TrueNews: NY's Watergate: Several Slush Fund Cover-up

Friday, August 7, 2009

NY's Watergate: Several Slush Fund Cover-up

New York's Watergate: Several Slush Fund Cover-up

From True News:
The City Council Slush Fund Scandal Is Way Bigger Than Miguel Martinez *** Councilmembers Enjoy Your New Home: Jail True News has been publishing exclusive after exclusive on the City Council slush fund scandal and the growing corruption in New York's government, examples follow: Member Item Slush Fund Cover Up *** Massive Lobbyist Scandal at City Hall *** Cover Up At City Hall Continues *** Inspector Clouseau Investigates *** The Dishonor Roll - The Shame of New York Newspaper reports of Councilmembers misuse of member items and their office *** The Sad State of Journalism in New York

Nixon Tapes = Mayor's Slush Fund Investigation?

Comptroller Thompson audits did not discover the council's slush fund, now he wants the mayor's audit on his own slush fund . . . The way this investigation is going we should turn this case over to Inspector Clouseau

From the NYT:
"Politics aside, Mr. Thompson and Ms. Gotbaum should not expect any big envelopes in the mail. The mayor’s office has said that there is little paperwork supporting the review and that it relied on interviews with staff members to reconstruct the financing. When The Times asked this week for a copy of the audit, a spokesman for the mayor said the report was really little more than a “spreadsheet that detailed what was funded and by whom.”" Thompson and Gotbaum Ask for Mayor's Discretionary Fund Data *** City Council officials awarding big raises to staffers Feeling pay envy, City Council officials are doling out hefty raises to their staffers similar to those awarded a month ago by Mayor Bloomberg to his staff

Arrogant Leadership They don't care what you think GOV'S PARTY PAL TAPPED AS 88G-A-YR. AIDE AMID 'HIRE FREEZE' *** What hiring freeze?! Gov. Paterson hires 'club' pal Despite a hiring freeze CITY COUNCIL HIKES STAFFERS' SALARIES *** Tainted carpenters union boss Forde still fave with pols *** Position Is Uncertain for Indicted Leader of Carpenters’ Union *** Congress to Buy Eight New Planes Congress plans to spend $550 million to buy eight jets, even as lawmakers have criticized firms receiving taxpayer funds for using private jets.

Dumb and Dummer Gov First the gov calls a special election then he calls it off? Paterson Calls Primary Day Special In The 38th AD Is it off or on? Not Special Yet And the Former Gov Gets Naked Again Court: Gov't Can Withhold Spitzer Documents

Free Campaign Mailing NYP continues it positive spin for Bloomberg education record A TRIUMPH FOR SCHOOL SPIRIT * SENATE OKS BLOOMY-RUN SYSTEM* GOV WILL SIGN SIX-YEAR RENEWAL *** O'S CZAR: NATION COULD LEARN FROM NYC *** 'THANKS' FROM PRINCIPAL BEHIND BIG TURNAROUND *** Maloney Decides Not to Challenge Gillibrand

Pay to Play Closed selection process raises questions From Crain's:Half a dozen bids to revive the Aqueduct racetrack in Ozone Park, Queens, were formally submitted to Gov. David Paterson’s office last week as part of a closed selection process, raising eyebrows among good-government groups

Road to City Hall Mayoral race heats up as Bloomy, Thompson trade barbs The campaigns of Mayor Bloomberg and Controller William Thompson traded barbs Thursday about who failed to protect New York renters at the tail end of the real estate bubble *** Brooklyn D.A. Charles Hynes recovering from heart surgery Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes is recovering from heart surgery, his office said Thursday in a surprise announcement *** The Amsterdam News has its eye on 14 Council races *** Of Campaigns and Fund-Raising *** Paterson Calls Primary Day Special In The 38th AD *** Howard Wolfson criticizes Bill Thompson for investing in a land deal after getting contributions from the developer. Thompson people note that Bloomberg’s commissioner approved of the deal *** Did Two-Ton Tony order Parkway Hospital closed? From the Daily News *** Pigeon launches two new political funds for Espada

NY Economic Melt Down Retail rents plunge on Madison Avenue *** Yet another jeweler goes bankrupt

Washington Lobbyists Pay to Play The Health Insurers Have Already Won: How They Did It *** WATCH: Tampa Town Hall On Health Care Reform Disrupted By Violence *** Rahm Emanuel Puts Foot Down on Ads

National California Prepares for Inmate Release

International Taliban Leader in Pakistan Was Killed, His Aides Say *** China Executes Airport Chief for Bribes

Wall Street Mess Madoff Trustee's $15M Payday *** Ex-AIG CEO Greenberg settles fraud charges *** July nonfarm payrolls fell 247,000 in July. The unemployment rate dropped to 9.4%

Media Peace Talks With Fox Sparked Fierce Battle Within MSNBC *** WATCH: Giant Matzah Ball Sets Guinness World Record *** Director John Hughes Dies At 59 *** NYTimes Co. publicly shopping Boston Globe *** CBS profits plummet 96% in 2Q *** Media Ben Stein Loses New York Times Column

Why Donate to True News Keep Real News Alive. Put simply, True News -- and the truth – cannot do more and could even end without financial help from the people who want to hold the government accountable for their actions. As you know True News, without any support, has fought to keep the real NYC’s investigative and analysis reporting era of great journalism alive. True News is a living memorial to publisher John Peter Zenger who was jailed in 1733 by the King for reporting to New Yorkers what was going on in their city. It is also in the tradition of the Ben Bradlee generation that believes that all reporters would not be doing their job if they did not follow the story until they got to the truth. Today’s reporters copy press releases from elected officials and lobbyists hired by the special interests who want to control the message. The lost circulation of newspapers has created a generation of young reporters who not only rely on elected officials and lobbyists for stories, but don’t even Google to find the historical context or, more importantly, the truth behind the stories they write. In this era of sell-out journalism, the public has become disconnected, powerless and trapped by a permanent government that has turned against them. The media blames an apathetic public for not voting even after democratic consultants act like an Orwellian 'Big Bother' threatening them to vote or be looked into. True News reports that the reason for the decreasing turn-out is the public no longer feel their votes matter. If you value hard hitting Investigative Journalism, don't let True News go the way of the Passenger Pigeon. The Newfield, Barrett, Kempton, Hammel of yesteryear are no more. Local TV news limits itself to good looking women and men reading about breaking fires and crimes, with few exceptions. What's left that isn't tabloid is a wasteland of superficial news, driven by political and corporate PR machines, sowing the fertile seeds of corruption public and private hand in glove. Despite the soft news we see, standard bearers play a significant albeit vestigial role. Newspapers constantly pick up stories from True News (without crediting us of course) avoiding the costs to investigate themselves. Without True News, the New York Press and this blog's over one and half million readers will be utterly lost in the wilderness. Only True News is explaining: How Blacks, the Poor and the Middle Class are Being Pushed out of Brooklyn Because of Albany's Tax Breaks for Luxury Developers and Apartments Gives Details How Lobbyists and Developers Run A Secret Shadow Government that Also Controls Elections With Big Money and Their Control Over the Media Investigates How Political Party Bosses Have Been Replaced By Lobbyists' Privatization of the Tammany Hall Machine Reports How the WFP and the Elected Officials Who Are Supported By Them Have Abused and Aggressively Broken Campaign Finance Laws. True news is not funded by special interests like the other news blogs. True News has been self-funded all these years. True News does not make nice with sitting politicians, developers, lobbyists to fund it or to provide its young clueless reporters with story ideas. True News wants nothing more than to scratch out a modest living in its aim to investigate, connect the dots, and get to the truth of every newsworthy story. To carry on in this mission, True News needs funding from people like you -- People Who Want Better Journalism in order to learn what is really going on in their government and fight the corrupt politicians. It's been written about True News Those of you who have an involvement in the dangerous game of politics, it may be of interest to know who’s telling the truth these days, and, whether the articles we read are real or imagined disinformation, emanating directly out of a governmental PR department. No genuine journalist would ever rely on such a source for the truth. As publisher of the SoHo Journal, through personal experience, take it from me that it is possible to become a political target for simply writing about the truth. And the mainstream media and writers eat their own for sales— as well as take orders from their masters— corporate, financial and political masters. Always pay attention to the agenda. Read between the lines. That is the basis of real reporting and political comprehension. Not the rehashing of a press release. OWS had a handle on this reality as well. Pay attention to the current daily blog written by Gary Tilzer. His True News is one of the few remaining sources for political investigative reporting. His fearless reporting of the truth in political circles is worth noting. Contributors names are confidential

Other Views

On October 15, 1958, veteran broadcaster Edward R. Murrow delivered his famous "wires and lights in a box" speech (VIDEO) The Last Lion of Tammany HOW JIMMY McMANUS, MANHATTAN’S LAST GREAT TAMMANY DISTRICT LEADER, HELPED TO REVIVE HELL’S KITCHEN AND THE THEATER DISTRICT c By James S. Kaplan f On January 13, 2011, the law firm of Proskauer Rose moved into 11 Times Square, which is located on 42nd Street between 7th and 8th Avenues. In moving west to the final building of the City’s Times Square redevelopment, the Proskauer firm joined such other major law firms as Cravath, Swaine & Moore, Covington & Burling, Roberts & Holland, and the advertising firm of Ogilvy & Mather. That such major professional firms, along with a number of newly constructed luxury apartment buildings on 42nd Street from ninth to eleventh avenue and trendy restaurants and off Broadway theaters would be located west of 8th Avenue in midtown would have been almost inconceivable fifty years ago. Tammany Last Stand Continued

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