Another Pedro Espada Campaign Fundaising Mishap

Former Gang of Three member and Senator Pedro Espada is known for his deliberate snubbing of campaign finance rules and regulations. For months he has owed tens of thousands of dollars for violating various statutes and has shown he could care less about them. So it wasn't surprising to have seen an invitation go out for a fundraiser in his honor that yet again flaunted the law.

From The Daily Politics:

The senator, who missed five state Board of Elections deadlines for filing campaign disclosure reports and also owed (as of November) $61,750 worth of penalties to the CFB in connection with his 2001 City Council run, has stumbled yet again - this time sending out a fundraising invite emblazoned with his official state Senate seal.

(Espada has filed some of his 2008 reports, but the bulk of them - including the most recent Jan. 15, 2009 filing - have yet to appear on the board's Web site).

Using one's public office for political purposes is a big no-no.

Andrew Yong, Espada's chief of staff, immediately acknowledged the error when it was brought to his attention and said it will be fixed ASAP. He suggested the mistake was made by a new staffer who isn't yet aware of the campaign finance rules.

Uh-huh, sure. The "new staffer" excuse is an old one in politics and rarely is it honest. If the guy or girl was so new, someone should have been double checking their work. It is common sense to make sure proper procedure is followed and all laws are obeyed. The fact is, if this new staffer had good role models (like the Senator himself) perhaps he or she would have not committed the error in the first place. It isn't like not using the seal is an old arcane law to be followed, it is one of the first things a staffer should know when walking into the office for the very first time.

Governor Paterson, You Owe Us $19,350

The general fund of New York will take that money in hundreds and fifties, or a check will suffice, but that money is owed to us Governor. When you talk a great game of dire budget deficits, shared sacrifice for all* and the need for fiscal responsibility, billing taxpayers for your trip to Obama's inauguration is absolutely obscene.

From The Poughkeepsie Journal:

ALBANY - Gov. David Paterson and three aides billed New York taxpayers $19,350 for their four-night stay at an upscale Washington hotel for the presidential inauguration, despite the governor's repeated warnings about the state's fiscal troubles.

Paterson and three top aides stayed at the luxury AKA White House hotel two blocks from the White House during the inauguration, with the governor billing taxpayers an average of $1,280 a night, according to records of state-issued credit-card expenses.

In total, taxpayers were charged about $4,800 a night for the hotel stays of Paterson, chief of staff Charlotte Hitchcock, special assistant David Johnson and secretary William Cunningham, records obtained from the state Comptroller's Office show. Paterson's bill was $5,123 for the four nights.

So do you think the Governor apologized for this trip he took on our dime, without asking permission? Nope, try again:

Paterson's office defended the spending, saying hotels for the inauguration required a four-night minimum stay and prices were inflated because of the event.

The charges were billed in December in advance of the Jan. 20 inauguration. The governor's office did not provide details on other expenses incurred on the trip.

"Governor Paterson, like many other governors from across the country, represented his state at a moment of national importance," spokeswoman Marissa Shorenstein said.

I'm sure there are plenty of hotels he could have stayed at that didn't cost $19,350 for four days. He certainly did not have to go with three other taxpayer-funded officials with their own $1,000+ per night rooms. When you ask your constituents to go without essential programs, with additional taxes and fees on the middle class, do not stay at a luxurious hotel two blocks from the White House at our expense. "Tasteless" and "insulting" only begins to describe this action by Mr. Paterson.

Even In New Congress, Rangel Is Still An Ethical Thorn On Our Side

Charles B. Rangel is an institution in the House of Representatives and icon in Harlem, but for all the good he's done, there is a shady side that needs to be dealt with. He may think that his only problem is duking it out with the press, but if the press didn't have certain facts to report on then it'd be a different story. Yet Rangel confidently keeps on keeping on.

From CQPolitics:

Ways and Means Chairman Charles B. Rangel said Wednesday that an ongoing investigation by the ethics committee of his fundraising and personal finances would not hamper his leadership of the powerful committee.

“It does not diminish my ability to get the job done,” Rangel, D-N.Y., said after the organizing meeting of the Ways and Means Committee, which will consider the tax portion of the stimulus package. The committee also will have jurisdiction over much of the Democrats’ planned health care overhaul and over all trade legislation.

Rangel dismissed Republican calls for him to step down while the ethics committee completes its work.

“I don’t give that much consideration to the Republicans,” he said. Rangel said a number of GOP lawmakers acknowledge that there are distortions in news reports outlining allegations against him. But he added, “Some of them feel they have to do politically what the old Republican leadership has to do.”

I don't give much consideration to them either, but this isn't about giving Boehner a reason to smile. This is about keeping our principles in line and being above the ethical lapses of Republicans, not simply to think it's acceptable to sink to their level. CREW goes after corrupt politicians regardless of party and making their top 20 is a serious offense. Rangel should be ashamed of himself, but apparently he doesn't have the ability to feel it.

Quinn Still Rewarding Her Obedient Council Members

Speaker Christine Quinn purportedly stopped doling out slush fund money earlier in the year, but that doesn't mean there aren't other funds she can tap. A woman that started off as a good progressive a few years ago, Quinn has become part of the problem at City Hall and with Bloomberg at her side she's gotten even worse. The latest revelation of political favoritism is sadly unsurprising.

From The NY Post:

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn has quietly been rewarding her political allies by allowing a handful of loyal lawmakers to bolster their legislative staffs with funding from her own budget, The Post has learned.[..]

Every member of the council has an equal budget of $277,300 a year, with committee chairs getting an additional $40,000, to pay staff and manage an office.

But since she became speaker in 2006, Quinn has given 18 additional staffers to 14 council members including one to her own district office - from the central budget, for reasons her staff would not explain to The Post.

It isn't hard to deduce that having more staff makes things easier for the Council Members getting them. Whether the staffers work on legislation or do extra constituent service, it is a boon to any CMs that receive the extra salary expense. Quinn's explanation for it though, is far from satisfactory.

Quinn's spokeswoman, Maria Alvarado, said, "Ultimately, all staff members work for the institution of the City Council, as directed by the speaker. At times, central staff has been assigned to work with certain council members or on a legislative committee."

Alvarado can B.S. us all she wants, but anyone with at least an ounce of common sense can see through that weak excuse. Even though her predecessor engaged in the same activity, that does not make it right. New Yorkers deserve more, but Quinn's record shows she isn't willing to run an honest City Council.

Socialism For Palin Kids And Scrubbed Books To Hide It

Sarah Palin is going around to campaign rallies with this week's attack on Obama about socialism and that we don't need that in America. Well, since she has ties to the secessionist AIP, perhaps the socialism she does wants up in Alaska doesn't count in the lower forty-eight. I guess that's just being a hockey mom, you know, like all the other hockey moms that get to charge $150,000 on the RNC credit card to go shopping for new clothes.

From Newsweek (AP):

(ANCHORAGE, Alaska) Gov. Sarah Palin charged the state for her children to travel with her, including to events where they were not invited, and later amended expense reports to specify that they were on official business.

The charges included costs for hotel and commercial flights for three daughters to join Palin to watch their father in a snowmobile race, and a trip to New York, where the governor attended a five-hour conference and stayed with 17-year-old Bristol for five days and four nights in a luxury hotel.

In all, Palin has charged the state $21,012 for her three daughters' 64 one-way and 12 round-trip commercial flights since she took office in December 2006. In some other cases, she has charged the state for hotel rooms for the girls.

That money spent by Alaskans without their knowledge was used highly inappropriately for the only purpose of showing her girls a good time. She is free to do that, but pay for it on your salary just like anyone else would have to. As the AP notes, organizers from many of these events the girls attended didn't even know they were coming and there was no reason to have the state pay for their trips.

Now that is bad enough, but when Sarah Palin realized she'd be the VP nominee she knew this might come up. So what would any ethically challenged and corrupt Republican do? Well that would be to amend all the expense reports to validate her kids coming with her with such official duties as "raffle ticket drawer." Tax lawyers were awfully perplexed with the situation and now we have it all here on the AP to show just what a mavericky reformer Governor Palin is.

Now the McCain camp will have yet another story to lie about or deflect with less than two weeks to go in the race. It has been said over and over again but jeez McCain, didn't you think to vet this woman for at least two minutes? A little extra time back in August would have gone a long way in October. Of course, this is just one bad mark among many in his campaign that lost its bearings way back.

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.