Erik Dilan

Brooklyn Pol Put $187G of Your Dough into Wife's Nonprofit

Daily News, BY ROBERT GEARTY, BENJAMIN LESSER AND GREG B. SMITH, April 22nd 2008

Jannitza Luna, district leader for the Brooklyn Democrats, was on husband Erik Dilan's staff before she started running North Brooklyn Community Council, whose office (above) is on Wilson Ave.

Brooklyn city councilman Erik Dilan has funneled more than $180,000 in taxpayer money into a small nonprofit run by his wife, the Daily News has learned.

Dilan (D-Brooklyn) was sole sponsor of "discretionary" city funds for the North Brooklyn Community Council, a nonprofit that started out organizing youth football and has expanded almost entirely with government money.

His wife, Jannitza Luna, has been executive director of the group since at least 2005, tax records show.

She was on Dilan's staff before she began running the nonprofit, and she is a district leader for the Brooklyn Democrats.

Each City Councilmember gets a pot of "discretionary" money to use for pet projects in their districts. Potential misuse of these funds is at the heart of an ongoing probe by the city Department of Investigation and the Manhattan U.S. attorney.

Two aides to City Councilman Kendall Stewart (D-Brooklyn) have been charged with embezzling $145,000 from a nonprofit supported with "discretionary" funds. Stewart has not been charged and denies wrongdoing.

The News also disclosed that City Councilwoman Maria del Carmen Arroyo (D-Bronx) sponsored $80,000 in member items for a Bronx nonprofit that employed her sister and a nephew.

In an interview with The News, Dilan said he disclosed the conflict to the City Council and that no one objected, although a letter sent to the Conflicts of Interest Board obscures details of the arrangement.

At least three times in the past three years, Dilan sponsored member items for the North Brooklyn Community Council totaling $187,500. The amounts grew each year, from $30,000 to $57,500 to $100,000.

He was engaged to Luna sometime in 2006 and they got married in March 2007, he said. During that time, she was listed on the group's tax forms as the only salaried employee.

On the latest tax form filed, 2006, she claims a salary of $45,000. The group also paid $34,658 to unnamed "consultants."

On Friday, at the group's small storefront office in Bushwick, a receptionist told a reporter she would give Luna his number. Luna did not return the call.

In its last filing, the group claimed it organized youth sports teams. In an interview, Dilan said the group, which first reported income in 2004, is now doing less sports and more of what he called "immigrant services."

Each year, at least 90% of its funds come from either city or state taxpayers. Brooklyn Democratic leader and Assemblyman Vito Lopez sponsored a $50,000 state "member item" for the group last year, records show.

Diana Reyna

Just what are Diana Reyna's reasons for supporting the term limits extension? WATCH VIDEO

-----------------

Slush pols look after their own

by Robert Gearty, Benjamin Lesser, Kirsten Danis, and Greg B. Smith
The Daily News, April 30, 2008

Council member Diana Reyna of Brooklyn was generous with her in-laws, starting with $75,000 for the Striking Viking Story Pirates, an acting troupe featuring her sister-in-law, Laura Hernandez.

Reyna said her in-law approached her for funding. The money pays for the group to perform plays in three schools in her district.

She insists her sister-in-law gets no compensation from city money, but acknowledges her relative gets paid from birthday parties the group performs.

Reyna also sole-sponsored $6,000 in "discretionary funds" for Los Sures Senior Center, which is run by her mother-in-law, also named Laura Hernandez.

Reyna also sponsored another $25,000 in taxpayer funds to be split by Los Sures and three other nonprofits.

-------------------
City pulls lid off pols' pig trough
BY FRANK LOMBARDI
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Saturday, June 16th 2007

For the first time, the City Council squealed yesterday on how its 51 members doled out $36.4 million in so-called "pork" funds.

The Council divulged the sponsors for each of more than 1,500 budget allocations. Previously, only the recipients and how much each got were made public.

The disclosure was made as Council members unanimously approved the city's new $59 billion budget, which kicks in July 1. The spending plan includes a 7% cut in the property-tax rate - part of a package of $1.3 billion in tax cuts.

Budget officials reported yesterday that the record surplus of $4.4 billion has grown by another $638 million since Mayor Bloomberg proposed the new budget April 26. The surplus is being used to help offset future spending gaps.

Each Council member controlled a minimum of $340,000 for member items, totaling at least $17.4 million of the $36.4 million in Council discretionary funds.

"I don't call it pork," said Councilman David Weprin (D-Queens), chairman of the Finance Committee. "I call it funding services provided by community groups."

A big beneficiary was the Ridgewood Bushwick Senior Citizens Council, part of the social services and housing empire of Assemblyman Vito Lopez (D-Brooklyn), the Brooklyn Democratic boss.

Last year, Lopez's organizations got at least $572,000, without any sponsors being disclosed.

This time, Lopez-related groups got $609,750. Sponsors included Council members Diana Reyna and Erik Martin Dilan, both Brooklyn Democrats, and Dennis Gallagher (R-Queens), who all represent districts in and around Lopez's turf.