Data and Field Centralized Corruption Accelerated A Power Drain From the City's Neighborhoods . . . Media Cover-Up

In a city were DAs and the AG normally ignore or contain political corruption a special prosecutor in Staten Island Roger Adler is trying to connect the dots to expose a very complicated organized corruption scam of the city's election system. The media have for the most part has ignored the investigation and have attacked the prosecutor for the arrests. The campaign corruption that Adler is trying to uncover goes way beyond run-of-the-mill campaign corruption. It is clear that the media has no idea the damage to the political system and city's neighborhoods that Data and Fields started. Data and Field was the start of lobbyists and special interests take over city's election system. The Data and Field corruption model of centralized control of local campaigns was continued was easer by the Supreme Courts Citizens United Ruling in the 2013 elections. In 2009 the NYT Demanded An Investigation of Data and Field Today that papers is Covering-Up A Criminal Investigation not of Data and Field but of the corruption of New York's election system. Three reports who have written about the case since the arrests have slammed the prosecutor and fogged up what the facts about the Data and Field Scheme. Jim Dwyer in the NYT, Errol Louis and Harry Seigel of the Daily News. Seigel wrote "The scandal here is what the special prosecutor is choosing to treat as a crime." Dwyer wrote, "Why turn ordinary campaign finance matters into a criminal case?" Louis wrote, "City Councilwoman Debi Rose, is nearing the fifth year of a legal odyssey in which unproved accusations of campaign finance violations have led to a series of long, inconclusive investigations of questionable merit." A former mayoral press spokesperson said it is shocking that the press would run interference to protect operatives who are corrupting the election process.

Data and Fields is More Than An Accounting Problem ... It is the Beginning of A Democracy Stealing Conspiracy

Data and Field Accelerated the Centralization of Local Campaigns That Has Drained Power From Local Neighborhoods and the Voters

The media cover- Up of the Data and Field Scheme accelerated The Privatization of Tammany Hall by lobbyists by centralizating power in a handful of political operatives, sucking power out of the city's once strong neighborhoods. These changes in the election system have left New Yorkers powerless to stop being push out of their own communities gentrification rising rents, stopping hospitals from being closed and most importantly giving up hope that votingwill improvement government.

In 2009 City Hall News Called Data and Field an Arm of WFP Before the CFB Did . . . This is How City Hall Described the Scheme:

"A complicated web of coordinated activities, shared resources and staff, and quiet money transfers between the Working Families Party, a secretive private company called Data and Field Services and at least six current Council campaigns, as well as Bill de Blasio’s campaign for public advocate, appears to have found several ways around the strict city campaign finance laws. Upwards of a million dollars, and possibly more, are involved, with over $1.7 million in matching funds comprised of taxpayer dollars already disbursed and more are potentially at stake."

Note the the links City Hall News (Now called City and State) are no longer on the internet. The reporter for City Hall News Edward-Issac Dovere found no discernable dividing line between normal WFP operations and those the party had farmed out to campaigns via DFS. Big Money Slides From WFP to City Campaigns (City Hall News) August 10, 2009 (No Working Link) * This is how the Daily Kos covered the City Hall reports on Data and Field

As Word Leaked Out That True News Was Looking for Their WFP Articles From 2009 One Was Restored WFP Created Data and Fields To Go Around the Campaign Financial and CFB Rules to Pump Money Into The Candidates They Support

City and State recently posted Edward-Issac Dovere's 2009 City Hall News story but changed the title to "City Hall Special Investigation Report." The title of Iassac-Dovere story when it was public in 2009 was Big Money SlidesFrom WFP to City Campaigns (City Hall News) The following has been cover-up by City and State for five years and explains why Data and Fields was created.

"Another benefit of incorporating a private, for-profit company is that none of its activities–all of them done on behalf of the WFP and various political candidates–are visible to the same level of detail that would be possible if the WFP or the candidates made the expenditures themselves. In addition to the fact that regulations bar the WFP from having staff reach out beyond the ranks of its members for petitioning or any other campaign activity, and limit the amount of money the WFP can donate to campaigns, all such expenditures would need to be documented in public campaign finance reports, a requirement that the DFS corporate structure obviates. Money transferred to DFS from the WFP and political candidates can be tracked, however, since these all must report their own expenditures. Already during 2009, according to the latest available records showing their finances through mid-July, the WFP has transferred $554,629 (listed as “wages”) and nine campaigns together have transferred $253,855 (listed as “campaign spending”) to DFS, for a total of over $800,000. The money from WFP is out of the general party account, which is funded in part by union contributions totaling to $345,000 so far this year, with the biggest donors being RWDSU, TWU, UFT and CWA. According to WFP executive director Dan Cantor, the WFP paid full payroll taxes on these wages."

This is How an Editorial in the NYT Demanded An Investigation of Data and Field in 2009

Questions for Dataand Field(NYT Ed) "We have serious questions about the activities of a private corporation set up by the Working Families Party to assist candidates the party has endorsed.Specifically, the board must find out whether Data and Field Services is charging candidates market rates for its services. If the company is charging full price, that would seem to comply with the law. If candidates are not paying market rates, the company and perhaps the party and its donors could be unfairly subsidizing candidates who have agreed to abide by the strict donor limits and spending caps required by the public financing system."

The NYT Columnist Jim Dwyer Attacked the WFP's Data and Field Prosecutor After the Arrest in 2014 and Again this Week

For One Staten Island Campaign, a Special Prosecutor Instead of an Auditor(NYT) So, it is now five years since the election, and criminal charges are being brought over expenditures and filings that are routinely corrected or penalized through audits by the Campaign Finance Board. More than 40,000 similar claims made last year were denied by the board, and no one got arrested. They just were told, “No.” The Reporter for the NYT Jim Dwyer not only did not google Councilman Sheldon Leffler was convicted in campaign fraud scheme in his race for Queens BP in 2003. Dwyer must have missed District Leaders Albert Baldeo indictment by the U.S. Attorney for scheming to use fake names to obtain matching funds from the CFB. Was Dwyer around in 2013 when federal prosecutors conviction Jia Hou, a former Liu campaign treasurer, and Xing Wu Pan, a fund-raiser, who used straw donors to scam the CFB. Willy Rapfogel is sitting in jail for a scheme that used his non profit funding to scam the CFB matching funds system? * A Secret Indictment Over Errors That Have Rarely BeenCrimes (NYT) For all parties, this is a matter that could have been an episode of “The Twilight Zone,” full of weirdness: what appears to be a first-of-its-kind case brought over errors that happen in many, many campaigns across the city. Normally, these errors are caught by the Campaign Finance Board, which audits political spending. The paperwork is then refiled with the proper information. The very issues raised as crimes by Mr. Adler are “routinely addressed through the conduct of our regular postelection audits,” Eric Friedman, a spokesman for the board, said in November when the first set of charges was filed. There is something freakish about the existence of a special prosecutor, bringing criminal charges over one campaign whose mistakes — if any — were more or less the same as those of other campaigns. Mr. Adler did not return a message left with his office on Thursday.

NYT Dwyer, Daily News' Louis Did not Report that Adler Started His Investigation in two years ago and has been tied up in court by WFP Lawyers, trying to kill the investigation

Louis: "For two years, Adler, a politically conservative attorney well known in Brooklyn legal and political circles, has been re-excavating the same innocuous campaign filings that Mastro and Bharara have already examined." Are WFP Case Subpoenas Legal?(YNN) * WFP lawyer Avi Schick has been trying to quash subpoenas from a special prosecutor that involve a 2009 council race on Staten Island * Investigator wants to speak with Mayor de Blasio aide Emma Wolfe in Working Families Party probe(NYDN) * Meet Avi Schick, New York’s New Steamroller (NYO)

This is how the Daily News Reported on Data and Field in 2009 Was According to the CFB Connected to the WFP

"The City Campaign Finance Board on Wednesday fired a warning shot across the bows of candidates that have hired a consulting group tied to the Working Families Party, telling them to be careful going forward about their financial dealings with the firm. A number of candidates have paid Data and Field Services thousands of dollars in consulting and campaign staffing fees, including public advocate hopeful Bill de Blasio and City Council candidates Daniel Dromm, S.J. Jung,Brad Lander, Deborah Rose, Lynn Schulman, James Van Bramer and Jumaane Williams. All have been endorsed by the WFP. None have been penalized by the board. The board says going forward it will consider whether candidates have gotten unfair discounts from the group, and whether the work runs afoul of contribution limits. Data and Field Services performs tasks like canvassing, leafleting and making calls for candidates. "Based on information acquired by the board to date, it is the board's understanding that DFS exists as an arm of the Working Families Party," the board said in a statement."

What Role Did Berlin Rosen Play With Data and Field?

This is How the Daily News' Errol Louis Reported the Data and Field Arrests Was Full Scale Attack on the Prosecutor

Two articles written five years apart by Daily News columnist Errol Louis were full of negative words shots about the investigation and very little clear information on what the the Data and Field investigation was about. To see how Mr. Louis tried to taint the importance of Adler's investigation look at the words he used in his stories. Progressively worse for the WFP (NYDN, 11/6/2014)

Burdened, Politically Tinged Prosecution, Legal Odyssey, Unproved Accusations, Questionable Merit, A Junk Lawsuit Filed, Third Inquiry Arose, Like Dracula from the Grave, Waste of Time.

Louis first article written in 2010 Scrap this junk lawsuit against the campaign of newly elected Councilwoman Debi Rose(NYDN)

Discredit, Obscure, Technical Issues, Republican Political Operatives and Their Lawyer, Partisan Politics, Republican Hit Job on the WFP, A political Hatchet Man from the Giuliani Days.The WFP will Very Likely Prevail in Court.

Louis Has Had Goldfeder On His NY1 Show Has Not Asked Him About His Letter to the CFB Which Led A Ruling That the CFB and DFS Are One

Jerry Goldfeder, an election lawyer whose letter to the city Campaign Finance Board, I reference at the top of this item, called to say, “We sent a request to the C.F.B. to clarify general ambiguities about coordination. We received their response. We didn’t know anything about the City Hall article.”

CFB Response to the Goldfeder Letter "Based on information acquired by the board to date, it is the board's understanding that DFS exists as an arm of the Working Families Party," the board said in a statement.Goldfeder letter to the CFB and their response

The office of U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara — no slouch when it comes to rooting out corruption — looked at the same allegations and ended its investigation without taking action against Rose or the WFP.

This is How the Daily News' Harry Seigel Reported the Data and Field Arrests

Daily News reporter Seigel said "Adler charges were a paper-thin complaint"

Daily News' Seigel, Louis and the NYT's Dwyer did not report why top Bill de Blasio aide Emma Wolfe refuse to talk to the special prosecutor about her role managing the WFP’s campaign machine? She was given immunity from prosecution, so she isn’t protecting herself. Seigel Who Charges Adler's Investigation of Data and Field criminalize ordinary politics should ask the jury of former Councilman Leffler who convicted him of a scheme to defraud the CFB. Seigel could have follow up 2009 Daily News story which reported: No firewalls:Working Families Party straddles thin line between party, nonprofit The Working Families Organization. is a lobbying and advocacy nonprofit group focused on the same goals as the party - but with far less scrutiny of what it spends and receives.

Why Din't the DN' Seigel or anyone Else Ask How the CFB and the Brooklyn and Queens' DAs can Clear all the Other Candidates but Debi Rose Doing Business With Data and Field?

Seigel reported that "The Brooklyn attorney appointed as an unlikely special prosecutor in Staten Island, effectively criminalize ordinary politics. A civil suit filed by Randy Mastro, a lawyer who’s worked closely with Rudy Giuliani and Chris Christie, eventually settled with no admission of wrongdoing. Since then, the WFP folded its for-profit operation, the Campaign Finance Board worked its way through reviews of almost every 2009 campaign — including the eight other party-backed Council candidates in contested races — and found no big issues. And that seemed to be the end of the story. As Jim Dwyer noted in The New York Times, the board rejected 40,000 matching funds claims in last year’s elections. None have led to criminal charges".

True News (The Bund)

Wednesday, March 11, 2015

Today the Media Protect the Corrupt Political Bosses, Ignoring the Unfair Advantage Data and Field Gave Candidates in 2009, or PACs in 2013