TrueNews: Albany Corruption Makes Losers Winners

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Albany Corruption Makes Losers Winners

Albany Corruption Makes Losers Winners
AEG Wins With Weak Bid
Aque-slots firm was ranked as a bad bet *** VIDEO: Bankrupt OTB pitches gambling terminals to taverns * Growing Aqueduct Investigations Breaking News Judge: IG Subpoenas To Senate Dems Stand *Senate Loses First Round in Subpoena Fight** A Closer Look At Paterson's Allegedly Corrupt "Racino" Deal (Gothamist)

Paterson halts build projects & school aid *** Paterson Delays School Aid, Citing State’s Lack of Money *** State employee unions risk "massive" layoffs if they don't accept cuts, a Paterson administration official warned * Paterson is also suspending hundreds of new and current construction projects due to the ongoing fiscal crisis and budget stalemate *** NY's Legislature to miss state budget deadline again

MTA Spin Cameras After this weekends murders that were not caught on video because of broken cameras the highly paid MTA press office are busy pushing a story about 900 new subway cameras on the way. With a failure rate of 50% for the cameras already installed maybe the MTA would gain a little creditable if they said 450 new cameras on the way? 900 new subway surveillance cameras on the way * Lack of Video Slows Hunt for a Killer in the Subway * About half of New York subway security cameras don't work * Investigators in double subway murder hampered by lack of cameras * No video after subway stabbing highlights MTA issue * MTA Vows To Fix Subway Surveillance Cameras *** Insecurity Cams? About Half in the City Don't Work *** The Phantom Token Booth: MTA Cuts Station Agents * The MTA rejected the WFP's anti-service cuts ads that feature cheeky acronyms like WTF and OMFG to criticize Bloomberg

Judging a Judge
NYT which endorsed Anderson has stayed away from this story
Suspended NYC Judge's Trial Set To Go To Jury the criminal case against Nora Anderson.She's accused of hiding the source of $250,000 in gifts and loans to her successful 2008 campaign for a judgeship overseeing wills and trusts * Worries over rats as city cuts pest control jobs From True News Decembrer 11, 2008 Manhattan Surrogate Judge-Elect Nora Anderson Indicted

The Built-In Corruption at the NYC Board of Elections
The Gotham Gazette has this article, which explains that the New York city Board of Elections has been without an executive director since January, just as it is charged with using entirely new vote-counting equipment in this year’s elections. The story also explains how the Board has become a patronage plum for the Democratic and Republican Parties. As Big Change in Voting Approaches, Election Board Lacks a Leader (Gotham Gazette) Background on the BOE From True News Tammany Hall Board of Elections Control Goes On and On * Much More

This $550 exec seat cost kids millions How ed. bigs' luxe taste doomed fund bid * Dysfunctional state government dooms chances for Race to the Top education dollars in near future *** City to End Program Giving Cash to the Poor *** Paying NYers for good behavior yields mixed results

Blooomberg Makes The Rules Top Bloomberg Aide Now Juggles Two Jobs In a move without precedent in New York City government, Mayor Bloomberg has appointed a sitting deputy mayor in his administration to simultaneously run his charitable foundation*** Another Exit From Bloomberg’s Inner Circle Deputy Mayor Edward Skyler *** Bloomberg's speech writer may be get the job of executive director for the Charter Revision Commission *** Mayor Bloomberg Has Fallen Out of Love With Barack Obama

Pension Corruption The Post hits Dean Skelos for supporting a pension sweetener for teachers. Aque-slots firm was ranked as a bad bet The Nassau County Republican was perfectly positioned to stop another fiscal infamy -- and he's forever talking about his commitment to the taxpayers -- but this week Skelos just flat fell down on the job. The result: The Senate pushed through a bill its supporters claimed will save money, but will in fact cost the state tens of millions -- and damage an already tottering pension system. What's behind such a move?
Why, the teachers unions. True News offers more on the real pension scadal * The Hevesi Team is on the Pay to Play Varsity Division * Bloomberg Hits Thompson Pension Play to Play * How the NY Pension Fund Scandal Crosses State Lines

New York Economic Melt Down Real Estate’s Crash Recasts a Scorned Landlord as a Potential Savior *** Hamptons summer rentals go for cheap *** City Pays $98,000 to Critical Mass Cyclists ***Parks Officials Consider Cuts to Public Pools * Worries over rats as city cuts pest control jobs *City to cut pest control jobs by 70 percent * How to tax NY into a hole (NY Fiscal Watch)

Media Wars WSJ City Team Hits 20 *** Reporting Matchmaker: Setting Up Home Loan Modification Applicants With Local Journalists (Publica) *Journal’s New York Section to Feature Reporting on Crime, Society *** WSJ Launching Gossip Column *** Yahoo Ramping Up Original News Coverage *** Media Moves: Joe Pompeo Leaves the NY Observer for Business Insider

Facebook HowardKurtz Breaking: WSJ to hire congressional correspondent to cover the NY delegation for its New York section that launches in April.

NYC Wins Fight Over X-Rated Book and Video shops

Elections 2010 Levy vs. AG Andrew Cuomo would be 1982 all over again, says Dan Janison * Budget crunch may keep Assembly seat empty until fall *** Inside the Republican Civil War

Facebook Joseph Mercurio NYS 2010 Governor: 52% Cuomo, 29% Lazio; 51% Cuomo, 28% Paladino; 50% Cuomo, 26% Levy. Republican pollster Rasmussen. Read it and weep Rs.

Obama to Open Offshore Areas to Oil Drilling for First Time *** Obama to allow oil drilling off Virginia coast ** Drug Firm Investigated FDA Officials - Politico

With Profits at Stake, Companies Try to Alter Reputations Online (Wash Post)

Should There Be an Inquisition for the Pope? (Dowd NYT)

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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