Wednesday, January 21, 2015

The UFT Coup d'é·tat Of NYC Election System and Democracy 848












The UFT Endorses de Blasio for 2017 as Their 2013 Campaign Corruption Continues to Be Cover-Up

The United Federation of Teachers gave de Blasio’s re-election bid a boostby praising the mayor for creating the largest pre-K program in the nation andrespecting teacher(NY Daily News).  * .@UFT endorses @BilldeBlasio's re-election bid  


The UFT Coup d'é·tat Of NYC Election System and Democracy 
UFT Illegal PAC United for the Future


NYP Tells Fanina to Hit the Road Now

Carmen Fariña shouldn’t wait to quit (NYP Ed) Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña is reportedly planning to retire by year’s end. How about right now?  After all, her proudest achievement, boosting city high-school graduation rates to 72 percent, turns out to be hollow. As Melissa Klein and Susan Edelman revealed in Sunday’s Post, only 37 percent of those “graduates” are ready for college.  They flagged multiple schools that graduate 80 percent or more of their kids — with college-readiness rates from just 1.9 percent to 14.1 percent. We don’t blame Fariña personally for all these diploma mills — but it’s yet another sign that her “reform” efforts amount to shuffling deck chairs on the Titanic.

A Teacher Explains How de Blasio Failed To Turn Around Failing JHS 145 
  How the city failed ourstudents at a closing Renewal School (NYDN Ed) City Department of Education executives tasked with improving the poorest-performing schools are grossly incompetent. As a result, a marginalized and very vulnerable group of impoverished minority students in the Bronx face eviction from their neighborhood school.  That’s the inescapable conclusion if one really scrutinizes how the DOE handled, or mishandled, Junior High School 145, which they now propose closing for its poor student performance on state tests.  We are veteran teachers at JHS 145, which was one of 94 struggling schools identified for a turnaround via Mayor de Blasio’s high-stakes, $150 million-a-year School Renewal Program. In November 2014, the mayor and Education Department heralded the program as a shining example of innovation that would provide the resources, training and services necessary to serve kids.  JHS 145, once known as the Arturo Toscanini School, is in one of the poorest congressional districts in the entire country, and gang violence is rampant.  There are approximately 300 students. At least 20% are living in homeless shelters or temporary housing; 21% have learning disabilities, and 18% have gone extended periods of their lives without any education at all.  Of the 300 or so students, more than 130 are just beginning to learn the language. But the department has admittedly failed to provide adequate English as a Second Language instruction.   *

Cuomo Wants to Lift Ban to Charter School Expansion
Cuomo suggests cap to limit charter school expansion (NYP)  In a potential boon for charter schools, Gov. Cuomo has proposed abolishing the cap that limits the sector’s expansion in New York City. Advocates applauded the move, which the governor included in his $152.3 billion spending plan unveiled on Tuesday.  The city is coming close to hitting its charter-school cap and only 30 more can be approved under existing law.  The governor’s plan also would boost support for new and expanded charter schools housed in privately leased space in the city.  “Gov. Cuomo’s proposed budget reflects his deep understanding and appreciation of public schools and the important role charter schools play in the public education system, particularly for the highest needs students,” said James Merriman, CEO of the New York City Charter School Center.* About 1,500 charter school students and parents gathered in Albany and demanded that lawmakers eliminate a cap on charter schools, fund them at levels comparable to traditional public schools and allow co-locations, the New York Post reports.



NYP's McManus Missed the Real UFT Corruption When He Wrote About the UFT's $350,000 Donation to CONY At Least in the Spirit of Pay to Play if Not Criminal
McManus Missed That the UFT Like de Blasio Went Around the Election Law in the 2013 Campaign With Its PAC United for the Future.  The UFT Hired 3 de Blasio's Lobbyists Berlin Rosen, Red Horse and the Advance Group (Which it did in Secret, A Crime) to help elected over 75% of the city council
With UFT endorsement, de Blasio just raised a red flag for Preet Bharara (NYP)  Hello? Just as Mayor de Blasio is to meet with federal prosecutors to talk possible pay-to-play with the city’s teachers union, that same union fulsomely endorses the mayor for a second term.  Awkward? You might say.  Really. Why not take a bright red Sharpie and draw a fat circle around that $350,000 American Federation of Teachers “donation” to de Blasio’s now-defunct-but-certainly-not-forgotten Campaign for One New York slush fund — followed days later by the $9 billion contract the mayor laid on the union’s local affiliate, the United Federation of Teachers.  This may or may not have been a crime — among other things, that’s what the feds are trying to figure out — but the notion that it’s not in spirit pay-to-play is ludicrous.

The union can bring formidable organizational strength and — need it be said yet again? — money to any citywide campaign. (Hey, $350,000 to the Campaign for One New York speaks for itself, no?)


NYP is At Least Trying to Get the Truth Out  . . .  The NYT is in the Plastic Bag for de Blasio Lost Daily News Prints His Press Releases and Once In A While Does Real Journalism to CYA   
Daily News "Snowman Bill as de Blasio clears the streets the smart way"
A good manager learns, adapts and executes a plan, and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio was such a manager in preparing for, and responding to, Thursday’s snowstorm, getting plows to streets more effectively than in last year’s big storm, the Daily News writes.




The Media is Also Covering-Up How the UFT Secretly Paid the Advance Group to Help Run Their PAC United for the Future 
UFT under fire for apparently trying to hide identity of consulting firm(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."Teachers union paid $370K to fake consultant CrainsNY found was located in the offices of Advance. * Advance Group puts logo on phony firm's invoice (CrainsNY) * Complaint Filed Against Advance Group for Election Work(NYO)* CrainsNY on the Advance Groups Double Dipping


CFB and Media Protecting UFT PAC United for the Future Lobbyists and Council Members

The CFB Fined Two Councilmember for Working With Advance and Its PAC NYCLASS But Did Not Fined Advance, Red Horse and Berlin Rosen for Their Clients Getting PAC Funds From the UFT PAC That They Controlled

1. Advance Group and Two Candidates Fined For Using Advance and NYCLASS Funds But Not the UFT's UF PAC That Did the Same Thing As NYCLASS
 City council members fined over money from anti-horse carriage group(NYP)Two city council members were slapped with hefty fines for accepting prohibited campaign contributions from a group at the center of the Central Park horse carriage brouhaha. Freshman member Laurie Cumbo (D-Brooklyn) was fined $7,868, and newbie Mark Levine (D-Manhattan) was fined $8,686 by the city’s Campaign Finance Board for accepting over-the-limit funding from a “prohibited source.” The board found that the funding source for both campaigns – New Yorkers for Clean, Livable and Safe Street (NYCLASS) – was too intertwined with the candidates’ consultant, The Advance Group (TAG).Campaigns are prohibited from coordinating with third-party groups that make “independent” expenditures. Yet TAG president and lobbyist Scott Levenson was political director for NYCLASS, and both groups shared the same office space. Councilman Rodriguez was also a client of the Advance Group and got mailing from Advance's PAC United for the Future and was not fined by the CFB


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






3/4 of the City Council Was Is Infected With Illegal UFT PAC $$$ Run by Lobbyists Advance, Red Horse and the Advance in the 2013 Election  



Candidates Funding By Advance and Red Horse 
NYCLASS:  Councilman Mark Levine (Advance Client), Councilwoman Laurie Cumbo: (Advance Client)
United for the Future: Councilman Mark Levine (Advance  Client), Councilwoman Laurie Cumbo (Advance Client),  Councilman Robert Jackson (Advance Candidate, Boro President Candidate)

Candidates Funding By Red Horse and Advance's United for the Future PAC:

Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito (Abvance Worked on her Speakers Race)Inez Dickens (Advance Client), Corey Johnson (AdvancePAC) (running against Advance client Yetta Krukland),

Red Horse Clients Who Received United for the Future Mailings from Red Horse 
James Vacca, Helen Rosenthal, Annabel Palm, Daneek Miller,  Antonio Reynoso,  Ritchie Torres

Advance Clients Who Received Mailings from Advance PACs
Mathieu Eugene, Yetta Krukland, Ydanis Rodríguez,  Rafael L Espinal, Jr.

Other Council Member Funded By United for the Future
Costa Constantinides, Mark Weprin (Hudson TG), Karen Koslowitz (Hudson TG),  Elizabeth Crowley (Berlin Rosen Client),  Richard Donovan (Berlin Rosen Client), Inez Barron, Jumaane Williams, Alan Maisel (Brandford), Mark Treyger (Hudson TG),  Debra Rose (Brandford), Steven Matteo, Vincent Ignizio, Eric Ulrich, Rosie Mendez Mendez, Inez E Dickens, Andrew Cohen, Rory Lancman, Steven Levin, Brad Lander







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.




A Side Effect Of the Albany Leadership Corruption Convictions Was the Empowerment of the UFT 
As A Result of Real Estate 421-A Money Being Cut Off Cuomo Abandoned School Reform for the Political Support of the Teachers Union and to Cut of de Blasio From the UFT
RIP, N.Y. school reform (NYDN Ed) The era of fighting to improve education in New York, including for low-income kids, is over. Welcome to the age of inertia. The only question: How much will the state Board of Regents water down standards and retreat from holding adults accountable for student performance?  Panel members, including a chancellor, set education policy. They are appointed not by the governor but by the state Assembly. But the Assembly is dominated by allies of the teachers’ unions — and those unions are verging on a takeover. For many years, Chancellor Merryl Tisch was flanked by like-minded Regents who raised standards to prepare more boys and girls for college or the workplace. The era of fighting to improve education in New York, including for low-income kids, is over.Welcome to the age of inertia. The only question: How much will the state Board of Regents water down standards and retreat from holding adults accountable for student performance Panel members, including a chancellor, set education policy. They are appointed not by the governor but by the state Assembly.* Is Cuomo a "chameleon" or simply responsive topublic? Cuomo faces criticism for reversals on positions  via @WSJ

But the Assembly is dominated by allies of the teachers’ unions — and those unions are verging on a takeover. For many years, Chancellor Merryl Tisch was flanked by like-minded Regents who raised standards to prepare more boys and girls for college or the workplace. The era of fighting to improve education in New York, including for low-income kids, is over. Welcome to the age of inertia. The only question: How much will the state Board of Regents water down standards and retreat from holding adults accountable for student performance? Panel members, including a chancellor, set education policy. They are appointed not by the governor but by the state Assembly. But the Assembly is dominated by allies of the teachers’ unions — and those unions are verging on a takeover. For many years, Chancellor Merryl Tisch was flanked by like-minded Regents who raised standards to prepare more boys and girls for college or the workplace. The emerging majority looks poised to elevate Betty Rosa of the Bronx, a union ally, to chancellor when Tisch departs in March.  There is a very real threat that they will establish pretend standards in order to hype graduation rates while turning teacher evaluations to mush. Also very possible: the dumbing down of teacher certification exams. Additionally, a newly constituted Regents could well stunt student choice in education by restricting charter school growth.The Independent Budget Office found that city charter schools kids score 19 percentage points higher than children in the rest of the state on English tests, and 30 points higher in math. The Regents also appoint an education commissioner to execute policy. MaryEllen Elia was recently appointed to the post under Tisch. If over time this climate proves too hostile to reform for her to continue, the union coup is complete.




The Media Cover-Up of The UFT Failure at Running Charter Schools
The buried evidence of teachers union failure (NYP) ‘By their fruit you will know them,” the gospel says. “The bad tree bears bad fruit.” The lesson came to mind late Friday with news that the city would close three Brooklyn charter schools. Mayor de Blasio’s no fan of charters — why bury the story late Friday on a holiday weekend? Because two of the schools are represented by the United Federation of Teachers. Another unionized charter in the borough was shuttered last year. Though only one in 10 city charters are unionized, three of a total of five slated for closure are affiliated with the UFT. The one unionized charter remaining in Brooklyn is the UFT Charter School — founded, staffed and managed by the union — and the difference between how it says charters should work and how it actually runs its own school is illuminating. Then-union head Randi Weingarten opened the school in 2005 to prove charters could flourish under the union contract. But the East New York school was undone by internal conflict and high turnover; it received a probationary three-year renewal in 2010 and, in 2013, won two more years by consolidating grades K-12 in one building — a co-location stiffly opposed by the traditional junior high forced to give up space. The state agreed to the renewal despite the school’s multiple instances of corporal punishment, lost standardized tests, violations of Open Meetings law and the Individuals with Disabilities Act (students weren’t provided with required settings), failure to perform criminal-background checks and attrition of high-needs students. The next year, fewer than 20 percent of UFT students tested proficient in English language arts and math; the school got the city’s worst score, and the lowest possible, on the School Quality Review, failing in every category.* Gonzalez: Ex-chancellor returns to NYC to fix 80struggling Brooklyn schools (NYDN) * As part of an Education Department initiative, seven New York City Schools for the first time will set aside a percentage of seats for low-income families, English-language learners or students in the child welfare system, The New York Times reports: * Seven NYC schools are part of a new NYC Education Department initiative aimed at maintaining a racial and socioeconomic balance in fast-gentrifying neighborhoods. For the first time the department is allowing principals to set aside a percentage of seats for low-income families, English-language learners or students engaged with the child welfare system as a means of creating greater diversity.* NYC teacher claims city is anti-Irish for scheduling parent-teacher conferences on St. Patrick's Day (NYDN)
War: de Blasio vs Cuomo, How the GOP Won the Senate, Education Attack




The Media is Also Covering-Up How the UFT Secretly Paid the Advance Group to Help Run Their PAC United for the Future 
UFT under fire for apparently trying to hide identity of consulting firm(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."Teachers union paid $370K to fake consultant * CrainsNY found was located in the offices of Advance. * Advance Group puts logo on phony firm's invoice (CrainsNY) * Complaint Filed Against Advance Group for Election Work(NYO)* CrainsNY on the Advance Groups Double Dipping






Cuomo Dumps Common Core and Teacher Evaluations Running to the Campaign Power and $$$ of the UFT 

 The Post writesthat Cuomo and the Democrats “can’t be trusted ever to stick up for the kids” after the Board of Regents backed the governor’s plan to ban any “serious” consequences for poor teachers * Cuomo throws in the towel on teacher quality (NYP Ed) On Tuesday, the Board of Regents officially said amen to that. In a near-unanimous vote, the board took the recommendations of a Cuomo panel and banned any serious consequences for rotten teachers — no matter how embarrassing their students’ scores on state tests.

UFT Controlling Government By Breaking the Election Law . . .   Gets Away With It


Prosecutorial Cover-Up Of Campaign Consultants Advance Group/Red Horse/Berlin Rosen (UFT Lobbyists) Mixing UFT PAC United for the Future With Public Matching Funds
UFT under fire for apparently trying to hide identity of consulting firm(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."Teachers union paid $370K to fake consultant CrainsNY found was located in the offices of Advance. * Advance Group puts logo on phony firm's invoice(CrainsNY) Complaint Filed Against Advance Group for Election Work(NYO)* CrainsNY on the Advance Groups Double Dipping


1. Advance Group and Two Candidates Fined For Using Advance and NYCLASS Funds
 City council members fined over money from anti-horse carriage group(NYP)Two city council members were slapped with hefty fines for accepting prohibited campaign contributions from a group at the center of the Central Park horse carriage brouhaha. Freshman member Laurie Cumbo (D-Brooklyn) was fined $7,868, and newbie Mark Levine (D-Manhattan) was fined $8,686 by the city’s Campaign Finance Board for accepting over-the-limit funding from a “prohibited source.” The board found that the funding source for both campaigns – New Yorkers for Clean, Livable and Safe Street (NYCLASS) – was too intertwined with the candidates’ consultant, The Advance Group (TAG).Campaigns are prohibited from coordinating with third-party groups that make “independent” expenditures. Yet TAG president and lobbyist Scott Levenson was political director for NYCLASS, and both groups shared the same office space. Councilman Rodriguez was also a client of the Advance Group and got mailing from Advance's PAC United for the Future and was not fined by the CFB


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


.
.
.
.

CFB and Media Protecting UFT PAC United for the Future Lobbyists and Council Members

The CFB Fined Two Councilmember for Working With Advance and Its PAC NYCLASS But Has Not Fined Advance, Red Horse and Berlin Rosen for Their Clients Getting PAC Funds From the UFT PAC That They Controlled
The rebranded ACORN — the anti-charter New York Communities for Change — received $236,440 from the UFT. The Rev. Al Sharpton’s National Action Network received a $25,000 donation, while Working Families Party founder and former ACORN honcho Bertha Lewis’ The Black Institute got a $30,000 “charitable” gift, and the anti-charter NAACP received $12,800. The report detailed more than $1.89 million in ad spending to Democratic consulting firm Shorr Johnson Magnus. The UFT also pays generously for other top political and legal advice. The union paid $252,233 to campaign consultant Red Horse Strategies, while Stroock & Stroock & Lavan — the law firm defending the union in the lawsuit to overhaul tenure and advising it in labor negotiations — was paid $3.63 million.* Despite setbacks, teachers’ union plans expansion(NYDN)


How the UFT Conspiracy to Control the 2013 Elections In NYC 


UFT Protected From Illegal Campaign Spending by Prosecutors and the Press 

The UFT PAC Paid Advance Through the Fake Group Strategic Consultants Inc. $370,000

Nothing Has Happen - Five Months Ago the Daily News Wrote:
UFT under fire for apparently trying to hide identity of consulting firm(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."Teachers union paid $370K to fake consultant * CrainsNY found was located in the offices of Advance. * Advance Group puts logo on phony firm's invoice(CrainsNY) Complaint Filed Against Advance Group for Election Work(NYO)* CrainsNY on the Advance Groups Double Dipping



On Third of the City Council Was Is Infected With Illegal PAC $$$ From Advance and Red Horse in the 2013 Election  



Candidates Funding By Advance and Red Horse 
NYCLASS:  Councilman Mark Levine (Advance Client), Councilwoman Laurie Cumbo: (Advance Client)
United for the Future: Councilman Mark Levine (Advance  Client), Councilwoman Laurie Cumbo (Advance Client),  Councilman Robert Jackson (Advance Candidate, Boro President Candidate)

Candidates Funding By Red Horse and Advance's United for the Future PAC:
Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito (Abvance Worked on her Speakers Race)Inez Dickens (Advance Client), Corey Johnson (AdvancePAC) (running against Advance client Yetta Krukland),

Red Horse Clients Who Received United for the Future Mailings from Red Horse 
James Vacca, Helen Rosenthal, Annabel Palm, Daneek Miller,  Antonio Reynoso,  Ritchie Torres

Advance Clients Who Received Mailings from Advance PACs
Mathieu Eugene, Yetta Krukland, Ydanis Rodríguez,  Rafael L Espinal, Jr.

Other Council Member Funded By United for the Future
Costa Constantinides, Mark Weprin (Hudson TG), Karen Koslowitz (Hudson TG),  Elizabeth Crowley (Berlin Rosen Client),  Richard Donovan (Berlin Rosen Client), Inez Barron, Jumaane Williams, Alan Maisel (Brandford), Mark Treyger (Hudson TG),  Debra Rose (Brandford), Steven Matteo, Vincent Ignizio, Eric Ulrich, Rosie Mendez Mendez, Inez E Dickens, Andrew Cohen, Rory Lancman, Steven Levin, Brad Lander


The Media Wear Blinders When It Comes to Explaining the PAC Corruption Behind Behind the 2013 Election
NYT Also Puts On A Pair of Blinders When It Comes to NYCLASS True Mission.  The paper uses the PAC to threaten de Blasio to not ban the horses, but does not explain or give details on the true mission of NYCLASS or that it is under investigation. Horse Nonsense From City Hall(NYT Ed)    TRUE NEWS HAS BEEN REPORTING THAT NYCLASS LIKE DATA AND FIELD IN 2009 WERE CREATED TO GO AROUND THE ELECTION LAW TO GIVE UNFAIR ADVANTAGE TO THE CANDIDATES THEY SUPPORTED.


The Advance Group Caught Working Illegally for NYCLASS Also Worked for the UFT's PAC United for the Future 

The Advance Group and Red Horse Worked for the UFT PAC United for the Future and for Candidates Who Had Mailings From the UFT PAC 
Last April, the CFB hit Ms. Cumbo and Mr. Levine’s campaigns  with $7,868 and $8,686 in fines respectively for accepting improper campaign contributions from NYCLASS. Both candidates were clients of the Advance Group* Anti-horse carriage group to settle campaign finance charge
New York Daily NewsIn May, however, the board ruled that the spending could not be considered independent because Levine, Cumbo and NYCLASS shared the same political consultant, the Advance Group. The board said the spending had to be considered an “in-kind contribution” — and as such, it violated two Campaign Finance Board rules.* It was apparent enough for just looking at press releases. Meanwhile, NYCLASS and Advance shared same small office for months*As first reported by Crains' .* Two NYC campaigns fined over cash from animal rights group(Newsday) 

A Payoff to the Advance Group
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.  Chris Bragg ‏@ChrisBragg1  Days after deBlasio inaguration, Edison Properties inked the Advance Group to lobby him (CrainsNY) Edison and its related companies own some 40 parking lots and garages, and have made a fortune constructing everything from Manhattan Mini Storage facilities to luxury apartments on their extensive roster of parcels.

.
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 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.


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, 
.
.
.
.
NYCLASS and United for the Future PACs Privatize Tammany Hall 
Strengthen NYC's Shadow Government
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.
The Shadow Government That Runs NYC Is Not Elected  . . .  Killing Democracy
Today's Lobbyist Private Political Machine did not replace the old Tammany Hall.  It replaced political parties machine running on fumes, using the election low and decreasing voter's turnout to stay in power.  The dumbing down of the press and the voting public and the end of organized political competition after the Eleanor Roosevelt who pushed out Tammany's de Sapio and the anti-Viet Nam reform movement, have left party bosses in power unchallenged.

The Shadow Government Makes Money by Brainwashing Public Opinion and Misleading Everyone Involved in Government 

Lobbyist Pitta Bishop On Both Sides of the NYPD Crisis . . .  Control Power In Puppet City
The  Pitta Bishop Del Giorno & Giblin Lobbying Firm Represent the "I Can't Breathe" Council Speaker at the Same Time It Represents the Detective's PBA-  Michael
Palladino, the president of the Detectives' Endowment Association 
Council Speaker Mark-Viverito who last mother put on an I Can't Breathe T-Shirt to join the anti-police protesters has made Pitta Biship Del Giorno millions in lobbying fees after the lobbyists help her win the speakership.  The lobbying firm also represents the Detectives' Endowment Association, whose leader Palladino said Mr. de Blasio should offer an kind apology. As the lobbyists who operate as political consultants have taken over the Tammany Hall machine these lobbying firms like Pitta Biship Del Giorno have moved away from positions or ideology and represents both sides in their quest for power to make money.



Mini Me Shadow Government Boards and Public Authorities  
New York’s Shadow Government Still In The Shadows(YNN) More than 100 public authorities on the state and local level have filed to file legally required financial reports with the state’s authorities watchdog, according to a report released on Tuesday.The report found a total of 136 public corporations, authorities and other quasi-public entities have missed deadlines to file annual reports and audit reports within 90 days of the fiscal year to the Authorities Budget Office. State authorities must submit a budget within three months prior to the start of the fiscal year, April 1. Local authorities must do so within 60 days before April 1. Several of the authorities listed in the report plan to resolve, but are yet to begin the formal dissolution process.* * The Public Authorities Budget Office released a list of 136 public authorities across the state that haven’t filed their required financial reports on time, the TimesUnion writes:
NY NJ Port Authority
.
.
Shadow Government Is Designed to Make Money Not Sever the Public 
In 2012 they donated over $350,000 dollars to both Republican and Democratic campaigns with 50% going to Republicans and 48% to Democrats. The old democratic party leaders were elected and stood for and supported candidates who supported the party's positions.  Lobbyists like Pitta Biship is not elected and operates in a shadow government where the voters have no impute. They work for candidates who will make them money regardless of their political beliefs.  The council has often been called the mayor's puppet because of the role de Blasio played electing the speaker. The speaker is also the puppet of Pitta Biship for the role they had in electing her. Mark-Viverito has already made the firm millions from the new lobbying clients. Not the NYP says it is all up to Melissa on if the chokehold bill will pass the council. It is really up to the mayor and Pitta Biship.  What seem to be happen is the shadow government is putting on a show for the public and cops designed to win back the mayor support. 

A Chokehold Bill Play to Fix the Mayor
It’s up to Melissa now(NYP Ed) Could this be — as Humphrey Bogart famously told Claude Rains — the beginning of a beautiful friendship? We’re talking about Bill de Blasio and the NYPD, now that the mayor has declared he plans to veto a bill that would criminalize the use of chokeholds by police, if it passes the City Council. At least one police union chief says it would be an excellent first step toward mending the rift. That’s where Melissa Mark-Viverito comes in. The City Council speaker could play a vital role by getting the council to kill the bill — or at least prevent it from overriding the mayor’s veto. Remember, this is a pol who largely owes her speakership to de Blasio’s support. Backing up his veto threat would be an excellent way to return the favor. More important, in so doing the speaker would also be helping the city back onto a path toward a saner, calmer approach to policing. Here’s looking at you, Melissa.


.
.

Why Isn't the AG and the Manhattan DA Enforcing the Election Law? Red Horse Worked for Both Brooklyn and Manhattan DAs
The CFB determined under its rules that the Advance Group’s work on behalf of both Council candidates and the supposedly “independent” anti-carriage PAC really amounted to illegal coordination between the campaigns and NYCLASS. The board properly fined Cumbo and Levine. And its crackdown on the out-of-bounds campaign spending by NYCLASS has done the city a huge favor, by providing a badly needed glimpse into the big money play that successfully swung the 2013 city elections. Using funds from donors that included UNITE HERE — a union chaired by Mayor de Blasio’s cousin John Wilhelm — NYCLASS slimed mayoral rival Christine Quinn into oblivion.Now the FBI is probing the funding of the attacks on Quinn, and de Blasio’s flip-flop that led to his vow to ban the horses. The CFB needs to stay vigilant, making every effort to hold NYCLASS, the Advance Group and sponsored candidates to account for their actions in the 2013 campaign. Among the others benefiting from NYCLASS spending was Melissa Mark-Viverito, who took free services from the Advance Group in her successful bid to become City Council speaker.


DAs Have the Same Conflict of Interests When It Comes to Political Corruption . . .And They Ignore It 
Political consultant Red Horse worked for Brooklyn DA Thompson campaign along with Berlin Rosen.  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 Manhattan DA Cy Vance. The Advance Group worked for losing DA candidate Joe Hynes

Red Horse worked for Brooklyn BP Adams, Bronx BP Diaz and PA James.Red Horse worked for Pitta Bishop for Brooklyn BP Adams. Red Horse worked with George Arzt in the Queens BP campaign.

No comments:

Post a Comment