Posted on 09/17/2010 12:12:11 PM PDT by dead
This morning, I was forced to buy the NY Daily News because my local Quik-E Mart was sold out of the NY Post.
For those who live outside the NY area, The Post is a great newspaper with a fantastic opinion page, good sports coverage, and cheeseball sensationalism in the news department. Everything I need.
The Daily News, on the other hand, is pretty crappy. A very liberal, dumbed-down version of the already inane NY Times.
So I was a bit shocked to see some fine reporting on a MAJOR democratic party scandal in NY.
In short, this hump, Vito Lopez, is the Brooklyn Democratic Boss and chairman of the NY State Assembly Housing Committee. He also runs a $100,000,000 a year (that's one hundred million dollars, for any liberal lurkers out there!) tax-payer funded "social services non-profit."
One article ("They told me to sign papers, so I signed") deals with how Vito loaded the non-profit's board with clueless, unsuspecting, often non-English speaking senior citizens and paid them $25 per meeting to show up and sign all the legal documents. These clueless seniors directed how the non-profit would spend the tens of millions of dollars they received in city, state and federal grants. One 86-year-old biddy said "I just went to meetings and signed the papers." When she was asked what was discussed, she replied, "I'm 86-years-old. Some things I forget."
The board's 81-year-old secretary was asked if she could name the board's executive director. Her response - "No. And I don't want to know."
In addition, the board billed NYC $340,000 in "expenses" while resisting any efforts at oversight.
Vito Lopez's campaign manager, Christiana Fisher, serves as the non-profit's executive director, pulling down $659, 591 per year! His girlfriend, Angela Battaglia, earns more than $300,000 in tax-payer money that Vito directs to the group.
Non-affiliated elmerfuddian Mayor Bloomberg took a break from hunting smokers to defend Vito - "I've known Vito since I came into public life. You know, I'm not sure that the investigation had anything to do with him."
An accompanying editorial to the story calls Vito "Mr. Untouchable" and talks about how nobody wants to discuss the story or make any public issue out of it. The Daily News got a hold of the official investigative report that was quietly filed 2-months ago and buried. They merely suggested that the organization get a competent board and submit to a "voluntary" audit. Apparently, this whole story is very inconvenient and everybody is afraid to bring it up to Vito, because he yields immense power in NY politics.
Curiously, I was unable to find either of these stories about "Mr. Untouchable" on the Daily News website. Maybe they're there and I'm just a noob who can't use the Search feature correctly. Or maybe the Daily News also wants to keep this story from gaining any real national traction. After all, there are elections coming up, with the NY governorship and senate seat under assault from Tea-Party sponsored lunatics, and nobody really needs to be screaming too loudly about insanely blatant Democratic Party corruption. Do they?
This the article you’re looking for: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2010/09/17/2010-09-17_they_told_me_to_sign_papers.html I used his name to search paper.
This would be the Ridgewood Bushwick Senior Citizens Council, Inc.
Seems like this has been percolating for some time.
Do this:
“Vito Lopez” site:www.nydailynews.com
That’s the one article. Thanks. It was not available anywhere on their “News” page, and they completely changed the title from what is in the newspaper.
Good find. Now let’s find from where that fishy smell comes.
“The Department of Investigation is still probing for other problems in Ridgewood Bushwick’s family of linked social services organizations.”
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
So it seems Lopez had his own miniature ACORN at his disposal. And the Mayor is in it up to his neck.
Thanks. That does turn up the one article. But I can’t find their newspaper’s lead editorial anywhere on the site.
"Fisher, the center's director, raked in $659,591 in "base compensation." Not bad, especially since she only put in 17½ hours a week, tax records show.
Sweet.
I’d love to see this picked up nationally. It’s a model case for the thousands and thousands of taxpayer-funded, community organizer scams that cost us billions of dollars.
bookmark.
“In short, this hump, Vito Lopez...”
It is good, very good, to hear a well-turned phrase in honest-to-goodness New York vernacular.
Bravo. Bravissimo.
Best regards,
paterfamilias (a Bronx Boy)
With the amount of money my guess is those with the bent noses were getting their “fair share” along with Democratic party insiders which is why the investigation won’t go to far afield.
“If I knew my audience was conversant in the dialect, I would have called him stunad or a chooch!”
“Chooch” was my brother’s nickname for me.
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