Greg Meeks Said to be Seeking Candidate to Run Against Ruben Wills by Chris Bragg - City Hall News

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When Council Member Ruben Wills placed his hand on the Bible and took the oath of office in mid-December, the moment seemed to be one of détente.

Rep. Greg Meeks, the man who had feverishly tried to block Wills' road to City Hall, stood beside the new Council member and applauded. In the four months since, Meeks has repeatedly promised to work with the incumbent as the Queens Democrat gears up to run for reelection in November.

In a hurried interview before Meeks boarded a flight to Colombia, the congressman denied having spoken to anyone about running against Wills.

"I have not talked to anyone about my support or my commitments in the race at all," Meeks said.

Yet a number of politically plugged-in Democrats in southeast Queens tell a very different story.

In fact, they say Meeks has been quietly looking for a candidate to run against Wills. This has created a lot of speculation about who will challenge Wills, who won a special election in November following the death of Council Member Tom White.

Nicole Paultre-Bell, who ran against Wills last year with Meeks' support, is said to be uninterested in another run; she will instead focus on the nonprofit she founded in memory of her slain fiance, Sean Bell.

Lynn Nunes, who lost to White by four votes in 2009, was considered a highly viable candidate. Meeks even met with Nunes about a month ago to discuss a potential run, knowledgeable sources say, though Nunes ultimately decided to take a pass on the race.

(Disputing that any such meeting occurred, Meeks insisted that he "must have a twin brother, because I haven't met with the guy.")

Clifton Stanley Diaz, chairman of the Rochdale Village board of directors, has also emerged as a potential candidate. Wills has grown so concerned about Meeks backing Diaz that the Council member and congressman are meeting to discuss the matter this week.

Other possible challengers could be 2010 candidate Harpreet Toor, and former Council member and longtime Wills nemesis Allan Jennings. District leader Albert Baldeo would also be a strong contender, though Wills said Baldeo told him he did not plan to run.

Meeks and Wills have been political foes since 2008, when Wills challenged the congressman in a primary, and sharply criticized him for alleged ethical misconduct. Last year Meeks recruited Paultre-Bell to run against Wills, who pulled out a narrow victory by gaining the support of the rest of the southeast Queens political establishment.

There are many reasons why this November's special election, which will choose a Council member to serve out the remainder of White's term, is attracting so much interest. All of them have to do with the vulnerabilities of the incumbent. In office less than a year, Wills has not had time to build a political base. Last month The Daily News reported the existence of two outstanding misdemeanor arrest warrants stemming from Wills' contracting work more than a decade ago.

Wills has also been dealing with other personal foibles, which include unpaid debts for child support and questions about a member item Wills secured for his nonprofit while working for the State Senate. Wills acknowledged being so poor at handling money that his wife gives him only $100 in cash a week in an attempt to curtail his spending habits.

With so many local politicians under a cloud of scandal or investigation, including Meeks and State Sens. Shirley Huntley and Malcolm Smith, Wills said that residents of the district blame the media for the news stories.

"To everyone in the district, this has caused them to come out and support me even more," Wills said. "It's actually a slap in the face for the people that voted for me."

Wills has spent his short time in office opposing the construction of a homeless shelter in his district and trying to help his constituents stem a tide of foreclosures that rate among the highest in the country.

But Wills' money issues are never far away. While the Council member talked over coffee at a deli near City Hall, an aide walked in and handed him a thin manila envelope before abruptly departing. Wills pulled out a crisp $100 bill and bought a sandwich, soup and a Pepsi, burning through a full 10 percent of his weekly allowance.

If Wills wins reelection, some of his financial burdens would obviously be lifted with the guarantee of an $112,500 salary. Still, Wills does not expect his wife to back off anytime soon.

"No way she's going to let me spend more," Wills said. "Then, we're going to have to get a house."

Dilan v. Towns Tensions Escalate As Deidra Towns Declares For Assembly by Chris Bragg - City Hall News

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Deidra Towns, the adopted sister of outgoing Assembly Member Darryl Towns, is set to run for her brother’s seat, she confirmed in an interview on Monday.

“Yes, I am intending to run when the seat becomes available,” she said.
The move is certain to heighten tensions between the Towns family—led by Rep. Edolphus Towns and his son, Darryl—and the Dilan family, led by State Sen. Martin Malave Dilan and Council Member Erik Martin Dilan.

The two families had been in negotiations about whom would get the Democratic notification to replace Darryl Towns, both in his district leader position and in his Assembly seat.

Nearly every candidate in the discussions is either a family member or has close ties to one of the two central Brooklyn dynasties.

Other possible candidates include Janitza Luna Dilan, Erik Martin Dilan’s wife, as well as Council Member Dilan’s chief of staff, Rafael Espinal. And the race for the Assembly seat is not the only contest pitting the two families against each other. Ed Towns is running for his son’s old district leader spot—but Erik Dilan is also interested, if he does not run for Assembly.

Darryl Towns had originally been supportive of the idea of Erik Dilan running to replace him in the Assembly.
Sen. Martin Dilan expressed dismay at Deidra Towns’ decision to run for the Assembly seat, saying this represented a breakdown in the negotiations between the two families.

“The congressman is in discussions with us in respect to a district leader position and independent of that, it seems he wants his daughter to be an Assembly member, his son to be a commissioner,” Dilan said. “This appears to leave no room for anyone else to grow.”

The Dilan family ostensibly controls the county committee process that will ultimately determine who gets the Democratic nomination for the Assembly seat, so Deidra Towns will likely have to petition on the ballot and run as an independent candidate.

But Deidra Towns would likely pull back if Erik Dilan runs for the seat, which would allow the Towns faction to put up a candidate for his Council seat.

Council Member Dilan is said by multiple sources to be likely to ultimately take a pass and allow his wife or his chief of staff to run.

Martin Dilan said Monday afternoon that a decision would likely be made Monday evening about who would run from the Dilan faction. He did not return subsequent phone calls seeking comment.

Many insiders see Espinal as the favorite since Janitza Luna Dilan has two young children and is said to be reluctant to go to Albany.

In an interview, Ed Towns somewhat jokingly suggested two possible names for the independent line that his daughter will run on: Save Our Children or the Rent’s Too Damn High, and the Gas Too.

Towns disputed the idea put forward by the Dilans that a Hispanic aligned with the Dilans should be elected to represent a district with a growing Hispanic population.

After all, Towns noted, his daughter is actually Hispanic—she was born in the Dominican Republic and adopted by Towns at six weeks old.

Towns said he believes his daughter could pull out an uphill victory. The family has very high name recognition in the district and several independent candidates have won past special elections.
He reiterated that he was fine with Erik Martin Dilan running for the Assembly seat, but would oppose any other Dilan-backed candidate.

Former Gay Marriage “No” Votes Addabbo And Huntley Now Undecided by Laura Nahmias - City Hall News

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As Gov. Andrew Cuomo met with marriage equality activists on Wednesday, former no-voter State Sen. Jim Alesi announced he was now “undeclared” on the issue.

He is not the only one. State Sen. Joe Addabbo—whose “no” vote at the beginning of the roll-call in 2009 has been tagged by some as setting off a domino effect of “no” votes that led to the bill’s failure—said he is back on the fence as well.

“You can probably be listing me as undeclared. I mentioned to pro-marriage equality groups and those in my district, I’m going to talk to the people in my district and get a consensus on where they are,” Addabbo said. “I have actually said we’ll make a better effort this time, to get a more clear idea of where the constituents are.”

There were 24 yes votes in 2009, and with the various changes from the 2010 elections, there are now 26.

Addabbo was one of eight Democrats who voted no on the measure two years ago, along with State Sens. Ruben Diaz Sr., Darrel Aubertine, Shirley Huntley, Carl Kruger, Hiram Monserrate, George Onorato and Bill Stachowski. Aubertine, Monserrate, Onorato and Stachowski are no longer in Albany. Kruger, who also voted against the bill, is reportedly turning himself in to the U.S. Attorney on possible corruption charges, leaving unclear where he will be if and when a new vote is called on gay marriage.

State Sen. Ruben Diaz Sr. is still a no, and an ardent one.

“How can the issue of homosexual marriage demand the governor’s attention at this critical time when we are supposed to be dealing with the Budget to protect the poor and the needy?” Diaz said in a statement issued Wednesday afternoon.

That leaves State Sen. Shirley Huntley. The Queens Democrat once said she would not vote for the bill even if someone were to give her a million dollars, avoided that kind of rhetoric when asked for her stance on the measure Wednesday evening.

“I don’t have any thoughts,” she said. “I’m thinking about the budget and senior centers in my district. When it comes up, I’ll think about it.”

For years, marriage equality advocates have said that several Republican Senators might be willing to vote yes on the issue if enough Democrats supported it. Possible swing votes were once thought to be State Sens. John Bonacic, John Flanagan, Betty Little, Joe Robach, Kemp Hannon and Ken LaValle.

But they do not seem to be swinging yet.

A spokesperson for Bonacic said “he voted no on it in 2010 and we don’t see a change in that position right now.”

Similarly, a spokesperson for Sen. Betty Little, who also voted no, said the Senator’s position “had not changed.”

Attempts to reach Sens. Flanagan, Robach, Hannon and LaValle were unsuccessful.

Greg Angelo, chairman of the New York Log Cabin Republicans, said, “I can say what we’ve always said. Republicans will vote yes if there are enough Democrats in favor of the bill. We’re still working closely with Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos on this.”

Skelos last year pledged to bring the issue up for a vote again, though he remains a no himself.

Republican State Sen. Mark Grisanti’s position remains unclear, even after being called out by Lady Gaga over the weekend for his position on gay marriage, while she played a concert in his district.

Music fans noted that she is set to play a concert in LaValle’s district, at the Nassau Coliseum, in late April.


-- with additional reporting by Chris Bragg

With 14 Gone, Shirley Huntley Tops List Of Senate Democrats’ Staffer Layoffs by Chris Bragg and Laura Nahmias - City Hall News

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Most Democrats have had to lay off a staffer or two in the transition from the majority to minority party in the Senate.

Then there is State Sen. Shirley Huntley, of Queens, who has lost nearly three quarters of her staff. According to a comparison of recent Senate payroll records to those released on Friday, Huntley lost 14 of her 23 staffers. These represent the latest, and most sizable to date, round of Senate Democratic payroll cuts last month.

Though far from the Senate leadership, Huntley had one of the largest payrolls. Now, Huntley said, she was scrounging for money to try and hire a few part-time employees to attend community board meetings and other events.

She blamed the Senate Republicans for her and her staff’s plight.

“All I can say is that we were nicer to them than they were to us,” Huntley said. “These are people who weren’t involved in politics—it was a job. Now a lot of people are unemployed and they have no place to go. I don’t know what they’re going to do.”

Huntley paid nearly $34,000 to the 23 staffers in the first two weeks of January, which translates to a rate of about $879,000 annually. Huntley now has a payroll just over $8,000 every two weeks—a rate which translates to $208,000 annually.

Now in the minority, Democrats have been asked to trim their total payroll from about $40 million to $27 million. Each senator is being asked to get individual payroll costs to $350,000. For senators who had smaller staffs to begin with, that translated into fewer cuts.

Huntley insisted, though, that each and every staffer had been needed.

“Some people have larger staffs, and some people don’t care about staffs. I have 300-some thousand constituents and my staff served all parts of the district,” Huntley said.

Minority Leader John Sampson had 24 staff members before the transition and now has 15, not including central staff. The Senate Democrats were forced to cut 130 positions total.

Even some of the Senate Democrats’ higher profile staffers have been let go. Tom Connolly, the Independence Party vice-chair, is gone from the payroll of State Sen. Carl Kruger. Connolly had been with Kruger’s office since 2007, when then-Majority Leader Joe Bruno gave the Brooklyn Democrat the chairmanship of the Social Services Committee. Jason Koppel, the chief of staff for Kruger, confirmed the departure.

Connolly did not return a phone call seeking comment.

But not all Democrats have had to cut back. State Sen. Jeff Klein, who is part of the four-member breakaway Independent Democratic Conference, before the transition had 19 staffers and a bi-weekly payroll of $34,600. Now, Klein has two fewer staffers, but his bi-weekly payroll has actually jumped by more than $1,000 a month.

When the Democrats took the majority in 2008, the Republicans had to make cuts also, but Democrats note that they allowed GOP staffers until April 1 to leave the payroll.

Democrats are still hoping the GOP majority conference will decide to equally allocate resources, although a measure introduced to equally allocate resources in the senate Rules committee was voted down last week. Adding to the Democrats’ problems is their overspending while in the majority, including on 56 different employees for former State Sen. Pedro Espada, according to payroll records.

The Senate Democrats will have to make another round of cuts if the GOP does not allocate more resources to the conference.

“We’ve made significant payroll reductions to bring spending down to appropriate levels,” said Austin Shafran, the spokesman for the Senate Democrats. “Further reductions are ongoing, and greatly depend on whether the Republicans will be as equitable with resources.

Glory Daze - The Mysteries of Nydia Velázquez and Her Powerless Ascension by Laura Nahmias - City Hall News

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Over the course of nine terms, Nydia Velazquez has quietly consolidated her power in New York City politics, both as a significant voice in the Latino community and as a counterweight and opponent to Brooklyn Democratic Party leader Vito Lopez.

When most politicians have the kind of year that she did, between her position with Andrew Cuomo's campaign and her role with a few key local reformer victories, people start chattering about what they want, and where they might be headed. With Velazquez, there are still a lot of people who are not even sure who she is.


In a world where politics is often about press hits and relationships, her underthe-radar maneuvering, in Congress and back in Brooklyn, may have clipped her effectiveness.


But her supporters say her role in the Brooklyn reform movement, which seeks to undermine Lopez's grip on the borough's political machine, cannot be underestimated.


"It's important to think about the landscape in north Brooklyn. Most of the other elected officials are linked intimately to Vito Lopez," said Lincoln Restler, an anti-Lopez state committee member whom Velazquez helped get elected this year. "She is one of a couple of independent leaders."


But because Velazquez makes few waves, others were less certain about her efficacy as a politician. 
Many elected throughout Brooklyn declined comment when asked for their thoughts on the congresswoman, each citing a lack of a working relationship with her.


Much of Velazquez's clout in the reform movement stems from her seniority in Washington and the respect she commands among the state's political leadership as the senior Latina official in New York. This year, Velazquez pushed for passage of the DREAM Act, legislation she sponsored to provide conditional legal status to undocumented students. She took quiet control of the House Committee on Small Businesses, passing the Small Business Lending Act, while earning a reputation for bipartisanship. And along with former city Comptroller Bill Thompson, she was a co-chair of Andrew Cuomo's campaign, taking a more active role than expected for someone in that ceremonial job and then as co-chair of Cuomo's transition team.


When she arrives back in Washington in January, though, her status in Congress will be much diminished, along with the rest of her Democratic colleagues. And as for building up more power in Brooklyn, Velazquez's is never among the names floating as potential successors if and when Lopez's troubles force him from the county leadership.


She wouldn't want the job, said one Brooklyn Democratic operative. "It's too much politics."


Because while most people in local politics know her as an icon for Latinos, few seem to actually know her, even though she has represented a district that is now split between slivers of Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queens, as long or longer than nearly everyone else in the city's congressional delegation.


"I honestly have no idea about her style as a politician," said Lew Fidler, a one-time Lopez loyalist who has since broken off from the county chair. "You couldn't get farther away from my world."
Luis Garden Acosta, founder of El Puente, a community group within


Velazquez's district, said she is not a selfpromoting legislator like Anthony Weiner or Peter King.
"There aren't a lot of press releases from Nydia Velzquez," said Garden Acosta, who has known Velazquez since before her time on the City Council, when she worked for Rep. Edolphus Towns. "Frankly, [she's] too busy, too focused on the campaign at hand, to be putting much time into even publicizing the fact that she's doing it."


"I am physically and emotionally drained," she says, drawing out each syllable of the words. "You don't know what it took Oh my god, you don't know what it took."


Acosta described her passion about issues relating to reform and social justice, but not necessarily harboring any desire to be in charge.


"She's got one speed: intense," he said. "She's absolutely rare, an activist that just happens to be a politician."


That passion comes across the day after the passage of the DREAM Act, as she takes a moment before boarding a plane back to New York to discuss her career.


"I am physically and emotionally drained," she says, drawing out each syllable of the words. "You don't know what it took Oh my god, you don't know what it took."


Her genuine sense of relief, of exhaustion, of dire feeling, allows her to create relationships in Washington, she said. But in a few weeks, she will see much of her leverage disappear: her chairmanship of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, as her two-year term expires, and her chairmanship of the Small Business Committee.


Her new responsibilities are within the stateas an advisor to Cuomo's transition team, and mentor to a new slate of reform candidates in Brooklyn politics. Her ideas for Cuomo's administration are not small-bore.


"He has to open the doors, and make government an institution that not only serves the different communities, but also that is willing to recognize that among other ethnic groups like Asian and Latino groups, that there is so much talent, and new blood, that can help him and serve him well," she said. 


"He needs to put together a government and administration that reflects New York."
Velazquez worked with Cuomo when she was on the housing subcommittee in Congress and he was the head of HUD. Her push against Lopez could benefit from a strong relationship with Cuomo, who has his own complicated relationship with the Brooklyn boss.


Meanwhile, Velazquez has also become the highest-ranking mentor of the anti-Lopez reform candidates trying to slowly seep into Brooklyn county politics. Velazquez took Lincoln Restler as her guest to a state dinner, and provides vocal support to Council Member Diana Reyna, another Lopez opponent.


"I think the burden for me is to know that a lot of people who didn't feel they have a voice, that they look up to me," she said. "That I have a role to play in people connecting the dots, that it is important to be engaged, important to believe that we cannot allow for cynicism and disillusion in the political process to take hold."


This is an important mission for her.


She was reportedly offered Hillary Clinton's Senate seat in 2008, but declined largely in order to prevent Lopez from installing a loyalist in her Congressional seat and to continue acting as a foil to Lopez's political machine.


When asked whether that was the case, the congresswoman laughed.


"I do not want to spend my time discussing Vito Lopez," she said. "I do want to use my time and my energy to address the dire needs of my community.

Millions In School Contracts Also With Company At Center Of CityTime Scandal by Andrew Hawkins - City Hall News

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Back in February, Comptroller John Liu rejected an $8 million contract with the consulting firm Spherion for its connection with CityTime, the payroll and timekeeping system.

Since then, the scandal has ballooned into a full-on financial black hole, with over $80 million alleged to have been embezzled by contractors over five years, and hundreds of millions more in over cost. U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara’s office is pursuing charges, with more action expected against Office of Payroll Administration executive director Joel Bondy expected this week.

CityTime was not the only Spherion contract. The company was paid almost $20 million from the Department of Education for “systems development for high school admission,” school officials said. The New York City School Construction Authority also has paid hundreds of thousands to Spherion for audio/video equipment procurement, according to city records.

Spherion was tasked with monitoring how the city spent its money on CityTime. Liu moved to freeze all contracts with Spherion after the head of the city Office of Payroll Administration was suspended without pay last week.

Michael Loughran, a Liu spokesperson, said that there were currently two active contracts with Spherion: a $2.75 million contract for consultant hiring with the Financial Information Services Agency, which oversees various streams of the city’s financial data, and a $284,000 contract with the Department of Education for system integration training. To date, the city paid Spherion $419,305 combined on just those two contracts, both of which were frozen in the wake of the CityTime revelations. The School Construction Authority’s contracts with Spherion were not, though, Loughran said, because they are not overseen by the comptroller’s office.

“The pay freeze implemented by Comptroller Liu relates to these contracts and any further request for contractual related payments of any kind,” Loughran said.

Spherion is described on its website as a “leading recruiting and staffing provider that specializes in placing administrative, clerical, customer service and light industrial candidates in temporary and full-time opportunities.”

DOE saw the firm as a “body shop,” placing administrative and support staff at hundreds of schools. The money paid to Spherion--$17.3 million over nine years—is a drop in the bucket, in relation to the agency’s yearly $20 billion budget, officials argue.

Barbara Morgan, a spokesperson for DOE, said that Spherion’s contract has been suspended in light of recent news.

“We have stopped payments to Spherion and will be conducting an expedited investigation into their contracts with the DOE to ensure that city funds were used in a lawful manner,” Morgan said.

Marli McCleary, a spokesperson for Spherion, did not return a request for comment.

Spherion School Contracts

Karen Koslowitz Will Get Council’s Economic Development Chair by Chris Bragg - City tHall News

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Queens Council Member Karen Koslowitz will take over the Economic Development Committee chairmanship, left vacant by the death of Tom White in August, two sources with direct knowledge of the situation confirmed.

Koslowitz currently serves as chair of the Consumer Affairs committee, which is likely to be filled by Manhattan Council Member Dan Garodnick, one of the sources said.

Koslowitz’s office declined comment. Garodnick did not return requests for comment. Nor did the speaker’s office.

The Economic Development committee, once one of the Council’s more prominent, saw less action in recent years because of White’s health issues and poor attendance record. The Economic Development chairmanship carries a $10,000 lulu, the same as the Consumer Affair’s Committee Koslowitz is leaving.

The Technology Committee also carries a $10,000 lulu, though Garodnick refused it earlier this year.

Consumer Affairs would be a step up for the Manhattan lawmaker. Many had expected Garonick to land a higher-profile committee than Technology last January when chairmanships were doled out.

Council Member Gale Brewer, the former Technology chair, who co-chairs the Manhattan delegation with Garodnick, said she had not heard whether he was taking the Consumer Affairs chairmanship. Brewer said she hopes whoever would take over the Technology seat, assuming Garodnick does not remain there, would continue the improvements they helped bring to the committee's operations in recent years.

“I hope it would be somebody who is intelligent and competent with technology, because that kind of background is needed to lead that committee,” she said. “Certainly, Dan is somebody who had that.”

Though several Council members expressed interest in the Economic Development gavel, the seat was reserved for a member from Queens under the deal that made Quinn speaker in 2006, sources with knowledge of the situation said.

A lack of interest in the chairmanship from some of the senior members in the delegation had led to speculation that Ruben Wills, who was just elected to fill White’s seat, might chair the committee.

But a source close to Wills said he had not been offered the position. Wills is, however, seeking a spot on the committee. Wills, who won his race in a special election and will face re-election next year, is expected to focus on constituent services for the time being, the source said.

Meanwhile, Wills’ political opponents are also continuing to foment controversy about Wills’ potential residency issues, though they appear unlikely to derail his swearing-in.

Koslowitz, in her second stint on the Council after being term-limited out in 2001, is known for her commitment to constituent services, though not necessarily for tough oversight as a committee chair. 

She generally keeps a low profile.

One lobbyist, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said Koslowitz was among a several potential choices from Queens who likely would not offer much resistance to Council Speaker Christine Quinn or Mayor Michael Bloomberg in the position.

“They want someone in there who is not going to rock the boat,” the lobbyist said. “I couldn’t think of a better successor to Tom White.”

After 2009 Crackdown On Signs, Campaigns Pull Back From Posted Street Presence by Laura Nahmias - City Hall News

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The airwaves are flooded with advertisements, but there are not many signs of this year’s elections underway on the streets of New York City—literally.

In the scheme of things, stapling signs around lampposts or taping them to streetboxes may not seem like that big of a deal, but it is illegal, and just like parking violations, something the city government appears to be cracking down on harder in dealing with the recession.

In 2009, the Department of Sanitation issued 76,955 illegal posting violations—almost twice as high as in previous years, according to Sanitation spokesperson Kathy Dawkins. Dawkins acknowledged last year’s elections were responsible for the increase in citations. This year, the number of violations is on track to exceed those in years 2007 and 2008, but might not reach the number posted last year. Campaigns appear to stopping themselves short.

Adriano Espaillat, who won the primary for Eric Schneiderman’s Senate Seat in Manhattan and the Bronx, spent part of his primary night hurrying volunteers to collect signs off the street as he canvassed the last few corners.

He had noticed fewer signs this year than in the past, he said.

“This time around, there was less of that, no questions about it. I was specifically very cautious. I don’t know whether the city’s cracking down, but the actual posting was less than in previous years,” Espaillat said.

“Even on Primary day where people would usually risk it to put them up, people were more subdued,” he added.

Candidates reined in supporters who put up signs on city property, with the understanding the city was being unusually harsh.

“We had people, volunteers, who put signs up who stopped by the office, and we had to ask them to take them down,” said Christopher Malone, policy director for Gustavo Rivera, a Bronx State Senate candidate.

Democratic consultant Richie Fife, who managed Bill Perkins’ primary run for State Senate in Harlem, said the downturn in signs might not just be fear, but simple economics as well.

“I don’t think people have ever shown a great effectiveness of these kinds of street signs. People get angry when they see these signs, and think of it as clutter. So you spend money, break the law, and don’t get anything for it. It isn’t a great trifecta,” he said.

A spokesperson for the Environmental Control Board, responsible for collecting on fines, has said the city is making illegal sign postings a priority, but could not say whether it was a renewed focus. She also did not know how the city’s collection rate on fines in the previous year compared to rates in other years.

City Comptroller John Liu racked up $500,000 in fines from illegal postings in his campaign last year. Mayoral candidate Bill Thompson also racked up more than $500,000 in fines, with more than 7,093 citations. Each citation costs $75. The Comptroller’s office had no comment on whether the fines had been paid, but campaign finance records show no expenditure to the city for the payment of fines. Thompson’s campaign records do not show fine payments either.

Shirley Huntley Steered $33,000 Member Item To Top Aide Ruben Wills, Now Running For Council by Chris Bragg - City Hall News

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Ruben Wills’ non-Profit never filed tax returns, purpose and expenditures remain opaque...

In the City Council special election to replace the late Tom White, Ruben Wills is citing his work for a non-profit called New York 4 Life—an organization he founded in September 2006 and still runs—as one of his prime qualifications.

What that qualification actually entails, though, is unclear: New York 4 Life lacks a website, and few details about the organization’s work exist. Wills has never filed a tax return detailing the organization’s spending. The non-profit is registered to Wills’ residence at 194-19 115th Drive in St. Albans, Queens.

And the group has just one apparent source of funding: a $33,000 member item steered to it in 2008 by State Sen. Shirley Huntley—for whom Wills was then serving as chief of staff.

Wills left Huntley’s office in June 2008 to run for Congress against Rep. Greg Meeks, three months after the cash for New York 4 Life was approved. He soon dropped the bid, and instead ran an unsuccessful 2009 Council primary against White.

A December 2009 document filed with the attorney general’s office—more than three years after the group was incorporated, and more than a year after the member item was included in the budget—explains New York 4 Life’s purpose: to “empower residents to positively impact the community at large from changes made within themselves by providing immediate information on matters of finance, health and overall quality of life.” A 2008 press release sent out by Wills’s congressional campaign, meanwhile, said the group’s intent was to promote “civic literacy, financial empowerment, and with there [sic] single parent initiatives has touched over 600 single mothers to date.”

In an interview, Wills defended the group’s work, saying that the IRS had never required him to file a tax return because New York 4 Life never had any revenue apart from funding out of Wills’ own pocket.

The original start date for the contract to deliver the member items was set to be Dec. 7, 2009, but the contract was not actually approved by the comptroller’s office until Aug. 19, 2010, according to data from the state comptroller’s office.

Wills said he had voluntarily delayed receiving the money because he wanted to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest that could have come from getting money as he was running for Congress in 2008.

“I didn’t want the appearance of impropriety,” Wills said, discussing the member item grant from Huntley.

Wills said he had yet to actually receive the $33,000 from the state, but expects the money will primarily go to cover out-of-pocket expenses the non-profit incurred the past four years. That includes advertising for an event for single mothers and food purchases for an anti-obesity program, he said. Wills said he plans to recoup these costs from the state grant when it arrives.

In an initial interview last week, Wills offered to provide information detailing the non-profit’s expenditures, but later said his accountant could not immediately produce the information. He had also offered to provide records of news accounts highlighting the New York 4 Life’s work. He did not produce those either.

The December 2009 document registering New York 4 Life with the attorney general’s charities bureau lists Wills as its president and executive director of the group; Sharon Carnegie as treasurer; Manelva Herrington as secretary; and Ray Trotman as chief financial officer.

All of them also worked on Wills’ campaign in 2009 for City Council against White, and they had similar job titles. Carnegie served as treasurer for the campaign, pulling in more that $20,000; Herrington made $300 petitioning; and Trotman made $1,250 for audit compliance services, according to campaign finance records.

Though the non-profit is still registered to Wills’ home, Wills said that New York 4 Life is now actually run out of the office he used during his 2009 Council campaign, in a residence at 134-03 Liberty Ave. in Jamaica. (Wills said the non-profit gets its mail at yet another address, 229-19 Merrick Blvd.)

Wills rented the space from the property’s owner, Doreen Totarum, for $650 a month during the Council race, though she donated more than $2,600 to the campaign, offsetting most of the cost of office rent. Wills said that Totarum is now giving him the space rent-free to run the non-profit.

In a subsequent interview, though, when Wills was asked where he his office for his new Council campaign would be located, he said it would also be run out of the 134-03 Liberty Ave. address—the location where he initially had said New York 4 Life is housed.

Wills said that New York 4 Life office would be moved from the Liberty Ave. address to another address in southeast Queens.

“Everything we’re doing,” Wills said, “is to avoid a conflict of interest.”

Names Circulate For Race To Fill Tom White’s Council Seat by Chris Bragg - City Hall News

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The funeral is not until Thursday, but the jockeying was well underway by the weekend.

Until Tom White is buried, at least, the potential candidates for his Council seat covering southeast Queens seat are reluctant to go on the record about their ambitions. But though they will not speak publicly, the consensus on who is on the list of potential candidates has already begun to take shape, as has the consensus that Assembly Member Vivian Cook—who is herself suffering from health problems that kept her out of Albany and had some questioning her own plans for a re-election run—will play the kingmaker in the non-partisan special election set for Nov. 2, the day of the general election.

Of the dozen names floating around, the most serious possible contenders are seen as Martha Taylor Butler, the chief of staff for Assembly Member Michelle Titus, and Anthony Andrews, the director of student activities at York College, who came in just behind Allan Jennings in the 2001 race for the seat. Andrews was extremely close with White, and is also close with Cook.

Reached by phone, Andrews declined to comment on his plans out of respect for White.

“I’ve certainly been involved in the community in the past, and certainly would like to be in the future, but for now it’s too soon to discuss anything like that,” Andrews said.

Butler did not return a phone call seeking comment.

Ruben Wills, the former chief of staff for State Sen. Shirley Huntley, who ran for the Council last year—and reportedly threw a punch during a dispute at the Board of Elections last year with Allan Jennings, who was trying to reclaim the seat he lost to White in 2005—is also seen as a potentially strong candidate.

Others who may run include Jennings, who was censured for sexually harassing staffers while on the Council, and Albert Baldeo, a perennial candidate who ran for the seat in 2005 and is now running for district leader with the county party’s backing.

Jennings and Baldeo also declined to comment out of respect for White. Wills did not return a phone call seeking comment.

Others being talked about as potential candidates include Taj Ramjkumar, a local district leader and professor at Borough of Manhattan Community College; political consultant Patrick Jenkins (though his candidacy appears less likely after his appointment Monday as deputy director of Andrew Cuomo’s campaign for governor); Elizabeth Goldsmith, the president and founder of Mothers Against Guns; and Charles Bilal, an imam at the Masjib Al Hamdul Lillah mosque in Jamaica.

One potential wildcard: if State Senate candidate Lynn Nunes loses the Sept. 14 primary against Huntley, he would technically have enough time to switch gears and mount a campaign for the Council seat. Nunes came within four votes of beating White last year, and his name recognition has only increased since then in a Senate campaign in which he has already raised more that $175,000.

Reached by phone, Nunes declined comment.

Were Huntley to lose the primary, she could also end up in the Council race.

Cook, president of the Queens County Democratic Committee, is a key powerbroker in the area who helped put Senate President Malcolm Smith, Rep. Greg Meeks, Titus and others into office.

But Cook has been sidelined with an unspecified illness and has not attended an Assembly session since Mar. 23, according to Assembly records. Still, she is running for re-election and controls some 40 percent of the district leader votes in the Council district.

The Queens Democratic Party’s decision will likely be a bellwether of whether Cook still holds the same sway over local politics as she did before her health began to decline.

Though the election is non-partisan and candidates will be able to win matching funds, the county party’s endorsement will still be a major boon, given the condensed time frame to petition onto the ballot and to fundraise.

Update 12:20 p.m.
A reader wrote in to point out that the deadline to apply for Campaign Finance Board matching funds is Tuesday, Sept. 7. That makes it unlikely that either Nunes or Huntley would be able to join the program in the case of a possible Council race, since applying for matching funds in advance of their Sept. 14 State Senate primary would be very politically difficult.

Despite John Sampson’s Efforts, Gay Groups To Back Shirley Huntley Challenger Lynn Nunes by Chris Bragg - City Hall News

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The Empire State Pride Agenda and the Human Rights Campaign, two of the state’s most prominent gay rights groups, are poised to throw their weight behind Lynn Nunes in his primary challenge to State Sen. Shirley Huntley on Tuesday, sources close to both groups confirmed.

ESPA’s board still had to meet Monday night to finalize their endorsement, the sources said, but the board was expected to formally vote to endorse Nunes as well as a slew of other legislative candidates on Tuesday.

Huntley was one of eight Democratic senators who voted against the same sex marriage bill last year. Nonetheless, the groups’ support for Nunes had been in doubt, with neither backing Nunes in their first round of endorsements. This had riled many in the gay activist community.

Democratic Senate Conference Leader John Sampson, a strong Huntley ally, has been pushing behind the scenes on Huntley’s behalf in an effort to convince the groups to remain neutral, insisting that Huntley was still a possible ‘yes’ vote for the bill, according to multiple sources close to the groups.

Huntley, meanwhile, recently met with leadership of the Empire State Pride Agenda in an effort to get the group to remain neutral in the race, she confirmed. But the effort apparently was unsuccessful.

“I told them my position and explained to them why I voted like I did,” Huntley said, adding that it was “not a surprise” for ESPA to back Nunes.

Huntley had taken a strong rhetorical stand against the same sex marriage bill. Last year, Huntley told the poet Maya Angelou, who was lobbying on behalf of the gay marriage bill that, “If they gave me a million dollars, tax free, I just wouldn’t vote for it,” according to the Times.

Huntley has a strong base of support in her southeast Queens district from the leadership of socially conservative black churches, and has cited those constituents as the reason why she voted against the bill. Huntley’s supporters have pegged Nunes’ support of gay marriage as opportunistic and say it could hurt him in socially conservative neighborhoods in the district.

A number of grassroots gay rights groups, including the Stonewall Democrats, Marriage Equality New York and the Jim Owles Democratic Club had already endorsed Nunes. Allen Roskoff, president of the Jim Owles Democratic Club, said a push from these grassroots groups had helped convince ESPA and HRC to finally back Nunes.

“It’s important that the LGBT community support anyone who is running against their enemies,” he said. “Lynn Nunes is a logical choice.”

Both HRC and ESPA have political action committees that give money to candidates, though the extent to which they will offer Nunes financial support on manpower remains unclear. The organizations are also targeting State Sens. Bill Stachowski and Ruben Diaz, Sr. in primaries and are likely to support a number of Democratic challengers in general election State Senate races.

Even if they do not spend heavily on Nunes’ behalf, ESPA’s endorsement is seen as a crucial stamp of approval to donors in the local gay rights community. The Washington D.C.-based HRC, meanwhile, has a national network of donors that its endorsed candidates are expected to now be able to access.

Spokesmen for both HRC and ESPA declined official comment on the endorsements.

Fight Back New York, an independent expenditure group pouring money into races against anti-same-sex marriage incumbents, has yet to announce whether it will target Huntley. A spokesman for the group also declined to comment.

Nunes, who is receiving heavy financial support from charter school backers, already had a financial advantage in the race with over $155,000 raised as of the last campaign filing. Huntley had raised $106,000 over the past six months.

Reached by phone, Nunes declined comment on the endorsements since they had not been formally been made public by the groups.

Former State Sen. Serf Maltese Launches Bid To Be New Board of Elections Executive Director by Edward-Isaac Dovere - City Hall News

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Former State Sen. Serf Maltese wants back into politics.

But instead of running himself, Maltese wants to run all city elections, in a bid to become the new executive director of the city Board of Elections.

“I am writing you to indicate that I would like to be considered for the position of Executive Director of the Board of Elections in the City of New York,” Maltese wrote in an email that was sent around to commissioners Wednesday evening. “My biography accompanies this request and I believe that my background and experience would qualify me for this position of great responsibility and importance.”

That 2,000-word biography details Maltese’s history in local politics, hitting all the highlights and many of the awards he picked up during his 20 years representing Queens in the State Senate. Maltese lost by double digits to Joe Addabbo in 2008 in one of the two seats that swung the majority to the Democrats.

And in an ironic twist, Addabbo is this year being challenged by former Council Member Anthony Como, who had been agitating for the executive director job before pulling out at the last minute to pursue the State Senate race. Como, though a former commissioner, had been unable to rally the six votes necessary to get a majority of the 10 commissioners.

In his email to the commissioners, Maltese indicated that he had a running start in getting to six.

“I can assure you that I have the confidence and backing of my Queens County Chairman, the Honorable Phil Ragusa, our Queens County Republican Commissioner the Honorable Judith Stupp and my former Senate colleague Senator Marty Golden,” Maltese wrote.

The top position at the city Board of Elections has been vacant since February, when Marcus Cederqvist resigned, and the process of picking his replacement has been stuck in a largely partisan stalemate: four Democratic commissioners and one Republican, from Staten Island are looking to promote deputy executive director George Gonzalez, but have been blocked from reaching a majority by the Staten Island Democratic commissioner, Michael Ryan, who remains undecided, and the four remaining Republicans.

The Staten Island Republican commissioner, J.P. Sipp, is said to be allying with the four Democrats thanks to the efforts of John Haggerty, the operative indicted by the Manhattan district attorney in the Independence Party probe, but also one of the leaders of the anti-Phil Ragusa faction of the Queens Republicans.

After Como’s decision to run against Addabbo, J.C. Polanco—the Bronx Republican commissioner and the secretary of the Board—had put himself forward as an alternative. But as the Board has been dealing with a budget crisis and the complicated run-up to the roll-out of new optical scan voting machines for the fall elections, the search for someone to fill the top job has remained frozen.

Reached late Wednesday, Polanco said he was focused on his duties as a commissioner fielding objections to petitions and as the director of Assembly Minority Leader Brian Kolb’s New York City and Westchester regional office.

“I haven’t spoken to Senator Maltese as of yet regarding his interest,” Polanco wrote. “I’m in the middle of working with my colleagues on voting on specific objections to petitions for the next several days. And along with a busy special session with Assembly Republican Leader Kolb, I’m going to have my hands full. I hope to have an opportunity to discuss our views as to the direction the NYC Board of Elections in this very important year.”

Maltese could not be immediately reached for comment.

NYLCV Backs Nunes by Andrew J. Hawkins - City Hall News

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The New York League of Conservation Voters has thrown its support behind Lynn Nunes, the Democratic primary challenger to Queens Sen. Shirley Huntley.

The announcement came in a brief press release from Nune’s campaign, which said he landed the endorsement from the NYLCV for his “commitment to protecting New York’s land, air, and water.” There’s no statement from the league as of yet.

This is a pretty interesting turn of events for several reasons.

The NYLCV, as I noted yesterday, played a role back in 2008 in helping the Democrats flip a Long Island Senate seat that had long been held by the GOP by backing now-Sen. Brian Foley against then-incumbent Sen. Caesar Trunzo.
That win helped the Democrats take control of the chamber. (The other big loss was Sen. Serf Maltese, who was toppled by Joe Addabbo, another NYLCV-endorsed candidated.


Yesterday, the league announced it would again back GOP Sen. Frank Padavan against his Democratic challenger, former NYC Councilman Tony Avella, even though Avella had received a 100 percent rating from the organization on its environmental scorecard.

Avella blamed his opposition to Mayor Bloomberg’s congestion pricing plan. (It should also be noted that in 2008, the NYLCV split the baby in the Padvan race, backing both the Republican incumbent AND his Democratic challenger, NYC Councilman Jim Gennaro).

As far as I can tell, the NYLCV didn’t back Huntley in 2008.

Nunes is building support among some key special interests, including supporters of charter schools and gay marriage advocates.

Both of those groups are backing primary challengers against incumbent Democrats this September in an attempt to re-shape the majority (assuming it holds in November) into something they feel better suits their needs.

Anthony Como Must Pay $13,000 Back to NYC CFB by Chris Bragg - City Hall News

STATEMENT RE ANTHONY COMO'S ABUSE OF CAMPAIGN CASH FROM ERIC BLANKENBAKER, DSCC SPOKESPERSON

The recent Campaign Finance Board decision fining Anthony Como $12,484 for violating campaign finance law is yet another example of this career politician's utter disregard for the law and New York' s overburdened taxpayers. Anthony Como only announced his candidacy for the State Senate after losing out on two patronage jobs; one with the Board of Elections and one as a commissioner of NYC Housing Authority.

The people of Queens deserve better than an opportunistic, unemployed politician as their State Senator. New Yorkers need a State Senator who cares about them, abides by the law and is truly interested in improving our schools, lowering taxes and creating jobs. Anthony Como has shown once again that he does not meet those criteria.

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Former New York City Council Member Anthony Como, a Republican who is running for State Senate in Queens against Joe Addabbo, must return nearly $13,000 in unspent and misspent funds to the New York City Campaign Finance Board, according to a July 22 audit released by the CFB.

The charges stem from his losing 2008 general election Council loss to Elizabeth Crowley. The repayment includes $6,800 that was spent impermissibly on phone and copy machine contracts for his campaign office that spanned well beyond Election Day, repayments of unspent campaign funds, and $100 spent on a newspaper ad for the Holy Child Jesus Team Drama Club that the CFB deemed not campaign related. The campaign was also assessed $500 in penalties.

Como, an attorney, and his Council campaign treasurer, Laura Schreiner, are personally liable to pay off the nearly $13,000 balance, which the Board must receive by August 25, according to the audit.

Como’s Council re-election campaign’s most recent CFB disclosure, filed in January 2010, showed only $5,200 in his account. After an inquiry from City Hall, Como said he would double check whether he had enough money in the account to pay the $13,000 balance.

“I’ve been busy with the State Senate campaign, but I’m going to find out,” he said. “I believe the money should be in the account.”

Eric Friedman, a spokesman for the New York City Campaign Finance Board, said that Como would likely be allowed to pay off his remaining debt through his State Senate campaign’s account.

But there is not yet enough money there to pay off the balance either: according his July 15 filing, Como had raised $17,600, had spent $13,700, and had only $3,900 on hand.

Update 4:44 p.m.

John Conklin, a spokesman for the State Board of Elections, confirmed that Como could transfer money, if he so desires, from his State Senate account to pay off debt from his Council campaign.

Assembly Member Barbara Clark Petitions With The Dead In Southeast Queens by Andrew Hawkins - City Hall News

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Twelve-term Assembly Member Barbara Clark is counting on her old friends Gloria Black and Warrington Canston, two state committee members from Clark’s district in Southeast Queens, to help her win another term in office this year. And she did not let the fact that both Black and Canston are apparently dead deter her from putting their names at the top of her petitions.

Clark’s opponent, Clyde Vanel, a 36-year-old lawyer and former candidate for City Council in 2009, filed a challenge to Clark’s petitions with the Queens Board of Elections last Thursday. He said Clark’s indifference toward the petition-gathering process speaks to a wider sense of apathy in the community he hopes to provoke with his candidacy.

“That’s just ridiculous,” Vanel said. “Barbara’s county committee people, a majority of them don’t even know that they’re on county committee. We’re fighting against something that has historically kept a majority of the community uninvolved and outside the process.”

“Is a dead person a Democrat?” he asked. “I don’t know.”

But Clark could end up skating by without much damage to her re-election efforts. According to the Board of Elections, while it may seem odd to include the deceased on a candidate’s petitions, the signatures that are collected are technically counted as separate for each person on them. Therefore, while the fact that they are deceased makes Black and Canston ineligible for the ballot, as long as Clark herself is living (which she is), there is no legal problem.

Vanel said he would be disappointed if Clark got away with just a wrist slap, but noted he would not want to rob residents in the district the chance to choose between their two candidacies.

All the same, he used the opportunity to blast his opponent for doing a disservice to the political process, and to the memories of community leaders like Black and Canston, by turning in petitions that read more like the obituary pages.

“Clark is not getting people in involved and active in the process by using dead people. It’s a shame,” he said. “I have to tell my county committee people, who are working in the sun, working in the hot summer to collect signatures, that they may be running on the ballot against a dead person. It reflects badly on Clark and it reflects badly on the district.”

Vanel is part of a small-scale movement to challenge the political powerbase in Southeast Queens. He ran against and lost to Council Member Leroy Comrie last year in a race that garnered some attention for unveiling some of the dissatisfaction in the community with leaders like Comrie, Rep. Gregory Meeks and State Sen. Malcolm Smith.

Vanel has run into his own difficulties. He only raised $1,250 for the race, though Clark reported just $2,500 on hand, having raised $900. The Board of Elections also has identified a problem with a number of the petitions turned in by Vanel’s ally and mentor, Donnie Whitehead, who, along with his wife is running for district leader. Vanel said they are still mulling whether to contest the Board’s decision to disallow Whitehead and a handful of others from running as district leaders. Whitehead may run for state committee member instead, he confirmed.

“It’s been a struggle to open this process up,” Vanel said.

Clark could not be reached for comment.