Protest Against Christine Quinn at Jackson Heights Mayoral Forum

Several activists stood outside the Jewish Center in Jackson Heights tonight, to protest Christine Quinn's dismal record on LGBT equality, NYPD discrimination, and restrictions on the use of birth control.

Tonight's protest, which had been announced well in advance, was a success, activists said, because Christine Quinn cancelled her appearance at this forum.

Tonight's mayoral forum was sponsored by the New Visions Democratic Club, by the Lesbian Gay Democratic Club of Queens, and by City Councilmember Daniel Dromm.

Activists distributed over 300 flyers outside of tonight's mayoral forum. In their interaction with passers-by and with the attendees at tonight's mayoral form, activists often mentioned how Christine Quinn was primarily responsible for extending term limits to allow Mayor Michael Bloomberg to steal a third term, how Christine Quinn's use of slush funds creates a culture of corruption in City Hall, and how Christine Quinn has failed to hold the NYPD accountable for discriminating against innocent New Yorkers.

LGBT activists question why Christine Quinn, who is the highest elected openly LGBT politician in New York City politics, does not stand up to the NYPD. The NYPD have demonstrated a pattern of discriminating and falsely arresting innocent LGBT New Yorkers if they carry condoms. Police claim that if LGBT New Yorkers carry condoms, then the condoms are evidence that LGBT New Yorkers are engaged in prostitution.

Protest against @chriscquinn's inaction against NYPD condom criminalization today at 6:30 pm facebook.com/events/1650544… twitter.com/stopchrisquinn…

— Stop Christine Quinn (@stopchrisquinn) April 11, 2013

Activists displayed a banner, which portrayed a condom locked in a handcuff to represent how NYPD are trying to crack down on safe sex practices -- forcing us to return to backward Victorian times.

How can Christine Quinn support this kind of crackdown on the use of prophylactics, if the fact that prophylactics and birth control because legal in 1965 only after decades of attempts by Planned Parenthood to make it legal for people to use contraception.

But that's not all. The NYPD policy on stop-and-frisk also deliberately targets transgenders ; meanwhile, Christine Quinn does not hold the NYPD for discriminating against the LGBT community. The stop-and-frisk program discriminates, and, as a consequence, the City of New York ends up paying hundreds of millions in damages for violating the civil rights of innocent New Yorkers.

#NY’s Stop-and-Frisk #Election: In 2011 alone, #NYC paid out over $180 million in lawsuits against the #NYPDbit.ly/Zc7YX3

— BQ Brew (@BQBrew) April 11, 2013

Here is one of the flyers, which activists distributed tonight :

2013-04-11 Christine Quinn Stop and Frisk Condom Flyer

What a disgrace for the NYPD to menace the LGBT community like this. In an article in The New York Times last week-end, it was notable that no LGBT leader in this city was quoted here to denounce the institutional discrimination by the NYPD of LGBT New Yorkers. Most notable was the absence or silence by Christine Quinn, the highest elected LGBT official in New York City politics. She is somebody, who has a sensibility of what it means to be treated different because of her identity as a woman and as a lesbian. And yet she has said nothing about how the NYPD treats others in the LGBT community solely based on their identity. And in all the articles about how stop-and-frisk is used by the NYPD against communities of color and other minority groups, there has remained a radio silence about how a municipality can discriminate against people in public spaces based on sex, race, and other factors that are expressly prohibited by the Civil Rights Act. When were municipalities given the option of not enforcing the Civil Rights Act ? And how can the NYPD deliberately violate Griswold v. Connecticut, the landmark case that legalised the use of contraceptives in the United States ? When did carrying contraception or prophylactics become a criminal behaviour ? How can this be ?

Quinn Hires Stroock To Violate NY1 Freedom Of Press

On the same day when the civic group called NYC Is Not For Sale 2013 produced and paid for a TV ad that criticised Christine Quinn's mayoral campaign, Speaker Quinn hired a very expensive law firm to bully NY1 into pulling the plug on the TV ad. Now, the NY1 program The Call is dedicating an entire hour to the topic of Speaker Quinn's questionable ethics.

Blogs and YouTube videos critical of @chriscquinn have been censored. No surprise that her reaction to NY1 is more censorship. @ny1thecall

— Stop Christine Quinn (@stopchrisquinn) April 9, 2013

Speaker Quinn's lawyer threatened NY1 with the possibility that it would lose its broadcast license if it did not remove the TV ad.

Here's the letter from Quinn's campaign calling on NY1 to pull anti-Quinn ad scribd.com/doc/134783153/…

— Chris Bragg (@ChrisBragg1) April 8, 2013

2013-04-08 Christine Quinn NY1 Stroock Threatening Letter

Why doesn't Stroock go after the artist and blogger Suzannah B. Troy ? Maybe because Ms. Troy's videos tell the truth ? Hmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Blogs and YouTube videos critical of @chriscquinn have been censored. No surprise that her reaction to NY1 is more censorship. @ny1thecall

— Stop Christine Quinn (@stopchrisquinn) April 9, 2013

For years before Speaker Quinn's campaign threatened NY1 with losing its license, entire blogs, entire YouTube channels, and several individual YouTube videos, which have been critical of Speaker Quinn, have been censored. The Christine Quinn parody puppet show video was censored by YouTube for several months.

And the No Third Term blog was censored, as well.

Anti-Christine Quinn Group Releases Campaign Ad : The Smoke-Filled Room

New York City will be better off without Speaker Quinn as Mayor. Her record on living wage, paid sick leave, term limits, lack of support for animal rights and animal welfare, combined with her reputation for siding with the rich and powerful to advance her own political aspirations, makes it clear that as mayor, Quinn would only continue to appease special interests that do not have the well-being of all New Yorkers in mind.

Like this new group on Facebook : NYC Is Not For Sale 2013

Read more : Outside Group Pledges to Spend Up To $1 million to Defeat Christine Quinn

Many activists openly question the viability of Speaker Christine Quinn's mayoral campaign, because she has been attracting ever more criticism from unions, LGBT activists, animal rights groups, Progressive Democrats, and even some of her former major donors, such as Wendy K. Neu, who has abandoned Speaker Quinn's campaign.

If Speaker Quinn's campaign is now doomed, based on all of the opponents, who are now lining up against her, then maybe the right action by New York Democrats would be to encourage Anthony Weiner to enter the race.

It's like "Upstairs, Downstairs" amongst the anti-Quinn movement, some activists say. A handful of activists have been working for over four years to fight for integrity in New York City government on no budget, but here comes along NYC Is Not For Sale 2013, pledging to spend $1 million to defeat Speaker Quinn's mayoral campaign. Activists welcome the help, but what message does another million dollar electioneering effort say in this Citizens United era ? Look at the humour and satire in the art of Suzannah B. Troy's political commentary :

Financial Funding for the Stop and Frisk Program

Each year, New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn approves the New York City budget, which provides the financial funding the NYPD to carry out its stop-and-frisk program.

Stop-and-frisk violates Title III of the Civil Rights Act. Title III states that municipalities are prohibited from discriminating in public spaces against people based on race, sex, religion and other factors. And yet, why does the City Council and its speaker approve the use of taxpayer money to fund the NYPD to carry out an illegal and unconstitutional discriminatory program ?

NYPD Menace LGBT New Yorkers Based On Clothes : Arrests by the Fashion Police

"The elasticity that officers in New York and elsewhere have been given to police quality-of-life violations has had the unfortunate effect of leaving transgender women, especially, susceptible to the charge that they must be engaged in sex work."

The NYPD are arresting gays, lesbians, transgenders, and other gender non-conforming New Yorkers as part of their stop-and-frisk dragnet, and increasingly they are charging people, who do not conform to gender roles, with criminality. The charges are often suspicion of prostitution, and the police use and/or plant condoms as evidence of sex work, The New York Times has reported. See : Arrests By The Fashion Police

Christine Quinn is not quoted in this article. How odd is it for the city's highest ranking LGBT official to not be visible, to be outraged by this crisis ? Or is her absence intentional ?

What a disgrace for the NYPD to menace the LGBT community like this. In an article of such gravity, it is notable that no LGBT leader in this city is quoted here to denounce the institutional discrimination by the NYPD of LGBT New Yorkers. Most notable is the absence or silence by Christine Quinn, the highest elected LGBT official in New York City politics. She is somebody, who has a sensibility of what it means to be treated different because of her identity as a woman and as a lesbian. And yet she says nothing about how the NYPD treats others in the LGBT community solely based on their identity. And in all the articles about how stop-and-frisk is used by the NYPD against communities of color and other minority groups, there remains a radio silence about how can a municipality discriminate against people in public spaces based on sex, race, and other factors that are expressly prohibited by the Civil Rights Act. When were municipalities given the option of opting out of enforcing the Civil Rights Act ? And how can the NYPD deliberately violate Griswold v. Connecticut, the landmark case that legalised the use of contraceptives in the United States ? When did carrying contraception or prophylactics become a criminal behaviour ? How can this be ?

Christine Quinn, who is speaker of the New York City Council, each year approves the NYPD budget without defunding the unconstitutional stop-and-frisk policy, but Speaker Quinn has become silent about how the NYPD menace the LGBT community. Some observe that her actions enable the NYPD to continue to use stop-and-frisk against the LGBT community, because Speaker Quinn is seeking the endorsement of the police union in her campaign for mayor.

Related : Christine Quinn betrays the LGBT community

2013-04-01 Roots of Betrayal © 2013 by Louis Flores - Uncorrected Proof Not For Sale Chapter I Excerpt by Connaissable

How Christine Quinn Approved St. Vincent's Hospital To Become Luxury Condos

Suzannah B. Troy "Leave Britney Alone!" Christine Quinn Parody

Mayor Bloomberg-Christine Quinn-Britney Spears "Stop Picking On Me" parody!

After Mayor Michael Bloomberg begged for people to "Leave Christine Alone !", the blogger-activist-artist Suzannah B. Troy has produced a hilarious parody YouTube video based on Chris Rocker's "Leave Britney Alone !" video.

Suzannah B. Troy dressed up in drag, first as Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and then as New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn. In a hilarious send-up of the "Leave Britney Alone !" video, Ms. Troy weeps and whines the way that Mr. Rocker did, only the subjects of Ms. Troy's complaints have to do with serious public issues, like the closing of St. Vincent's Hospital and the massive fraud in connection with the doomed CityTime project.

From The New York Post :

The mayor yesterday launched an impassioned defense of his longtime ally and suggested she was getting unfairly pounded for a corruption scandal involving another member of the council.

“I’ve always said that I think Speaker Quinn, who is getting criticized for this, is a person of enormous integrity, and I think she has done an excellent job of running the city,” Bloomberg declared.

“It’s not an easy job, and I think she’d done it well.”

Mayor Bloomberg was angry at critics of Speaker Quinn, like Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, who has called for the elimination of Speaker Quinn's slush fund after Queens Republican Councilmember Daniel Halloran was arrested in bribery and corruption charges in connection to Speaker Quinn's slush fund.

Related : Read Chapter 1 of ''Roots of Betrayal : The Ethics of Christine Quinn'' on Scribd.

Eric Stevenson Christine Quinn Corruption Connection ?

New York State Assemblyman Eric Stevenson is accused of corruption in an expanding probe. The state Assemblyman from the South Bronx is charged with taking $20,000 in bribes.

To nobody's surprise, Assemblymember Stevenson worked at the City Council from 2007 to 2010, where he reported to Council Speaker Christine Quinn. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

Read more : Eric Stevenson: Is a once-promising career now heading for disgrace?

2013-04-02 134012670-Eric-Stevenson-Complaint by Connaissable

We are all just waiting around for a legislator or a @nyccouncil member to be wired and to make a slush fund deal with @chriscquinn.

— Stop Christine Quinn (@stopchrisquinn) April 4, 2013

Rudin Real Estate-Quinn Related Campaign Donations

In exchange for $30,000 in campaign donations, did New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn sell out her community ?

Do the political campaign donations by Beth R. DeWoody, Madeleine R. Johnson, Eric C. Rudin, Jack Rudin, Katherine Rudin, and William C. Rudin, who each donated $4,950 to Christine Quinn's presumed 2013 mayoral campaign, amount to influence peddling ? After all, since even before St. Vincent's Hospital closed, Speaker Quinn has been toeing the Rudin family line : close down St. Vincent's and replace it with an inferior urgent care center.

Not only did Speaker Quinn say that we only needed an urgent care center to replace St. Vincent's, but she approved the Rudin family's plan, allowing St. Vincent's Hospital to be rezoned into luxury condos. Since 2010, the Rudin family has been trying to get approval for a billion-dollar real estate development plan for the buildings that belong to the bankruptcy estate of St. Vincent's Hospital. Since the Rudin family wants to build luxury high-rise condos on the site of St. Vincent's, and since they needed City Council approval from Speaker Quinn, do these large campaign donations explain why Speaker Quinn did nothing to restore a Level I trauma center and full-service hospital to the former St. Vincent's site ? Does Speaker Quinn's official acts come as a result of sizable campaign donations from the likes of the Rudin family ?

To Preet Bharara : Do @chriscquinn's official acts come as a result of campaign donations ? christine-quinn-sold-out.blogspot.com/2011/02/rudin-… #StVincentsHospital

— Stop Christine Quinn (@stopchrisquinn) April 4, 2013

2007-XX-XX Rudin Management Company Polication Donations to Christine Quinn - Advanced Search - New York Ci...

Is this how Bill Rudin does business ?

To Preet Bharara : Do @chriscquinn's official acts come as a result of campaign donations ? christine-quinn-sold-out.blogspot.com/2011/02/rudin-… #StVincentsHospital

— Stop Christine Quinn (@stopchrisquinn) April 4, 2013

In 2009, Bill Rudin and New York City Planner Amanda Burden were photographed at the same plush "Observer 100" party to celebrate money, power, and influence. In spite of their cozy relationship, Ms. Burden did not recuse herself during the zone-busting approval process for Mr. Rudin's billion-dollar luxury condo conversion of St. Vincent's Hospital. There is no such thing as a conflict of interest in New York City government, and the Department of Investigation is a joke.

The conflict of interest in respect of Ms. Burden paints a pattern of how Bill Rudin does business. Mr. Rudin also participated in an arrangement with the appearance of being a quid pro quo with former mayor Ed Koch.

Rudin family offered #EdKoch posh apartment.nytimes.com/2013/02/03/nyr… ; Koch promoted Rudin condo plan for #StVincent's. dnainfo.com/new-york/20110…

— Stop Christine Quinn (@stopchrisquinn) February 3, 2013

But Ms. Burden and Mr. Koch were not alone in compromising the integrity of the government approval process that stacked the deck in favour of Mr. Rudin's devastating zone-busting plan, which seized a charitable community hospital as the site for his billion-dollar luxury condo conversion plan.

Did Christine Quinn Give Up On Saving St. Vincent's In Exchange for Campaign Donations From The Rudin Family ?

In an apparent conflict of interest, Beth R. DeWoody, Madeleine R. Johnson, Eric C. Rudin, Jack Rudin, Katherine Rudin, and William C. Rudin each donated $4,950 to Christine Quinn's presumed 2013 mayoral campaign. During this time, the Rudin family has been trying to salvage a multi-million dollar real estate purchase of the buildings that belong to the bankruptcy estate of St. Vincent's Hospital. Since the Rudin family wants to build luxury high-rise condos on the site of St. Vincent's, do these large campaign donations explain why Speaker Quinn has done nothing to restore a hospital to the former St. Vincent's site ?

Not only that, but the Rudin family also donated over $7,000 to the campaign coffers of Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer. President Stringer eventually approved the luxury condo conversion of St. Vincent's, pointing to a second public official who seems to subscribe to the "pay-to-play" corruption that the ULURP process has apparently become ?

2009 - Rudin Family Donations to Scott Stringer - St. Vincent's Conflict of Interest - Advanced Search - Ne...

Does Bill Rudin use the Association For A Better New York to further his economic interests ?

Not only has Bill Rudin and his family funneled money to the mayoral campaign of Christine Quinn, but he also helps to fluff Speaker Quinn's image in the media. Mr. Rudin put Speaker Quinn on the podium to give her a venue to talk about the post-Sandy real estate projects, from which developers are eager to make money. The emergency response to Hurricane Sandy was still on-going at the time of Speaker Quinn's speech, but the political and economic opportunism was shown to be in full swing.

Does Bill Rudin use the Partnership For New York City to further his economic interests ?

Another vehicle, which Mr. Rudin uses to great effect, is his position as a director of the Partnership For New York City, an elite chamber of commerce-like entity, which helps billionaires and large corporations buy insider influence with government leaders.

For example, while Brad Hoylman was chairman of Manhattan Community Board 2, which was overseeing the initial elements of the zone-busting real estate approval process for the luxury condo conversion of St. Vincent's Hospital, Mr. Hoylman was then employed by Mr. Rudin's Partnership.

Of course, if you were Bill Rudin, you would look successful if you had the resources, the conflicts of interest, the malfeasance, and the gall to corrupt so much of the government for your own personal gain.

Read an excerpt from the unauthorized book of Christine Quinn's political ethics

2013-04-01 Roots of Betrayal © 2013 by Louis Flores - Uncorrected Proof Not For Sale Chapter I Excerpt by Connaissable

Was Malcolm Smith's Candidacy Meant To Help Christine Quinn ?

One of the comments on this story : "you have to ask yourself, who does this help? who benefits if smith were to of gotten the republican nomination? this is why the fbi calls it rigging the election because if would of syphoned off votes from thompson toward smith which of course helps quinn the supposed frontrunner. quinn is next." Read more : Rivals Use Dan Halloran Slush Fund Arrests To Hit Christine Quinn

In The Criminal Complaint, Dan Halloran Demonstrates How Slush Funds Are Used For Fraud

In Paragraph 42 in the mayoral election corruption complaint, shown below, New York City Councilmember Daniel J. Halloran suggested to an undercover FBI agent that Mr. Halloran could increase the size of the discretionary funds he was using as a bribe by calling in favours from other councilmembers.

Would Speaker Christine Quinn, who keeps a tight control over the New York City Council slush fund, be among the councilmembers whom Mr. Halloran had in mind ?

We don't know yet, but the undercover sting that took place today shows us how Speaker Quinn's slush funds are used for corrupt purposes.

2013 03 29 Complaint Against Smith Malcolm Dan Halloran Et Al

State Sen. Malcolm Smith and New York City Councilman Dan Halloran arrested in 'bribery plot' to rig mayor race * Dem Smith schemed to run as a Republican * Faces corruption rap with Republican Halloran (NYPost)

State Sen. Malcolm Smith and city Councilman Dan Halloran were arrested this morning on charges they plotted to rig this year’s mayoral election through fraud and bribes.

The pols allegedly formed an alliance built on cash payments and fraud to get Smith — one of the state’s top Democrats — placed on the GOP mayoral ballot, sources said.

FBI agents arrested them both at their Queens homes shortly after 6 a.m.

Read more : True News From Change

When will the feds investigate the many alleged ethics violations by @chriscquinn ? #slushfunds #campaignfinance #paytoplay

— Stop Christine Quinn (@stopchrisquinn) April 2, 2013

Chapter 1 Excerpt of ''Roots of Betrayal : The Ethics of Christine Quinn''

An excerpt of Chapter 1 of Roots of Betrayal : The Ethics of Christine Quinn has been published as a free .pdf ; it can be found here : Roots of Betrayal : The Ethics of Christine Quinn (Scribd)

Roots of Betrayal : The Ethics of Christine Quinn can be purchased at the following bookstores :

• Book Thug Nation, 100 N. Third St., Williamsburg, Brooklyn ;
• Spoonbill & Sugartown Booksellers, 218 Bedford Ave., Williamsburg, Brooklyn ;
• St. Mark’s Bookshop, 31 Third Ave., Manhattan ; and
• Bluestockings, 172 Allen St., Manhattan.

Christine Quinn Slush Fund Lawsuit Update

Preet Bharara-Rose Gill Hearn-Christine Quinn #SlushFund Update christine-quinn-sold-out.blogspot.com/2012/11/Christ… @suzannahbtroy @truenewsnyc twitter.com/stopchrisquinn…

— Stop Christine Quinn (@stopchrisquinn) April 1, 2013

Update : Six-year-old federal slush-fund probe is still costing New York City taxpayers (New York Post) The 6-year-old federal slush-fund probe into the City Council is still costing taxpayers, The Post has learned. The council paid $10,430 in September to the white-collar law firm Steptoe & Johnson — part of an $83,000 contract. The council has spent $513,868 with four law firms since the feds launched their investigation. Along with Larry Seabrook, two former members — Hiram Monserrate and Miguel Martinez — and two former council staffers have been charged in the scandal. (New York Post) * Chris Quinn and the Slow Motion Return of the Slush Fund Scandal (Village Voice) * Phony Allocations by City Council Reported (The New York Times) * 6-Year Media Cover-up Of Christine Quinn's Slush Fund Scandal (True News From Change)

A 2008 lawsuit against New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn was not successful.

James Riches vs Christine Quinn Slush Funds 3001061162008001SCIV

The Appellate Court ruled that each of (i) the U.S. Attorney's Office headed by Preet Bharara and (ii) the New York City Department of Investigation headed by Rose Gill Hearn were sufficient supervision for Christine Quinn's use of fictitious accounts to hide her City Council slush fund.

2010-04-15 James Riches v Christine Quinn Slush Funds Appellate Decision

But as we have seen, Preet Bharara and Rose Gill Hearn have done nothing to hold Speaker Quinn accountable for the slush fund scandal even though former New York City Council Members Hiram Monserrate (New York Post) Larry Seabrook, and Miguel Martinez were convicted for their role in the slush fund scandal (The Wall Street Journal) and political aides to former Council Member Kendall Stewart also pleaded guilty to charges in connection with the scandal (USA Today).

Preet Bharara is such a disappointment, and so is Rose Gill Hearn. Meanwhile, the corruption-enabler Ms. Hearn is one of Mayor Michael Bloomberg's main political puppets, and it is under her laissez-faire watch that Christine Quinn wants to bury the newly proposed Inspector General of the NYPD. Can we see how corruption is allowed to continue unchecked, when it is impossible for the Bloomberg-Quinn administration to police themselves when Ms. Hearn is fast asleep as a bought-and-paid-for watchdog ? Gimme a break.