Dishonor Roll: The 29 City Councilmembers Against Democracy: James Sanders

Showing posts with label James Sanders. Show all posts

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

The Dishonor Roll - The Shame of New York

Sunday, November 2, 2008

Al Vann

SLACKER COUNCIL MEMBERS LACK PRESENCE

The New York Post, By SALLY GOLDENBERG and DAVID SEIFMAN, August 13, 2008

Two City Council members in office since 2002 have missed 34 percent of their hearings and meetings, according to figures released yesterday.

Maria Baez (D-Bronx) and James Sanders (D-Queens) topped the list of the 51 council members with the worst attendance records - each scoring a dismal 66 percent.

Not far behind were Al Vann (D-Brooklyn) at 67 percent, Larry Seabrook (D-Bronx) at 68 percent and Tom White (D-Queens) at 69 percent. Baez was absent for 269 of 873 hearings and meetings between Jan. 1, 2002 and June 16, 2008.

She also was marked "excused" on 26 other occasions.

Remarkably, Baez missed every single one of 24 council sessions between this past May 16 and June 16, the period when the $60 billion city budget was hashed out.

She couldn't be reached for comment yesterday.

On the flip side, maverick Tony Avella (D-Queens) got the highest attendance grade: 98 percent.
Councilman Simcha Felder (D-Brooklyn), who achieved a 95 percent attendance score, said the figures don't necessarily reflect the reality because legislators are marked present even if they just drop into a meeting briefly.

"So what if you get marked here?" asked Felder.

"We are elected by the people. At a minimum, we should have the decency to get here on time and stay for most of the hearing."

Saturday, November 1, 2008

James Sanders

Missing Sanders Campaign Filings Trigger Review
Times Ledger, August 18, 2005

The campaign committee for City Council candidate David Hooks filed complaints this week with the New York City Campaign Finance Board and the Queens district attorney's office after City Councilman James Sanders Jr. (D-Laurelton) missed Friday's deadline to file campaign finance disclosure documents. Sanders has not filed the mandatory periodic campaign finance reports with the Board of Elections since being elected in 2001. According to the Campaign Finance Board Web site, Sanders is the only sitting council member not to have submitted his campaign's receipts and expenditures. The Board of Elections met with Sanders' re-election committee - known as Sanders '05 - earlier this year to discuss the missed filings and determine how the committee could comply. The Hooks campaign, however, has focused steady criticism on the questions surrounding Sanders' failure to file the campaign disclosure reports. Hooks' spokesman, John Lance, said the issue was a matter of fairness.
--------------------

City Councilman Under Fire
Newsday, June 3, 2005

City Councilman James Sanders of Laurelton has failed to file legally mandated reports on his campaign fund-raising and spending for the past three years, the Board of Elections said yesterday. Sanders' failure was first raised publicly yesterday by David Hooks, his opponent in the Democratic primary in the fall. Hooks, a career planner who ran against Sanders in 2001, released copies of letters from the Board of Elections to Sanders during the past three years. Each of the seven form letters advised Sanders that he had missed the deadlines for filing the latest report. However, each letter failed to note his lack of response to earlier letters.

Dishonor Roll: The 29 City Councilmembers Against Democracy