Levenson’s The Advance Group played both sides of the fence by advising the political arm of the United Federation of Teachers and the anti-horse carriage group, New Yorkers for Clean, Livable and Safe Streets, to influence contested city-wide and council races. At the same time, he also represented four candidates: first-term Council members Laurie Cumbo (D-Brooklyn) and Mark Levine (D-Manhattan), Comptroller Scott Stringer and Manhattan borough president candidate Robert Jackson. “Today’s agreement sends a clear message that campaign coordination is unacceptable in New York City and state politics.” The UFT had spent more than $40,000 combined on behalf of TAG clients Cumbo, Levine, Jackson and Stringer. NYCLASS spent $20,000 on the campaigns of Cumbo, Levine and Stringer. TAG presdient Levenson was the political director of NYCLASS and its campaign was run out of his Manhattan office, while at the same time the group spent money to promote the candidacies of two of Levenson’s clients — Levine and Cumbo.

Levenson also created an “altar ego” called Strategic Consultants — apparently to keep secret his consultant work with the UFT while also repping candidates the union supported, the findings said. The action “suggests that TAG understood that its dual role potentially violated CFB’s role against coordination . . .” the settlement  *Advance Group fined $26k by Schneiderman, CampaignFinance Board (TU) The attorney general’s office, in part, found that the Advance Group had set up an “alter ego” corporation, Strategic Consultants, which obscured its working both for candidates, and for an outside spending group funded by the United Federation of Teachers that supported some of the same candidates. “The very fact that [Advance Group] created an alter ego, Strategic Consultants, to act as its public face in connection with the UFT…suggests that TAG understood that its dual role potentially violated the CFB’s rule against coordination…” the attorney general’s office stated in its settlement agreement with Advance, “and intentionally attempted to deceive its clients, the CFB, and the public about its role with respect to UFT and its individual clients.” *  Schneiderman, NYC Campaign Finance Board Settle With Advance Group (YNN)Advance Group fined $26k by Schneiderman, Campaign Finance Board Albany Times Union (blog)



And forward again to 2013, when shady horse money kneecapped Chris Quinn, a shady Campaign Finance Board decision decapitated John Liu and a second public outbreak of his shady social habits forced Anthony Weiner to pull out. That all combined to give de Blasio a last-minute, wide-open lane. He went the back of the Democratic field just weeks before the primary to a 50-point win in November with the same “tale of two cities” slogan that made a 20-point loser of Ferrer eight years earlier.

http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/harry-siegel-clown-high-castle-article-1.2488024?cid=bitly



The Media Has Not Only Protected Lawmakers From Corruption But Has Ignored the Fact That Real Estate and Unions Fund NY Election System
That list also covers a variety of prominent faces with political ties, including real-estate executives Larry Silverstein, Gary Barnett and Charles Dorego; and Columbia mesothelioma researcher Dr. Robert Taub.
Real Estate Developers, Tax Breakes and Politics, 421-a  







CFB Abandoned It Mission of Helping Outside Candidates
The Corrupt CFB Holds Albanese Hostage While Ignoring Outright Lobbyists Consultant PAC Corruption
Former mayoral hopeful gets heated over campaign finances (NYP)  Former mayoral candidate Sal Albanese got into a shouting match Thursday with a member of the Campaign Finance Board while appealing a $10,000 fine for loaning his own 2013 campaign money that was never repaid. The Brooklyn Democrat forgave the $155,000 loan, which the board classified as a contribution that exceeded the $14,850 individual limit.  “I didn’t violate the spirit of the law. I’m actually a victim of what’s become an inflexible bureaucracy that exists in a vacuum,” he said. Clearly angry over those remarks, board member Richard Davis noted Albanese signed a sworn statement promising not to break campaign finance laws. “Do you think it’s meaningless that you signed a sworn statement that you wouldn’t do what you’ve done? Do you think that doesn’t count?” Davis asked. “Your kind of comment I find offensive and erroneous and not consistent with the facts.” The board adjourned the case until its next meeting Sept. 24.



Real Estate and the UFT are the Two Main Controller's of the State's Election System

NYT's 485 Word Story of the CFB Fine Latest Move By Paper to Empower Consultant Lobbyist 









Powell When He Was Writing News Broke the News That the Advance Group Was Being Investigated Advance Group President Scott Levenson is no longer listed as the NYCLASS political director on the firm's website. In Campaign, Cash Flowed Circuitously - NYTimes.com Advance under investigation * In Campaign, Cash Flowed Circuitously (Powell, NYT)


True News: Following Covered Up in CFB And AG Fines and How It Effects Campaigns and Governing
1. The UFT PAC Paid Advance Through the Fake Illegal Group Strategic Consultants Inc. $370,000 and More Than $4 Million in City Campaigns 
The Daily News and Good Government Groups In 2013 Blamed the UFT for the Strategic Payment Cover Up 
UFT under fire for apparently trying to hide identity of consulting firm(2013 NYDN)The city’s powerful teachers union is under fire from good-government groups for apparently trying to hide the identity of a consulting firm it was using to boost union-backed candidates.  "The listing of the phony firm, 'Strategic Consultants, Inc.,' in campaign filings, obscured that Advance Group was being paid both to promote candidates for the United Federation of Teachers' independent political action committee, and working as the main campaign consultant for several of those same candidates."

2. Red Horse Like Advance Worked for the UFT PAC United for the Future
Clients in 2013 Who Received United for the Future Mailings and Red Horse work for:
James Vacca, Helen Rosenthal, Annabel Palm, Daneek Miller,  Antonio Reynoso,  Ritchie Torres

Red Horse In Addition to Working for 2 DAs and Two DA Candidates, Works in Dozens of Other Races




3. In the 3rd Council District Advance's Candidate  Krukland Received NYCLASS Mailing and Her Opponent Also Got PAC Mailings From UF PAC Also Controlled by Advance

The Lobbyists Consultants Work With Each Other Sometimes Against Their Own Candidates Interests

The Advance  group was paid by democratic candidate Yetta Krukland $28,000 and the IE NYCLASS that Advance paid for $30,000 in mailings to promote Yetta Krukland.  The UFT PAC which Advance Was Working for United for the Future funded Krukland Opponent Corey Johnson. Krukland fired Advance during the campaign. Advance Also Worked for Ydanis A Rodriguez who was funded by the United for the Future PAC Which Advance Worked for



4.  The Advance Group PAC NYCLASS Funded Council Speaker Mark-Viverito and Worked In Her Campaign to Become Speaker
The Advance Group also has faced a city Conflicts of Interest Board probe into free help it provided New York City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito. The status of that probe is unclear.
Campaign Finance Board Votes on Penalty for The AdvanceGroup, Inc. - The New York City Campaign Finance Board today determined that The Advance Group, Inc., committed violations and assessed penalties totaling $15,000 for those violations. The Board determined that The Advance Group, acting as agent for an independent spender and two of its campaign clients, cooperated in expenditures reported to be independent. This substantial penalty sends a clear message that the Campaign Finance Board will vigorously enforce coordination between outside groups and candidates that violates the law. These violations strike at the very heart of our campaign finance program. When a consultant’s actions make it impossible for their clients to comply with the law, the Board will hold the consultant accountable. The facts in this matter are clear. The Advance Group arranged mailers for one client, NYCLASS, which promoted the election of two of their campaign clients. CFB staff notified The Advance Group that such expenditures would be violations, yet the expenditures went forward.  In addition, Attorney General Eric Schneiderman is announcing today a $10,800 penalty against the Advance Group. Combined, our two agencies are penalizing The Advance Group $25,800. I want to thank Attorney General Schneiderman and his staff for their assistance on this matter


Advance's Yedin Who Was Push Out as Manager of McMahon DA Campagn Was Involved With the Speaker Race After Advance Said it Was No Longer Involved With Mark-Viverito 
Staten Island DA Race Fallout McMahon campaign manager resigns amid consulting firmfines (SI Advance) *  McMahon Campaign Manager Resigns Over Political Consulting Group Fine(NY1) * McMahon campaign manager resigns amid consulting firm fines SILive.com  Politicker Reported That Advance Was A Crucial Player In the Seddio Deal After the Advance Group Left the Speakers Race


CFB Ignores That Fact That Their Fine On  Mark-Viverito Came From An Illegal Account
Melissa Mark-Viverito fined over consulting payments connected to re-election (NYP) Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito was whacked by the city’s Campaign Finance Board Thursday after her 2013 campaign committee failed to show $3,000 in consulting payments were connected to her re-election efforts. The board fined her campaign $750 for a payment made to consultant Brendan Kelly on Nov. 16, 2013 — nearly two weeks after the general election that put Mark-Viverito back into her East Harlem/Bronx council seat. At the time, Kelly was a lead strategist on Mark-Viverito’s bid to become council speaker — a race she won in 2014 with Mayor de Blasio’s backing. Illegal to Use the 2013 Campaign Account to Pay for the Speaker Race Under city election rules, Ms. Mark-Viverito was not allowed to spend money from her 2013 campaign account for the speaker race. She was also not allowed to spend money from a "transition committee" meant to pay only for inauguration activities. And she was likewise not allowed to yet set up a new 2017 campaign committee with the city Campaign Finance Board. Instead, on Nov. 5, she set up a 2017 campaign committee for an as-to-be-determined city office, according to the state Board of Elections, and then spent on the speaker race.  Mark-Viverito spent big on speaker race (CrainsNY) Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito got a boost in her speaker campaign by spending nearly $80,000 in recent months.


5. The UFT is A Client of Berlin Rosen and Worked for the Following Candidates Funded By the UFT PAC United for the Future
Corey Johnson, Mark Levine, Ydanis A Rodriguez, Austin I Shafran, Rory Lancman, Elizabeth S Crowley, 

CFB Abandoned It Mission of Helping Outside Candidates
The Corrupt CFB Holds Albanese Hostage While Ignoring Outright Lobbyists Consultant PAC Corruption
Former mayoral hopeful gets heated over campaign finances (NYP)  Former mayoral candidate Sal Albanese got into a shouting match Thursday with a member of the Campaign Finance Board while appealing a $10,000 fine for loaning his own 2013 campaign money that was never repaid. The Brooklyn Democrat forgave the $155,000 loan, which the board classified as a contribution that exceeded the $14,850 individual limit.  “I didn’t violate the spirit of the law. I’m actually a victim of what’s become an inflexible bureaucracy that exists in a vacuum,” he said. Clearly angry over those remarks, board member Richard Davis noted Albanese signed a sworn statement promising not to break campaign finance laws. “Do you think it’s meaningless that you signed a sworn statement that you wouldn’t do what you’ve done? Do you think that doesn’t count?” Davis asked. “Your kind of comment I find offensive and erroneous and not consistent with the facts.” The board adjourned the case until its next meeting Sept. 24.

Why is the CFB Going After Albanese and Not Looking At the Mayor's PAC?
Albanese Tweets Daily About de Blasio Incompetence . . . The Mayor and His Council Puppet Control Appointments to the CFB . . .  All of the Board Member Appointed by Bloomberg for 5 Year Terms
CFB Protecting NYC Political Class Including Their Lobbyists and Bosses


Sal Albanese ‏@SalAlbaneseNYC  Ironically DEB's policies as some of us predicted have adversely impacted the safety of the city's poorest citizens * i wish the NYPD homicide clearance rate was as as good as their ability to spin, omit & fudge crime stats. @SalAlbaneseNYC He hides from all contact with constituents unless it's purely on his own terms - no "off topic" questions. DEB should be in the South Bronx meeting with residents who are rightly scared over spreading Legionnaires disease * DEB says after weekend shooting rampage that he's going to beef patrols in high crime areas. I thought that was purpose of "summer all out" * @SalAlbaneseNYC Not just crime but other conditions worse. Proof that management & leadership makes a difference. BdB is failing us. * One significant crime pattern has been established 19 months of DEB & shootings have steadily increased under his watch over this period * Increasing # of shootings show the PR foolishness of DEB & Bratton & some in press of touting meaningless short term crime stats * 13 people shot during wild Brooklyn house party http://nydn.us/1Ufy3zo  Haven't seen DEB & Bratton lately touting crime stats? Where are they



True News Wags the NYP On the CFB Treatment of Everyman Mayoral Candidate Albanese
New York’s Kafka-esque campaign-finance laws (NYP Ed) Albanese joined the city’s matching-fund system when he ran for mayor in 2013. That guaranteed him $6 in public money for every $1 he raised in small contributions. Problem was, he couldn’t raise enough cash to qualify for matching funds. So he loaned his campaign $170,000 to stay afloat. Alas, he got less than 1 percent of the vote and couldn’t round up enough donations to pay himself back. So he just wrote off the loan. Oops: Under the campaign-finance law, a written-off loan counts as a contribution. And there’s a strict $14,850 limit on how much candidates can donate to themselves. Bottom line: Albanese technically made an excessive contribution, for which he’s now been hit with a $10,000 fine. Now, we understand the point of the rule, which is meant to keep pols from gaming the system by lending themselves a lot of money they have no intention of ever repaying. But the point of the law, according to the Campaign Finance Board, is to allow “a broader spectrum of candidates to run” by emphasizing grass-roots fund-raising. With the Albanese precedent, less-well-heeled candidates face a Catch-22: If their fundraising flounders, they’ll lose. And if they use their own funds to keep their campaign alive, they face big fines.* The Post suggests Franz Kafka could have written New York City’s campaign finance law after Sal Albanese found himself fined for writing off a loan he made to his campaign when he could not raise enough to pay it off









CFB Goes After Mayoral Candidate Albanese Who Would Not Take Lobbyists and Developers $$$ 
Sal Albanese faces penalty for loaning his own campaign money (NYP)  Mayoral candidate Sal Albanese joined the campaign-finance program in 2013, but couldn’t raise enough money to qualify for public matching funds. So he loaned his own campaign $170,000, and when contributions came up short he simply wrote off the loan. Now he faces a $10,000 fine by the Campaign Finance Board for exceeding the $14,850 contribution cap put on candidates to their own campaigns. That’s got Albanese both baffled and furious, since the reason he said he made the loan was because he didn’t have sufficient contributions. So how, he asked, could he be penalized for going over the contribution limit? “This is insane. This is bizarre. What do they want me to do — hold a fund-raiser to pay myself back?” asked Albanese, who is appealing the fine recommended by the board’s staff.

The CFB is Going After the Type of Candidate They Were Created To Help
I am a supporter of campaign finance reform but NYC system is a broken quagmire that allows lobbyists to bundle $ & fines me 10k * I wasn't allowed 2 participate in key debates disabling my campaign despite 1,000 contributors I received no matching $ & now a fine * I lent my campaign money to pay my staff & vendors because I had an obligation to do so & wanted out of insane campaign system.
Campaign 2013 Media Failure  And Broken Political Promises







More Fake Campaign Finance Reform Ideas From the Council
95% of the Money From People or Companies Who Do Business With the City Come to the Candidates Through PACs and the Lobbyists Who Run Their Campaigns 
 Legislation introduced to tighten New York City campaign finance rules (NYDN) The legislation would bar more people from giving big bucks to candidates because they do business with the city, and slap more restrictions on fundraising by such donors. “We’re taking on the onslaught of dark money and special interests in the city’s elections,” said Councilman Ben Kallos, chair of the government operations committee and one of the sponsors. People with city business can only give $400 for mayor and other citywide offices - compared to $4,950 for other donors. Under the new rules, when one business owns a chunk of another business that deals with the city, the parent company’s officials would have to follow the lower limits. “You have people who are effectively doing business with the city, behaving as if they’re not,” said Councilman Jumaane Williams, who is sponsoring the measure. “You should be following the same rules.” *  Richard Brodsky thinks the Silver, Skelos trials could helpclose the LLC loophole: 






While the CFB Ignores PAC and Make the Road Type of Corruption in Council
Recap of CD 23; What about Make the Road? (Council Watch)  Rebecca Lynch’s 3rd place finish has to sting, and not just for her.  Organized labor poured tens of thousands of dollars into her campaign, and even in the last week an additional $12,000 dropped in as news spread that her ground game was weak.  One prominent politician in the area who was watching closely commented before the election that Lynch was nowhere to be seen, and that her candidacy lacked buzz.  Even $30,000 in independent expenditures from New Yorkers for Progress, a de Blasio/labor front group, weren’t any help.  Hiring the esteemed Progressive consultants Berlin Rosen didn’t help.  And, most importantly, the WFP didn’t help.  In the run-up to the election, many people assumed that the WFP and its legendary ground game were Rebecca Lynch’s magic bullet.  But the bloom is off the WFP rose. The three to five point advantage that superior field operations gave to WFP candidates seems to have evened out as opponents have learned the lessons of the importance of a strong ground game.  The other—or should we say, the major-- disaster in the race belonged to Ali Najmi, who came in a dismal fifth place out of six candidates.  That’s what a New York Timesendorsement and having Zephyr Teachout on board will do for you, it appears. Najmi, otherwise a perfectly reasonable fellow,  inexplicably yoked himself to the questionable “Make the Road by Walking,” a group of rabble-rousers for hire who bully local politicians into funding their dubious social service projects.  These Make the Road literacy or training programs are always folded into a larger project of “worker organizing” or “empowerment,” which require recipients to attend political meetings as an implicit condition of getting services that are, in fact, city-funded.

  The whole operation gives off a creepy, People's Temple-type of vibe, to be honest. Make the Road claims to have 16,000 “member-clients,” though even a brief observation of a few of their rallies reveals that the same 50 to 100 participants consistently show up, banging on empty paint buckets and desultorily chanting “la gente, unida, jamas sera' vencida.”  Make the Road recently spun off a 501(c)(4) organization called “Make the Road Action Fund,” which is technically allowed to campaign actively for candidates for political office.  The two groups are theoretically separate, and the “Action Fund” lists an address in Brooklyn, though IRS tax forms filed in 2014 by “Make the Road” detail a $193,703 grant to the Action Fund, which is listed at the same Jackson Heights address as Make the Road.  The grant is made for the purpose of “non-partisan electoral organizing.” Perhaps the two groups will have their paperwork straight by the time their 2015 tax info is available, but the story is pretty clear to anyone who has paid attention to the cute games that the Working Families Party played with Data & Field Services.  Establishing a phantom firewall in order to pretend that one hand doesn’t know what the other hand is doing is an old trick, but one that is pretty easy to see through.  It seems fairly obvious that Make the Road, which receives millions of dollars from local and state government to provide social services, is siphoning some of that money to an ostensibly independent “Action Fund” in order to campaign for elected officials who will, lo and behold, allocate money to Make the Road. Anyway, for an organization that is supposedly so great at grassroots organizing, Make the Road did a pretty terrible job organizing for Ali Najmi, who got 650 votes.





This Agreement Between the CFB, AG and Advance Cuts Out the Public, Democracy and to Controlling Elections and Futhers the Creation of:
The Lobbyists Privatization of the Tammany Hall Machine Into NYC's Shadow Govt  
The Old Tammany Hall Machine was corrupt as corrupt as the lobbyists who have run today's New York's political system.  But the machine of the Boss Tweed era was far more responsive to voters and the communities that it served.  Terry Golway recent book explained how Tammany Hall depended on voter turnout for power.  To get votes the old machine offered services, provided jobs and protected the neighborhood where their votes came from. Tammany Hall governing style was responsible for creating New York's strong Neighborhoods of old. Tammany leader George Washington Plunkitt — the man who coined the phrase “honest graft” — met with constituents and lesser Tammany officials in his district several times a week to find out who was happy with Tammany’s services and who required some special attention. Today's lobbyist's controlled private machine gain power by getting electing candidates and feeding them with campaign contributions from their clients who are looking for city contracts or zoning changes, they never meet the voters.
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The Old Tammany Hall Welcomed All the Voters New Lobbyists Private Tammany Hall Pushes the Public Out to Make Money
 Over the last few years the lobbyists started to make their way into the political system by offering party bosses campaign services and campaign funding which in the old Tammany days would have been done in the club house and by its members.  In the old days hundreds of people worked in the clubhouse to put our mailings.  Today a campaign consultant emails a mailing house with a flyer designed by his or her company and the mail goes out.  The entire social structure of the community helping the machine and in return the machine helping the community and it residences is gone.  The news lobbyists machine hang out is their beach houses or million dollar apartments and never meet anyone in the community they seek to elect someone in. The public who used to at least have a choice to elect their party leaders.  The permanent government picks the Tammany's lobbyists cutting out the public completely.

 



The New Private Lobbyists Tammany Hall is Even Less Transparent Than the Old Secret Party Boss System
There are very important campaign filing differences between de Sapio's Tammany Hall and today's lobbyists Tammany Hall.  Old Tammany and today's political party leaders were required to file their all their expenses and how much money their received. The new lobbyists Private Tammany Hall uses money from their lobbyists clients in campaigns which are not required to be filed with the Board of Elections.  They use the Data and Field model of charging their clients below costs, that the Working Families Party and others are under investigation for by the Staten Island DA's special prosecutor, and it is all legal for the new lobbyists political consultants.   The political party machines are quired to file any money they spend with other clubs or political leaders that is used to elect their candidates.  The new private lobbyists can hire other lobbyists or anyone else and is not required to file any financial report.  In the 2013 elections there were over 200 incidents of 8 lobbyists either working with other or against each other



Why is the CFB Covering Up the Criminal Conspiracy Between NYCLASS and the 2013 de Blasio Campaign?  
True News Reported Last Year That Team de Blasio Used NYCLASS To Scam Election Law

And it is Being Cover-Up By the CFB and the Media . . . 
City Council Stands in Way of Carriage Horse Ban, de Blasio Tells Activists (NYT) Mayor Bill de Blasio, who promised during his campaign to end the Central Park carriage industry, said during a radio interview that advocates should use their energy to solidify votes in the Council. * De Blasio all but admits defeat in quest to ban carriage horses (NYP) * OPLESS TASK FORCE: ‘Aggressive’ man connected to near-nude women at Times Square arrested as de Blasio orders panel to find legal way to ban topless ladies (NYDN) * In a 40-minute interview with WNYC, de Blasio discussed the inaction on a Central Park horse carriage ban, the “vision” city officials are crafting for Uber and the effects of affordable housing and gentrification:  * De Blasio signaled in a WNYC interview that he has given up on driving carriage horses out of New York City, a move that would have been largely unpopular and destroyed jobs in the process, the Daily News writes:   Flashback EXCLUSIVE: FBIinvestigating donations to NYCLASS from men close to Mayor de Blasio that mayhave been used toward anti-Christine Quinn campaigners (NYDN May 4th, 2014) Two men with strong ties to Mayor de Blasio donated cash to the NYCLASS animal rights group leading the crusade to ban carriage horses. The animal rights group then donated identical amounts to anti-Christine Quinn campaigners. The transactions are now under FBI investigation. The Daily News Forgot About the NYCLASS Investigation in Today Editorial  Bill’s horse senseas the Central Park carriages will remain (NYDN Ed) * ‘TAKEN’ FOR A RIDE: Liam Neeson says Mayor de Blasio should give up for good on banning Central Park horse carriages (NYDN) * BILL'S HORSE SENSE: Mayor rightly recognizes his misbegotten bid to ban carriage horses is kaput (NYDN Ed)
UFT Illegal PAC United for the Future   

 Law Week the CFB Uncover the Tip of the Iceberg About Illegal Coordination Between PACS and Political Consultants

Organized Crime Politics
The CFB determined under its rules last week that the Advance Group’s work on behalf of  Brooklyn Council member Laurie Cumbo and Manhattan’s Mark Levine and the supposedly “independent” anti-carriage PAC really amounted to illegal coordination between the campaigns and the PAC NYCLASS. But the coordination between campaign consultants and PAC goes mush deeper then the CFB fines.Berlin Rosen another political consultant lobbyists besides working for mayoral candidate de Blasio also worked for Advance fined candidate Councilman Levine. Both Advance and Berlin also worked together for councilman Ydanis A Rodriguez. What the CFB is looking at as it continues it investigation of Advance is other types of coordination between the candidates and the political consultants that bring money and additional resources to NYC candidates that bring them over the spending limits they agreed to when accepting public matching funds.

Perhaps the only time the Advance Group told the truth to the press last year was when Levenson said to the Daily News that he was doing a favor for another consultant when he got involved with the the PAC Citizen Action.  The consultants whose candidate got one of the Citizens Action mailings was Berlin Rosen and Pitta Bishop Del Giorno.  Advance and Pitta Bishop both worked for council candidate John Lisyanskiy.   Berlin Rosen was paid $23,000 by the PAC controlled by the same union  that uses Advance as their lobbyists, HOTEL WORKERS FOR A STRONGER MIDDLE CLASS.   Berlin Rosen served as campaign consultants for Councilwoman Chin which got help from the HOTEL WORKERS FOR A STRONGER MIDDLE CLASS PAC.  The Advance Group is a hired lobbyist by for New York Hotel and Motel Trades Council AFL-CIO. Another Berlin Rosen candidate Daniel L Squadron also got help from the New York Hotel and Motel Trades Council AFL-CIO. Forest City Ratner another firm that Berlin Rosen works for had family member of Ratner contributed big time to Squadron.  The Advance Group was hired by the UFT under a fake name Strategic Consultants to work for the  teachers PAC United for the Future.  The following Berlin Rosen candidates got funding from United for the Future: Corey Johnson, Mark Levine, Ydanis A Rodriguez, Austin I Shafran, Elizabeth S Crowley, Richard Donovan, Kirsten J Foy and Rory Lancman. United for the Future Funded 31 of the 51 elected councilman.  In fact there are dozens and dozens of instances where campaign consultants lobbyists worked together through the campaigns they ran and the PACs they controlled. * UFT under fire for apparently trying to hide identity of consulting firm(NYDN) * More on the Advance Group Under Investigation  *  CrainsNY on the Advance Groups Double Dipping  * Melissa Mark-Viverito Lobbyist the Advance Group Never Quit, Continued Lobbying Despite Investigations * A staffer for Joseph Lhota, Mr. de Blasio's defeated general-election opponent, recently filed a complaint with the New York City Campaign  Finance Board charging that Mr. de Blasio's campaign had illegally coordinated with the anti-Quinn super PAC NYCLASS, a complaint the de Blasio campaign called "frivolous."






What True News Reporter Months Ago and NYT Ignored
Election Fraud is No Longer Limited to Ballot Stuffing at the Polls
The NYCLASS PAC Caper to Steal the 2013 Mayoral Election is Now Being Put to Sleep
NYCLASS which was used to destroy mayoral front runner Speaker Quinn race for mayor by forces close to de Blasio is now being sabotage from within to please the unions and other special interests who want to keep carriages rolling in the park.  It is not the voters who were behind the horse carriage ban, 70% of New Yorkers support the horses.  It was the money the NYCLASS PAC made available during the campaign that was the goal of the de Blasio conspiracy team.  NYCLASS PAC spent more than $1 million to help defeat Christine Quinn, who was then de Blasio’s main opponent and did not support the horse carriage ban. As a councilman and public advocate de Blasio supported horse carriages.  As a candidate for mayor, de Blasio switched positions and embraced NYCLASS’ call to banish the carriage horses from Central Park and city streets. de Blasio made his pledge to support the horse carriage ban in March of 2013, the next month the attacks on Quinn started. In the year and a half that de Blasio has been mayor there have been many promise to ban the horse carriages but no bill in the council to make the campaign promise real. During the 2013 campaign NYCLASS hired campaign consultant lobbyists Scott Levinson who runs the Advance Group. Before the NYCLASS campaign Levinson worked with  Bertha Lewis, co-founder of the New York chapter of the Working Families Party, and the former head of ACORN in a tangled web of political cover-ups disguises as activism.  It was during de Blasio run for public advocate that the WFP created Data and Field to help the candidates they endorsed.  During the 2009 campaign the CFB declared Data and Field connected to the WFP in violation of the city's campaign finance laws.  In 2010 the U.S. Supreme Court held that the First Amendment prohibited the government from restricting independent political expenditures by a nonprofit corporation.  In 2013 Levinson was named the consultant for NYCLASS which is credited with taking out Quinn. The NYCLASS PAC was financed by true believer and team de Blasio. * As the Media Write About Not Enough Council Votes to Ban Horse Carriages TRUE NEWS Investigates How NYCLASS Was Hijacked To Fix the Outcome of the 2013 Mayoral Election

Team de Blasio Poured $$$ Into NYCLASS to Kill Quinn
In 2014 the Daily News repored that the FBI was investigating donations to NYCLASS from men closeto Mayor de Blasio that may have been used toward anti-Christine Quinncampaigners  On May 21, lawyer Jay Eisenhofer gave $50,000 to NYCLASS, the animal rights group leading the crusade to ban carriage horses. Ten days later, on May 31, NYCLASS gave an equal amount — $50,000, to the anti-Quinn group. On June 1, NYCLASS received another large donation, this time for $175,000. It came from UNITE HERE! — a labor union headed by John Wilhelm. Two days after that, on June 3, NYCLASS sent the same amount, $175,000, to the anti-Quinn campaign. The issue? Both Wilhelm and Eisenhofer have long-standing ties to Bill de Blasio, one of Quinn’s Democratic rivals in the mayoral campaign. Wilhelm is de Blasio’s cousin — and a prolific fund-raiser for him. Wilhelm raised $6,950 for de Blasio’s 2009 race for public advocate and $80,000 for de Blasio’s successful campaign for mayor.

Why is the Campaign Finance Board Only Looking At 1199 SEIU and Not the UFT Illegal Coordination With the 2013 de Blasio Campaign?
De Blasio’s 2013 campaign committee under investigation (NYP) The Campaign Finance Board has been looking into possible violations by Mayor de Blasio’s 2013 campaign committee for coordinating operations with powerful Local 1199 SEIU — his most important supporter. Board officials asked the de Blasio campaign to account for a host of “coordinated” activities described in an Oct. 10, 2013, City & State magazine interview of Local 1199 political director Kevin Finnegan, documents obtained by The Post show.  The interview raised red flags at the board because the campaign had paid the union only about $19,000 at that point. Unpaid coordinated campaigning violates regulations because it circumvents spending limits. A de Blasio lawyer wrote to the board 15 days later, claiming the article contained “significant” errors. “Virtually all of the 1199 activities . . . were not in any way coordinated with the de Blasio campaign,” the lawyer wrote. City & State’s publisher said the magazine stands by its reporting, which stemmed almost entirely from an on-record Q&A with Finnegan. Local 1199 shelled out roughly $200,000 in independent expenditures for de Blasio’s mayoral run in 2013, records show.

The Mission Statement of the CFB to Protect the Public Against Special Interest Money
The CFB Was Created After the Koch Administration City Source Scandal Was Exposed
As a result of several corruption scandals, a series of ethics reforms is enacted, most notably the Campaign Finance Act. Through a city referendum, NYC voters approved a Charter revision establishing the Campaign Finance Board (CFB). The independent, nonpartisan agency is charged with limiting the role and influence of private money in the political process. The CFB is also mandated to publish a voter guide and provide public disclosure of campaign finance information. The CFB was created after the Bronx County Leader Stanley Friedman and a bunch of Queens party hacks were found guilty for corrupting the city's Parking Violations Department.   When he was elected mayor in 1977 Koch's reputation rested on his antimachine credentials. But by 1982, he was kicking off an ill-fated gubernatorial campaign with a press conference flanked by Democratic party bosses — Bronx boss Stanley Friedman (convicted in 1987 for bribery and racketeering), Queens boss Donald Manes (who committed suicide in 1986 while under investigation), and Esposito (convicted in 1988 for bribing Rep. Mario Biaggi). The reformer had come full circle. * 'THE MAYOR WHO DIDN'T WANT TO KNOW' - NYTimes.com * Widening scandal in N.Y.C.. Tale of corruption reads likedime store novel; New Yorkers wonder how it will treat Koch *   FRIEDMAN IS GUILTY WITH 3 IN SCANDAL - NYTimes.com



The CFB is IGNORING the Corrupt Special Interest $$$ That It Was Created to Stamp Out
The CFB Has Ignored A Fake Group the UFT Has Created to Use Advance to Help Run Its PAC That Funded 2013 Council Campaigns Conspiracy to Coordinate their PAC and the Campaign Consultant?
The UFT PAC Paid Advance Through the Fake Group Strategic Consultants Inc. $370,000
Her campaign also got support by two PACs controlled by the Advance Group, NYCLASS and the UFT PAC United for the Future that the UFT tried to hid Advance Groups involvement in with a fake made up company called Strategic Consultants Inc., that CrainsNY found was located in the offices of Advance.
The Advance Group Ran the Following Campaigns That Received United for the Future Funding: Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito (Advance was helping Mark-Viverito to become speaker illegally without pay), Inez Dickens, Councilmembers Mark Levine and Laurie Cumbo (who were both fined for Advance's coordination with the NYCLASS PAC in their campaigns), Robert Jackson campaign for Boro President whose campaign in addition to mailing from United for the Future also got NYCLASS PAC mailing and employed Advance as a consultant has not gotten fined by the CFB.   The Red Horse consulting firm also worked for the UFT's United for the Future PAC and work for several campaigns funded by that PAC.  Red Horse Coordinated consulting work and PAC work and Had Not Been Fined By the Following Campaigns:  Councilmembers Ritchie Torres, Helen   Rosenthal, James Vacca, Annabel Palma, Daneek Miller and Antonio Reynoso * CrainsNY on the Advance Groups Double Dipping(CrainsNY)* Advance Group puts logo on phony firm's invoice( CrainsNY)
UFT Illegal PAC United for the Future
The UFT Coup d'é·tat Of NYC Election System and Democracy



Daily News Says de Blasio Kills Campaign Finance With One NY PAC
What About the NYCLASS PAC That Was Used During the 2013 Campaign to Elected de Blasio?
Progressive Bill deBlasio kills NYC's campaign finance program (NYDN Ed) Let Mayor de Blasio admit this fact: His bear hug of the Fund for One New York, the not-at-all-independent nonprofit advocacy group he created, is hastening the demise of the city’s public campaign finance system. For a quarter century, that system — which limits contributions to candidates, matches small gifts with public dollars and caps spending — has been lauded by progressives, de Blasio included, as leveling the democratic playing field and amplifying the voices of ordinary citizens. “We are the gold standard,” he said last year. Those words take on an ironic double meaning as de Blasio hits up donors for millions, including large contributions that would be banned if made directly to candidates — and the fund works in lockstep to advance his agenda. The Campaign for One New York buys television advertisements; coordinates grassroots organizing campaigns; and employs and coordinates with allies of the mayor, including former staffers. In short, it works as a campaign apparatus in years when there’s no election.

CFB is Protecting the Lobbyist Shadow Govt


The Making of A Mayor 2013
How de Blasio Got Around the Campaign Finance Law to Become Mayor
The Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United ruling blew the doors off all previous attempts to limit outside money in government — and made hefty political spending by outside groups inevitable. But it’s no small irony that the man putting the nail in the coffin of the city’s campaign finance caps is Big Bill, progressive friend of the little man.* The state Board of Elections could close the so-called LLC loophole in the campaign finance system, but Democrats say that is unlikely because GOP commissioners do not support it, The Buffalo News reports * Daily News: What About Data and Fields in 2009, NYCLASS and the UFT;s United for A Future PACs in 2013?  What About the Real Estate's 71/2 Million Jobs for NY PAC?  What About the Millions in Assembly, State Senate and Gov PACs that Go Around the Campaign Finance Laws?

Berlin Rosen Played Fast and Loose With the Election Law to Destroy Democracy In NY
Crain’s New York Business reported last month that the group had not yet registered as a lobbyist this year. Mr. de Blasio and his aides have already raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for the group, mostly from traditional allies like labor unions. Late last month, the mayor spoke at a fund-raiser for the group in Lower Manhattan, hosted by a prominent city lobbying firm, Constantinople & Vallone. Among the attendees were representatives of city-based construction and real estate firms. Although it is primarily funding political activities, the Campaign for One New York is registered as a nonprofit, allowing it to accept unlimited contributions from donors who would otherwise be limited by New York City’s strict campaign finance laws.

Calling Berlin Rosen Over and Over  
Still, Mr. Horner conceded that the state’s ethics guidelines were written in ways that could be subject to interpretation. “There’s an incentive for groups to try to play fast and loose, where they might be dancing around the spirit of the law.” “If this group is being organized to help the mayor advance his agenda, the mayor bears some responsibility for what this group does,” Mr. Horner added. “They shouldn’t have to be dragged kicking and screaming to comply with the state lobbying law.”
How Berlin Rosen Abuses Democracy With de Blasio's One New York PAC


de Blasio's Slush Fund Funded by Developers and Special Interests and Pays of Shadow Govt Lobbyists
Mayor’s organization raises $1.7 M. since January (Capital) The Campaign for One New York, Mayor Bill de Blasio's political organization, took in $1.71 million and spent $668,373 during the past six months, new records show. His largest donations, of $250,000 each, came from 1199 SEIU, the massive health care union that helped propel him to office in 2013, and the Fund for Policy Reform Inc., a 501(c) 4 organization that describes its mission in tax filings as "promot[ing] social welfare, including funding initiatives related to public welfare, drug policy, alleviation of poverty and electoral reform." Two wealthy donors pushing a controversial ban on horse carriages, Stephen Nislick and Wendy Neu, each gave $50,000 in March. The mayor also received dozens of donations from real estate executives, unions and lobbyists, some of whom have business before the city.  The city's top lobbyist, James Capalino, gave $10,000 on May 27, just one day before records show he had a meeting with de Blasio to lobby him on the Downtown Manhattan Heliport, which opposes a City Council bill to ban helicopter tours in the city. A call to Capalino for comment was not immediately returned.

Part of the Mission of the One New York PAC is to Mislead the Press
Ral Development, which is building two towers at BrooklynBridge Park, donated $10,000 in May as well.  The Toll Brothers, which builds homes throughout the metropolitan region, gave $25,000 in April.  *  Alma Realty, which is behind the Astoria Cove redevelopment project that was a model for the mayor's yet-to-be-unveiled mandatory inclusionary zoning policy, gave him $5,000 in April. He received a $20,000 gift from John Catsimatidis' Red Apple Group in April as well. Catsimatidis, who owns supermarkets and real estate throughout the city, ran in the Republican mayoral primary in 2013 and now hosts a radio show featuring police commissioner Bill Bratton as a frequent guest. Some individual donors include those who have given to the organization since its inception last year, such as wealthy businessman Alexander Levin and Joseph Dussich, aQueens businessman who had raised more than $30,000 for de Blasio's Republican rival, Joe Lhota, in 2013. 

The One New York PAC Illegally Paid for A Mailing to Convince Brooklyn Heights That A Limited ER Was As Good Subsitute for the Closed LICH to Help A Council Candiate 
Dussich runs JAD Corp. of America, which sells maintenance and cleaning supplies for buildings. The company has had several contracts with New York City in recent years.  The group spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on political consultants with ties to the mayor  The group spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on political consultants with ties to the mayor. The committee paid more than $60,000 to Berlin Rosen, which advised de Blasio's mayoral campaign, more than $100,000 to Hilltop Public Solutions, which employs de Blasio’s former campaign manager, and $150,000 to AKPD, which made de Blasio's TV ads during the campaign.* De Blasio raised $1.5 million over the past six months for his political nonprofit, with hefty donations from rich donors who have business before City Hall, the Daily Newswrites: * A nonprofit run by leadership of the Real Estate Board of New York took in $200,000 in May from eight LLCs controlled by Glenwood Management, which drastically reduced its campaign donations in the wake of federal investigations, the Times Union reports: * "Neither Glenwood Management nor Tishman Speyer hasbeen charged with wrongdoing". 


Bribes for de Blasio Slush Fund From Builders of Brooklyn Bridge Park Buildings
 De Blasio’s rich cronies donate $1.7M to his non-profit (NYP)The Campaign for One New York raked in more than 60 contributions exceeding $4,950, the cap on city political campaign contributions, records released Thursday by the nonprofit revealed. Because the donations aren’t specifically for a political campaign, there’s no limit on what de Blasio’s cronies can give. One of his staunchest allies, the SEIU/1199 health-care workers union, gave the Campaign for One New York $250,000 over the last several months, in addition to the $250,000 it sent the group in 2014.  Builder Robert Levine’s company, RAL Development, gave the campaign $10,000 in late May. A month later, it was picked by a de Blasio-controlled board overseeing Brooklyn Bridge Park to build two massive apartment towers there near Pier 6. 

Politics in NYC are Controlled By Special Interest PAC Like NYCLASS the One That Destroyed Speaker Quinn
“This continues a pattern in which this developer gives a substantial donation to an elected official and then magically gets approval to build more housing in the park,” said activist Judi Francis, who has fought to keep condos out of the 85-acre park. Nearly a decade ago, Levine and his partners donated more than $120,000 to then-Gov. George Pataki, when the state controlled the park. They were ultimately allowed to convert a former Jehovah’s Witness book distribution plant they purchased by Pier 5 in what is now the park into a 440-unit condo complex. Meanwhile, de Blasio has long been silent about complaints that another Brooklyn Bridge Park developer, Toll Brothers, overshot a 100-foot height limit by illegally blocking iconic views of the historic bridge while building a 10-story hotel and condo complex by Pier 1. Toll doled out $25,000 to the campaign for this period after previously giving $25,000 in 2014. A state judge last month ruled that the Toll Brothers’ project could move forward. A limited liability company tied to another big developer, Two Trees Management, which is bringing an massive mixed-use development to the former Domino Sugar plant in Williamsburg, donated $100,000.


Not Only Has the One NY PAC Gone Around the City's Campaign Law It Has Help Privatize the City's Political Machine into A Shadow Govt
Mayor's Slush Fund Pay Ex-Obama Strategist
Records for Group Backing Mayor Show Payment to an Ex-Obama Strategist (NYT) Anita Dunn, a former communications director for President Obama, was paid about $34,200 by the Campaign for One New York, a nonprofit with close ties to Mayor Bill de Blasio. The committee also made two separate payments of $23,413 and $10,825 to SKD Knickerbocker for consulting done between February and May this year, which a campaign spokesman said was paid to SKD managing director Anita Dunn, who provided the committee with strategic advice. The payments to SKD are notable—the firm ran the mayoral campaign of Christine Quinn, the early front-runner for the Democratic nomination in 2013. Quinn eventually faded as de Blasio prevailed in the primary. ** Anita Dunn, a former communications director in the Obama White House, was paid about $34,200 by the Campaign for One New York, the political group that is paying for the mayor’s effort to tug the Democratic Party to the left, the Times writes: 




82% of the Council Plus the Speaker Was Funded By 3 PACS

42 of the 51 Council is Infected With PACs (NYCLASS and United for the Future) That Advance Worked for, Including the Speaker; Parkside Jobs for NY PAC Funded 15 of the Same Candidates As the Advance Park Plus 6 More.
Candidates Funding By Advance's NYCLASS PAC: Yetta Krukland (Advance Client), Councilman Mark Levine (Advance Client), Councilwoman Laurie Cumbo (Advance Client)
Candidates Funding By Advance's United for the Future PAC: Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, Inez Dickens (Advance Client), Corey Johnson (Berlin Rosen Client) (running against Advance client Yetta Krukland), Mark Levine (Advance Client), Councilwoman Laurie Cumbo Councilman Ydanis Rodríguez, Paul Vallone (Mercury Client), Rosie Mendez, Councilman Andrew King, Councilman James Vacca (Red Horse Client), Councilwoman Vanessa Gibson (Red Horse Client), Councilwoman Annabel Palma (Red Horse Client), Councilman Costa Constantinides, Mark Weprin (Hudson TG), 

The CFB Enables or Created the Lobbyists Shadow Govt and Puppet Council They Control  
Wayne Barrett said in 2010 That Lobbyists Sheinkopf makes kings so he can then make deals with the kings they make
Councilman Daneek Miller (Red Horse Client), Councilwoman Karen Koslowitz (Hudson TG), Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley (Berlin Rosen Client), Councilman Richard Donovan (Berlin Rosen Client), Councilman Eric Ulrich, Councilman Antonio Reynoso (Red Horse Client), Councilman Brad Lander, Councilman Mathieu Eugene (Advance Client), Councilwoman Inez Barron, Councilman Jumaane Williams, Councilman Alan Maisel (Brandford), Councilman Mark Treyger (Hudson TG), Councilwoman Debra Rose (Brandford), Councilman Steven Matteo, Councilman Robert Jackson (Boro President Candidate), Councilman Vincent Ignizio
Who Guards the Guards Themselves? After the Special Prosecutor for NYPD Why Not One for Pols? 
Berlin Rosen Worked for the AG Other Consultants for the DAs
Since the state attorney general and local district attorneys must run for public office, all of the state's top prosecutors must rely on corrupting influence of campaign consultants and campaign donors to win elected office.  Once a prosecutor relies on the advice of campaign consultants, that opens the door to potential lobbying, because, in New York, campaign consultants often double as lobbyists.  Political consultant Red Horse worked for Brooklyn DA Thompson campaign along with Berlin Rosen.
Who Watchers the Watchman, Lobbyists, Grand Jury, AG - DAs Conflict of Interests With NYPD and Elected Officials




The CFB Only Found 2 Examples of PAC and Campaign Coordination When In Fact There Are Dozens
CFB, DAs and AG do Nothing to Advance Whose Clients Cumbo and Levine Where Fined By the CFB for Advance Working for NYCLASS PAC which send mailings supporting them and working for their campaign at the same time
Both Red Horse and Advance Group worked for the UFT's PAC United for the Future (the UFT attempted to covering up Advance involvement by paying them through a fake company) Red Horse worked for Manhattan DA. Red Horse worked for Brooklyn BP Adams, Bronx BP Diaz and PA James. Red Horse worked for Manhattan DA Cy Vance. Red Horse worked for Pitta Bishop for Brooklyn BP Adams. Red Horse worked with George Arzt in the Queens BP campaign. Berlin Rosen not only help elected Schneiderman to his AG position, both it partners worked for him when he was state senator. * Preet Bharara has become well-known in New York for prosecuting the state’s top political players. This month, the Manhattan U.S. attorney might be better known as the hottest ticket in town when it comes to law-school commencement speakers.


CFB Tells NYCLASS Your Responsible, NYCLASS Blames the Advance Group 

Can You Imagine Abzug, Messinger or Friedlander being silent if someone tried to Steal the Election from Them
On November 21, 2013 the Daily News reported how the political consultants secretly worked together to fixed elections, "The firm (Advance Group) admitted its work for City Action Coalition PAC was problematic. “We did a favor for a political operative that we have a longstanding relationship with by sending his mailer to a printer,” an Advance Group spokeswoman said. “It was a mistake that we regret and is completely inconsistent with our history.” The CFB blasted NYCLASS, also known as New Yorkers for Clean, Livable and Safe Streets, for not taking responsibility for their wrongdoing. “These are very serious and severe penalties. They are very severe because there were very serious violations by NYCLASS,” said Richard Davis, a CFB board member. “The Board feels very strongly that if you’re going to becomean independent spender you cannot outsource responsibility for compliance withthe law. (NYO)That is the responsibility of the independent spender and that responsibility was not met here.” The CFB said the Advance Group itself could face fines in the near future.  “We have all seen the disturbing increase in spending by outside groups in federal, state and even local elections in recent years,” said Rose Gill Hearn, a CFB board member. “The Board expects to consider violations and penalties against The Advance Group, the common agent to the spender and the candidates who benefited from these expenditures.”



Also Shocking NYP: 99 Words 4 Paragraphs On the NYCLASS Fine 
Shocking You Would Expect the NYP to Go to Town Attacking NYCLASS for Helping to Elect A Mayor and Speaker Who They Can't Disagree More WithHorse carriage haters get slammed with five figure fine(NYP)





Even the CFB is Ignoring the Damage PACs Are Doing to Public Financing of Campaigns 
The CFB ignored tens of million pured into the city's public financed campaigns to come up with a self serving conclusion on its work.  On the same day the CFB fined the Advance Group for corrupting two council campaigns with the NYCLASS PAC they released a report that Public Funds Reduced the Impact of Big Money and SpecialInterests.


One Year Ago the NYT Reported Advance Claims It Had A Fire Wall Between the PAC and Campaigns it Ran 
“We took pains to have firewalls internal to the firm,” said Mr. Levenson, who acknowledged that he faced an investigation. “I can say unequivocally, independent expenditures were done independently and not coordinated.”

Now the NYT Reports That the CFB Said There Was No Fire Wall, In Fact Advance Ran the Show 
New YorkPanel Approves Fine for Group Against Carriage Horses(NYT)In documents released after its vote on Thursday, the board said it “found credible” statements by NYClass that it did not know the Advance Group was also consulting for Ms. Cumbo’s and Mr. Levine’s campaigns, and that it had relied on the Advance Group’s assurances that NYClass was in compliance with campaign-finance rules.


NYT, NYP and Daily News Silent On Local Impact of Citizens United on the City's Public Financing System

NYT's + Media's Blind Side The NYT has written several times on the national impact of Citizens United but never on the impact of that  special interests big money supreme court decision on the 2013 NYC election. The press is focused on  a preacher and 4-year-olds, while not reporting on how our city government was mugged by special interests Citizen United PACs and the lobbyists political consultants who do their bidding in the last election. Have these PACs made NYC government worse (if that is possible)? Have these PACs and lobbyist consultants committed crimes? stay tuned. The Line at the ‘Super PAC’ Trough(NYT) An unlimited source of cash is now a requirement for contested congressional races * Change the Rules on Secret Money(NYT Ed) * Liberal Donors Pollute Politics, Too(NYT Ed) *Campaign finance reformers take a hard line(TU)
Other Scams to Rip Off the CFB
Sheldon Leffler, Former Councilman, Is Convicted in Campaign Fraud Scheme(NYT)
Sheldon Leffler Hit With $400G Fine
Queens pol Albert Baldeo busted for using straw campaign donors ...





Liu sues city for blocking $3.8M in public funds during mayoral bid

In his suit against the CFB, former NYC Comptroller John Liu says he “suffered extreme mental and emotional anguish, along with dignity harms” when his mayoral campaign was denied matching funds.

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