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Saturday, August 31, 2013

Christine Quinn Missing NYC Fiscal Year 2007 Budget and Schedule C Forms

Fiscal Year 2007 budget documents, including Schedule C showing the disbursement of the New York City Council's discretionary slush fund budget items, are not publicly available on the New York City or City Council Web sites. About three months before the end of Fiscal Year 2007, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn was exposed by The New York Post for having used fake charity groups to hide a political slush fund to dole out to her supporters. (This $$ Is Hers For The Faking * NYPost)

Here are a few Tweets sent tonight about the missing documents. Presumably, there is a reason that Speaker Quinn wants to deny the public access to Fiscal Year budget documents, including the scandalous Schedule C ?

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Friday, August 30, 2013

Christine Quinn Is "Standard Political Flimflam"

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Thursday, August 29, 2013

Christine Quinn booed at Living Wage August 29 Union Square Fast Food Closing Rally

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The Kings of the NY Media Have No Clothes, de Blasio Unleashes New York Anger At the Rich

True News From Change NYC : Latest Poll: NYC Media Disconnected With the Public

From True News From Change NYC :

NY Media's Deviant Elite Subculture. The once powerful NY Newspapers has become a subculture that the public no longer believes. The editorial boards and newsrooms are in shock that their over the top endorsements of stringer and Quinn are being rejected by the voters of New York. A media revolution is going on in New York. And its Tea Party moment (we are talking about the Boston Tea Party of 1773) was de Blasio standing up to those trying to close two Brooklyn hospitals. Not one newspaper editorial has backed Bill in his efforts to keep the hospitals open. In fact the NYT in their endorsement of Quinn said that de Blasio efforts were hopeless. New Yorkers are tired of the Bull Shit words coming out of the newspaper and candidates. They know they are being priced out of the city and those that they elected don't care.

The de Blasio Revolution: New Yorkers Have Reject the Media. When de Blasio campaign went to court to keep the hospitals open the voters saw action not words. Every candidate this year has said they were going to say the middle class. That issue must be pollng high. There are other reasons that voters are turning to de Dlasio, his son TV ads, but the main factor is that New Yorkers are mad what has been done to their city. They think their pols have turned against them. Taking cash from developers whose luxury building are pushing them out of the city. By standing in front of Long Island College Hospital in Brooklyn Heights with a court order to keep the hospital from closing and being given to developers they saw someone who would protect their interests.

Bigger Tax Increase for the Rich. Democratic mayoral candidate Bill de Blasio said he would seek a slightly larger tax increase on wealthy New Yorkers than he originally indicated, raising questions as to how he would win approval for his plan from state lawmakers, The New York Times reports.

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Another Slimy Backroom Deal Christine Quinn Made To Become Speaker In 2006

Christine Quinn Compromised On Reproductive Freedoms For Women

A passage from Chapter 8 of ''Roots of Betrayal : The Ethics of Christine Quinn'' about Christine Quinn's ascension into the speakership of the New York City Council :

For Christine to make these giant leaps in power after less than six years in the City Council, she had to cut deals. The winners weren’t going to be the voters, who were still naively waiting for Christine to be a source of top-down support for bottom-up community empowerment. Instead, the winners were going to be the power brokers, the insiders, the lobbyists, and the political operatives on whose backs Christine climbed to further her own position in government. For example, in the weeks leading to the formal announcement that Christine had clinched the speakership, Christine co-hosted a fundraiser for Rep. Joe Crowley, a weak supporter of reproductive freedom for women. Rep. Crowley had succeeded Tom Manton in Congress, and Mr. Manton expected his subjects, which now included Christine, to express loyalty to the members of his political machine. Even though Christine kept brandishing her myth as an advocate for, among other things, abortion rights, the LGBT activist and social critic Bill Dobbs told The Village Voice that Christine was motivated to help Rep. Crowley “solely to win Manton’s support and the Queens delegation.” It was no coincidence that the higher up the totem pole that Christine climbed, the more glaring the betrayals to her own political ethics became. The rationalizations of Christine’s supporters became all the more bold, as well. Michael McKee, the controversial tenants’ rights activist, who was called on to provide more and more political cover to Christine, expressed his support to Christine for her contradictory support of Rep. Crowley. “Does it bother me ? No,” he told The Village Voice.

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Wednesday, August 28, 2013

When did Christine Quinn sell out to real estate developers ?

Real Estates Donations To Christine Quinn Escalated in 2004

From Chapter 8 of "Roots of Betrayal : The Ethics of Christine Quinn," available now on Scribd :

The unmistakable spike in real estate donations to Christine’s political campaign as early as the 2005 election cycle meant that real estate interests and lobbyists were intending to compromise Christine’s independence on real estate issues. The sizeable donations from Gary Barnett, Douglas Durst, George Arzt, James Capalino, and some of the donations from the Meilman family dated back to 2004, an early sign that the fix may have already been in on the speakership from a year prior to the 2005 election. It’s not uncommon for real estate interests to begin making heavy campaign donations over a year in advance to their approved political candidates. The sizeable donations to Ms. Katz’s campaign account also reflected her own contention for the speakership. Christine’s campaign for the speakership began early, as measured by the flood of real estate donations, and, Christine followed Speaker Miller’s pattern of reaching out to the county bosses for their support. This county boss strategy was confirmed by Brooklyn councilmember Bill de Blasio, as told to New York magazine. “She understood, better than I did, that a lot of this ball game revolved around the county Democratic leaders,” he said, adding, “She did a better job in developing those relationships, presenting a personality they were comfortable with, finding out how not to be threatening to them.” In 2002, the Queens County Democratic boss, Tom Manton, had negotiated from Speaker Miller the City Council Land Use committee chair appointment for one of his delegation’s members, Melinda Katz, in whom the real estate industry had already invested multiple and sizeable campaign donations. In the run up to the 2005 campaign season, Mr. Manton was interested in maintaining the status quo for his own power base, as well as for real estate interests, who did not want to take a loss on the money that they had spent to finance Ms. Katz’s appointment to the Land Use committee. Upon Christine’s assumption of the speakership, Ms. Katz kept her leadership post on Land Use, and David Weprin, another member of the Queens City Council delegation, kept his appointment as chair of the powerful Finance committee. He, too, was well-financed by real estate interests and lobbyists. The permanent establishment that spends so heavily on reelecting approved incumbents does not like insurgents of any kind.

Read more on Scribd : "Roots of Betrayal : The Ethics of Christine Quinn"

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Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Can we take 4 more years of Christine Quinn's laugh ?

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Christine Quinn Mitt Romney The New York Post Endorsement

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Sunday, August 25, 2013

Christine Quinn is not a lawyer, so she cannot join Greenberg Traurig once she loses the mayoral election, right ?

photo melinda-katz-ed-wallace-christine-quinn-export_zps5377b38e.jpg

In 2009, after Melinda Katz lost a campaign for City Controller, she went to work for Greenberg Traurig.

Greenberg Traurig lawyers make consistently large donations to influential New York City Council members, either chairs of the Land Use Committee or to the Speaker of the City Council.

Many bloggers and activists are playing a parlor guessing game, trying to figure out where Christine Quinn will end up after she loses the 2013 mayoral election.

Speaker Quinn is not a lawyer, so she cannot end up taking a job at Greenberg Traurig, right ?

Will she land at a cushion, soft-landing job with Bolton-St. John with Emily Giske ? How about with James Capalino ? Or how about with Ethan Geto ? Or how about with Josh Isay ? Or how about with Michael Bloomberg ? Or how about with Bill Rudin ???

Will she end up somewhere else ?

2005 Christine Quinn Quick Search - New York City Campaign Finance Board

2013-08-25 Greenberg Traurig Donations to Christine Quinn Advanced Search - New York City Campaign Finance...

2005 Melinda Katz Quick Search - New York City Campaign Finance Board (2013!08!25) (1:2)

2005 Melinda Katz Quick Search - New York City Campaign Finance Board (2013!08!25) (2:2)

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Saturday, August 24, 2013

Explicating The New York Times Mayoral Endorsement of Christine Quinn

The New York Times Mayoral Endorsement : Christine Quinn, the Democratic Choice

Following is a line-by-line explication of editorial in which New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn is endorsed by the Editorial Board of The New York Times :

WHAT THE NYTIMES WROTE WHAT THE NYTIMES MEANS
Mayor Michael Bloomberg is almost gone. Real estate developers and big business interests are worried about who is going to carry out Mayor Bloomberg's policies for the next eight years.
At year’s end there will be nothing more he can do to shape, alter or improve the City of New York. The Editorial Board has been tasked by Mayor Bloomberg to help elect Christine Quinn.
It’s the end of 12 years of governing under one man’s singular, often inspiring, sometimes maddening priorities, which were as big as a rising ocean and as small as your soda cup. The Editorial Board is afraid of calling out Mayor Bloomberg for the dictatorial ways that he has run New York City. He wouldn't have made it to three terms, unless Christine Quinn violated the two voter referenda that imposed term limits, something the Editorial Board is trying to cover up.
It was a vision that succeeded brilliantly, but incompletely. The Editorial Board believes that Mayor Bloomberg should have done more to help the 1%.
But don’t worry, New York. The Editorial Board doesn't want the Real Estate Board of New York or the Partnership For New York City, our last two groups of major advertisers, to worry.
Mr. Bloomberg’s is hardly the only way to run a city, and the excellent news is that there is a candidate who is ready to carry on at least as well as he did. The Editorial Board is going to help Mayor Bloomberg anoint his own chosen successor.
She is one of seven Democrats who have been toiling for months in the primary race, standing before voters day and night in a marathon of civic engagement. The Editorial Board believes that even through Christine Quinn has been in public office for 15 years, she has had to hurry up and do her "wawk and tawk" tour to try to introduce herself to the taxpayers paying for her political slush fund.
A common complaint is that this year’s candidates look small, like dots on the slopes of Mount Bloomberg. The Editorial Board thinks that even though the crop of candidates are not billionaires, if we have to do with peons, we can accept Christine Quinn, because she's proven to have sold her soul to big business interests, which is the only thing that the Editorial Board cares about, frankly.
But that isn’t fair; all but a few are solid public servants running substantive campaigns. The Editorial Board has to give lip service to the other candidates, so voters could fool themselves into thinking the editors might possibly consider a candidate other than Mayor Bloomberg's heir apparent.
Though the race was crashed, and distracted for a few irritating weeks, by the unqualified Anthony Weiner, it has since sobered up, and voters are paying attention. The Editorial Board did its best to keep focusing on Anthony Weiner in a negative light, so that the editors could dispatch him as quickly as possible, so that the editors could focus on fluffing Christine Quinn's sagging campaign.
It is clear by now — and last Wednesday’s debate made it even clearer — that the best in the group is Christine Quinn. The Editorial Board is trying to make this hard sell of Christine Quinn, so we will go to any lengths to push her campaign on voters.
Ms. Quinn, the City Council speaker, offers the judgment and record of achievement anyone should want in a mayor. The Editorial Board believes that Christine Quinn has a corrupt enough record that she will nicely fit into the broken political system.
Two opponents — Bill de Blasio, the public advocate, and William Thompson Jr., former comptroller — offer powerful arguments on their own behalf. The Editorial Board wants to give these two fools more lip service, yadda-yadda-yadda.
But Ms. Quinn inspires the most confidence that she would be the right mayor for the inevitable times when hope and idealism collide with the challenge of getting something done. The Editorial Board believes that Christine Quinn will be a perfect puppet to her REBNY and PFNYC masters.
Ms. Quinn has been an impressive leader since her days as a neighborhood advocate and her early years on the City Council. The Editorial Board believes that Christine Quinn has fully sold out and betrayed her activism roots by now. She's gotten that shit out of her system, and she is a complete "Yes Woman" to her campaign contributors and special interests.
We endorsed her for the Council in 1999 as someone “who can both work within the system and criticize it when necessary” — a judgment she has validated many times since. The Editorial Board analyses this as meaning that Christine Quinn will do what she is told by big business, and she will continue to undermine democracy and shred the social safety net when instructed.
She has shepherded through important laws protecting New Yorkers’ health, safety and civil rights, including measures banning public smoking, protecting tenants and small businesses, and battling slumlords. The Editorial Board wants to remind big business interests that Christine Quinn has a record of doing what Mayor Bloomberg told her to do.
She sponsored the sweeping 2007 legislation that made the city’s exemplary campaign-finance laws even stronger. The Editorial Board is only telling you a half-truth here, because Christine Quinn also weakened campaign finance laws this very year to benefit outside groups being able to spend unlimited amounts of money to further corrupt political campaigns.
She pushed successfully for a state law making kindergarten mandatory for 5-year-olds — giving thousands of poor and minority children a better start on their educations. The Editorial Board likes it when Christine Quinn focuses her campaign on childish issues, because that helps voters forget her betrayals on term limits and her corrupt record with slush funds.
As speaker, Ms. Quinn has been a forceful counterpart to Mr. Bloomberg, and has turned the Council from a collection of rambunctious, ill-directed egos into a forceful and effective legislative body. The Editorial Board believes that Christine Quinn subjugated herself to Mayor Bloomberg, and she used her slush funds to reward and punish her political allies and enemies like a good political boss should do.
In wrestling with budgets she has shown restraint that runs counter to lesser political instincts. The Editorial Board is most impressed that Christine Quinn was able to focus on a political agenda that favoured the 1%, even when it meant driving up poverty and homelessness in New York City during the Bloomberg-Quinn administration.
She fought, for example, for a Bloomberg plan to keep a year’s surplus as a rainy-day fund. The Editorial Board liked that Christine Quinn didn't use surplus funds to fight poverty or homelessness.
There was fierce opposition from Council members who wanted to spend the money. The Editorial Board congratulates Christine Quinn turned her back on the needy, especially LGBT homeless youth, which is not an easy thing to do, given her identity. Let's give her some credit for that !
Ms. Quinn was right, and the city had a cushion when the recession hit. The Editorial Board is impressed that Christine Quinn found ways to prevent tax hikes on the 1%.
Mr. Bloomberg has raised expectations that hard decisions should be made on the merits — that the city needs a mayor who is willing to say no. The Editorial Board is endorsing Christine Quinn in part because Mayor Bloomberg told us to, and plus we may need to be bought out by Mayor Bloomberg if the newspaper business keeps losing money.
More than with the other candidates, that description fits Ms. Quinn. The Editorial Board believes that Christine Quinn is the most corrupt candidate, and the extremes that she will go to embrace corruption is why Mayor Bloomberg respects her so much, that's what he told the Editorial Board during our back room meeting.
As an early leader in the campaign, with a target on her back, she has faced anger and derision without wavering. The Editorial Board has tried to keep extending political cover to Christine Quinn, so that she wouldn't suffer such a steep drop in the polls.
We admire her staunch support for the city’s solid-waste management plan, which is good for the whole city but bitterly opposed in some neighborhoods. The Editorial Board picked this lousy issue to focus on, because the editors didn't want to touch the slush fund scandal.
She has been willing to challenge the mayor’s misjudgment and insensitivity, as when he tried to require single adults to prove their homelessness before they were allowed to use city shelters. The Editorial Board mentions the only thing Christine Quinn has done to address a small part of the homeless problem, so that the editors could keep running the façade of a "liberal newspaper."
Mr. de Blasio has been the most forceful and eloquent of the Democrats in arguing that New York needs to reset its priorities in favor of the middle class, the struggling and the poor. The there is no way that the Editorial Board could ever support a candidate that wants to help the poor.
His stature has grown as his message has taken root — voters leery of stark and growing inequalities have embraced his message of “two cities.” The Editorial Board endorsed Christine Quinn so that we could shift the campaign conversation to be about identity politics, not about income inequality.
He has ennobled the campaign conversation by insisting, correctly, that expanding early education is vital to securing the city’s future. The Editorial Board picked early education as an issue for Mr. de Blasio, because that's an issue that provides the editors with some political cover in the Christine Quinn endorsement.
And yet, Mr. de Blasio’s most ambitious plans — like a powerful new state-city partnership to make forever-failing city hospitals financially viable, or to pay for universal prekindergarten and after-school programs through a new tax on the richest New Yorkers — need support in the State Capitol, and look like legislative long shots. The Editorial Board has brought back Anemona Hartocollis to continue to write shoddy and entirely biased reporting to undermine Mr. de Blasio's platform on saving community hospitals.
Once a Mayor de Blasio saw his boldest ideas smashed on the rocks of Albany, then what? The Editorial Board was told by Mayor Bloomberg that he would pull strings with the state GOP politicians up in Albany to undermine any candidate other than Christine Quinn.
Mr. Thompson, meanwhile, who nearly defeated Mr. Bloomberg four years ago, has run a thoughtful campaign grounded on the insights he gained in important elective and appointed posts in New York City. The Editorial Board can't take Bill Thompson seriously. His wife has taken millions in charitable donations from Mayor Bloomberg. There's no way that the Thompson family isn't already indebted to Mayor Bloomberg, even the editors would figure out this much.
A former president of the old Board of Education, Mr. Thompson argues that he is the best candidate to fix the city schools, but his close ties to the United Federation of Teachers, not always a friend of needed reforms, give us pause. The Editorial Board was told by Mayor Bloomberg that the next item on our political agenda is to bust up the teachers' union.
The teachers’ union is one of the municipal unions itching for retroactive pay raises in contracts that expired under Mr. Bloomberg and need renegotiating. The Editorial Board is going to start a campaign to deny the teachers' union any pay raise.
For all the growing testiness of the campaign, the Democrats share much common ground. The Editorial Board believes that enough real estate and big business campaign donations have steered the Democratic candidates into adopting campaign platforms that embrace an ideology of neoliberalism.
All agree on equality, opportunity and fairness. The Editorial Board doesn't give a shit about equality, opportunity and faireness -- except as it would apply to our dwindling list of advertisers.
They concede that the best of the Bloomberg years — the economic diversification and growth, the astounding drop in crime, the transit innovations, the greener and cleaner public spaces, and big plans for the future — must be preserved. The Editorial Board wants a mayoral candidate that will continue Mayor Bloomberg's policies of gentrification, stop and frisk discrimination, higher transit fares for commuters, the sale of more parks for sports stadiums, and more zone-busting real estate development.
And they agree that the worst must be corrected — starting with the Police Department’s unconstitutional use of stop-and-frisk, which has abused and humiliated hundreds of thousands of innocent New Yorkers. The Editorial Board believes that stop and frisk should be ended in the outer boroughs, but its use should continue in Manhattan, perhaps even increased.
Ms. Quinn has no specific plan to require the richest New Yorkers to pay more in taxes in service of important civic goals (she says she will raise taxes as a last resort), but neither has she made a long list of unrealistic promises. The Editorial Board is happy to see that Christine Quinn will keep sparing the 1% from having to pay their fair share, and, even better, Christine Quinn isn't making any promises to the poor or working classes of New York City. If low-income New Yorkers can't afford to live in New York City, they can always move to New Jersey.
The biggest challenge has not been talked about much — next year the new mayor will have to confront a budget crisis with no money to spare and all those expired municipal contracts to settle. The Editorial Board is salivating at the opportunity that Christine Quinn will have to bust up a few municipal unions.
The mayor we will need then will not be the police reformer or education visionary, but a skilled and realistic negotiator. The Editorial Board doesn't want Christine Quinn to reform the police department. As stated, the editors prefer to continue stop and frisk discrimination and police brutality as a way to drive out undesireables from the five boroughs, or from Manhattan, at least.
Some positions Ms. Quinn has supported are unwise or objectionable. The Editorial Board is thrilled that Christine Quinn so readily adopted neoliberal and racist policies without complaint.
She has been too strong in supporting Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly, the architect and stoutest defender of stop-and-frisk. The Editorial Board expects that Christine Quinn will expand the use of stop-and-frisk.
She has supported, too blindly, Mr. Kelly’s practice of spying on Muslims at prayer, a similar false choice of public safety over the Constitution. The Editorial Board finds this kind of discrimination excusable, and notice how the editors didn't mention how the NYPD also menaces people of color and LGBTQ and gender non-conforming New Yorkers. Basically, the editors don't care about civil rights and civil liberties violations.
She can become mumbly when talking about things that the real estate industry opposes, like changing zoning laws to require construction of affordable apartments. The Editorial Board likes that Christine Quinn won't bite the hand that feeds her.
She has a reputation for shouting, but has shown a capacity to listen, and to be persuaded to change her mind — attributes we will count on seeing more of if she is elected. The Editorial Board is already receiving estimates and bids for the installation of sound proofing in Gracie Mansion.
We had already made up our own minds in favor of Ms. Quinn, but the Wednesday debate would have clinched it anyway. For years, the Editorial Board has been instructing reporters to write their articles from a point of view of bias that fluff's Christine Quinn's image and her campaign.
Candidates were asked what legacy they wanted to leave after two terms. The Editorial Board has arranged it for fix to be in so that Christine Quinn can serve two terms as mayor.
“More people in the middle class,” Ms. Quinn said. The Editorial Board helped Christine Quinn with this lip service.
It was a perfect answer, and she could have left it there. The Editorial Board told Christine Quinn to shut her mouth and not ruin her interview with the editors.
But, Quinn being Quinn, she threw in supporting details. But being the big mouth that she is, Christine Quinn went on tawking and tawkig and tasking, so much so that many editors put on their earphones and started listening to the latest Lady Gaga song on their iPhones.
She wants 40,000 more apartments the middle class can afford to live in. The Editorial Board did hear that Christine Quinn has a plan to help funnel tax breaks and low-cost loans to developers, so that taxpayers could subsidize real estate profits to some of her campaign donors.
She wants to repair crumbling public housing, providing “quality conditions” for 600,000 people. The Editorial Board promised to help support Christine Quinn carry out Mayor Bloomberg's plan to allow the development of luxury high rises on the last little bit of open space in NYCHA housing projects.
She wants to make the school day longer and replace textbooks with electronic tablets. The Editorial Board also liked what it heard when Christine Quinn said that she wants to outsource teachers to a series of computer learning modules in 45 minute segments.
At the buzzer, she threw in: make the city “climate-change ready.” The Editorial Board is looking forward to finding out how Christine Quinn has funnel more tax dollars to real estate developers that keep wanting to build along the rivers and beaches of the five boroughs. The editors view this as a risky proposition, but Christine Quinn seems to be obsessed with making more and more back room deals with real estate developers. The editors want to see how much she can get away with.
A lot of good ideas that, in Ms. Quinn’s case, add up to an achievable vision, and one we would be glad to see come to pass. The Editorial Board is going to help Christine Quinn win by running more fluff pieces about her new luxury condo, her week-end home, her cooking skills, her favourite café, and her love of animals.
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Eric Rudin : "Let Them Eat Cake"

"Is This How Eric Rudin Does Business ?"

Watch as 1%'er Eric Rudin laughs at community activists, who are fighting for a hospital to replace St. Vincent's.

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Friday, August 23, 2013

Christine Quinn Thomas Dewey Harry Truman Newspaper Headline Misfortune

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Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Christine Quinn Cancels Fire Island Fundraisers ; Activists Cancel Protests

PLEASE BE ADVISED THAT QUINN HAS CANCELLED all three of her Fire Island fundraisers on Saturday, claiming that she has to be in Washington D.C. for a march commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the "I Have a Dream" speech. Quinn has known about that march for a long time, and she could have easily flown back to Long Island from Washington in time for her afternoon fundraisers. Having an out-of-town conflict must be the best excuse she could find to cancel all of her Fire Island events.

Of course, we know the truth --- Quinn cancelled because she would have been humiliated by the day of protests, and she does not want NYers to know that she is being rejected by people in her own community. Because her events are cancelled, we are canceling the trip to Fire Island. Again, thanks to everybody for supporting our efforts.

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SUNY Took Over LICH To Sell the Real Estate - Where Is the Criminal Investigation ?

SUNY Took Over LICH To Sell the Real Estate - Where Is the Criminal Investigation ? (True News)

Judge Carolyn Demarest has found that SUNY may have taken over Long Island College Hospital with the intention of "a more sinister purpose to seize its assets and dismantle the hospital." If the 2011 SUNY takeover of LICH was encumbered by fraud, then Stanley Brezenoff, Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the SUNY Board of Trustees, Carl McCall, and Stephen Berger need to be investigated.

2013-08-20 LICH Demarest Decision and Order

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AOL VIDEO : Christine Quinn and Mayor Bloomberg Exposed on St. Vincent's Hospital Closing

AOL VIDEO has produced a report about the slapping incident that occurred at a press event in front of the former site of St. Vincent's Hospital. St. Vincent's closed in 2010 after Rudin Management Company foreclosed on mortgage notes it held. The hospital was rezoned for a billion dollar luxury condominium and townhouse complex after Rudin Management Company executives and owners were exposed to have contributed $30,000 in campaign donations to what eventually became Christine Quinn's 2013 mayoral campaign account


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Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Fire Island Invasion to Protest Christine Quinn - Saturday, August 24, 2013

photo Fire-Island-Invasion-Export-525_zps2600420c.jpg

Queers Against Christine Quinn is joining members of the Defeat Christine Quinn group and The Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club and our supporters in Fire Island to protest Christine Quinn at three fundraisers for her campaign on Saturday, August 24th.

RSVP on Facebook : Protest Against Christine Quinn - Fire Island

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Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Christine Quinn Falls Flat At Mayoral Candidate Debate (Select Tweets)

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Monday, August 12, 2013

How Can Christine Quinn Return $25,000 In Undocumented William Rapfogel Century Coverage Donations ?

Christine Quinn William Rapfogel Met Council Discretionary Funds New York City Council Slush Funds Corruption Investigation photo christine-quinn-william-rapfogel-crop_zps2d228203.jpg

Daily News Daily Politics : Christine Quinn Returns $25,000 In Donations To Firm Tied To William Rapfogel Scandal

Hours after we blogged that City Council Speaker Christine Quinn had allotted New York City Council discretionary funds to the Metropolitan Council, Speaker Quinn's mayoral campaign announced that they were returning $25,000 in campaign donations at the center of the William Rapfogel scandal.

Mr. Rapfogel was terminated today as executive and president of the Met Council after revelations of financial irregularities. Initial reports showed that Met Council might have been using city or state funding to funnel money to an insurance company named Century Coverage Corporation, which would, in turn, funnel that money through employees to a/some 2013 New York mayoral candidate(s). But then later reports alleged that Mr. Rapfogel was taking kickbacks from an insurance company, which he would then funnel as campaign donations to a/some 2013 New York mayoral candidate(s). But a Campaign Finance Board report run today for all election cycles showing employers beginning with Century Coverage turned up no 2013 campaign donations.

2013-08-12 Century Coverage All Election Cycles CFB Advanced Search - New York City Campaign Finance Board by Connaissable

Three glaring problems exist with Speaker Quinn's announcement that she is returning $25,000 in campaign donations tied to the William Fogel-Met Council-Century Coverage scandal :

(i) The previous Campaign Finance Board doesn't show $25,000 in recent disclosed campaign donations to Speaker Quinn's mayoral campaign ;

(ii) The following Campaign Finance Board report shows all Rapfogel donations made for all election cycles, and Mr. Rapfogel is not shown as having made any campaign donations to Speaker Quinn's mayoral campaign ; and

2013-08-12 RAPFOGEL All Election Cycles Donations Quick Search - New York City Campaign Finance Board

(iii) In a Crain's report, it was reported that "Hank Sheinkopf, a veteran political operative and prominent member of the city's Jewish community, said Mr. Rapfogel's legal predicament will likely make more trouble" for New York State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver. (Met Council head fired amid probe) If Speaker Quinn was returning $25,000 in untraceable donations, does this mean that Speaker Silver is going to be expected to return tainted donations, too ? And why did Mr. Sheinkopf say that political backsplash was going to splish splash only on Speaker Silver, when within hours of our first blog post it was Speaker Quinn, who was rushing to unload $25,000 in undocumented campaign donations ?

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Christine Quinn William Rapfogel Met Council Slush Funds Corruption

Joseph Ross admitted that William Rapfogel, the former head of the Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty, told him to make contributions to various politicians and political organizations using money from their $7 million kickback scheme, The Daily News reports.

Christine Quinn William Rapfogel Met Council Discretionary Funds New York City Council Slush Funds Corruption Investigation photo christine-quinn-william-rapfogel-crop_zps2d228203.jpg

BREAKING : The leader of yet another charity group that receives discretionary funds from Christine Quinn's political slush fund has resigned today from an organization due to an impending investigation into financial improprieties. This morning, the Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty issued a statement announcing the immediate termination of its chief executive and president, William Rapfogel. (Attorney General Investigating Power Broker William Rapfogel) Under Mr. Rapfogel, Speaker Quinn has consistently funneled money to the Met Council, even when those allocations came under scrutiny for their regularity. (Christine Quinn Grants Slush Funds to Metropolitan Council) According to WNBC, "Sources familiar with the investigation said the probe is examining what happened to some of the organization’s funds and whether any of that money might have been improperly funneled into the political campaigns of some New York City mayoral candidates." (William Rapfogel Jewish Charities Metropolitan Council Investigation) We know from prior reports from the Daily News that Speaker Quinn has awarded hundreds of thousands of dollars in discretionary funds to nonprofit groups that have helped her mayoral campaign. (Christine Quinn Grants Slush Funds To Nonprofits Which Donated Campaign Contributions To Her Political Campaign)

Indeed, just last month, when Speaker Quinn's mayoral campaign was in trouble because of Anthony Weiner's ascendant, insurgent campaign, Speaker Quinn's closest political advisers were invited to an emergency strategy meeting to help fluff up her then-troubled mayoral campaign. The invitees to this emergency strategy session included Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty CEO William Rapfogel. (Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty CEO William Rapfogel Participated In Emergency Secret Strategy Session To Fluff Christine Quinn's Struggling Mayoral Campaign) What kind of role was Mr. Rapfogel and the Met Council playing as a result of Speaker Quinn's emergency campaign strategy session ? How could there be an arm's length distance between Speaker Quinn and the Met Council if the charity group was helping her strategize her electioneering strategy ? Were slush funds payments or kickback campaign donations part of this emergency strategy ? Hmmmmmmmm......?

According to The New York Times, "Investigators are, among other angles, looking at the relationship between Mr. Rapfogel and Century Coverage Corporation, an insurance company based in Valley Stream, N.Y., according to people familiar with the investigation. Investigators are focusing in particular on generous contributions that the company’s chief executive, Joseph Ross, and other employees have made to candidates for New York City offices. The company’s employees have given almost $120,000 to various candidates since the late 1990s, including $26,175 to several candidates in 2013. Company officials could not immediately be reached for comment."

But a report generated today from the Campaign Finance Board shows no campaign donations from 2013. This report was generated from a search by employer that begins with, "Century Coverage." Were the 2013 campaign contributions deliberately not fully disclosed to the Campaign Finance Board ?

2013-08-12 Century Coverage All Election Cycles CFB Advanced Search - New York City Campaign Finance Board by Connaissable

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Sunday, August 11, 2013

Christine Quinn Preschool Plan Will Drives Families Into Debt Early

Separately, The New York Observer were skeptical that more student loans was the right policy for debt-burdened families. "Student loan debt may be crippling everyone from recent college grads to senior citizens, but now New York parents will be able to start piling on the educational debt when their children are mere toddlers (the inverse, we assume, of saving for college?)," The Observer reported last week. (Should Upper Middle Class Tots Get Subsidized Student Loans for Pre-School ?)

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Saturday, August 10, 2013

Extell George Arzt Moreland Commission Christine Quinn One57 Connections

True News Exclusive : Will Moreland Look At City Officials/Candidates, Who Got Donations And Matching Funds From Extell's One57 ?

One57 Luxury Condo NYC photo One57-Luxury-Condo-NYC_zpsad5fb75f.jpg

Extell, the sponsor of ‪‎One57‬, the billionaire luxury high-rise residential tower with spectacular views of Central Park, is the subject of a corruption probe by a Moreland Commission after Extell made payments of $100,000 to New York Governor Andrew Cuomo's campaign accounts. Two days after the payments were made, Gov. Cuomo signed into law tax breaks for Extell. Meanwhile, Gary Tilzer, the journalist, has published information today that shows that Extell also made political contributions to various city officials and political candidates.

Gaming the System : It was not only Vito Lopez, Marty Golden, Keith Wright, Cuomo, the Albany Assembly, and Senate PACs of both parties that got money from Extell Development, sponsor of One57. The political donations were allegedly made in exchange for tax breaks. At least 6 citywide candidates got the loot from the building's developers. Extell contributions to city officials were designed to take advantage of the public matching fund program. Most were $175 with many of the same contributors giving to more than one candidate. The Moreland Commission is looking into the state contributions and tax reductions connections, but there is no indication if the commission will look into whether the city pols took the cash as part of pay-to-play. They should. George Arzt is a flack for Extell, and he works for at least two of the candidates, who got money from the developer. (True News)

Christine Quinn accepted over $11,000 in disclosed campaign contributions from employees of Extell, the sponsor of One57.

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn has a history of appearing to grant zone busting approvals to wealthy real estate developers after she has received substantial campaign contributions from the same real estate developers, which are seeking zoning changes or approvals. Is she engaged in pay-to-play politics just as much as Gov. Cuomo is ? Will she be investigated next by the Moreland Commission ?

2013-08-10 Extell Contributions to Christine Quinn Advanced Search - New York City Campaign Finance Board by Connaissable

The city candidate, who received the most donations (disclosed to the Campaign Finance Board) from Extell, was none other than City Council Speaker Christine Quinn. Her donations were estimated to be about $15,000. Gary Tilzer estimates that based on that amount, the amount of matching funds from these corrupt donations would yield an additional $90,000 for Speaker Quinn's mayoral campaign. Mr. Tilzer asks whether there will be any corruption investigation into these donations, which obviously aim to game the system.

In total, disclosed Extell contributions to all city officials and political candidates during the 2013 campaign cycle have exceeded $30,000.

With these other city officials and political candidates be the subject of the commission's investigation, too ?

Extell Campaign Donations to NYC Candidates 2013 Election Cycle CFB-08092013 by Connaissable

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Friday, August 9, 2013

Abner Louima NYPD Torture Anniversary - Christine Quinn Brutality Task Force Compromise

Christine Quinn Watered Down Rudy Giuliani's Abner Louima NYPD Police Brutality Task Force Recommendations.

Quinn Then Went On To Enable NYPD Culture Of Racism And Brutality.

Before the evening of August 9, 1997, was out, NYPD police officers had brutalized and tortured Abner Louima inside a police station house in Brooklyn.

After the tremendous public outcry, then Mayor Rudy Giuliani appointed a police brutality task force, and among the task force members he named was Christine Quinn. She was one of the driving forces to weaken the task force's recommendations, and eventually her efforts lead to a split among the task force members.

The weaker recommendations, which Quinn championed, went on to be represented in a majority report of the task force, while a set of more aggressive recommendations were formulated in a minority report. Read this excerpt from a report published by The New York Daily News :

Norman Siegel, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union and a task-force member, spearheaded a dissenting report that made a connection between race and police misconduct. "On issues like police brutality and race, you never compromise," Siegel said. But Quinn said her strategy was to make it easier for Mayor Giuliani who called some of the report's recommendations unrealistic to adopt reforms quickly in the wake of the sodomy and torture of Abner Louima, allegedly by police. (NYDailyNews * Saturday, February 20, 1999, 12:00 AM)

On the anniversary of Mr. Louima's torture and brutality, let us not forget who Speaker Quinn sides with.

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Thursday, August 8, 2013

WTF Christine Quinn Opposes A Boycott of the 2014 Sochi Russian Olympics

WTF Christine Quinn Opposes A Boycott of the 2014 Sochi Russian Olympics photo Slide1_zps5c073d86.jpg

“We all need to focus immediately on doing everything we can as Americans and as part of a larger international community to change what is going on in Russia,” Christine Quinn told The Washington Blade, adding, “We’ve all got to keep pushing to make change. It’s really a life and death issue.” But Quinn stopped short of calling for a boycott of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, over the country’s LGBT rights record. Hurting Russia where in counts -- in the pocketbook -- will be the only thing that will work, but doing that might hurt Quinn in her own pocketbook. How many times must Quinn throw the LGBT community under the bus before folks wake up to the real reality : Quinn does what her corporate puppet masters tell her to do, even if it means that the lives of LGBT's are put on the line.

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Wednesday, August 7, 2013

ESPA scrubs Web site of Dick Dadey's role in supporting New York City Council redistricting

2013-08-08 Roots of Betrayal - Who is Dick Dadey Press Release by Connaissable

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Tuesday, August 6, 2013

Cy Vance Dirty DA Video Now on Dropbox

This video was once on YouTube and on Vimeo, before the video was censored. Now, it's on Dropbox -- for now.

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Christine Quinn Hospital Closing Political Failure Meme

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Christine Quinn Slush Fund Scandal Triggers Retrospective Look by City & State

The Slush Fund Legacy and the Future of Member Items

"Given her current standing as a leading candidate to be New York City’s next mayor, it’s hard to believe that five years ago City Council Speaker Christine Quinn’s political future was on life support. In April 2008 The New York Post reported that Quinn and her staff in the Speaker’s office had hidden millions of taxpayer dollars by allocating grants to a “slush fund” with phantom organizations, alleging that Quinn would later use the money to dole out political favors." (City & State)

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Sunday, August 4, 2013

Maureen Dowd and Christine Quinn talk about teal toenail polish

photo 2013-08-04LordandTaylorSummerClearanceSale80percentoff_zpsc0dca735.png

Dowd and Quinn stop short of talking about the Summer Clearance Sale (Save Up To 80%) happening now at Lord & Taylor.

At approximately 12:00 p.m. on Sunday, 4 August 2013, only hours after the latest column by Maureen Dowd was published on The New York Times Web site, the comments widget attached to that column was closed.

Only 184 comments were allowed to be published, which is a small number for The New York Times, which can generate nearly 1,000 on some of its most controversial articles or editorial columns.

Today's column created waves on social media, because it appeared that Ms. Dowd was letting New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn off the hook from some of her more scandalous incidents of political corruption.

Instead, by the time Ms. Down reached the conclusion her column, Who’s That Candidate in the Teal Toenail Polish ?, she admits that she fell in love with Speaker Quinn's toenail polish ! “It matches my campaign literature, that’s the point of it!” Quinn said excitedly, pulling two bottles out of her bag. “It’s the color of the blue on my posters so I’m trying to wear it all summer long.” Let's hope The New York Times gets more serious about the issues impacting New Yorkers, from hospital closings, to the record of racial discrimination and brutality at the NYPD, to the runaway give-aways to the real estate industry, the privatization of public education, the growing disparities of income inequality, Quinn's role in the slush fund scandal, Quinn's role in overturning term limits, the overall culture of corruption during the Bloomberg-Quinn administration, and the erosion of civil liberties and civil rights. It's difficult to see how the color of toenail polish rates against any of these issues.

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Christine Quinn - Moving On Up

A new video posted on YouTube takes a satirical look of New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn’s political record. The video is set to a Karaoke recording of “Moving On Up,” the famous theme song from the hit sitcom, The Jeffersons, and the video uses sarcasm when Speaker Quinn denies some of the most controversial political choices she’s made.

Among the issues addressed in this short video are :

  • the $30,000 in campaign contributions Speaker Quinn accepted from Rudin Management Company, which basically foreclosed on St. Vincent’s Hospital ;
  • Speaker Quinn’s controversial support for police commissioner Ray Kelly, who oversaw a culture of racism and brutality at the NYPD ;
  • Speaker Quinn’s controversial use of fictitious accounts to hide her political slush fund ; and
  • the ever-changing rationale for extending term limits.

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Christine Quinn Enables Whitewashing of AIDS History

A show at the New-York Historical Society is accused of whitewashing several controversies during the early years of AIDS. What does LGBT identity politics mean to Christine Quinn in this year's mayoral election if shit like this happens in New York City, and no LGBT politician, not even her, takes a stand against the censorship and the whitewashing at this AIDS exhibit ?

Who can support an LGBT candidate for public office who throws her own LGBT community under the bus, because, time and time again, it's the politically expedient thing to do ?

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Christine Quinn Campaign Mailer Litter Box Queens Crap

Christine Quinn Campaign Mailer Litter Box Queens Crap photo christine-quinn-litter-box-queens-crap_zps5026541a.jpg

In New York City politics, it seems like a rite of passage, but one of a decidedly unflattering nature. Four years ago, when Mayor Michael Bloomberg ran for a previously illegal third term in office, many bloggers and activists used Mayor Bloomberg's campaign mailers as a lining for feline litter boxes. This act of protest was in response to the blatant disregard for the two voter referenda that instituted term limits for elected municipal officials. This time around, the mayoral campaign mailers sent by Christine Quinn are being used to line litter boxes. Quinn was seen as the chief architect of the back room deal with Mayor Bloomberg to force City Council to vote to overturn term limits. Consequently, she's now earned this dishonorable distinction.

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