Dishonor Roll: The 29 City Councilmembers Against Democracy: Simcha Felder

Showing posts with label Simcha Felder. Show all posts

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

The Dishonor Roll - The Shame of New York

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Simcha Felder

I gave $20M to pals on Council, Mayor Bloomberg sez

BY FRANK LOMBARDI and ERIN EINHORN
DAILY NEWS CITY HALL BUREAU
Thursday, September 25th 2008, 12:09 AM

Mayor Bloomberg used a secret fund to reward City Council allies with $20 million for their districts - some of it going to questionable organizations, he revealed Wednesday.

The mayor first acknowledged his slush fund last spring in the wake of a Council scandal over taxpayer dollars flowing to fictitious groups and nonprofits controlled by Council members' relatives.

Bloomberg released new details yesterday showing what he doled out to Council members and pols to distribute among their favorite nonprofits and pet projects since 2002.

"People have taken tough stands and helped us make politically unpopular decisions, sometimes at their own peril," mayoral spokesman Stu Loeser said.

The two members who got the most were Simcha Felder, raking in $5.7 million, and Domenic Recchia, who got $2.2 million.

Both are Brooklyn Democrats who crossed party lines to endorse Bloomberg when he ran for reelection as a Republican in 2005.

Felder did not return calls for comment. Recchia denied the money was a payback.

"The mayor expressed support for things happening in my district," he said. "These projects were worthwhile."

Others, like Councilman Bill DeBlasio (D-Brooklyn), who got $351,000, earned the wrath of then-Council Speaker Gifford Miller in 2005 by siding with Bloomberg on a plan to put a garbage transfer station in Miller's Manhattan district.

"I didn't need a weatherman to tell me that there would not be a lot of support [from Miller] for my community," DeBlasio said. "I appealed to the mayor to help on these items."

Also getting money from the mayor's fund was Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, who began collecting in 2005 after crossing party lines to endorse Bloomberg. He sent much of the $2.6 million to a nonprofit called Best of Brooklyn, Inc. which he controls.

Some of the mayor's cash ended up with nonprofits later linked to the scandal.

Among them were the North Brooklyn Community Council, run by the wife of Councilman Erik Martin Dilan. Dilan gave $30,000 from the mayor to that group in 2005.

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."

Dishonor Roll: The 29 City Councilmembers Against Democracy