Does Quinn's Close Relationship With Bloomberg Jeopardise Campaign, Betray LGBT Community ?

Speaker Quinn Uses Bloomberg Events To Fluff Campaign, Turns Back On Bloomberg-NYPD Discrimination Against LGBT Community

Christine Quinn's mayoral campaign is increasingly seen as desperate, since her poll numbers are beginning to fall, now that more and more voters are tuning into her dismal political record -- and to her close relationship with the unpopular mayor, Michael Bloomberg.

• For the second time in a week, Mayor Michael Bloomberg has allowed Christine Quinn to take center stage at a big announcement by his administration. More and more, Speaker Quinn has come to be seen as interchangeable for Mayor Bloomberg during big policy announcements. “The mayor, without officially endorsing her, is helping her with his administration,” said George Arzt, a Democratic consultant. The strategy is a calculated risk: much of the criticism leveled at Ms. Quinn has been about her coziness with Mr. Bloomberg, particularly her support of the mayor’s successful effort to overturn the city’s term limits law and run for a third term. (Bloomberg Helping Quinn's Fledgling Mayoral Campaign With Media Events : NYTimes)
• Meanwhile, as Christine Quinn uses Bloomberg administration press conferences to help rescue her sinking mayoral campaign, the Bloomberg administration continues its attack on safe sex. Advocates say too many New Yorkers land in jail after cops confiscate condoms. Clara Sierra was falsely arrested her and charged with prostitution by police, after she was found carrying condoms. She served 10 days in Rikers. On this serious issue, which affects the LGBT community, Christine Quinn sides with Mayor Bloomberg, so that she won't jeopardise his backroom support for her mayoral campaign. Speaker Quinn puts her own political ambitions over the needs of the LGBT community. It hasn't been the first time, and it certainly won't be the last. (Transgenders Face Discrimination, False Arrests By NYPD : Metro)

TV Ad : Did Christine Quinn Take Campaign Donations To Approve Rudin Luxury Condos ?

The latest ad by New York City is Not for Sale 2013 blames Christine Quinn for her role in St. Vincent’s Hospital closure.

A group of citizen activists has previewed an advance look at a new TV advertisement that blames New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn for the closing of St. Vincent's Hospital.

The TV ad, released by the group known as NYC Is Not For Sale 2013, exposes how there has been an appearance of a quid-pro-quo between Speaker Quinn and Rudin Management Company, the real estate developer, which foreclosed on St. Vincent's Hospital. Members of the Rudin family, who own the billion-dollar Rudin Management Company enterprise, donated $30,000 to Speaker Quinn, who conveniently later supported a zoning change that paved the way for the Greenwich Village hospital to close.

Read more : SEE IT: New ad blasts Christine Quinn for role in closing of St. Vincent’s Hospital

In exchange for $30,000 in campaign donations, did New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn sell out her community ?

Do the political campaign donations by Beth R. DeWoody, Madeleine R. Johnson, Eric C. Rudin, Jack Rudin, Katherine Rudin, and William C. Rudin, who each donated $4,950 to Christine Quinn's presumed 2013 mayoral campaign, amount to influence peddling ? After all, since even before St. Vincent's Hospital closed, Speaker Quinn has been toeing the Rudin family line : close down St. Vincent's and replace it with an inferior urgent care center.

Not only did Speaker Quinn say that we only needed an urgent care center to replace St. Vincent's, but she approved the Rudin family's plan, allowing St. Vincent's Hospital to be rezoned into luxury condos. Since 2010, the Rudin family has been trying to get approval for a billion-dollar real estate development plan for the buildings that belong to the bankruptcy estate of St. Vincent's Hospital. Since the Rudin family wants to build luxury high-rise condos on the site of St. Vincent's, and since they needed City Council approval from Speaker Quinn, do these large campaign donations explain why Speaker Quinn did nothing to restore a Level I trauma center and full-service hospital to the former St. Vincent's site ? Does Speaker Quinn's official acts come as a result of sizable campaign donations from the likes of the Rudin family ?

To Preet Bharara : Do @chriscquinn's official acts come as a result of campaign donations ? christine-quinn-sold-out.blogspot.com/2011/02/rudin-… #StVincentsHospital

— Stop Christine Quinn (@stopchrisquinn) April 4, 2013

City Council Community Outreach Does Campaign Outreach For Christine Quinn

The Community Outreach Unit of the New York City Council, a taxpayer-financed office that has organized rallies to protect student subway discounts and sponsored adult education fairs, frequently functions as something else as well: a publicity and public relations machine for Christine C. Quinn. Read more : City Council’s Outreach Unit, Run by Quinn, Mainly Benefits Her Campaign

@uft - @quinn4ny uses Council's 16 person "Community Outreach Unit" as her private campaign staff nyti.ms/Yyq8Ps @mjalonschi

— Defeat Chris Quinn (@defeatquinn) April 19, 2013

The New York Times described the Community Outreach Unit, a taxpayer-financed group of many political operatives, as almost entirely focused on propping up Speaker Quinn's political image, which would benefit her mayoral campaign.

"Inside the community outreach office recently, there was a photograph of Ms. Quinn handing a plaque to Whoopi Goldberg. Below, a dry erase board bore reminders about two coming events the group helped organize: a breakfast for women of faith and a celebration of Irish culture. Ms. Quinn was the featured speaker at both. At the Irish event, the unit’s workers escorted to their seats prominent Irish-American families, including relatives of Thomas Manton, the former chairman of the Queens Democratic Party, whose backing was crucial to Ms. Quinn’s election as speaker," The New York Times reported.

This isn't the first time Speaker Quinn has been accused of using taxpayer money for her campaign.

A former deputy chief of staff to Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn who recently served as a top aide to Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s re-election effort has been fined for violating city law by soliciting campaign contributions for Ms. Quinn while working for her.

In announcing the sanction on Monday, the city’s Conflicts of Interest Board said in a statement that around April 2007, the former aide, Maura Keaney, made between six and a dozen phone calls to union representatives to ask them to be on the host committee for a fund-raising event for Ms. Quinn’s re-election bid. The ethics board, which fined Ms. Keaney $2,500, noted that serving on the host committee required a campaign contribution. (NYTimes : Ethics Panel Fines Ex-Aide to Speaker)

Does Outreach do fundraising ? Remember Maura Keaney ? @suzannahbtroy @nyccouncil @chriscquinn @defeatquinn @dumpchrisquinn @colvinj

— Stop Christine Quinn (@stopchrisquinn) April 19, 2013

Moreover, the Association for Neighborhood and Housing Development, a nonprofit group, which has publicly supported Speaker Quinn's campaign platform for several years, requested $100,000 in City Council slush funds for each of the past three years to advocate for Speaker Quinn. By admission of the office of Speaker Quinn, these funds were granted by Speaker Quinn. (WSJ : City Grants Aids Quinn Campaign)

Christine Quinn, Liz Holtzman, CityTime, Pay-To-Play Endorsements

Christine Quinn Kept The CityTime Gravy Train Rolling ; Lobbyists Like Liz Holtzman Kept Rolling In The CityTime Dough ; Scratch-My-Back, Pay-To-Play Endorsements ?

Today, CityTime lobbyist Liz Holtzman endorsed the mayoral candidacy of Christine Quinn.

WNYC was one of many media Web sites, which reported Ms. Holtzman's connection to the $600 million CityTime scandal. Ms. Holtzman was once a four-term Congresswoman.

The city's lobbying database shows a small army of former prominent city officials who did work for SAIC and Technodyne. Defense contractor SAIC has retained former City Comptroller Liz Holtzman, Peter Powers, who served as Mayor Giuliani's top deputy Mayor for operations, and Seth Kaye, who worked in both the Giuliani and Bloomberg administrations. Technodyne's lobbyists include former Bloomberg Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications Commissioner Gino Menchini and Agostino Cangemi, who also held key posts in both administrations. (CityTime Payroll Scandal a Cautionary Tale * WNYC)

Why is Speaker Quinn desperate to accept Ms. Holtzman's endorsement ? At one time, Ms. Holtzman was mentioned as a possible candidate to replace Congresman Anthony Weiner after his resignation, but Ms. Holtzman's connection to the scandalous CityTime fraud immediately disqualified her.

Ms. Holtzman's lobbying firm was paid $120,000 in 2009, $90,000 in 2010, and $200,000 in 2011 by SAIC, the maker of CityTime, to lobby New York City politicians in order to keep NYC.gov paying CityTime's huge cost overruns. Eventually, it was estimated that SAIC over-billed New York City by $600 million, and Ms. Holtzman was one of the principal lobbyist being paid to keep that gravy train rolling. Her lobbying firm was paid $410,000 to keep the CityTime gravy train rolling into Ms. Holtzman's station.

City Councilmember Letitia James called for investigations into CityTime, but Speaker Quinn, who controls the City Council like a dictator, thwarted each attempt to launch a full City Council investigation into the CityTime overbilling scandal. (Daily News)

Maybe Ms. Holtzman is grateful that Speaker Quinn thwarted all those City Council investigations, thereby protecting Ms. Holtzman's CityTime gravy train, and, as patronage, has offered up her endorsement as pay back ?

Ms. Holtzman's endorsement was made during an announcement of a group that Speaker Quinn's mayoral campaign describes as ''Women for Chris.''

If @repweiner enters mayor's race, @chriscquinn's lead will immediately drop by 11 points capitalnewyork.com/article/politi… @defeatquinn

— Stop Christine Quinn (@stopchrisquinn) April 18, 2013

Speaker Quinn's latest maneuvering with Ms. Holtzman's endorsement comes on the same day when it was announced that her campaign would immediately drop 11 percentage points in voter support if Mr. Weiner were to enter the mayoral race. Speaker Quinn also faces sharp criticism and endless protests by LGBT activists, who claim that Speaker Quinn has sold out.

2013-04-17 Extract - Liz Holtzman SAIC CityTime NYC Lobbyist Search (2009 Billing) by Connaissable

2013-04-17 Extract - Liz Holtzman SAIC CityTime NYC Lobbyist Search (2010 Billing) by Connaissable

2013-04-17 Extract - Liz Holtzman SAIC CityTime NYC Lobbyist Search (2011 Billing) by Connaissable

Quinn Campaign Reaches New Level of Desperation with Plummeting Poll Numbers and Onslaught of Social Media Campaign

The New York Daily News published an article on Page 2 today about the growing online movement against Speaker Christine Quinn's mayoral campaign.

In the last week, it was announced that Speaker Quinn's campaign has been losing public support for her bid to replace Michael Bloomberg as mayor in this year's election. Now, comes word that Speaker Quinn's campaign operatives are beginning to openly disparage LGBTQS members of Queers Against Christine Quinn as "crazies." Queers Against Christine Quinn is a Facebook page of autonomous LGBTQS New Yorkers, who, among other issues, have been critical about how the NYPD unfairly target and falsely arrest LGBT New Yorkers in both the police department's unconstitutional stop-and-frisk program and as part of its effort to criminalise the possession of condoms. * Christine Quinn pressed on stop-and-frisk (NYPost)

Why would campaign operatives defend Speaker Quinn's inaction in the face of the NYPD's discrimination of our own LGBT community ? This must be one measure of how desperate Speaker Quinn's mayoral campaign must find itself, after weeks and weeks of stining criticism over first opposing paid sick leave only to water it down, over the slush fund-related federal corruption arrest of Councilmember Dan Halloran, and over her controversial attack on the First Amendment following the critical New York City Is Not For Sale TV commercial.

If Speaker Quinn is able to find operatives to defend her failure to stand up to the NYPD's record of discrimination, then it means that her supporters are willing to go to any length, including publicly throwing the LGBTQS community under the bus, in order for her to become mayor. Now we know how much the issue of LGBT equality factors into her mayoral platform : in her campaign's mind, we are expendable.

For more information, please read Chapter 1 of the unauthorised political biography of Christine Quinn.

2013-04-01 Roots of Betrayal © 2013 by Louis Flores - Uncorrected Proof Not For Sale Chapter I Excerpt by Connaissable

Christine Quinn NY1 Censorship Scandal

On the same day when the civic group called NYC Is Not For Sale 2013 produced and paid for a TV ad that criticised Christine Quinn's mayoral campaign, Speaker Quinn hired a very expensive law firm to bully NY1 into pulling the plug on the TV ad. Now, the NY1 program The Call is dedicating an entire hour to the topic of Speaker Quinn's questionable ethics.

Blogs and YouTube videos critical of @chriscquinn have been censored. No surprise that her reaction to NY1 is more censorship. @ny1thecall

— Stop Christine Quinn (@stopchrisquinn) April 9, 2013

Speaker Quinn's lawyer threatened NY1 with the possibility that it would lose its broadcast license if it did not remove the TV ad.

Here's the letter from Quinn's campaign calling on NY1 to pull anti-Quinn ad scribd.com/doc/134783153/…

— Chris Bragg (@ChrisBragg1) April 8, 2013

2013-04-08 Christine Quinn NY1 Stroock Threatening Letter

Why doesn't Stroock go after the artist and blogger Suzannah B. Troy ? Maybe because Ms. Troy's videos tell the truth ? Hmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Blogs and YouTube videos critical of @chriscquinn have been censored. No surprise that her reaction to NY1 is more censorship. @ny1thecall

— Stop Christine Quinn (@stopchrisquinn) April 9, 2013

For years before Speaker Quinn's campaign threatened NY1 with losing its license, entire blogs, entire YouTube channels, and several individual YouTube videos, which have been critical of Speaker Quinn, have been censored. The Christine Quinn parody puppet show video was censored by YouTube for several months.

And the No Third Term blog was censored, as well.

Anti-Christine Quinn Group Releases Campaign Ad : The Smoke-Filled Room

New York City will be better off without Speaker Quinn as Mayor. Her record on living wage, paid sick leave, term limits, lack of support for animal rights and animal welfare, combined with her reputation for siding with the rich and powerful to advance her own political aspirations, makes it clear that as mayor, Quinn would only continue to appease special interests that do not have the well-being of all New Yorkers in mind.

Like this new group on Facebook : NYC Is Not For Sale 2013

Read more : Outside Group Pledges to Spend Up To $1 million to Defeat Christine Quinn

Many activists openly question the viability of Speaker Christine Quinn's mayoral campaign, because she has been attracting ever more criticism from unions, LGBT activists, animal rights groups, Progressive Democrats, and even some of her former major donors, such as Wendy K. Neu, who has abandoned Speaker Quinn's campaign.

If Speaker Quinn's campaign is now doomed, based on all of the opponents, who are now lining up against her, then maybe the right action by New York Democrats would be to encourage Anthony Weiner to enter the race.

It's like "Upstairs, Downstairs" amongst the anti-Quinn movement, some activists say. A handful of activists have been working for over four years to fight for integrity in New York City government on no budget, but here comes along NYC Is Not For Sale 2013, pledging to spend $1 million to defeat Speaker Quinn's mayoral campaign. Activists welcome the help, but what message does another million dollar electioneering effort say in this Citizens United era ? Look at the humour and satire in the art of Suzannah B. Troy's political commentary :

Suzannah B. Troy "Leave Britney Alone!" Christine Quinn Parody

Mayor Bloomberg-Christine Quinn-Britney Spears "Stop Picking On Me" parody!

After Mayor Michael Bloomberg begged for people to "Leave Christine Alone !", the blogger-activist-artist Suzannah B. Troy has produced a hilarious parody YouTube video based on Chris Rocker's "Leave Britney Alone !" video.

Suzannah B. Troy dressed up in drag, first as Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and then as New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn. In a hilarious send-up of the "Leave Britney Alone !" video, Ms. Troy weeps and whines the way that Mr. Rocker did, only the subjects of Ms. Troy's complaints have to do with serious public issues, like the closing of St. Vincent's Hospital and the massive fraud in connection with the doomed CityTime project.

From The New York Post :

The mayor yesterday launched an impassioned defense of his longtime ally and suggested she was getting unfairly pounded for a corruption scandal involving another member of the council.

“I’ve always said that I think Speaker Quinn, who is getting criticized for this, is a person of enormous integrity, and I think she has done an excellent job of running the city,” Bloomberg declared.

“It’s not an easy job, and I think she’d done it well.”

Mayor Bloomberg was angry at critics of Speaker Quinn, like Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, who has called for the elimination of Speaker Quinn's slush fund after Queens Republican Councilmember Daniel Halloran was arrested in bribery and corruption charges in connection to Speaker Quinn's slush fund.

Related : Read Chapter 1 of ''Roots of Betrayal : The Ethics of Christine Quinn'' on Scribd.

Do Rudin Donations And Christine Quinn's Inaction Amount To Influence Peddling ?

Do the political campaign donations by Beth R. DeWoody, Madeleine R. Johnson, Eric C. Rudin, Jack Rudin, Katherine Rudin, and William C. Rudin, who each donated $4,950 to Christine Quinn's presumed 2013 mayoral campaign, amount to influence peddling ? After all, since even before St. Vincent's Hospital closed, Speaker Quinn has been toeing the Rudin family line : close down St. Vincent's and replace it with an inferior urgent care center.

Not only did Speaker Quinn say that we only needed an urgent care center to replace St. Vincent's, but she approved the Rudin family's plan, allowing St. Vincent's Hospital to be rezoned into luxury condos. Since 2010, the Rudin family has been trying to get approval for a billion-dollar real estate development plan for the buildings that belong to the bankruptcy estate of St. Vincent's Hospital. Since the Rudin family wants to build luxury high-rise condos on the site of St. Vincent's, and since they needed City Council approval from Speaker Quinn, do these large campaign donations explain why Speaker Quinn did nothing to restore a Level I trauma center and full-service hospital to the former St. Vincent's site ? Does Speaker Quinn's official acts come as a result of sizable campaign donations from the likes of the Rudin family ?

To Preet Bharara : Do @chriscquinn's official acts come as a result of campaign donations ? christine-quinn-sold-out.blogspot.com/2011/02/rudin-… #StVincentsHospital

— Stop Christine Quinn (@stopchrisquinn) April 4, 2013

Did Christine Quinn Have A Quid Pro Quo Deal With The Rudin Family In Respect Of The St. Vincent's Luxury Condo Conversion Plan ?

In exchange for $30,000 in campaign donations, did New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn sell out her community ?

In this YouTube video, bloggers confront New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn about the closing of St. Vincent's Hospital and the influence of $30,000 in campaign donations made by the Rudin family.

In an apparent conflict of interest, Beth R. DeWoody, Madeleine R. Johnson, Eric C. Rudin, Jack Rudin, Katherine Rudin, and William C. Rudin each donated $4,950 to Christine Quinn's presumed 2013 mayoral campaign. Since 2010, the Rudin family has been trying to get approval for a billion-dollar real estate development plan for the buildings that belong to the bankruptcy estate of St. Vincent's Hospital. Since the Rudin family wants to build luxury high-rise condos on the site of St. Vincent's, and since they needed City Council approval from Speaker Quinn, do these large campaign donations explain why Speaker Quinn did nothing to restore a Level I trauma center and full-service hospital to the former St. Vincent's site ? Does Speaker Quinn's official acts come as a result of sizable campaign donations from the likes of the Rudin family ?

To Preet Bharara : Do @chriscquinn's official acts come as a result of campaign donations ? christine-quinn-sold-out.blogspot.com/2011/02/rudin-… #StVincentsHospital

— Stop Christine Quinn (@stopchrisquinn) April 4, 2013

Malcolm Smith, Dan Halloran Arrested In Election Fraud Attempt

2013 03 29 Complaint Against Smith Malcolm Dan Halloran Et Al

State Sen. Malcolm Smith and New York City Councilman Dan Halloran arrested in 'bribery plot' to rig mayor race * Dem Smith schemed to run as a Republican * Faces corruption rap with Republican Halloran (NYPost)

State Sen. Malcolm Smith and city Councilman Dan Halloran were arrested this morning on charges they plotted to rig this year’s mayoral election through fraud and bribes.

The pols allegedly formed an alliance built on cash payments and fraud to get Smith — one of the state’s top Democrats — placed on the GOP mayoral ballot, sources said.

FBI agents arrested them both at their Queens homes shortly after 6 a.m.

Read more : True News From Change

When will the feds investigate the many alleged ethics violations by @chriscquinn ? #slushfunds #campaignfinance #paytoplay

— Stop Christine Quinn (@stopchrisquinn) April 2, 2013

Chapter 1 Excerpt of ''Roots of Betrayal : The Ethics of Christine Quinn''

An excerpt of Chapter 1 of Roots of Betrayal : The Ethics of Christine Quinn has been published as a free .pdf ; it can be found here : http://roots-of-betrayal.blogspot.com/2013/04/Chapter-1-Excerpt-of-Roots-of-Betrayal-The-Ethics-of-Christine-Quinn.html

Christine Quinn Slush Fund Investigation Update

Preet Bharara-Rose Gill Hearn-Christine Quinn #SlushFund Update christine-quinn-sold-out.blogspot.com/2012/11/Christ… @suzannahbtroy @truenewsnyc twitter.com/stopchrisquinn…

— Stop Christine Quinn (@stopchrisquinn) April 1, 2013

Update : Six-year-old federal slush-fund probe is still costing New York City taxpayers (New York Post) The 6-year-old federal slush-fund probe into the City Council is still costing taxpayers, The Post has learned. The council paid $10,430 in September to the white-collar law firm Steptoe & Johnson — part of an $83,000 contract. The council has spent $513,868 with four law firms since the feds launched their investigation. Along with Larry Seabrook, two former members — Hiram Monserrate and Miguel Martinez — and two former council staffers have been charged in the scandal. (New York Post) * Chris Quinn and the Slow Motion Return of the Slush Fund Scandal (Village Voice) * Phony Allocations by City Council Reported (The New York Times) * 6-Year Media Cover-up Of Christine Quinn's Slush Fund Scandal (True News From Change)

A 2008 lawsuit against New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn was not successful.

James Riches vs Christine Quinn Slush Funds 3001061162008001SCIV

The Appellate Court ruled that each of (i) the U.S. Attorney's Office headed by Preet Bharara and (ii) the New York City Department of Investigation headed by Rose Gill Hearn were sufficient supervision for Christine Quinn's use of fictitious accounts to hide her City Council slush fund.

2010-04-15 James Riches v Christine Quinn Slush Funds Appellate Decision

But as we have seen, Preet Bharara and Rose Gill Hearn have done nothing to hold Speaker Quinn accountable for the slush fund scandal even though former New York City Council Members Hiram Monserrate (New York Post) Larry Seabrook, and Miguel Martinez were convicted for their role in the slush fund scandal (The Wall Street Journal) and political aides to former Council Member Kendall Stewart also pleaded guilty to charges in connection with the scandal (USA Today).

Preet Bharara is such a disappointment, and so is Rose Gill Hearn. Meanwhile, the corruption-enabler Ms. Hearn is one of Mayor Michael Bloomberg's main political puppets, and it is under her laissez-faire watch that Christine Quinn wants to bury the newly proposed Inspector General of the NYPD. Can we see how corruption is allowed to continue unchecked, when it is impossible for the Bloomberg-Quinn administration to police themselves when Ms. Hearn is fast asleep as a bought-and-paid-for watchdog ? Gimme a break.