Is The Victory Fund Skirting Campaign Finance Laws To Help Christine Quinn's Troubled Campaign ?

Some government watchdogs are raising questions about a national PAC paying for Christine Quinn's out-of-town trips. online.wsj.com/article/SB1000…

— Michael Howard Saul (@MichaelHwrdSaul) June 13, 2013

Is the Victory Fund deliberately violating Campaign Finance caps on in-kind contributions to Speaker Christine Quinn's troubled mayoral campaign ? The Wall Street Journal reports that, "The Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund, which endorsed Ms. Quinn and had collected $165,000 in contributions for her mayoral campaign as of last month, paid her to travel to the PAC's fundraising events in Houston, San Diego and Chicago. Records filed with the city's Campaign Finance Board show Ms. Quinn's mayoral campaign accrued more than $20,000 in contributions from dozens of donors in those cities around the same time as the PAC's events." The reporter, Michael Howard Saul, added that, "At issue here is whether Ms. Quinn's campaign is benefiting directly from these events by not recording expenses associated with the trips."

Read more : New York City Mayoral Candidate Quinn Raised Money on Paid Trips (subscription may be required)

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)

Were Wire Taps on John Liu Politically-Motivated ?

From : Was John Liu Wire Tapped as part of a Political Hit Job ? by Suzannah B. Troy :

"John Liu exposed CityTime and ECTP 911 tech corruption -- bigger than CityTime. Liu called for criminal investigation on ECTP based on audits. Where are the investigations ? Liu killed major deals, but leading billionaires as well as SAIC that gets bail-outs -- oops contracts from Pentagon -- and are connected to The White House."

Christine Quinn Tainted Donations

Read Tom Allon's editorial in The New York Daily News :

"I used the database set up by the law — and Quinn’s public disclosures — to find at least $250,000 in campaign funds she has raised for this election cycle under the old rules. ... Straight away, the Council should amend Local Law 34 to make it retroactive."

Read More : "This campaign cash is tainted — Quinn must give it back : Fundraising rules from 2008 should apply retroactively"

Rudin Family's Political Liability

Hospital Protesters Hound Christine Quinn

New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn continues to suffer the presence of activists, who protest her apparent conflict of interest in approving the Rudin Family's billion-dollar luxury condo and townhouse complex plan for St. Vincent's Hospital.

John Liu Treasurer Arrested

And now, we see how far Mayor Michael Bloomberg and City Council Speaker Quinn will go to knock off each of Speaker Quinn's competitors for the Democratic primary.

From The New York Times :

City Comptroller’s Campaign Treasurer Arrested on Fraud Charges
By DAVID W. CHEN and BENJAMIN WEISER
Published: February 28, 2012

The campaign treasurer for John C. Liu, the city comptroller, was charged with fraud and obstruction of justice on Tuesday as an expanding federal investigation of the comptroller’s fund-raising reached inside Mr. Liu’s inner circle for the first time.
Enlarge This Image

Mr. Liu speaking to reporters on Tuesday in Lower Manhattan. He said he was “stunned” by Ms. Hou's arrest.

The treasurer, Jia Hou, 25, is accused of helping to funnel illegal campaign money to Mr. Liu by using straw donors and impeding investigators’ efforts to gather information about the fund-raising.

And, in a troubling development for Mr. Liu, the charges filed on Tuesday suggested that Ms. Hou was taking instructions from Mr. Liu as she was carrying out the fraudulent fund-raising scheme.

Mr. Liu said on Tuesday evening that he was “stunned” by Ms. Hou’s arrest.

“These allegations against Jia Hou are uncharacteristic and unexpected of this intelligent, hardworking person that I’ve come to know and depend upon,” Mr. Liu told reporters outside the office of his campaign consultant, George Arzt. “And I sincerely hope she will be treated fairly.” ....

He added that he would review the charges and “we’ll figure out how to move forward from here.”

Read the rest of the article here : City Comptroller’s Campaign Treasurer Arrested on Fraud Charges

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 ?"

Bill de Blasio Campaign Cash Reporting

Bill de Blasio issues "corrections" to campaign contributions report ; real estate developer Bruce Ratner's role is altered.

In a confusing series of moves, the 2013 mayoral campaign of Bill de Blasio issued corrections to his campaign contribution disclosure reports,The New York Post reported.

The campaign filing showed that Mr. Ratner raised $4,000 for Mr. de Blasio's campaign from three construction executives — Michael Kaleda, Joseph Posillico, and Lloyd Sokoloff. But after Mr. de Blasio's Campaign Finance Board's filing was challenged by reporters from The NYPost, Mr. de Blasio's campaign disclosed that Mr. Ratner raised an additional $4,500 from real estate bosses Anthony Mann, Richard Minieri, and Vincent Sciullo.

Then, after the $8,500 was disclosed as being linked to Mr. Ratner, the de Blasio campaign then issued another alteration to their report : "They said it was a mistake to list him as the 'intermediary' since the entire $8,500 was actually solicited by Robert Sanna, one of his top aides at Forest City Ratner Companies," The NYPost reported.

Nobody knows what Mr. de Blasio has to gain by changing the name of the intermediary (or campaign bundler) from Mr. Ratner to Mr. Sanna.

Rudin Political Donation Hedging

When both Anthony Weiner and Christine Quinn were the front-running mayoral candidates, the Rudin Family made sizable campaign donations.

Do the Rudin Family's $70,000 in political donations to Christine Quinn, Peter Vallone, and Anthony Weiner constitute a corrupt effort to make sure that the Family gets approval for their controversial luxury condo conversion of St. Vincent's Hospital ?

The Family's equal total donations to each of former Congressman Weiner and Speaker Quinn were calculating, because now that Mr. Weiner is out of the mayoral race, they had a Plan B in Speaker Quinn.

Councilmember Vallone is chair of the Public Safety Committee : now, there will likely be no councilmember, who will be allowed to speak out to the irresponsible public health aspect of closing charity hospitals, privatising their real estate, and doing nothing as luxury condos are built on the former site of St. Vincent's Hospital.

You can confirm the sources of the funding from these links : (i) Eric C. Rudin, Jack Rudin, Katherine L. Rudin, and William C. ("Bill") Rudin ; (ii) Beth R. DeWoody ; and (iii) Madeline R. Johnson.

The Rudin family has spent almost $70,000 in political donations, and another $500,000 in lobbying expenses -- all in a desperate attempt to get approval for the luxury condo conversion scheme for St. Vincent's, because there is profit that is valued in the hundreds of millions of dollars at stake.

Rudin and Quinn Are Laughing All The Way To The Bank

Bill Rudin Gang Laugh at Us ; Meanwhile, We Still Need A Hospital

Activists and community members showed up for the first day in an on-going protest and vigil outside the Rudin Management Company's luxury condominium sales office at 120 West 12th Street, at one of the Manhattan buildings that used to comprise the campus of St. Vincent's Hospital.

In a separate action, started by LGBT civil rights activist Alan Bounville, the community is being asked to take part in a phone zap against Rudin Management Company. Mr. Bounville is asking that everybody contact John Gilbert, the COO of Rudin Management Group by calling 1-212-407-2400 and by e-mailing : jgilbert@rudin.com

"Please join the masses and flood Rudin Management Company's phone and email this week so they are aware of the growing wave of public disgust with them stealing a hospital from the community!" urged Mr. Bounville.

Record your phone calls, upload the sound files, and copy and paste your e-mails and links to the Rudin Phone Zap Facebook event page.

The economics of the Rudin luxury condo conversion plan for St. Vincent's is proving to be a very lucrative real estate development plan. Rudin paid $260 million for the St. Vincent's campus, and it obtained $525 million in construction financing for the project. If you combine these two figures, then the total cost going into the luxury condo conversion is about $785 million. If Rudin sells the luxury condos and townhouses for a combined value of over $1 billion, then it would be very easy for Rudin to net well over $200 million in profit from the closing of St. Vincent's Hospital.

The lure of profit well in excess of $200 million during this Great Recession may be one reason that Rudin has spent easily over $200,000 on hiring the real estate lobbyist Melanie Meyers and made a bundle of approximately $30,000 in donations to the 2013 mayor campaign of Christine Quinn.

The lure of profit well in excess of $200 million during this Great Recession has also triggered a possible fraud probe. Two months ago, The New York Post reported that the Manhattan District Attorney was investigating whether hospital executives intentionally let St. Vincent’s fail, so that the Rudin could buy the hospital’s real estate on the cheap.  

No wonder that William Rudin and City Council Speaker are laughing all the way to the bank, while community members are stuck in crosstown traffic or suffering through long Emergency Room wait times in order to get emergency medical attention.

William Rudin Peninsula Hospital

Is the Rudin Family eyeing their next real estate harvesting operation on the dead carcass of the Peninsula Hospital Center in Queens ?

After he's done with St. Vincent's Hospital, it has been heard on the street that William Rudin is considering another real estate harvesting operation, this time at the Peninsula Hospital Center in Queens.

Everybody Is Gay

Op-Ed ! Everybody Is Gay

Ian McKeevor is homophobic, not only that, but he freely used gay as a pejorative against activists. I cannot reconcile how City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who is out as a lesbian, can support the horse-drawn carriage industry, not only because of the way that horses are treated, but also because of the homophobia that some of the horse owners practise. But for Christine Quinn, all it takes is campaign contributions for her to look the other way. I will never vote for Christine Quinn.

Rudin Real Estate Donations

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. During this time, the Rudin family has been trying to salvage a multi-million dollar real estate purchase of 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, do these large campaign donations explain why Speaker Quinn has done nothing to restore a hospital to the former St. Vincent's site ?