Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Markowitz Doesn't Know What's Best For Brooklyn

While Mayor Bloomberg is busy trying to make the disclosure process for politicians less intimidating, Marty Markowitz has proven that if anything there should be more questions and harsher penalties for lying and/or manipulating for the ethically challenged politicos in our fair city. It turns out that the comedian/Atlantic Yards cheerleader/Borough President has been a little less than honest with his charity second Borough office and how it gets financed.

From The NY Daily News:

Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz directed nearly $700,000 in city contracts to a nonprofit he controls - sometimes in amounts just small enough to avoid public scrutiny.

It's an ethically questionable arrangement that stunned government watchdog Dick Dadey of the Citizens Union when he was told about it by the Daily News.

"If it's not illegal, it certainly raises some very serious ethical questions and it should be banned," Dadey said.

Not only did the total amount raise eyebrows, but several payments for four contracts worth $24,999, all of which were $1 under the limit before the the City Controller had to examine it in detail. Those four were part of eighteen no-bid contracts given to the charity he runs. The explanation for the way things are handled is that Best of Brooklyn can accept private donations, but seriously, this is not ethical at all and should probably be illegal.

As the DN points out, the problems here are vast, from employing his city staffers, using the money to promote Brooklyn (that's part of his job as boro President) and styming other charities from city money that could be far more deserving. Markowitz at the very least put an end to this immediately and really should pay restitution to the city for his highly unethical behavior.