NYC Parents Union Sues Bloomberg for $100 Million for Cathie Black "Crony" Appointment

For disclosure purposes, I am a member of the NYC Parents Union

"This Mayor Has Committed Misfeasance and Our Children Have Suffered" 

Advocates for Justice, a public interest law firm, today filed initial papers for a civil lawsuit against Mayor Michael Bloomberg on behalf of a class of all New York City public school parents . The Mayor is charged with committing "misfeasance of office" through the appointment of Ms. Cathleen P. Black as Chancellor of the New York City Department of Education and thereby damaging the education of public school children in the City of New York.

The 14 Claimant parents, along with the newly formed New York City Parents Union, are demanding $100 million in compensatory damages from Mr. Bloomberg personally as the individual now held accountable under New York State's education law for the performance of the public education system, as well as a public apology from the Mayor for his handling of Ms. Black's appointment and brief tenure in office.

A Notice of Claim setting forth the nature of the lawsuit was filed today by Advocates for Justice with the Office of New York City Comptroller John Liu. This legal action -- possibly the first of its kind in the history of New York City -- claims that the Mayor had or should have had full knowledge of Ms. Black's inability to perform at an appropriate level in the position of Chancellor.

Section 3(f) of the Notice Claim states that "Michael Bloomberg, as Mayor, has a fiduciary obligation to act with the utmost of prudence and responsibility in running the New York City school system. He either knew, or should have known, that the appointment of Black was not in the best interests of the system, but he appointed her nonetheless. By so acting, Michael Bloomberg breached his fiduciary duty to the parents of all school children in New York City public schools and is guilty of 'misfeasance of office.' "

The parents want Mayor Bloomberg to place $100 million of his own money – or approximately $1 million for each day of Ms. Black's nearly 100-day tenure -- into a fund used exclusively for the training and development of teachers and supervisors as compensation for the damage to the morale and performance of staff and teachers, which therefore impaired the education of students.

Arthur Z. Schwartz, attorney for the Claimants, emphasized that the Notice of Claim was a precursor to a lawsuit against Bloomberg personally, not one against the City of New York. "The Mayor's ego, and his insistence on 'selling' the school system rather than building it from the ground up, led to this disaster. The Mayor took a lot from the City's school childrenn with this error, and he should be required to make repairs - in a sum that he is uniquely qualified to do."

Ms. Mariama Sanoh, an active Brooklyn parent who is a Claimant and a founder of the New York City Parents Union, said that Mayor Bloomberg abused his power. "When outraged parents stated that Cathie Black was unqualified to be Chancellor, Mayor Bloomberg accused us -- the real stakeholders in our children's education – of playing politics. But it was Mayor Bloomberg who abused his power by appointing someone with no education experience to lead the nations largest public school system. And it was Mayor Bloomberg who played politics with the New York State Education Commissioner to get unqualified Cathie Black approved for the job. The Mayor has committed misfeasance and our children have suffered. There have to be consequences for these bad choices."

Ms. Shino Tanikawa, a Claimant and member of Manhattan's Community Education Council 2, demanded consistency in how education matters are treated. "Accountability has been the foundation of Mayor Bloomberg's alleged "reform" agenda, yet he himself has not been accountable to us for any of his misguided decisions. Our children have suffered his arrogance and egotism enough, and we, the parents, demand that the Mayor now be held accountable."

Central Brooklyn parent Muba Yarofulani is a founding member of the New York City Parents Union, Co-President of the Coalition for Public Education (CPE), and President of the District 18 Presidents Council. She objected to Mayor Bloomberg's dominance over the public education system. "The 1.1 million students in New York City's public schools deserved a qualified Chancellor. Mayor Bloomberg refused to hear the cries of parents from communities like mine; we knew that Cathie Black should not be appointed. This Mayor's dictatorship over our education system is failing our children, and I am one of those mothers who will continue to battle his wealth and political might. Mayor Bloomberg must be held accountable for his failures. Our children must see that there are consequences for the rich just as there are for the poor."

Ms. Mona Davids, a Bronx charter school parent, and a founder of the New York City Parents Union, pronounced Mayor Bloomberg's behavior as corrupt. "Outside of New York City, when an elected official appoints a friend, family member or crony with no relevant experience to a high profile job, it is called 'graft' and an abuse of power," said Ms. Davids. "Mayor Bloomberg's appointment of his friend, Cathie Black, without first conducting a national search or ensuring that she had the

qualifications to lead the nation's largest school system, was pure corruption and disrespectful to NYC parents, students and educators. Mayor Bloomberg's appointment showed our children that, even when you are not qualified for a job, it's not what you know but who you know."

Hon. Chris Owens, a Brooklyn Claimant and former Community School Board President, focused on the need for unorthodox measures. "This Mayor has bought three elections, including a third term in office! The political process has not provided recourse for concerned parents because the Mayoral elections have been corrupted by the power of money. So we have to do something to show everyone that the disastrous ramming of Cathie Black down our throats warrants more than a few days of critical media stories. The Mayor owes this City and he has the means to compensate our public education system for a portion of the harm that he inflicted upon it."

Ms. Julie Cavanagh is a teacher in Brooklyn who supports the parents' lawsuit. "I am glad to see legal action being taken directly against Mayor Bloomberg. Mayor Bloomberg speaks about accountability for schools, students and teachers, but never is he held accountable for the disastrous and devastating decisions he has made for our schools and our children. It is time for this Mayor to be held accountable. As if over-testing, overcrowding, and overtly ignoring the voices of stakeholders were not enough, Bloomberg appointed and vigorously defended a Chancellor we all knew was unqualified for our children. The Mayor's actions have caused irreparable harm to our school system, and it is time for him to answer to the people he was elected to serve."

A copy of the Notice of Claim may be requested by contacting Chris Owens.

New York City to Pay $7 Million in Sean Bell Death by David W. Chen and A. G. Sulzberger - NYTimes.com

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Closing a key chapter in one of the most controversial police shootings in recent memory, New York City agreed on Tuesday to pay more than $7 million to settle a federal lawsuit filed by the family of Sean Bell, a 23-year-old black man who was fatally shot by the police outside a strip club in Queens on his wedding day in 2006.

Sean Bell with his fiancée, Nicole Paultre Bell.

The decision by the city came after two days of intense negotiations in Federal District Court in Brooklyn. Mr. Bell’s estate would receive $3.25 million, and two friends of Mr. Bell’s who were injured in the episode would also receive payments: Joseph Guzman would get $3 million, and Trent Benefield $900,000.

The case set off an emotional debate over the use of deadly force by the police and prompted the city to change some of its policing procedures.

On Nov. 25, 2006, five police officers fired 50 shots into the Nissan Altima that Mr. Bell was driving. The car struck a detective in the leg and hit a police van just before the officers began firing.

None of the three men in the car had guns, although the officers apparently believed at least one did.

Three of the officers were acquitted of manslaughter and reckless endangerment charges in State Supreme Court in Queens in 2008. The other two officers who opened fire did not face criminal charges.

In 2007, Mr. Guzman, Mr. Benefield and the family of Mr. Bell filed a lawsuit, which accused the defendants of wrongful death, negligence, assault and civil rights violations. It had been stalled since then as the state and federal governments and city police officials investigated the shooting.

In a statement, Michael A. Cardozo, the city’s corporation counsel, said: “The Sean Bell shooting highlighted the complexities our dedicated officers must face each day. The city regrets the loss of life in this tragic case, and we share our deepest condolences with the Bell family. The city is also settling claims with Mr. Guzman and Mr. Benefield. We hope that all parties can find some measure of closure by this settlement.”

Mr. Bell’s family was still in court as of 6:30 Tuesday night and had not yet commented on the settlement.

Al Baker contributed reporting.

“Access to Justice in Lending Act” Passes Both Houses of Legislature...

When Signed By Governor, Legislation Will Level the Legal Playing Field for Homeowners Facing Foreclosure by Allowing Successful Borrowers to Recover Attorneys Fees Against Banks

Assemblyman Rory Lancman (D-Queens) and Senate Deputy Majority Leader Jeff Klein (D-Bronx) announce passage of the “Access to Justice in Lending Act” (A.1239/S.2614) by both houses of the legislature. Virtually all mortgage agreements require borrowers to pay attorneys fees to lenders who foreclose on their mortgage, but borrowers don’t have the same contractual right. As a result, few homeowners are able to retain attorneys in foreclosure proceedings – most default or try to represent themselves -- even though many homeowners have valid defenses to foreclosure and could save their homes with adequate legal representation. To add insult to injury, these homeowners then have the banks’ attorneys fees tacked on to the overall amount they owe the bank, pushing desperate homeowners further into debt. This bill creates a reciprocal right to attorneys fees for borrowers who successful defend against foreclosure where the mortgage agreement gives such a right to lenders, and is modeled on an existing provision of the law which give tenants the same reciprocal rights to attorneys fees in residential leases.

“We cannot let people with valid defenses to foreclosure lose their homes merely for lack of legal representation, particularly when the mortgage agreement written by the bank tilts the legal playing field in the bank’s favor,” said Assemblyman Lancman (D-Queens). “If homeowners had the money to pay for a lawyer to represent them in foreclosure, they probably wouldn’t be in foreclosure in the first place. This legislation will allow lawyers to take on meritorious foreclosure cases with the fair and reasonable expectation that they will be compensated if they succeed.”

"We know that many of the families that we see being foreclosed upon today entered into their mortgages due to predatory lending. These are the very people who should have the best defenses to foreclosure, but lose their homes simply because they could not secure counsel to defend them. Today, we have put homeowners on even playing ground with the lenders that are foreclosing on them, and given them a fighting chance to stay in their homes," said State Senator and Deputy Majority Leader Jeffrey D. Klein (D-Bronx/Westchester).

Six Years for Ex-Assemblyman in Corruption Case by James M.Odato -- Times Union - Albany NY...

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31-year Veteran Lawmaker Told to Repay $1 Million

Former Assemblyman Anthony Seminerio received six years in prison and was ordered to repay $1 million Thursday for abusing his office to pocket hundreds of thousands of dollars.

U.S. District Court Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald handed down the sentence to the Queens Democrat after he entered a guilty plea in July.

"With my health, I'm lucky if I last six months," Seminerio said, suggesting the prison term is a death sentence, otherwise declining comment. He quit his 31-year Assembly post just before entering the plea.

Seminerio admitted to defrauding the people of New York of his honest services. The charges against Seminerio, who turns 75 this month, were brought under the same statute used in the recent federal conviction of former Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno, who awaits sentencing at the end of March.

Seminerio must surrender to federal authorities March 8, although he has 10 days to appeal. His lawyer Perry Krinsky declined to say what his client's next move will be.

Semineerio's sentencing is tied to his conviction of fraud for using his public office to drum up business for his private consulting firm. He faced a maximum of 12 years in prison. Pleas of leniency and kind words were sent to the court from fellow lawmakers such as Senators John DeFrancisco and Dale Volker, both Republicans, as well as Assembly Democrats Audrey Pheffer and Barbara Clark and Republicans Michael Fitzpatrick and James Bacalles. Also writing was Seminerio's doctor, who listed numerous ailments afflicting the former lawmaker.

The judge said Seminerio "accepted bribes and engaged in extortion as part of a decade-long scheme to use his office -- both literally and figuratively -- for personal gain and at the expense of the public trust."

Seminerio was secretly recorded providing his own view of what it means to be a public official: "It doesn't mean (expletive deleted)," he said on one tape.

Such behavior, said U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, "threatens the public's confidence in our democracy. Seminerio was elected to serve the people, not himself."

The Seminerio case is one of several political corruption convictions of statewide officials secured by law enforcement authorities in recent years. Charges against him came about after agents wired former Assemblyman Brian M. McLaughlin, also a Queens Democrat, who was convicted of fraud, racketeering, embezzlement, theft of public funds and taking bribes. He is serving 10 years in federal prison.

Ex-Assemblyman McLaughlin Gets 10 Years for Racketeering by Benjamin Weiser - NYTimes.com

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Rejecting requests for leniency from the defense and the prosecution, a federal judge in Manhattan sentenced the former president of the nation’s largest municipal labor council to 10 years in prison on Wednesday, saying his abuse of the trust placed in him “staggers the mind.”

Photo caption: Brian M. McLaughlin, 57, on his way to his sentencing for racketeering. He was accused of taking money from taxpayers, labor unions and contractors. John Marshall Mantel for The New York Times

“You had every opportunity,” said the judge, Richard J. Sullivan of Federal District Court, “and you used those opportunities and squandered them for your own benefit on a monumental scale.”

The defendant, Brian M. McLaughlin, 57, who had also been an assemblyman from Queens, pleaded guilty in March 2008 to racketeering charges that included using embezzlement, fraud and bribes to take money from taxpayers, labor unions and contractors, even from a Little League team in Queens.

A document made public on Wednesday shows that Mr. McLaughlin has agreed to forfeit more than $3 million in illegal proceeds from his crimes.

Prosecutors had asked for a lenient sentence, saying Mr. McLaughlin had helped the government in investigating others. But Judge Sullivan said Mr. McLaughlin’s betrayal of public trust outweighed any assistance he had given. He also fined the defendant $25,000.

Mr. McLaughlin’s assistance, for instance, helped lead to the arrest of Anthony S. Seminerio, another Queens assemblyman, a person involved in the case has said. Mr. Seminerio was charged last year with a fraud scheme; he has pleaded not guilty.

Prosecutors charged that Mr. McLaughlin had misappropriated more than $330,000 from his own re-election committee; $185,000 from the New York City Central Labor Council, which he led; and more than $35,000 from the State Assembly. They said he had created fictitious jobs within the labor council and on his own legislative staff, and took kickbacks from the jobholders.

In court on Wednesday, a federal prosecutor, Daniel A. Braun, formally asked for leniency for Mr. McLaughlin, saying he had provided “substantial assistance” to the government, though he did not offer details in open court.

Mr. McLaughlin’s lawyer, Michael F. Armstrong, told the judge, “This is someone who at core is a good person who went terribly wrong, and who realizes that, and realizes it fully.”

Mr. McLaughlin, addressing the judge, apologized for his “improper conduct and criminal activity.”

“I make no excuses for it,” he said, “but I’d like to add that over the last three, three and a half years, I’ve had the opportunity to live the way I’d like to live my life,” an apparent reference to steps he has taken toward rehabilitation like attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, as well as cooperating with the government.

Mr. McLaughlin, who was ordered to surrender on July 21, remained free on bond. He had no comment after the sentencing.

Mr. McLaughlin was a seven-term assemblyman when he was charged in 2006; he had long served simultaneously as the head of the labor council, a federation of 400 union locals with more than one million members. His dual role as legislator and union chief was unusual, and lucrative — he earned $263,600 in combined salaries and expenses annually.

Once an electrician, Mr. McLaughlin took over the labor council in 1995. He was not a particularly high-profile legislator; most of his influence was exerted as a union chief.

Judge Sullivan said he had received dozens of letters in support of Mr. McLaughlin, including one from John Sweeney, president of the A.F.L.-C.I.O., who urged leniency, citing Mr. McLaughlin’s “long record of service to the working men and women of New York City.”

But Judge Sullivan said he found it hard to reconcile the portrait offered by Mr. McLaughlin’s supporters with the picture that emerged from the case of “a man who so abused the trust of institutions and people who depended on him that it sort of staggers the mind.”

“The sheer number of instances of this sort,” the judge said, “the brazen and perversely creative ways in which you abused that trust, paints a picture of an extremely different man.”

He said Mr. McLaughlin’s conduct confirmed “the harshest critics of organized labor who accuse the leadership of corruption, and point to you as an example of that corruption.”

The Central Labor Council said it had “moved forward as a stronger, more accountable labor organization,” and had “made the necessary reforms to protect our integrity and increase transparency and reporting measures.”

In an agreement with the United States attorney’s office in Manhattan, both sides originally agreed that a reasonable sentence would be 8 to 10 years, without accounting for cooperation.

The judge said an appropriate sentence would be 15 years, but he then reduced that to 10 years because of Mr. McLaughlin’s cooperation.

“I derive no joy in imposing a sentence of this kind,” Judge Sullivan said. “This is a day of failure for everyone.”

Danny Hakim contributed reporting.

Mayor Bloomberg to be Deposed in Discrimination Suit - 1010wins.com

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A lawyer says Mayor Michael Bloomberg will be deposed in two weeks in connection with a lawsuit alleging the financial services company he founded discriminated against women.

Attorney Richard Roth says Bloomberg will answer questions on May 14 related to lawsuits alleging over 80 women were discriminated against at Bloomberg L.P. Roth represents several of the plaintiffs. The mayor is not a defendant in the lawsuits.

Roth says lawyers in the case want to ``explore how hands on Mr. Bloomberg really was.''

No trial date has been set for lawsuits brought by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and individual plaintiffs.

The company has said it believes the claims are without merit.