Inspector Clouseau
Overlapping ‘Troopergate’ Inquiries Are Criticized *** SIC on Troopergate: Convenient conclusion? This conclusion is particularly convenient because, as it turns out, the proposed state budget for this year calls for reducing the State Commission on Investigation budget from $4.153 million to Zero, and eliminating the State Commission on Investigation altogether on March 31. How convenient that an investigation of Troopergate led the investigators to conclude that their jobs needed to be saved!!! *** Teitelbaum: Troopergate Probe No Whitewash ***Public Integrity Agency’s Chairman Teitelbaum Resigns Amid Inquiry - NYTimes.com *** Head of NY public integrity panel John Feerick resigns -- Newsday.com - His resignation comes in the middle of an investigation by the state Inspector General into whether staff of the commission was improperly passing along information to officials of the Spitzer administration about a commission probe into the so-called "Troopergate'' matter.“Seven months ago Assistant U.S. prosecutor Rua Kelly asked Justice Joan B. Lobis of State Supreme Court in Manhattan to delay a Tax Payer public inquiry into the City Council’s member item slush fund for 90 days if she grants the lawsuit request. Judge Lobis ruled against the lawsuit and nothing has been heard since from the U.S. Attorney.” Times, June 27, 2008
The U.S. Attorney's Office and the City Department of Investigation are investigating the council's use of slush funds - first revealed by The Post to be hidden under the names of nonexistent sham organizations. Post, May 14, 2008
"City investigators probing the City Council slush fund scandal are examining the relationship between lobbyists, council members, and nonprofit organizations seeking public funding from the City, a source said." NY Sun, June 20, 2008
Mayor Bloomberg's offer to use taxpayer dollars to pay for a criminal defense lawyer for the speaker of the City Council, Christine Quinn, and possibly for other council members, is a sharp departure from practice in Washington, where public officials who may have violated criminal statutes almost always pay for their own defense." NY Sun, April 28, 2008
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has begun a preliminary investigation into the pension fund as the state Attorney General's Office and the Albany County District Attorney's Office continue to probe into how disgraced former Comptroller Alan Hevesi's longtime top political consultant was being paid over $25 million in fees from firms doing business with the state pension fund." Post, Oct. 13, 2007
Catch Larry Seabrook If You Can: For the Bronx councilman, the council slush-fund probe is just another investigation Take Bronx Councilman Larry Seabrook, who never breaks a sweat no matter how many times his name pops up alongside words like "slush fund" and "probe." Investigation-wise, this is the second time around for Seabrook. Or is it the third? The one that may not count was a little look-see by the Department of Investigation back in 1986, Village Voice, June 2, 2008