Friday, December 25, 2009
commericial real estate
2nd Hit to New York's Economy Commercial Real Estate Melt Down Developer all over the county are on the brink as “zombie buildings,” which can't compete for new tenants because they lack the money to cover brokers' commissions and interior office reconstruction multiply. Tishman Speyer which is expected to go bankrupt any moment with its failed attempt to force out affordable tenants from Stuy Town has just had another of its massive projects go belly upTishman Speyer defaults on big Chicago loan Loan was one of several used by developer in $1.7 billion purchase of six Windy City towers in 2007; New York Federal Reserve taking a hard line. Parker Towers renters may have rebate case like Stuy Town
bruno
Breaking News: *Bruno Guilty on Two Counts* Both of the counts are in connection with Bruno's relationship with businessman Jared Abbruzzese *** Bruno Gulity On 2 Of 8 Counts (Updated) ***Bruno found guilty on 2 counts (TU) *** Bruno, Former Albany Leader, Convicted of Corruption (NYT) . . .
Count 4: From March 2004 through November 2004 Bruno or his consulting firm received 11 payments from companies controlled by Jared E. Abbruzzese of Loudonville. Bruno allegedly did not perform legitimate work for the Abbruzzese companies, Communication Technology Advisors LLC and Capital & Technology Advisors LLC, and the payments were in effect gifts and Count 8: Bruno failed to disclose his participation through Mountain View Farm in a partnership with Abbruzzese involving thoroughbred race horses. The charge alleges Bruno received a check from Abbruzzese's company, Bazaguma LLC, on Nov. 17, 2005 . . . Bruno, the former top Republican in New York State, is facing up to 20 years for each count and a $250,000 fine after being convicted of two felony counts.
Pay to Play Bruno Bruno trial jurors say state disclosure laws are a joke. (TU) *** Joseph Bruno corruption case revives debate of full-time vs. part-time legislators *** Court ruling could let Bruno & Seminerio off the hook*** Lobbyist, Monitor Thyself
Bruno and the Mob Mark Congi the now-former union boss had pleaded “guilty to racketeering conspiracy in August for his role in a campaign of extortion and violence – including a 1997 firebombing – meant to pressure contractors into hiring the union’s laborers.” Congi said at the Bruno trial that union's business agent Michael Quarcini felt the more money they placed with Wright Investors Service (Bruno company), the more help they'd get from Bruno. The level of corruption in Albany has noting to do with campaign discloses. The elected officials now become partners with corporatons they help get benefits for in Albany for a pay to play payback Former Liberal Party leader Ray Harding sold his parties ballot line to Hevesi in exchange for 800,000 in pension work. Seminerio made the hospitals who he was helping get state aid pay him over two million in consultant fees and got jobs for his friends with the LIRR . Brian McLaughlin took from the union, government and even the little league
Count 4: From March 2004 through November 2004 Bruno or his consulting firm received 11 payments from companies controlled by Jared E. Abbruzzese of Loudonville. Bruno allegedly did not perform legitimate work for the Abbruzzese companies, Communication Technology Advisors LLC and Capital & Technology Advisors LLC, and the payments were in effect gifts and Count 8: Bruno failed to disclose his participation through Mountain View Farm in a partnership with Abbruzzese involving thoroughbred race horses. The charge alleges Bruno received a check from Abbruzzese's company, Bazaguma LLC, on Nov. 17, 2005 . . . Bruno, the former top Republican in New York State, is facing up to 20 years for each count and a $250,000 fine after being convicted of two felony counts.
Pay to Play Bruno Bruno trial jurors say state disclosure laws are a joke. (TU) *** Joseph Bruno corruption case revives debate of full-time vs. part-time legislators *** Court ruling could let Bruno & Seminerio off the hook*** Lobbyist, Monitor Thyself
Bruno and the Mob Mark Congi the now-former union boss had pleaded “guilty to racketeering conspiracy in August for his role in a campaign of extortion and violence – including a 1997 firebombing – meant to pressure contractors into hiring the union’s laborers.” Congi said at the Bruno trial that union's business agent Michael Quarcini felt the more money they placed with Wright Investors Service (Bruno company), the more help they'd get from Bruno. The level of corruption in Albany has noting to do with campaign discloses. The elected officials now become partners with corporatons they help get benefits for in Albany for a pay to play payback Former Liberal Party leader Ray Harding sold his parties ballot line to Hevesi in exchange for 800,000 in pension work. Seminerio made the hospitals who he was helping get state aid pay him over two million in consultant fees and got jobs for his friends with the LIRR . Brian McLaughlin took from the union, government and even the little league
hisids
Mayor Needed Hasids Vote Fewer Hasidim Voted for Bloomberg, Study Finds - NYTimes.com When the bike riders can vote on the levels of the Brooklyn hasids they will get their bike lanes backBike-war paint Hipsters brush off Hasids Groups of bicycle-riding vigilantes have been repainting 14 blocks of Williamsburg roadways ever since the city sandblasted their bike lanes away last week at the request of the Hasidic community * With video: Brooklyn cyclists take matters into own hands * Vigilantes Repaint Bike Lane in Williamsburg (NBC)
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Albany
The Political Wall of Silence: Not One Pol Expresses Outrage, McLaughlin Goes to Jail
NYT Joins the Circus: Now the Clowns Need Your Money
No budget fix as Gov. Paterson, pols only bicker
Never Cut Themself The 2009-2010 state budget includes more than $196 million just to run New York's Legislature. Now we have a legislature that adopts budget on time, they just have to be change during the year because they are not accurate * Our industrious legislators increased state spending by 9%, raised taxes by $7 billion and failed to pass a single truly important piece of nonbudgetary legislation * According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, the New York Legislature had 2,751 staffers as of July (the national average was 682). That's almost 13 staff members for each of our 212 hardworking legislators * According to the state Public Integrity Commission, 6,624 lobbyists (many former staffers) and 62 public corporations spent $173.9 million to lobby our state government in 2008 * NYS Legislature spends $500,000 on special sessions, cuts $0 from budget November 18, 2009 *The Most Expensive Budget in the Least Productive Legislative SessionGene
The Gangs of Albany
How Albany Operates Like the Mob
Testimony during Bruno's trial "suggested the Senate often looks over its shoulder in the same way the mob does," writes Danny Hakim (NYT)
Organized Crime pols voting
Organized Crime Politics - Episode Two: The Rigged Election System
Competive Elections + Press/Public Outrage = Change and Action
NY's Falling Voter Participation
Organized Crime Politics Ballot Lines for Sale
Tammany’s Ballot Control Again and Again
New York’s Political Mob Wars
The Real Campaign is to Suppress Challengers
True News Updated All Weekend - How Albany Operates Like the Mob
How Albany Operates Like the Mob
Testimony during Bruno's trial "suggested the Senate often looks over its shoulder in the same way the mob does," writes Danny Hakim (NYT)
1. Hidden Books
Federal prosecutors said the absence of recordkeeping in the Senate was an impediment in their recent investigation of Joseph L. Bruno, the former Senate majority leader, which used subpoenas to try to pull back the veil on the notoriously secretive Legislature Prosecutors Assail Albany Record Keeping (NYT)
Lawmakers can hide their role in making politically motivated grants — known as “member items” . . . They are required to disclose almost nothing about their outside business interests
“You would think for the amount of money that’s being handed out,” said Andrew T. Baxter, the acting United States attorney for the Northern District of New York, in Albany, “there would be a process that was a little easier to sort out where the money was going and why, and who was causing it to happen.
2. Documentation Missing
Lawmakers dole out hundreds of millions in grants each year, but it was often not clear which lawmaker was responsible for a particular grant. And at times there appeared to be deliberate distortions in the Senate’s records. One senator, Elizabeth O’C. Little, an upstate Republican, testified at the Bruno trial that she had no idea how she came to be listed as a sponsor of two large legislative grants in her district. The grants, totaling $250,000, went to a union local that invested pension money with a company that employed Mr. Bruno.
3. No Records
The U.S. Attorney said “there is a lot of information, or a lot of decisions being made, without any paper follow-up, without any type of documentation that would allow us to say, ‘O.K., this individual has business with the state, and this individual has personal business with this part-time legislator.’ ”
4. Paying Off the Cops
Michael Cherkasky, New York State’s top ethics regulator said the Assembly proposed changes to overhaul legislative ethics oversight was “doomed to fail,” in part because it would leave the Legislature to police itself. Regulator Criticizes Ethics Plan (NYT)
5. Goo Goos Clueless or Pay Off
Mr. Silver’s plan has support from civic groups . In 2005 Good Government groups worked with Bruno to passing lobbying and ethic reform at the same time he was using his government position to rip off the tax payers according to federal prosecutors. It is clear that the goo goos because they support reforms proposed by legislatures are a hindrance to real reform in Albany.
True News has been reporting how New York politics has tuned into organized crime for the past year: Political Organized Crime - Part I *** Organized Crime Politics - The Rigged Election System *** Organized Crime pols voting *** New York’s Political Mob Wars *** Gov Where Is Our Seabury Commision? To Investigate the Crime Wave of Corruption in NY
Wall Street
Wall Street Meltdown Predictable
How NYC Became the World's Banking Capital
A Decade Without Glass-Steagall Topples the Global Financial System
More Media Blinders How did the rating firms miss the deal going on at the bankrupt Lehman Brothers or a Bear Stern, Citibank or the dozens of other banks and financial houses who destroyed the nations economy. Have these rating firms every heard of a derivative? With California and now Ohio suing the rating companies it real amazing that there is not more media coverage of what caused the economic melt down Ohio Sues Rating Firms for Losses in FundsJames Madison famously wrote in the Federalist Papers (#51), "If men were angels, no government would be necessary."
We've learned the hard way, most starkly in the Great Depression and now in the Great Recession, that men and women are anything but angels, and that government first and foremost must protect the American people from the unmitigated avarice of the private sector.
'Shadow Elite': Outsourcing Government, Losing Democracy
Slush Fund
Massive Lobbyist Scandal at City Hall
Member Item Slush Fund Cover Up
Legalizing Pay to Play
Quinn's Con Game
Cover Up At City Hall Continues
Quinn's Democracy?
The city has not increased it payment to the MTA despite rising costs since the Giuliani administration. Copenhagen Mike see the bus pass crisis as a way to implement congestion pricing Seeing Politics in Plan to Cut Student Transit Aid. Sen. Brian Foley proposes a way to cut the MTA payroll tax, as the agency faces massive deficits. (Newsday$). Christine C. Quinn, the City Council speaker, denounced the authority’s decision-making as “undemocratic.” Would it be democratic for the city to pay it fair share of the student's bus pass costs? She did not mention at her press conference or was not asked by our aggressive press about former Councilman Martinez statement "I was able to engage in these schemes because I was a New York City councilman." after he got 5 Years for Stealing $100,000 The press enables corrupt in the council when it allows the pols to continue their version of the cop's "Blue Wall of Silence," about corruption in their ranks. “Martinez betrayed his office and violated his oath of office, and did so over a prolonged period of time,” the Judge Crotty said. Would it be interesting to know what the speaker feels about Martinez and the dozens of other councilmembers who used the city's slush fund and member items to pay family members and get themselves elected. The City Council Dishonor Roll - The Shame of New York * Ex-Councilman Miguel Martinez Sentenced to 5 Years in Theft of $106,000 (NYT) From True News: Member Item Slush Fund Cover Up * Cover Up At City Hall Continues * Controlling the News: What Happen to the Council Slush Fund Investigation?]
Kill Their Lawyers Why are New Yorkers paying for lawyers the council hired last year to protect them bums from the federal slush fund investigation. By reading the press you would not even know there was an ongoing investigation of the council. Controlling the News: What Happen to the Council Slush Fund Investigation? Now there a push to cut the crumbs, what a joke Push to nix pay perks in council
Anyone for A City Council Member Item Slush Fund Investigation?Corruption Non Starter
If we have to depend on the City's DA to end political corruption that wait will be very long in parts of the city. The corruption comes from the same elected officials and political machines who get the DA elected. If Troopergate was not the clearest sign that we need independent prosecutors to end corruption how about the fact that the Queens and Bronx DA have never had a corruption trial. All the pols put into jail in there boroughs have be done so by the feds. Not one DA has send a council member to jail for using member items to help themselves and family member. The Feds have. Taking out the political trash: Thanks to DA Cy Vance, N.Y. could get a real public corruption law * Federal Judge to Sentence Joseph Bruno in Fraud Case
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Daily News
Daily News's Middle Class Schizophrenia It is no wonder the Daily News has lost 14% of its circulation in the last 6 months. Some days the editorials shout they are for keeping keeping the middle class in the city and others they attack the NY Court of Appeals for siding with the middle class tenants against being push out of building they have been living in for decades just so corporate owners can make a profit from the high pre Wall Street melt down prices they purchased they building for. The News Should be hitting Fanny Mae and Freddie Mac for giving the owners of Stuy town 1.5 billion or hit the owners for using their political power to waste middle class pension funds. Which is more important keeping the world of speculators who buy middle class building going or keeping 540,000 reads? A court out of control: Jurists impose their screwy judgment on city's rent rules ***
OTB
OTB Bankrupt: One Year Ago Paterson Claimed OTB was Permanently Fix
OTB Bankrupt: One Year Ago Paterson Claimed OTB was Permanently Fix
"The agreement ensures that the 1500 employees of the New York City OTB will keep their jobs and that the New York racing industry will continue to receive the critical financial support it gets from the New York City OTB. It is distressing to hear of the City's objection to an agreement that will meet the Mayor's long-stated demand for a permanent fix that would ensure that the City not have to subsidize New York City OTB. " June 13, 2008
New York's Sinking Economy OTB'S BANKRUPTCY OK'D Gov. Paterson issued an executive order to allow the New York City Off-Track Betting Corp. to enter bankruptcy in an effort to save the bookmaking operation from the glue *** SHUT DOWN OTB (NYP Editorial) *** OTB Is in Financial Trouble, but It’s Ready to Roll (NYT) OTB keeps a fleet of vehicles that costs more than a half-million dollars to operate each year, even as it may require a taxpayer bailout ***Paterson Grabs Sabini, Bails Out O.T.B. The New York Observer *** Queens Crap: Sabini charged with D.W.I. *** Paterson moves to revamp NYC OTB (Crains) *** OTB Will Be Restructured in Bankruptcy Court
Paterson's OTB Sink Hole Maybe it the record of governing that has turn the voters against Paterson? In June of 08 the governor bail out OTB and made John Sabini its head as part of a deal with the Queens Organization to avoid a serious primary with Hiram Monserrate Paterson Grabs Sabini, Bails Out OTB , Opposing the mayor who Citing a Drain on Profits, Bloomberg Wants to Close OTB Now we have the Monserrate problem and OTB draining the state budget You bet OTB is hurting , Monserrate Senate Query Takes Shape
OTB Keeping Politics First The little bookie that can’t OTB is probably the best argument out there against any government-run gambling operations (NYP Ed) Paterson's OTB Sink Hole Maybe it the record of governing that has turn the voters against Paterson? In June of 08 the governor bail out OTB in a takeover from the city and made John Sabini its head as part of a deal with the Queens Organization to avoid a serious primary with Hiram Monserrate Paterson Grabs Sabini, Bails Out OTB , Opposing the mayor who Citing a Drain on Profits, Bloomberg Wants to Close OTB Now we have the Monserrate problem and OTB draining the state budget You bet OTB is hurting , Monserrate Senate Query Takes Shape
Horse Head in Bed Message Again In 2007 Eliot Spitzer ruled that that the New York Racing Association (NYRA) continue to do what it’s done for more than 50 years—run thoroughbred racing at Saratoga Race Course, Belmont Park and Aqueduct. Many members in the legislature had their own campaign contributors who they want to run the state's racetracks. This split campaign contributor pay to play perks for New York's elected officials has continued with into the Paterson administration and is the main reason why a vendor for slot machines has not been chosen for Aqueduct, while the state continues to lose about a million a day in need tax revenues . State comptroller chosen by the legislature has delivered the horse head right into the bed of the NYRA, with the hope of removing them from running the tracks. This fight is about serious money, where the only winner are the elected officials on the winning side and they campaign contributors who get the contract. The public spin fight is about control. The NYRA says it was running out of cash and may be forced to cancel the storied Belmont Stakes set for June 5. DiNapoli is skeptical and wants to know what happened to the millions of taxpayer dollars the financially ailing group got while waiting to open video lottery terminals at Aqueduct. New York Racing Association will receive subpoena to turn over books to auditors in Belmont crisis *** State Comptroller Subpoenas Racing Association More Play to Pay for Albany and the lobbyist Hurdles remain for NY tribe's Long Island casino ***PM NYRA responds to DiNapoli
Mayorial campaign
No Free Buses Elections in New York have by hijacked by incumbents to get them reelected. There tools are spin, money and a weak press to get their job done. What a difference election day makes August 3, 2009 Bloomberg Calls for Free Crosstown Buses Today Bloomberg budget ax will cut to the bone
Turnout Mostly About Race The media is reporting that the closeness of the mayor race was caused by Bloomberg support of changes to term limits and an anti incumbent nation wide vote. But if one examines the the NYT block by block results of the mayoral election you see that the vote had a lot to do with race. Staten Island except for the North Shore went for Bloomberg as did the Eastside of Manhattan. Harlem, Central Brooklyn and South East Queens went for Thompson. The racial voting pattern really stands out in South West Brooklyn where only Coney Island and Marboro Houses voted for Thompson, the only two neighborhoods in that area of Brooklyn where blacks live in mass. Thompson good showing is an out growth of last years Obama registration in the black communities, while Bloomberg failure to meet the poll spread had a lot to do with the white community unlearning the habit of voting because the incumbent elected officials in their areas get reelected without opposition year after year. Another clue to the closeness of the mayor's race Whites become minority on NYC council , The polls used the old turnout numbers without taking into account the great changes in the city's voting patterns Polls failed to predict tight contest in mayoral race *** Paterson Embolden by Thompson Results The gov starts his campaign commercials TV buys. His team is putting it out on the Internet and the press in hopes it will be talked about, like were doing here and pump up his very low poll numbers. Paterson is more likely to run his race on race, something Thompson refused to do Paterson Accuses Media Of Racism * Elsewhere: Did the Media Sink Thompson? Howard Kurtz scolds New York City reporters for not taking Thompson more seriously" Pollster looks to Cover His Ass Unreleased Marist Poll Showed Thompson Closing in on Bloomberg True News: NY's No Spin Zone While the Bloomberg campaign was spinning the media for votes only True News reported that the city's economic melt down and the lack of state funding for the MTA would make the mayor's plan for free crosstown buses impossible. Today's Answer by the mayor Keep waiting for that free crosstown bus: Bloomy *** Bloomberg Calls for Free Crosstown Buses - City Room Blog (NYT) * Mayor Bloomberg mulls making snail-like crosstown buses free (DN) * BLOOMBERG: FREE CROSSTOWN BUS SERVICE FOR ALL (NYP) Artz's Triangulation Lobbyist consultant George Artz is very comfortable representing three sides at once. Artz's has a lifelong relationship with Ed Koch who Doesn't Appreciate John Liu's Snubbing of Mayor Bloomberg yesterday. Artz who said on NY1 last night that he represented Liu was analysing why Liu missed the tradition unity photo op with the mayor the day a's fter the election
What In A Mandate?
Michael Bloomberg: “That was as close to a mandate as I think you can possibly come in a very difficult time.”
11.7% of all the registered voters voted in the city voted for Bloomberg on Tuesday. Before the paper is counted, the mayor received 548,660 out of the 4,657,516. The recent runoff does make Tuesday's vote look like a mandate. In New York the Democratic Primary is the real election, for most elective officers.. In the primary our new Comptroller John Liu received 127,173 or just 4% of the registered Democrats in the city (3,177,740) in the runoff. De Blasio did a little better with 138, 736, he got 4.4% of the city's democratic voters. John Liu was elected with just 2.7% of all the city's registered voters casting their vote for him.
How can you have a mandate when registered voters feel or become disconnected, that they don't vote? If the numbers of people participation in recent New York elections occurred in the third world, Jimmy Carter would be demanding to bring in UN inspectors.
Henry Stern who heads up NY Civic sent around a good analysis yesterday, that analysis how the numbers of New Yorkers who vote has dramatically fallen, not only during the past two Bloomberg elections, but also over the last century in the city.(Several other papers have picked up his analysis today) Stern reported that Mayor O’Dwyer election in 1941, which took place one month before the Japanese attackedPearl Harbor received 1,100,649 more votes than Bloomberg 68 years before mayor won his third term. New York City July 1, 2009 , gives the population of New York City
Best and the Brightest Wasn't
Voted rejected mayor's money and muscle and selling charade . . . His sophisticated strategy and tech advanced GOTV seems to be all smoke and mirrors (turnout was the lowest in modern city historyBloomberg Campaign Adds a Get-Out-the-Vote Tactician - NYTimes.com. Spending the 100 million lost the mayor votes. Voters did not buy mayor's intimidating tactics, seemingly at odds with Mr. Bloomberg’s image as a nonpolitician, like elbowing out of Representative Anthony D. Weiner . . . . Bloomberg talked about post racial city but the mayor won with the white vote . . . embarrassingly close results trickled in . . . Bloomberg's rebuke . . . $157.27 per vote for Bloomberg.” . . . Buying silence . . . Mayor's spinning continues Campaign spokesman Howard Wolfson, who can spin any failure into smashing success, declared it was "the most difficult environment for incumbents since 1994" and called Bloomberg's narrow win "an enormous victory." The mayor's victory speech made no mention of his narrow escape. Campaign kept all news off the TVs in the ballroom, even avoiding showing Thompson's concession speech. As an 11-piece band played soul and rock tunes, and Ed Koch kept the crowd going, while tuxedoed waiters passed trays of minisliders and regular hot dogs, which must have been the city's priciest - beating even Yankee Stadium's wieners. . . Hillary's people almost destroy another one Bloomberg spokesman Howard Wolfson shrugged off the close total, saying, "Whether the Yankees win in four or five or six or seven games, they are still the world champions." Jake Tapper doesn’t think Joyce Purnick’s story reads well a day later*** Bloomberg Spends $18.6M on Campaign, Feeding Staff -- Daily Intel *** Welcome to Camp Bloomberg | The New York Observer
No matter how they spin it Bloomberg did not win by 5-points, he won, so far in round numbers, 51% so obviously 49% of voters who showed up voted against him and a lot of voters voted with their feet
Bloomberg Improves his MTA Economic Forecasting Abilities Since the campaign billionaire seem to have sharpened his MTA budget forecasting skills, he now see the structural multi years problem with that agency. During the campaign he thought there was enought money to pay fo free crosstown bus service, even with the rejection of his revenue generating but not to popular in the outer boroughs congesting pricing plan. Mayor Proposes Free Crosstown Buses - NYTimes.com Now the campaign is over the Mayor got his economic grove back. On his weekly radio show Bloomberg said "People are screaming about what they do now; wait until they see what happens in March," Bloomberg told WOR's John Gambling, reiterating that this all probably could have been avoided if Albany had seen fit to go along with his congestion pricing plan. We suggested it two years ago," the mayor said. "And I don’t know the MTA would have had all its problems solved, but it would have a lot of money and could have used most of that to get more bus lines, make the subways run faster, make the subways safer." Will the MTA Destroy NYC?
Where was the Times with these stories BEFORE THE ELECTION? Welfare Rolls in New York City Begin to Rise, Belatedly - NYTimes.com *** Bloomberg wins elections and then cuts back on everything he promised 4 Schoolyards Cut From Bloomberg’s PlaNYC Goal of 290 Parks - NYTimes.com *** City nixes 3,000 Section 8 vouchers
No Recession in Campaign Bloomberg The mayor's team ran a campaign where the city's economy almost never came up. They had the help of a willing press and a poorly run campaign by Thompson and Avella. In the NY1 debate questions about the economy were never asked. They were able to run a campaign that promised more services. For that already well paid they we get bonuses. The press will get to stay in the Blue Room and Room 9. Mike's campaign bonus babies Despite the recession and an unexpectedly slim margin of victory, Mayor Bloomberg is paying out larger bonuses to campaign staffers this year than he did in 2005 *** Bloomberg’s Election Aides Said to Get Customary Bonuses (NYT) *** Bloomberg gives $1 million in bonuses to campaign staff
Bloomberg Improves his MTA Economic Forecasting Abilities Since the campaign billionaire seem to have sharpened his MTA budget forecasting skills, he now see the structural multi years problem with that agency. During the campaign he thought there was enought money to pay fo free crosstown bus service, even with the rejection of his revenue generating but not to popular in the outer boroughs congesting pricing plan. Mayor Proposes Free Crosstown Buses - NYTimes.com Now the campaign is over the Mayor got his economic grove back. On his weekly radio show Bloomberg said "People are screaming about what they do now; wait until they see what happens in March," Bloomberg told WOR's John Gambling, reiterating that this all probably could have been avoided if Albany had seen fit to go along with his congestion pricing plan. We suggested it two years ago," the mayor said. "And I don’t know the MTA would have had all its problems solved, but it would have a lot of money and could have used most of that to get more bus lines, make the subways run faster, make the subways safer." Will the MTA Destroy NYC?
Where was the Times with these stories BEFORE THE ELECTION? Welfare Rolls in New York City Begin to Rise, Belatedly - NYTimes.com *** Bloomberg wins elections and then cuts back on everything he promised 4 Schoolyards Cut From Bloomberg’s PlaNYC Goal of 290 Parks - NYTimes.com *** City nixes 3,000 Section 8 vouchers
Bloomberg Keeps His Billions Separate From His Mayoral Obligations? Yeah, Right! By Wayne Barrett
Turnout Mostly About Race The media is reporting that the closeness of the mayor race was caused by Bloomberg support of changes to term limits and an anti incumbent nation wide vote. But if one examines the the NYT block by block results of the mayoral election you see that the vote had a lot to do with race. Staten Island except for the North Shore went for Bloomberg as did the Eastside of Manhattan. Harlem, Central Brooklyn and South East Queens went for Thompson. The racial voting pattern really stands out in South West Brooklyn where only Coney Island and Marboro Houses voted for Thompson, the only two neighborhoods in that area of Brooklyn where blacks live in mass. Thompson good showing is an out growth of last years Obama registration in the black communities, while Bloomberg failure to meet the poll spread had a lot to do with the white community unlearning the habit of voting because the incumbent elected officials in their areas get reelected without opposition year after year. Another clue to the closeness of the mayor's race Whites become minority on NYC council , The polls used the old turnout numbers without taking into account the great changes in the city's voting patterns Polls failed to predict tight contest in mayoral race *** Paterson Embolden by Thompson Results The gov starts his campaign commercials TV buys. His team is putting it out on the Internet and the press in hopes it will be talked about, like were doing here and pump up his very low poll numbers. Paterson is more likely to run his race on race, something Thompson refused to do Paterson Accuses Media Of Racism * Elsewhere: Did the Media Sink Thompson? Howard Kurtz scolds New York City reporters for not taking Thompson more seriously" Pollster looks to Cover His Ass Unreleased Marist Poll Showed Thompson Closing in on Bloomberg True News: NY's No Spin Zone While the Bloomberg campaign was spinning the media for votes only True News reported that the city's economic melt down and the lack of state funding for the MTA would make the mayor's plan for free crosstown buses impossible. Today's Answer by the mayor Keep waiting for that free crosstown bus: Bloomy *** Bloomberg Calls for Free Crosstown Buses - City Room Blog (NYT) * Mayor Bloomberg mulls making snail-like crosstown buses free (DN) * BLOOMBERG: FREE CROSSTOWN BUS SERVICE FOR ALL (NYP) Artz's Triangulation Lobbyist consultant George Artz is very comfortable representing three sides at once. Artz's has a lifelong relationship with Ed Koch who Doesn't Appreciate John Liu's Snubbing of Mayor Bloomberg yesterday. Artz who said on NY1 last night that he represented Liu was analysing why Liu missed the tradition unity photo op with the mayor the day a's fter the election
What In A Mandate?
Michael Bloomberg: “That was as close to a mandate as I think you can possibly come in a very difficult time.”
11.7% of all the registered voters voted in the city voted for Bloomberg on Tuesday. Before the paper is counted, the mayor received 548,660 out of the 4,657,516. The recent runoff does make Tuesday's vote look like a mandate. In New York the Democratic Primary is the real election, for most elective officers.. In the primary our new Comptroller John Liu received 127,173 or just 4% of the registered Democrats in the city (3,177,740) in the runoff. De Blasio did a little better with 138, 736, he got 4.4% of the city's democratic voters. John Liu was elected with just 2.7% of all the city's registered voters casting their vote for him.
How can you have a mandate when registered voters feel or become disconnected, that they don't vote? If the numbers of people participation in recent New York elections occurred in the third world, Jimmy Carter would be demanding to bring in UN inspectors.
Henry Stern who heads up NY Civic sent around a good analysis yesterday, that analysis how the numbers of New Yorkers who vote has dramatically fallen, not only during the past two Bloomberg elections, but also over the last century in the city.(Several other papers have picked up his analysis today) Stern reported that Mayor O’Dwyer election in 1941, which took place one month before the Japanese attacked
Best and the Brightest Wasn't
Voted rejected mayor's money and muscle and selling charade . . . His sophisticated strategy and tech advanced GOTV seems to be all smoke and mirrors (turnout was the lowest in modern city historyBloomberg Campaign Adds a Get-Out-the-Vote Tactician - NYTimes.com. Spending the 100 million lost the mayor votes. Voters did not buy mayor's intimidating tactics, seemingly at odds with Mr. Bloomberg’s image as a nonpolitician, like elbowing out of Representative Anthony D. Weiner . . . . Bloomberg talked about post racial city but the mayor won with the white vote . . . embarrassingly close results trickled in . . . Bloomberg's rebuke . . . $157.27 per vote for Bloomberg.” . . . Buying silence . . . Mayor's spinning continues Campaign spokesman Howard Wolfson, who can spin any failure into smashing success, declared it was "the most difficult environment for incumbents since 1994" and called Bloomberg's narrow win "an enormous victory." The mayor's victory speech made no mention of his narrow escape. Campaign kept all news off the TVs in the ballroom, even avoiding showing Thompson's concession speech. As an 11-piece band played soul and rock tunes, and Ed Koch kept the crowd going, while tuxedoed waiters passed trays of minisliders and regular hot dogs, which must have been the city's priciest - beating even Yankee Stadium's wieners. . . Hillary's people almost destroy another one Bloomberg spokesman Howard Wolfson shrugged off the close total, saying, "Whether the Yankees win in four or five or six or seven games, they are still the world champions." Jake Tapper doesn’t think Joyce Purnick’s story reads well a day later*** Bloomberg Spends $18.6M on Campaign, Feeding Staff -- Daily Intel *** Welcome to Camp Bloomberg | The New York Observer
No matter how they spin it Bloomberg did not win by 5-points, he won, so far in round numbers, 51% so obviously 49% of voters who showed up voted against him and a lot of voters voted with their feet
Bloomberg Improves his MTA Economic Forecasting Abilities Since the campaign billionaire seem to have sharpened his MTA budget forecasting skills, he now see the structural multi years problem with that agency. During the campaign he thought there was enought money to pay fo free crosstown bus service, even with the rejection of his revenue generating but not to popular in the outer boroughs congesting pricing plan. Mayor Proposes Free Crosstown Buses - NYTimes.com Now the campaign is over the Mayor got his economic grove back. On his weekly radio show Bloomberg said "People are screaming about what they do now; wait until they see what happens in March," Bloomberg told WOR's John Gambling, reiterating that this all probably could have been avoided if Albany had seen fit to go along with his congestion pricing plan. We suggested it two years ago," the mayor said. "And I don’t know the MTA would have had all its problems solved, but it would have a lot of money and could have used most of that to get more bus lines, make the subways run faster, make the subways safer." Will the MTA Destroy NYC?
Where was the Times with these stories BEFORE THE ELECTION? Welfare Rolls in New York City Begin to Rise, Belatedly - NYTimes.com *** Bloomberg wins elections and then cuts back on everything he promised 4 Schoolyards Cut From Bloomberg’s PlaNYC Goal of 290 Parks - NYTimes.com *** City nixes 3,000 Section 8 vouchers
Mayor Campaigns for Union Support
State arbitrators decided the raises based on what other unions have got -- specifically, the city's DC-37. Last fall (a month after Lehman Bros. fell), Mayor Bloomberg awarded DC-37's 100,000 workers the same generous wages as the TWU later got (albeit for two years, not three) *** Bus fuss in Bronx Cuts to strand 1000s
No Recession in Campaign Bloomberg The mayor's team ran a campaign where the city's economy almost never came up. They had the help of a willing press and a poorly run campaign by Thompson and Avella. In the NY1 debate questions about the economy were never asked. They were able to run a campaign that promised more services. For that already well paid they we get bonuses. The press will get to stay in the Blue Room and Room 9. Mike's campaign bonus babies Despite the recession and an unexpectedly slim margin of victory, Mayor Bloomberg is paying out larger bonuses to campaign staffers this year than he did in 2005 *** Bloomberg’s Election Aides Said to Get Customary Bonuses (NYT) *** Bloomberg gives $1 million in bonuses to campaign staff
Bloomberg Improves his MTA Economic Forecasting Abilities Since the campaign billionaire seem to have sharpened his MTA budget forecasting skills, he now see the structural multi years problem with that agency. During the campaign he thought there was enought money to pay fo free crosstown bus service, even with the rejection of his revenue generating but not to popular in the outer boroughs congesting pricing plan. Mayor Proposes Free Crosstown Buses - NYTimes.com Now the campaign is over the Mayor got his economic grove back. On his weekly radio show Bloomberg said "People are screaming about what they do now; wait until they see what happens in March," Bloomberg told WOR's John Gambling, reiterating that this all probably could have been avoided if Albany had seen fit to go along with his congestion pricing plan. We suggested it two years ago," the mayor said. "And I don’t know the MTA would have had all its problems solved, but it would have a lot of money and could have used most of that to get more bus lines, make the subways run faster, make the subways safer." Will the MTA Destroy NYC?
Where was the Times with these stories BEFORE THE ELECTION? Welfare Rolls in New York City Begin to Rise, Belatedly - NYTimes.com *** Bloomberg wins elections and then cuts back on everything he promised 4 Schoolyards Cut From Bloomberg’s PlaNYC Goal of 290 Parks - NYTimes.com *** City nixes 3,000 Section 8 vouchers
Bloomberg Keeps His Billions Separate From His Mayoral Obligations? Yeah, Right! By Wayne Barrett
NYC Terror
Coming Lower Manhattan WH Level Security Zone What has been localized security zone in lower Manhattan will eventually turn into a virtual lock down of the entire downtown area City blocks are locked & loaded
albany
Gambling At Rick;s Place? Yes Virginia (NYP) There is Corruption in Albany
Gambling At Rick's Place? Yes Virginia (NYP) There is Corruption in Albany
The NYP Editorial Board continues to be clueless that the public already gets it that Albany is corrupt. The problem is New York's Afghanistan style election system designed by the leaders of Tammany Hall to keep the permanent government incumbents in power has never been reformed. As the past election proved, most city voters have just given up on changing New York's thug government and don't vote. Today the Post said " Has there ever been a more revealing clinic on public corruption than the ongoing trial of former Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno? None comes to mind."A window on the swamp. What about yesterday's NYP Nearly half of Albany's pols have 2nd jobs. Not to mention wives, children or other family members on the government payroll or working for those funded by government. None of these elected officals are flipping fries at McDonalds. There working at jobs they got by using their elective office as the pleas of Brian Mclaughlin and Tony Seminario and trial of Bruno prove. There has been no reaction in the legislature, and the News writes that "the pols' silent acquiesence is yet another reason why New Yorkers must throw the bums out next fall." Update Marist Poll Voters Want Change in Albany…Senate and Assembly Approval Ratings Low Seventy-one percent of those polled said major changes are necessary at the state Capitol, while 11 percent don't believe state government can be fixed at all
Jobless New York Teflon' Pols We just gone through a mayoral campaign with almost no talk of what to do about New Yorkers losing their jobs. We now have the highest unemployment in the city in 25 years without a single pol coming up with a solution to the growing problem. Now the city is cutting jobs out of media and public sight City Hall Budget Maneuver Quietly Encourages Job Cuts
McDonalds No: Pay to Play Institutionalized Extortion in Albany Today's NYP says Nearly half of Albany's pols have 2nd jobs. Not to mention wives, children or other family members on the government payroll or working for those funded by government. None of these people are flipping fries at McDonalds. There working at jobs they got by using their elective office as the pleas of Brian Mclaughlin and Tony Seminario and trial of Bruno prove. "Former state Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno allegedly pitched a friend Jared Abbruzzese on a $30,000-a-month consultant job because he saw Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver making big bucks as a lawyer -- and he too wanted in on the side-gig action. "He started talking about Sheldon Silver and how Sheldon Silver was getting paid 40, 50, 60 thousand a month from the trial lawyers association," Abbruzzese, whose relationship with Bruno kicked off a far-flung FBI probe, said on the stand Pal says Bruno wanted his own 'Shel game', Clients really do Shel out $$ , Joe Bruno golf outing with Cablevision's Jim Dolan may have derailed West Side Stadium plan
Memo to NYT: Albany Has Already Been Convicted Brian M. McLaughlin Ex-Labor Leader Is Sentenced to 10 Years for Racketeering (NYT) * Anthony S. Seminerio Queens Assemblyman Pleads Guilty in Corruption Case Today's NYT could be considered by some in Albany who constantly escape the law to be double jeopardy How Albany Works Is Also on Trial * Bruno pal up for questions on pay
Unemployment for Dummies: NY Leaders Say and Do Nothing About Record High Employment Rate
The Greatest Generation vs. Today's Take Albany Generation
Dysfunctional Budget Crisis Again and Again
No Albany Corruption Investigation Ever? We now have the Monserrate investigation, but where is is the investigation of how a couple of Assemblyman were about to loot a hospital and almost everything else they touched? What about the bid rigging? Court hears of ex-pol Seminerio's shakedowns a hospital, Ex-Assemblyman McLaughlin Gets 10 Years for Racketeering - NYTimes.comThe Only Agent of Change in NY FBI It not the Goo Goos, Pols, Editorial Boards or the reformers. In the last years alone the FBI put half of the leaders in the state in jail or out of office. Now they have turned there attention to the political activist party have has taken over the city Working Families Party Documents Subpoenaed * Working Families Party Documents Subpoenaed The press continued their role as corruption enablers by not asking the two new citywide elected officials and councilmemebers their opinion of the FBI actions against the party that elected them. * US Attorney Subpoenas Working Families Party, and Bill de Blasio Too * Liu Gets the Working Families Party | The New York Observer * Working Families » WFP Announces NYC Endorsements * More recently, the party has come under scrutiny for allegedly floating city campaign rules on spending and reporting requirements. Will de Blasio subpoenas be the nail in the coffin that finally kills the Public Advocate position?
*** What Does it Take to Get Kicked Out Of Albany? Corruption? No The last time legislators were expelled by their peers, five members of the Assembly were booted after being accused of being Socialists nearly 90 years ago. (NYT) , When the Assembly Expelled Socialists for Disloyalty Senator Monserrate Must Go (NYT Ed) *
Olypmics
Miller, Quinn team up on 23rd to oppose a West Side stadium
http://www.thevillager.com/villager_102/millerquinnteamupon23.html
http://www.thevillager.com/villager_102/millerquinnteamupon23.html
Monday, October 19, 2009
Who Rob the People's Pensions
California Pension Investigation Gives New Yorkers Some Answers
New Yorkers May Have to Pay Tens of Millions in the Next Few Years into both the City's and State's Pensions Funds to Keep Them from Defaulting
Pay-to-play scams that have roiled the nation’s retirement funds involved a vast and deeply-enmeshed web of super-connected players
We when through an entire election cycle to elected a New York City controller and because of the careful election spin strategies of the candidates to ignore the pension scandal and the absence of media investigation reporting on the which has already seen several convictions and out of court agreements with Cuomo and the pension funds that broke the law. A big result of this dysfunctional election election for comptroller is we have no clue with the pols did to our pension, no clue what the new comptroller will do to get rid of political money managers and will all act shocked if down the road we fund out that these money managers loaded New York's pensions with junk. Will New York's pensions needs tens of billions in tax payer money to prevent defaults? Who knows. In the last
This investigation has uncovered a matrix of corruption – which grows more expansive and interconnected by the day,” said Attorney General Cuomo.
"I believe we are disclosing a national network of actors who often acted in concert and did this all across the country," Mr. Cuomo said. "They collaborated, they often partnered and victimized states and taxpayers across the country. It's also an ongoing scam."
Unraveling the Matrix
Luckily or unluckily the investigation of the California pension fund gives New Yorkers some answers. The reason we can predict the future is these placement agents – middlemen paid to open doors for private equity firms and other money managers for the most part are the same in New York and California. In fact they seem to work together or in concert with each other in so many states that only the chief investigators in the Attorney General office, the SEC and the FBI know what the hell is going on.
What we know From Cal
Two Main Players in Both NY and Cal
We learned last week was that the California pension fund called Calpers is being rocked by 'Pay to Play' investigation. The two main targets of the investigation are Alfred Villalobos who ran the pension investent fund Arvco and Leon Black who ran Apollo Management. California investorgators are looking at how former Calpers board member Vilalobos had reaped more than $50 million in fees for arranging investments that could saddle California taxpayers with hundreds of millions of dollars in losses.
Ferrer Paid as a Placement Agent for Vilalobos
New York City
(Craton Equity Partners)
Arvco Loses Money for California Pension Fund
WSJ reports that Arvco recommended some of Calpers's poorly performing investments; last year the pension fund lost nearly a quarter of its value and more than $50 billion.
Cal is investigation weather Albert and his daugthter gave money to a pension board member campaign in return for Pension business
Albert Vilalobos contributed $2000 to controller Thompson and his daughter Carissa $4,950.00 10/10/2004 right before he recieved NYC Pension funds
Black's Apollo Paid Vilalobos Alvco
The private equity firm Apollo Management (Black), paid Villalobos Arvco Capital a placement-agent fee in 2007 after the New York pension fund invested $350 million Apollo, even though the state has invested with Mr. Black's firm since 1996. How can Vilalobos help Black get in with DiNapoli if he needed Ferrer to introduce him at the same time to the NYS Comptroller?
Poorly Performed
Wetherly Capital Group
An unlicensed intermediary Julio Ramirez working for Wetherly Capital as a broker-dealer, partnered with the chief political operative at the NYS Comptroller’s Office Hank Morris to split profits from corrupt pension fund deals, Ramirez has already pleaded guilty to paying $250,000 in fees to Morris.
Saul Meyers Aldus Equity Partners
The pension system terminated one of the advisers, Aldus Equity Partners, whose partner Saul Meyer has been criminally charged in connection with the scandal. Meyer pleaded guilty to charges that he paid over $300,000 in bogus finders fees to Henry Morris, chief aide of former state comptroller Alan Hevesi, in exchange for $375m of investments in Aldus private equity funds between 2004 and 2006. Hevesi resigned from his post in 2006
Meyer is also being investigated in New Mexico on charges of helping Hevesi’s son, Dan, to land a $25m investment deal with the New Mexico pension fund. At the time, Aldus was a private equity advisor to the fund and seeking business with the Hevesi-controlled New York pension fund. Dan Hevesi received a $250,000 placement fee for the transaction. On this charge, Meyer writes, “On numerous occasions, however, contrary to my fiduciary duty, I ensured that Aldus recommended certain proposed investments that were pushed on me by politically-connected individuals in New Mexico.
Wissman Aldus
New Mexico, which has paid Aldus millions in investment advisory fees
Hevesi Gives Aldus Payoff After His Son Was Paid Off
Cal is investigation weather Albert and his daugthter gave money to a pension board member campaign in return for Business
In 1993 Villalobos resigned as Los Angeles' deputy mayor for economic development after the Los Angeles Times reported that he had suffered huge gambling losses and filed for personal bankruptcy in the 1980s.
Saul Meyer Aldus
The other thread running through both the New York and New Mexico pension funds was the advisory firm Aldus Equity, whose founder Saul Meyer was charged yesterday with participating in the New York conspiracy and which also until this week advised similar investments in New Mexico.
Aldus acted as an adviser to the New York state fund and a New Mexico government fund, helping them conduct due diligence and select investment managers.
In 2006, Aldus advised the New Mexico government fund to make a $25 million investment in Catterton Partners, a private-equity firm in Greenwich, Conn. Catterton paid a finders' fee on that investment to the firm of Mr. Hevesi's son, Dan Hevesi
California Pension Investigation Gives New Yorkers Some Answers
New Yorkers May Have to Pay Tens of Millions in the Next Few Years into both the City's and State's Pensions Funds to Keep Them from Defaulting
Pay-to-play scams that have roiled the nation’s retirement funds involved a vast and deeply-enmeshed web of super-connected players
We when through an entire election cycle to elected a New York City controller and because of the careful election spin strategies of the candidates to ignore the pension scandal and the absence of media investigation reporting on the which has already seen several convictions and out of court agreements with Cuomo and the pension funds that broke the law. A big result of this dysfunctional election election for comptroller is we have no clue with the pols did to our pension, no clue what the new comptroller will do to get rid of political money managers and will all act shocked if down the road we fund out that these money managers loaded New York's pensions with junk. Will New York's pensions needs tens of billions in tax payer money to prevent defaults? Who knows. In the last
This investigation has uncovered a matrix of corruption – which grows more expansive and interconnected by the day,” said Attorney General Cuomo.
"I believe we are disclosing a national network of actors who often acted in concert and did this all across the country," Mr. Cuomo said. "They collaborated, they often partnered and victimized states and taxpayers across the country. It's also an ongoing scam."
Unraveling the Matrix
Luckily or unluckily the investigation of the California pension fund gives New Yorkers some answers. The reason we can predict the future is these placement agents – middlemen paid to open doors for private equity firms and other money managers for the most part are the same in New York and California. In fact they seem to work together or in concert with each other in so many states that only the chief investigators in the Attorney General office, the SEC and the FBI know what the hell is going on.
What we know From Cal
Two Main Players in Both NY and Cal
We learned last week was that the California pension fund called Calpers is being rocked by 'Pay to Play' investigation. The two main targets of the investigation are Alfred Villalobos who ran the pension investent fund Arvco and Leon Black who ran Apollo Management. California investorgators are looking at how former Calpers board member Vilalobos had reaped more than $50 million in fees for arranging investments that could saddle California taxpayers with hundreds of millions of dollars in losses.
Ferrer Paid as a Placement Agent for Vilalobos
(Craton Equity Partners)
Arvco Loses Money for California Pension Fund
WSJ reports that Arvco recommended some of Calpers's poorly performing investments; last year the pension fund lost nearly a quarter of its value and more than $50 billion.
Cal is investigation weather Albert and his daugthter gave money to a pension board member campaign in return for Pension business
Albert Vilalobos contributed $2000 to controller Thompson and his daughter Carissa $4,950.00 10/10/2004 right before he recieved NYC Pension funds
Black's Apollo Paid Vilalobos Alvco
The private equity firm Apollo Management (Black), paid Villalobos Arvco Capital a placement-agent fee in 2007 after the New York pension fund invested $350 million Apollo, even though the state has invested with Mr. Black's firm since 1996. How can Vilalobos help Black get in with DiNapoli if he needed Ferrer to introduce him at the same time to the NYS Comptroller?
Poorly Performed
Money managers leon Black owner NYc penson $365 million because of souring investments, the returning of money is know as clawback
Apollo Management, has asked for and received a two-year extension, to July 2010, in hopes of righting the money-losing fund.
Wetherly Capital Group
An unlicensed intermediary Julio Ramirez working for Wetherly Capital as a broker-dealer, partnered with the chief political operative at the NYS Comptroller’s Office Hank Morris to split profits from corrupt pension fund deals, Ramirez has already pleaded guilty to paying $250,000 in fees to Morris.
Saul Meyers Aldus Equity Partners
The pension system terminated one of the advisers, Aldus Equity Partners, whose partner Saul Meyer has been criminally charged in connection with the scandal. Meyer pleaded guilty to charges that he paid over $300,000 in bogus finders fees to Henry Morris, chief aide of former state comptroller Alan Hevesi, in exchange for $375m of investments in Aldus private equity funds between 2004 and 2006. Hevesi resigned from his post in 2006
Meyer is also being investigated in New Mexico on charges of helping Hevesi’s son, Dan, to land a $25m investment deal with the New Mexico pension fund. At the time, Aldus was a private equity advisor to the fund and seeking business with the Hevesi-controlled New York pension fund. Dan Hevesi received a $250,000 placement fee for the transaction. On this charge, Meyer writes, “On numerous occasions, however, contrary to my fiduciary duty, I ensured that Aldus recommended certain proposed investments that were pushed on me by politically-connected individuals in New Mexico.
Wissman Aldus
New Mexico, which has paid Aldus millions in investment advisory fees
Hevesi Gives Aldus Payoff After His Son Was Paid Off
Aldus is accused of helping Daniel Hevesi, Mr. Hevesi’s son, profit from a deal in New Mexico at the same time that the New York comptroller’s office, then run by his father, agreed to increase by $200 million the amount of pension money overseen by Aldus.
Arvco also brokered a deal involving the city’s pension fund last year, but the office of City Comptroller William C. Thompson Jr. said Mr. Ferrer had not approached Mr. Thompson as part of any deal or for Arvco.(Year)
Cal is investigation weather Albert and his daugthter gave money to a pension board member campaign in return for Business
Separating the cash from the billionaires, in a process known as a clawback, won't be easy. Already, one of the wealthy asset managers, Leon Black and his Apollo Management, has asked for and received a two-year extension, to July 2010, in hopes of riguhting the money-losing fund.
One Apollo investor who would like his money back, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said he is basically being forced to give Apollo "an open-ended interest-free loan on a bad credit risk."
A second investor, who also spoke only if he wasn't identified, seemed irked that Black had not even addressed the issue. He would handle things differently if he were running Apollo -- and at least talk to investors about the roughly $365 million it owes all investors in the fund.
In 1993 Villalobos resigned as Los Angeles' deputy mayor for economic development after the Los Angeles Times reported that he had suffered huge gambling losses and filed for personal bankruptcy in the 1980s.
Saul Meyer Aldus
The other thread running through both the New York and New Mexico pension funds was the advisory firm Aldus Equity, whose founder Saul Meyer was charged yesterday with participating in the New York conspiracy and which also until this week advised similar investments in New Mexico.
Aldus acted as an adviser to the New York state fund and a New Mexico government fund, helping them conduct due diligence and select investment managers.
In 2006, Aldus advised the New Mexico government fund to make a $25 million investment in Catterton Partners, a private-equity firm in Greenwich, Conn. Catterton paid a finders' fee on that investment to the firm of Mr. Hevesi's son, Dan Hevesi
“On numerous occasions…I ensured that Aldus recommended certain proposed investments that were pushed on me by politically-connected individuals in New Mexico. I did this knowing that these politically-connected individuals or their associates stood to benefit financially or politically from the investments and that the investments were not necessarily in the best economic interest of New Mexico.”
It seems odd that the individuals aren’t named here; our previous reporting has turned up plenty of public references, in lawsuits and other places, to folks being investigated for possible pay-to-play connections in New Mexico. They include Julio Ramirez and Marc Correra, as well as placement firm Wetherly Capital. Ramirez has already pleaded guilty in the New York case.
awsuit filed in New Mexico state court by the former chief investment officer of the New Mexico Educational Retirement Board
he complaint charges that Henry "Hank" Morris and Searle Co. received, paid or arranged kickbacks from firms to win investment business from New Mexico. Morris, along with David J. Loglisci, New York state's former deputy comptroller and chief investment officer, are two of the key figures in the ongoing New York State Common Retirement Fund pay-to-play scandal. Both were charged in a 123-count indictment in March and have denied wrongdoing.
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