Line by Line Explication of The New York Times Mayoral Endorsement of Christine Quinn

Queers Against Quinn respond to @nytimes endorsement of @Quinn4NY https://t.co/E9IjDCe4iR @colvinj @SallyGold @Azi pic.twitter.com/gPc2aoFt2t

— Stop Christine Quinn (@stopchrisquinn) August 24, 2013

The New York Times Mayoral Endorsement : Christine Quinn, the Democratic Choice

Following is a line-by-line explication of editorial in which New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn is endorsed by the Editorial Board of The New York Times :

WHAT THE NYTIMES WROTE	WHAT THE NYTIMES MEANS
Mayor Michael Bloomberg is almost gone.	Real estate developers and big business interests are worried about who is going to carry out Mayor Bloomberg's policies for the next eight years.
At year’s end there will be nothing more he can do to shape, alter or improve the City of New York.	The Editorial Board has been tasked by Mayor Bloomberg to help elect Christine Quinn.
It’s the end of 12 years of governing under one man’s singular, often inspiring, sometimes maddening priorities, which were as big as a rising ocean and as small as your soda cup.	The Editorial Board is afraid of calling out Mayor Bloomberg for the dictatorial ways that he has run New York City. He wouldn't have made it to three terms, unless Christine Quinn violated the two voter referenda that imposed term limits, something the Editorial Board is trying to cover up.
It was a vision that succeeded brilliantly, but incompletely.	The Editorial Board believes that Mayor Bloomberg should have done more to help the 1%.
But don’t worry, New York.	The Editorial Board doesn't want the Real Estate Board of New York or the Partnership For New York City, our last two groups of major advertisers, to worry.
Mr. Bloomberg’s is hardly the only way to run a city, and the excellent news is that there is a candidate who is ready to carry on at least as well as he did.	The Editorial Board is going to help Mayor Bloomberg anoint his own chosen successor.
She is one of seven Democrats who have been toiling for months in the primary race, standing before voters day and night in a marathon of civic engagement.	The Editorial Board believes that even through Christine Quinn has been in public office for 15 years, she has had to hurry up and do her "wawk and tawk" tour to try to introduce herself to the taxpayers paying for her political slush fund.
A common complaint is that this year’s candidates look small, like dots on the slopes of Mount Bloomberg.	The Editorial Board thinks that even though the crop of candidates are not billionaires, if we have to do with peons, we can accept Christine Quinn, because she's proven to have sold her soul to big business interests, which is the only thing that the Editorial Board cares about, frankly.
But that isn’t fair; all but a few are solid public servants running substantive campaigns.	The Editorial Board has to give lip service to the other candidates, so voters could fool themselves into thinking the editors might possibly consider a candidate other than Mayor Bloomberg's heir apparent.
Though the race was crashed, and distracted for a few irritating weeks, by the unqualified Anthony Weiner, it has since sobered up, and voters are paying attention.	The Editorial Board did its best to keep focusing on Anthony Weiner in a negative light, so that the editors could dispatch him as quickly as possible, so that the editors could focus on fluffing Christine Quinn's sagging campaign.
It is clear by now — and last Wednesday’s debate made it even clearer — that the best in the group is Christine Quinn.	The Editorial Board is trying to make this hard sell of Christine Quinn, so we will go to any lengths to push her campaign on voters.
Ms. Quinn, the City Council speaker, offers the judgment and record of achievement anyone should want in a mayor.	The Editorial Board believes that Christine Quinn has a corrupt enough record that she will nicely fit into the broken political system.
Two opponents — Bill de Blasio, the public advocate, and William Thompson Jr., former comptroller — offer powerful arguments on their own behalf.	The Editorial Board wants to give these two fools more lip service, yadda-yadda-yadda.
But Ms. Quinn inspires the most confidence that she would be the right mayor for the inevitable times when hope and idealism collide with the challenge of getting something done.	The Editorial Board believes that Christine Quinn will be a perfect puppet to her REBNY and PFNYC masters.
Ms. Quinn has been an impressive leader since her days as a neighborhood advocate and her early years on the City Council.	The Editorial Board believes that Christine Quinn has fully sold out and betrayed her activism roots by now. She's gotten that shit out of her system, and she is a complete "Yes Woman" to her campaign contributors and special interests.
We endorsed her for the Council in 1999 as someone “who can both work within the system and criticize it when necessary” — a judgment she has validated many times since.	The Editorial Board analyses this as meaning that Christine Quinn will do what she is told by big business, and she will continue to undermine democracy and shred the social safety net when instructed.
She has shepherded through important laws protecting New Yorkers’ health, safety and civil rights, including measures banning public smoking, protecting tenants and small businesses, and battling slumlords.	The Editorial Board wants to remind big business interests that Christine Quinn has a record of doing what Mayor Bloomberg told her to do.
She sponsored the sweeping 2007 legislation that made the city’s exemplary campaign-finance laws even stronger.	The Editorial Board is only telling you a half-truth here, because Christine Quinn also weakened campaign finance laws this very year to benefit outside groups being able to spend unlimited amounts of money to further corrupt political campaigns.
She pushed successfully for a state law making kindergarten mandatory for 5-year-olds — giving thousands of poor and minority children a better start on their educations.	The Editorial Board likes it when Christine Quinn focuses her campaign on childish issues, because that helps voters forget her betrayals on term limits and her corrupt record with slush funds.
As speaker, Ms. Quinn has been a forceful counterpart to Mr. Bloomberg, and has turned the Council from a collection of rambunctious, ill-directed egos into a forceful and effective legislative body.	The Editorial Board believes that Christine Quinn subjugated herself to Mayor Bloomberg, and she used her slush funds to reward and punish her political allies and enemies like a good political boss should do.
In wrestling with budgets she has shown restraint that runs counter to lesser political instincts.	The Editorial Board is most impressed that Christine Quinn was able to focus on a political agenda that favoured the 1%, even when it meant driving up poverty and homelessness in New York City during the Bloomberg-Quinn administration.
She fought, for example, for a Bloomberg plan to keep a year’s surplus as a rainy-day fund.	The Editorial Board liked that Christine Quinn didn't use surplus funds to fight poverty or homelessness.
There was fierce opposition from Council members who wanted to spend the money.	The Editorial Board congratulates Christine Quinn turned her back on the needy, especially LGBT homeless youth, which is not an easy thing to do, given her identity. Let's give her some credit for that !
Ms. Quinn was right, and the city had a cushion when the recession hit.	The Editorial Board is impressed that Christine Quinn found ways to prevent tax hikes on the 1%.
Mr. Bloomberg has raised expectations that hard decisions should be made on the merits — that the city needs a mayor who is willing to say no.	The Editorial Board is endorsing Christine Quinn in part because Mayor Bloomberg told us to, and plus we may need to be bought out by Mayor Bloomberg if the newspaper business keeps losing money.
More than with the other candidates, that description fits Ms. Quinn.	The Editorial Board believes that Christine Quinn is the most corrupt candidate, and the extremes that she will go to embrace corruption is why Mayor Bloomberg respects her so much, that's what he told the Editorial Board during our back room meeting.
As an early leader in the campaign, with a target on her back, she has faced anger and derision without wavering.	The Editorial Board has tried to keep extending political cover to Christine Quinn, so that she wouldn't suffer such a steep drop in the polls.
We admire her staunch support for the city’s solid-waste management plan, which is good for the whole city but bitterly opposed in some neighborhoods.	The Editorial Board picked this lousy issue to focus on, because the editors didn't want to touch the slush fund scandal.
She has been willing to challenge the mayor’s misjudgment and insensitivity, as when he tried to require single adults to prove their homelessness before they were allowed to use city shelters.	The Editorial Board mentions the only thing Christine Quinn has done to address a small part of the homeless problem, so that the editors could keep running the façade of a "liberal newspaper."
Mr. de Blasio has been the most forceful and eloquent of the Democrats in arguing that New York needs to reset its priorities in favor of the middle class, the struggling and the poor.	The there is no way that the Editorial Board could ever support a candidate that wants to help the poor.
His stature has grown as his message has taken root — voters leery of stark and growing inequalities have embraced his message of “two cities.”	The Editorial Board endorsed Christine Quinn so that we could shift the campaign conversation to be about identity politics, not about income inequality.
He has ennobled the campaign conversation by insisting, correctly, that expanding early education is vital to securing the city’s future.	The Editorial Board picked early education as an issue for Mr. de Blasio, because that's an issue that provides the editors with some political cover in the Christine Quinn endorsement.
And yet, Mr. de Blasio’s most ambitious plans — like a powerful new state-city partnership to make forever-failing city hospitals financially viable, or to pay for universal prekindergarten and after-school programs through a new tax on the richest New Yorkers — need support in the State Capitol, and look like legislative long shots.	The Editorial Board has brought back Anemona Hartocollis to continue to write shoddy and entirely biased reporting to undermine Mr. de Blasio's platform on saving community hospitals.
Once a Mayor de Blasio saw his boldest ideas smashed on the rocks of Albany, then what?	The Editorial Board was told by Mayor Bloomberg that he would pull strings with the state GOP politicians up in Albany to undermine any candidate other than Christine Quinn.
Mr. Thompson, meanwhile, who nearly defeated Mr. Bloomberg four years ago, has run a thoughtful campaign grounded on the insights he gained in important elective and appointed posts in New York City.	The Editorial Board can't take Bill Thompson seriously. His wife has taken millions in charitable donations from Mayor Bloomberg. There's no way that the Thompson family isn't already indebted to Mayor Bloomberg, even the editors would figure out this much.
A former president of the old Board of Education, Mr. Thompson argues that he is the best candidate to fix the city schools, but his close ties to the United Federation of Teachers, not always a friend of needed reforms, give us pause.	The Editorial Board was told by Mayor Bloomberg that the next item on our political agenda is to bust up the teachers' union.
The teachers’ union is one of the municipal unions itching for retroactive pay raises in contracts that expired under Mr. Bloomberg and need renegotiating.	The Editorial Board is going to start a campaign to deny the teachers' union any pay raise.
For all the growing testiness of the campaign, the Democrats share much common ground.	The Editorial Board believes that enough real estate and big business campaign donations have steered the Democratic candidates into adopting campaign platforms that embrace an ideology of neoliberalism.
All agree on equality, opportunity and fairness.	The Editorial Board doesn't give a shit about equality, opportunity and faireness -- except as it would apply to our dwindling list of advertisers.
They concede that the best of the Bloomberg years — the economic diversification and growth, the astounding drop in crime, the transit innovations, the greener and cleaner public spaces, and big plans for the future — must be preserved.	The Editorial Board wants a mayoral candidate that will continue Mayor Bloomberg's policies of gentrification, stop and frisk discrimination, higher transit fares for commuters, the sale of more parks for sports stadiums, and more zone-busting real estate development.
And they agree that the worst must be corrected — starting with the Police Department’s unconstitutional use of stop-and-frisk, which has abused and humiliated hundreds of thousands of innocent New Yorkers.	The Editorial Board believes that stop and frisk should be ended in the outer boroughs, but its use should continue in Manhattan, perhaps even increased.
Ms. Quinn has no specific plan to require the richest New Yorkers to pay more in taxes in service of important civic goals (she says she will raise taxes as a last resort), but neither has she made a long list of unrealistic promises.	The Editorial Board is happy to see that Christine Quinn will keep sparing the 1% from having to pay their fair share, and, even better, Christine Quinn isn't making any promises to the poor or working classes of New York City. If low-income New Yorkers can't afford to live in New York City, they can always move to New Jersey.
The biggest challenge has not been talked about much — next year the new mayor will have to confront a budget crisis with no money to spare and all those expired municipal contracts to settle.	The Editorial Board is salivating at the opportunity that Christine Quinn will have to bust up a few municipal unions.
The mayor we will need then will not be the police reformer or education visionary, but a skilled and realistic negotiator.	The Editorial Board doesn't want Christine Quinn to reform the police department. As stated, the editors prefer to continue stop and frisk discrimination and police brutality as a way to drive out undesireables from the five boroughs, or from Manhattan, at least.
Some positions Ms. Quinn has supported are unwise or objectionable.	The Editorial Board is thrilled that Christine Quinn so readily adopted neoliberal and racist policies without complaint.
She has been too strong in supporting Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly, the architect and stoutest defender of stop-and-frisk.	The Editorial Board expects that Christine Quinn will expand the use of stop-and-frisk.
She has supported, too blindly, Mr. Kelly’s practice of spying on Muslims at prayer, a similar false choice of public safety over the Constitution.	The Editorial Board finds this kind of discrimination excusable, and notice how the editors didn't mention how the NYPD also menaces people of color and LGBTQ and gender non-conforming New Yorkers. Basically, the editors don't care about civil rights and civil liberties violations.
She can become mumbly when talking about things that the real estate industry opposes, like changing zoning laws to require construction of affordable apartments.	The Editorial Board likes that Christine Quinn won't bite the hand that feeds her.
She has a reputation for shouting, but has shown a capacity to listen, and to be persuaded to change her mind — attributes we will count on seeing more of if she is elected.	The Editorial Board is already receiving estimates and bids for the installation of sound proofing in Gracie Mansion.
We had already made up our own minds in favor of Ms. Quinn, but the Wednesday debate would have clinched it anyway.	For years, the Editorial Board has been instructing reporters to write their articles from a point of view of bias that fluff's Christine Quinn's image and her campaign.
Candidates were asked what legacy they wanted to leave after two terms.	The Editorial Board has arranged it for fix to be in so that Christine Quinn can serve two terms as mayor.
“More people in the middle class,” Ms. Quinn said.	The Editorial Board helped Christine Quinn with this lip service.
It was a perfect answer, and she could have left it there.	The Editorial Board told Christine Quinn to shut her mouth and not ruin her interview with the editors.
But, Quinn being Quinn, she threw in supporting details.	But being the big mouth that she is, Christine Quinn went on tawking and tawkig and tasking, so much so that many editors put on their earphones and started listening to the latest Lady Gaga song on their iPhones.
She wants 40,000 more apartments the middle class can afford to live in.	The Editorial Board did hear that Christine Quinn has a plan to help funnel tax breaks and low-cost loans to developers, so that taxpayers could subsidize real estate profits to some of her campaign donors.
She wants to repair crumbling public housing, providing “quality conditions” for 600,000 people.	The Editorial Board promised to help support Christine Quinn carry out Mayor Bloomberg's plan to allow the development of luxury high rises on the last little bit of open space in NYCHA housing projects.
She wants to make the school day longer and replace textbooks with electronic tablets.	The Editorial Board also liked what it heard when Christine Quinn said that she wants to outsource teachers to a series of computer learning modules in 45 minute segments.
At the buzzer, she threw in: make the city “climate-change ready.”	The Editorial Board is looking forward to finding out how Christine Quinn has funnel more tax dollars to real estate developers that keep wanting to build along the rivers and beaches of the five boroughs. The editors view this as a risky proposition, but Christine Quinn seems to be obsessed with making more and more back room deals with real estate developers. The editors want to see how much she can get away with.
A lot of good ideas that, in Ms. Quinn’s case, add up to an achievable vision, and one we would be glad to see come to pass.	The Editorial Board is going to help Christine Quinn win by running more fluff pieces about her new luxury condo, her week-end home, her cooking skills, her favourite café, and her love of animals.

Quinn Slump In Polls Reveals Her Mayoral Campaign Is Collapsing

Slump in Polls Puts @ChrisCQuinn in Tight Spot http://t.co/nRPf18XDkm @Quinn4NY @defeatquinn @DNDailyPolitics @powellnyt @SallyGold

— Stop Christine Quinn (@stopchrisquinn) June 27, 2013

"She is in trouble," said Costas Panagopoulos, director of the Center for Electoral Politics and Democracy at Fordham University. "There's been a steady erosion in the level of support for her candidacy as other candidates, or the possibility of other candidacies, have emerged. And, so, it seems to me that New York City voters are looking for an alternative to Christine Quinn."

Another Christine Quinn Corruption Connection : First Dan Halloran, Then Ruben Wills

One of the publicly-elected officials, who State Sen. Shirley Huntley was asked to wiretap and photograph by the FBI, was Queens Councilmember Ruben Wills, according to Politicker.

New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn endorsed Council Member Ruben Wills for re-election in 2011, one day after he appeared in court to face a misdemeanor stealing charge. Councilmember Wills won a special election in southeast Queens in 2010 to succeed Thomas White, who died in August in 2010, and Councilmember Wills was re-elected in 2011 continue to serve the remainder of White’s four-year term. Wills appeared in court in March 2011 on charges in connection with a 1996 incident. He’s accused of damaging a wall and removing a fan and track lighting at a downtown business. (The Wall Street Journal)

After his March 2011 court appearance, Speaker Quinn defended Councilmember Wills. "I'm extraordinarily proud of my City Council and proud of the members that I get to serve with every day on behalf of the people of the City of New York," she told The Daily News.

Speaker Quinn awarded Councilmember Wills $584,000 in discretionary funding in 2012. (The New York Daily News)

New York City Councilmember Daniel J. Halloran suggested to an undercover FBI agent that Mr. Halloran could increase the size of the discretionary funds he was using as a bribe by calling in favours from other councilmembers. * In The Criminal Complaint, Dan Halloran Demonstrates How Slush Funds Are Used For Fraud

The Guardian Pulls Back the Curtain on Christine Quinn

"The record suggests...that once voters tune into the race, Quinn's standing might not be as solid as it looks" bit.ly/10MJ6I5

— Rebecca Katz (@RebeccaKKatz) March 13, 2013

Why do New York liberals support conservative Christine Quinn ?

The politics columnist for The Guardian, a newspaper based in the U.K., has published a report in which he questions the liberal and Progressive commitment by New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn. No surprise.

"... I'm surprised that progressives support Quinn so much – I've never thought of her as much of a liberal," wrote Harry J. Enten.

Mr. Enten's report refers to Speaker Quinn's close association with Mayor Michael Bloomberg, her involvement with the term limits scandal, her horrible human rights record, and her blockage of the paid sick days bill, among other issues.

Read more : Why do New York liberals support conservative Christine Quinn ?

The Wrath of Quinn : Endorse Her Or Else No Slush Funds For You !

City Council Members Fear Budget Revenge if They Don't Endorse Quinn

From DNA Info :

Many City Council members are wary of endorsing candidates in the 2013 mayoral race until after budget season because they're afraid a vengeful Speaker Christine Quinn will cut their share of $50 million in discretionary funds, DNAinfo.com New York has learned.

The funds, which are controlled by the speaker, are dished out to members each summer to fund constituent-pleasing services, such as community centers and seniors programs. While Quinn’s office has long insisted that the money is allocated based on districts' needs, it’s no secret that members on Quinn’s good side tend to profit — while those who cross her get their budgets slashed.

And many Council members now worry that endorsing a rival in the mayor's race, where Quinn is widely perceived as the front-runner, will result in the same fate.

“I definitely think that discretionary funds will be wielded as a weapon in the fight for endorsements,” said one Democratic Council member, who, like nearly a dozen others who spoke to DNAinfo.com New York, asked for anonymity to avoid angering Quinn.

“Certainly, that is the elephant in the room,” another member said.

“It’s a legal form of blackmail," still another member said.

To avoid retribution, some Council members are weighing postponing their endorsements until July, after the budget is adopted and Quinn no longer has sway over the money.

See also : Endorse Quinn - or else ! (via Queens Crap)

Christine Quinn - Headline Clippings Media Kit

Christine Quinn - In The Headlines - Newspaper Political Coverage Summary

Roots of Betrayal : The Ethics Of Christine Quinn

''Roots of Betrayal : The Ethics of Christine Quinn'' a book by Louis Flores

Hi, my name is Louis Flores, and I am a blogger and an activist.

I am writing a book that will take a ''behind the scenes'' look at New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn's politics and ethics. I aim to show you how a politician, who claims to be transparent and ethical, has demonstrated herself to be just the opposite.

But I need your help to publish this book. Please make a pledge to support my book project.

Next year, Speaker Quinn is expected to publish her memoirs as a slick public relations stunt during the race for mayor of New York City in 2013. Her critics allege that the press does not hold Speaker Quinn accountable for her record of undermining democracy. In 2008 and 2009, Speaker Quinn worked hand-in-hand with Mayor Michael Bloomberg to purposely deny voters a referendum when they overturned term limits. Just the way that term limits were overturned -- a series of back room meetings (and some say, deals), all away from public participation and scrutiny -- still draws much heated discussion in New York. For years now, Speaker Quinn has been using discretionary funds to thwart the full participation of other City Councilmembers in the city's legislative agenda. Speaker Quinn has even gone along with Mayor Bloomberg's budget cuts to the office of the Public Advocate, at each turn choosing to go along with what is not right in order to get along with Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Speaker Quinn is undermining any oversight and accountability in public office. I am writing my book, so that the the other side of the story can be told.

This KickStarter project will help me to raise money in order to self-publish this book -- in order to to tell the whole story. This is how the money will be used :

• I need to pay $2,300 so that my manuscript can be transformed into a book by a self-publishing company.
• I am also raising the modest amount of $3,100 to pay for marketing materials and to promote my book on the Internet.
• KickStarter will keep $300 for hosting my fundraising campaign.
• Amazon will keep $300 for processing all of the secure payments made to support this KickStarter project.

With your help, my book can be used to educate voters about Speaker Quinn's political record. Can you make a pledge today to support my book project ?

Please help me to spread the word about my book by posting a link to this KickStarter project on your Facebook page. Thank you for everything you do.

Roots of Betrayal : The Ethics of Christine Quinn - By Louis Flores -- One Sheet

WSJ : Quinn's Persistent Gadflies

The Wall Street Journal publishes a critical look at Christine Quinn :

"As she prepares to run for mayor next year, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn is leading in the polls and the competition for campaign funds. The Manhattan Democrat has another perhaps less desirable distinction: She is the only likely mayoral candidate with her own dedicated band of protesters."

Read More on the WSJ : Quinn's Persistent Gadflies

Did Rudin Pay Off Stringer ?

According to a new Crain's article, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer has wilted under pressure. Only a few months ago, true to his so-called "progressive beliefs," he issued a scathing report questioning City Council Speaker Christine Quinn's use of corrupt slush funds. Now, all of a sudden, he has turned his back on the community, to whom he promised that he would help lead the charge to fight for a full-service hospital to replace St. Vincent's Hospital. Instead, Borough President Stringer has sold out. Many community members are asking : "How large were the campaign contributions made by the Rudin family to Stringer ?"

Christine Quinn Newsletter 2012

Christine Quinn: Learn the Facts 2012

Community organiser and activist Donny Moss has issued a newsletter summarising just some of the more than 20 protests that the community organised against City Council Speaker Christine Quinn in 2011.

Among some of the newsletter highlights :

• Quinn must be humiliated by the unrelenting protests because, in order to avoid us, she has navigated through piles of garbage bags, entered buildings through basements and used her security detail and handlers to divert our attention so that she could scurry past us without being noticed.
• On December 2nd, the Human Rights Project at the Urban Justice Center released its annual NYC Council Human Rights Report Card. Christine Quinn received a D+, the second to lowest score in the City Council. In addition to voting against human rights bills, Quinn used her power as Speaker to kill bills that had a veto-proof majority of supporters.
• As the NY Times reported in October, "A year ago City Council members tried to push through a living wage in the Bronx and to mandate a few sick days for workers. Christine Quinn ensured each effort ended up baled, tied and set by the BQE for early sanitation pickup."
• One of the most powerful weapons in Quinn's arsenal as Speaker is the discretionary funds -- tens of millions of dollars that Quinn 1) doles out to reward campaign donors and loyal Council Members or 2) withholds from Council members who challenge her political or legislative agenda.
• In March, Christine Quinn strong-armed the City Council members to vote in favor of renaming the Queensboro bridge for former NYC Mayor Ed Koch. Several months later, Mayor Ed Koch endorsed her for Mayor -- two years before the election.

For more information, read the entire Christine Quinn Newsletter 2012.

Quinn Slush Funds Exposed (Again)

Christine Quinn Uses City Council Funds (aka Taxpayer Money) to Reward Political Bosses

After City Council Speaker Christine Quinn got fluffed by NYTimes reporter David W. Chen, now comes Michael Powell, a columnist for the Gray Lady, who pulls back the curtain on Speaker Quinn's slush fund-tinged campaign for mayor.

Mr. Powell reports that Ms. Quinn was appointed Speaker of the City Council after she "charmed" political bosses from Queens, the Bronx, and Brooklyn. At her coronation ceremony, she put Vito Lopez, the notorious Brooklyn political boss (who is the target of several ethical and corruption investigations) in the front row. Speaker Quinn has also scratched Mr. Vito's back in exchange for his political support. "The fates have smiled on Mr. Lopez’s social-service empire, the Ridgewood Bushwick Senior Citizens Council ; this year the Council sent more than $4 million its way," reported the NYTimes.

In a statement posted Facebook, a government integrity watchdog activist questioned why the latest NYTimes article stops short of probing the status of the federal investigation into Speaker Quinn's slush fund scandal.

"Instead of reporting on Quinn's criminal activity, the NY Times merely raises questions about her ethics and leadership: "But there are questions to be asked about her leadership, and not all cheery." Is it a fear of Bloomberg that prevents the Times from reporting on the well-documented budget and campaign corruption ?" Donny Moss posted on the social network.

This is how the NYTimes article ends :

Last year, a Council majority favored mandatory sick days for New Yorkers with less than a week of vacation. The mayor opposed it. Ms. Quinn killed it.

Some suggest that she has gotten lost in the game, that she can no longer recall the questions she once asked as an advocate. That sounds too definitive. Her arc is not done.

She affects nonchalance when described as a mayoral puppet: “You can call me Mini-Me. I don’t really care.”

The rub is that voters might care a lot.

Christine Quinn Trivia Quiz

Pop Quiz on Christine Quinn's Record as Do-Nothing City Council Speaker

Q. What has Christine Quinn done about giving us an APP to track the mayor's whereabouts during blizzards ?

A. _________________

Q. What has Christine Quinn done to save/restore a full service hospital with Level 1 Trauma Center to replace St. Vincent's ?

A. _________________

Q. What had Christine Quinn done to end the practice of using City Council slush funds to unduly exert influence over other councilmembers?

A. _________________

Q. What did Christine Quinn do to stop the controversial third term limits extension ?

A. _________________

Q. What has Christine Quinn done to pass paid sick leave in NYC ?

A. _________________

Q. What has Christine Quinn done to pass paid sick leave in NYC ?

A. _________________

Q. What has Christine Quinn done to stop NYU tearing down landmark structures in its reckless expansion through the Village ?

A. _________________

Q. What has Christine Quinn done to investigate $600 million CityTime fraud ?

A. _________________

Q. What has Christine Quinn done to save the scores of hospital closings all across the city in the past 10 years ?

A. _________________

Q. What has Christine Quinn done for LGBT Civil Rights ?

A. _________________

Q. What did Christine Quinn do to stand up in 2005, back when Mayor Michael Bloomberg ordered the appeal of a landmark gay marriage ruling ?

A. _________________

Q. What has Christine Quinn done to investigate NYPD sexual orientation profiling at gay bookstores ?

A. _________________

Q. What has Christine Quinn done to investigate the illegal Gay Pride Raid at the Eagle ?

A. _________________

Q. What has Christine Quinn done to put pressure on federal legislators to repeal DOMA ?

A. _________________

Q. What has Christine Quinn done to put pressure on federal legislators to pass ENDA ?

A. _________________

Q. What has Christine Quinn done to support Bradley Manning ?

A. _________________

Q. What has Christine Quinn done to end de jure and de facto discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity ?

A. _________________

Christine Quinn Wants To Be Mayor Of NYC

Christine Quinn wants to be Mayor of NYC

New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn has subjugated herself to the will and domination of Mayor Michael Bloomberg. She thinks that qualifies her to run for NYC mayor in 2013.

Christine Quinn Protest

New York voters, open your eyes !

Speaker Christine Quinn shows up to gay rights events -- or gay engagement announcements, like the one that took place on the evening that this YouTube was made -- but Speaker Quinn has never introduced any law to establish marriage equality in New York City.

In contrast, Gavin Newson helped to reshape marriage equality for the United States by allowing same-sex couples to receive marriage licenses in San Francisco.

What comparable action has Speaker Quinn taken ?

Besides being a do-nothing gay leader, look at some of the other unacceptable lows in Speaker Quinn's political record :

• Sick Leave. In 2010, Speaker Quinn rejected paid sick leave, hurting working families and low income New Yorkers.
• St. Vincent's. Also in 2010, Speaker Quinn abandoned any care for public health for the entire Lower West Side of Manhattan after she did nothing to save St. Vincent's Hospital.
• Term Limits. In 2008, Speaker Quinn made a shady deal with Mayor Bloomberg to overturn term limits.
• Slush Funds. Moreover, in 2008, The NYTimes reported that Speaker Quinn oversaw the allocation of discretionary funds to fake groups : ‘’… her office had continued a seven-year-old practice of squirreling away money so it could be handed out away from the public eye.’’ Then, last month, The NYTimes exposed the fact that Speaker Quinn continues her practise of using controversial City Council discretionary funds.

See also :

• http://christine-quinn-sold-out.blogspot.com/
• http://christinequinnmbminime.blogspot.com/
• http://www.christinequinn.com/

Christine Quinn's Use Of Slush Funds Continues

New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn has her own shady fund of discretionary taxpayer money, which The New York Times estimates to be nearly $18 million, which she doles out to organizations primarily of her own choosing.

The Times tomorrow will expose the fact that Speaker Quinn is continuing her practise of using controversial City Council discretionary funds to control or intimidate council members.

'In the race for earmarks, status often trumps economic need, council members say. Council leaders and those who curry favor with the speaker, Christine C. Quinn, consistently win the largest share of the pot.''

The Times revisits the famous case of Elizabeth S. Crowley, a councilwoman from Queens, who earned the political retribution in the form of a very low amount of $80,000 discretionary funds after she ''issued a news release in the middle of budget negotiations taking credit for saving 62 firehouses,'' The Times reported.

The Times also reminds us of councilman Larry B. Seabrook of the Bronx, ''who was indicted last year on charges of money laundering, extortion and fraud related to his use of discretionary funds.''

Speaker Quinn's politicisation of her allocation of the discretionary funds has attracted the attention of Scott M. Stringer, the Manhattan borough president. He plans to ''release his own study of the Council’s discretionary spending, said the city should consider distributing the money on the basis of economic need for each district, or simply give each member an equal amount,'' The Times reported.