Who is Carlos Menchaca ?

Who is Carlos Menchaca ?

Carlos Menchaca, center, poses for a photograph with his idols, Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, left, who supports NSA spying, and Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez, right, who The Daily News described as the most inactive New York delegate to Congress in 2011.

How real can Carlos Menchaca be ? He is running for the 38th City Council District City Council from Brooklyn based on a fine line that the advocacy for work he was paid to do after Hurricane Sandy makes him most qualified for that post. He is running in opposition against incumbent Sara Gonzalez. At the time of his ascendancy in Red Hook circles, Mr. Menchaca was a paid staffer/informant for New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, and he was tasked to do electioneering work on her behalf, in an effort to fluff her image among people, who suffered damage as a reslut of Hurricane Sandy

Here is a video of Mr. Menchaca made in 2011 by a prominent Brooklyn blogger in which Mr. Menchaca introduces himself as representing New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn's office :

After Hurricane Sandy, Mr. Menchaca was dispatched to Red Hook, Brooklyn, to collect political information that could help Speaker Quinn's mayoral campaign efforts. Once she was done with him, Speaker Quinn turned to support the incumbent, Ms. Gonzalez. Although Mr. Menchaca likes to spin his Hurricane Sandy work in a positive light, look at how writer Zoltan Gluck portrayed Mr. Menchaca's lack of community sensibilities :

The agenda of the small business coalition was captured succinctly by ReStore Red Hook founder, Monica Byrne, at a community meeting in early November : “We will not stop until every single small business in Red Hook re-opens its doors again.” As a vehicle for fund-raising, grant applications, and political lobbying, ReStore Red Hook has become a pivotal actor in the dynamics of recovery and reconstruction in the neighborhood. The example of a large grant awarded by the Brooklyn Community Foundation in December for Sandy recovery work is symptomatic. Through personal connections with Carlos Menchaca, Christine Quinn’s official liaison in Red Hook, a coalition of five organizations in Red Hook (including NGOs, residents and small businesses) were able to secure a large grant from the Brooklyn Community Foundation. Without any community oversight over how such funds ought to be disbursed, 80% of the funds were ultimately allocated to ReStore Red Hook. In a neighborhood where over 70% of the population lives in public housing, to allocate 80% of incoming resources to small businesses along a gentrifying corridor simply callous. It is also a form of institutional racism reproduced and replicated through everyday practices. By mobilizing cultural, legal, and political capital to control incoming resources and funnel them towards small businesses, this coalition is indirectly working to disempower and displace the working-class Black and Latino community of Red Hook. (Race, Class, and Disaster Gentrification * Tidal)

Even after he curried favour with Speaker Quinn's office by doing her bidding, he was betrayed by Speaker Quinn. Then, the work that Mr. Menchaca did on her behalf was portrayed as furthering the pain of gentrification in Red Hook.

The election system seems to be broken if people, who get paid to do community work, then turn around and portray that paid community work in a way to offer it as evidence of sufficient qualification for running for public office.

First, if Mr. Menchaca wanted to portray his work in support of people, who suffered damage as a result of Hurricane Sandy, in a positive light, then he would have had to have done it from a noble place, not as part of a paid political staff member for Speaker Quinn's political machine.

And second, Mr. Menchaca's contributions to the hurricane recovery effort should have actually helped those with the least, and not aggravated the pressures caused by gentrification, as pointed out by Occupy activists.

Maybe Mr. Menchaca is trying to use a strategy from Speaker Quinn's own political playbook. When she was young, Speaker Quinn was once the paid executive director of the Anti-Violence Project. She later used her paid work at that agency to parlay it as evidence of her commitment for advocacy work in her campaign for the New York City Council in 1999. If Speaker Quinn's real record of advocacy is any indication, Mr. Menchaca would do better to just come out right now and openly represent himself to be a tool of business interests. That would spare voters the need for him to be dishonest with the community he intends to represent.

Quinn Wants NYC Version of Citizens United

Will Quinn's Weaker Campaign Finance Bill Lead To Her Very Own Private Watergate ?

Finding loopholes to funnel unlimited amounts of unregulated campaign cash to influence elections was the scandal, along with the break-in and cover-up, that lead to Watergate and President Richard Nixon's resignation.

When given the chance, why does New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn fight progressive campaign finance reforms ? Why is less campaign finance regulation better ? In the aftermath of the dangerous Citizens United court ruling, which unleashed unlimited corporate spending in political campaigns, why would Speaker Quinn want to go down that route ? What role does campaign money play in her political decisions ?

From The New York Times :

Christine C. Quinn, the City Council speaker and an expected candidate for mayor next year, is supporting a change to New York City’s campaign finance rules that would significantly expand the ability of unions, corporations and advocacy groups to spend money on behalf of local candidates. ...

Critics said the measure, introduced nine months ahead of what is expected to be a closely contested mayoral race, would effectively outsmart the city’s stringent campaign finance system, which tries to rein in spending by interest groups and candidates alike. ...

[C]ritics of the legislation said it would create a new and weaker definition of “coordination,” a change that the Campaign Finance Board says would make it virtually impossible to prove that a mailing was illegally coordinated with a candidate. ... (The New York Times : Quinn Supports Loosening Rules On Campaign Financing By Corporations)

From The Wall Street Journal :

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, a likely contender for mayor next year, has riled the agency that administers the city's public campaign-financing system by pushing new legislation that opponents contend would significantly expand the power of unions, corporations and other groups in local elections. (The Wall Street Journal : Quinn Lashed On Campaign Legislation)

Remember, Speaker Quinn is the one, who despite criticism, continues to use slush funds and lulus to thwart the democratic process in City Council.

Are self-serving choices, like supporting weaker campaign finance regulations, one of the reasons why Alec Baldwin said that Speaker Quinn is ''untrustworthy'' ?

As His Popularity Sags In This Tough Economy, Mayor Bloomberg Spends $1 Million On Desperate Campaign Commercials

Mayor Michael Bloomberg launches a major TV advertising blitz to fluff his ''reputation,'' even as his goodwill amongst voters shrivels up.

Mayor Bloomberg has reportedly made a media buy of almost $1 million worth of TV commercials that tell the story that he has been ''fighting for New York,'' instead of trying to close firehouses, shut down senior citizen centers, cut childcare, layoff teachers, avoid missing votes, build luxury condos on the hallowed ground of St. Vincent's Hospital, make money from government information, and end Progressive Era reforms. It should come as no surprise that, consequently, Mayor Bloomberg is falling in popularity amongst voters. It's almost as if Mayor Bloomberg's legacy has been flushed down the toilet.

What Does Christine Quinn Do To Stop Mayor Bloomberg's Company From Raiding Our Government Of Its Information ?

Nothing, naturally. Does everybody have their hands in the cookie jar ?

''Bloomberg Government'' is a money-making enterprise for Mayor Bloomberg's company, where he makes money from government and personal information, like contracts, employee lists, and other forms of databases.

Apparently, there is a lot of money to be made from government contracts, especially from cost over-runs, like what happened with CityTime.

So far, prosecutors can prove that $80 million has been stolen from the government payments for the CityTime payroll system, a shady black hole of an IT contract. In a separate analysis of the CityTime scandal, the newsroom of WNYC radio has estimated that, as of December 2010, New York City has spent ''more than $630 million on CityTime, which was supposed to cost just $63 million.''

If only there was a way that Mayor Bloomberg could get rid of checks and balances in New York and others could end progressive era reforms, like collective bargaining in states like Wisconsin, that way companies, which have an inside edge on government contracts and government employee lists, could go after all the cost over-runs that are possible from government contracts once there is no more government oversight ! All the more better for Bloomberg Government would be if Mayor Bloomberg could find ways to stop the City Council from checking his desire for more and more mayoral control.

Meanwhile, with all the employees that revolve between City Hall and Bloomberg L.P., how do we know if there are any safeguards on material, non-public government information ?