Posted on 08/27/2012 4:04:54 AM PDT by Liz
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Naomi Rivera’s brother Rodney lied in bankruptcy filing, records show (sticks taxpayers with his bills
By JEANE MACINTOSH, NY POST
Bronx Assemblywoman Naomi Rivera isn’t the only one in her family with questionable ethics. Her brother Rodney told the federal government he was flat broke and jobless when he filed for bankruptcy in 2004 — even though he had a $46,000-a-year, taxpayer-funded gig with Nassau County, according to public records.
In his June 14, 2004, Chapter 7 filing, Rodney Rivera — looking to wipe out $25,398 in consumer debt — signed federal court documents stating he was “unemployed. He checked “none” on a form where debtors are required to list gross income earned for the two years prior to the filing In reality, Rivera, 42, had landed a job three months earlier, records show.
On March 15, 2004, he got a $48,000-a-year job as assistant to the Director of Constituent Affairs in then-County Executive Tom Suozzi’s office, according to records obtained by The Post.
Rivera — whose scandal-scarred sis is under investigation by federal, state and city authorities amid claims of misusing public funds — could be prosecuted if he deliberately made false statements or omitted crucial financial information in bankruptcy papers, lawyers said yesterday.
In his bankruptcy filing, the father of three claimed to live a stunningly economical life, with no monthly living expenses — no rent, mortgage, utility, phone, medical, dental, transportation, insurance or clothing costs.
His only monthly financial obligation, Rivera claimed, was a $350 car payment. His only asset, he declared, was $500 in clothing.
Rivera’s wife, Jessica Letterel-Rivera, filed her own individual petition the same day as her husband, to get out from under $25,841 in consumer debt. She, too, claimed to be broke and unemployed, with no assets and no income for at least 2 1/2 years. She listed her monthly expenses as $250 for electricity and heat, $98 for her home phone, $52 for a cellphone, $1,000 for food and $630 for her car and auto insurance.
The couple’s Elmont, LI, home is owned by Rivera’s mom, Blanche, and politically powerful dad, Assemblyman José Rivera, records show. Between the two filings, the couple listed $51,239 in debt. Both claimed to have no cash, nothing in the bank, no retirement or investment funds and no furniture, computers or other household items.
Rodney Rivera owed nearly $5,000 to Sam Ash and another music store, $14,000 on a Mitsubishi car loan and more than $6,000 to Discover and another credit card for “consumer goods.” His wife’s debts included nearly $10,500 to Discover, $4,400 to another credit card, $7,700 to Mitsubishi, $126 to BP/Amoco and $71 to America Online. Both bankruptcies went through in October 2004.
Rodney Rivera continued to work for the Nassau County Executive’s Office — with a salary hike to $62,400 — until the end of January 2007, records show, when he got a job with the county’s Office of Housing and Intergovernmental Affairs.In September that year, he got a $65,000-a-year job gathering newspaper clippings for the state Senate’s Democratic Conference but was fired in April 2010.
Rodney He now works as special assistant for the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation, raking in a $74,000 salary. Neither he nor his bankruptcy lawyer, Nancy Martorelli, returned calls.
Source http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/bronx/bu_ted_naomi_bro_lied_going_for_H76iLCg0GURk9HxRSZ9uCL#ixzz24ZHsS6fU
Naomi----Other Dem Scandals snag Albany pols' raises / by Fredric U. Dicker, Ny Post Bureau Chief
EXCLUSIVE The latest round of scandals in the Legislature involving state Sen. Shirley Huntley — expected to be arrested today — and Assembly members Vito Lopez (found to have sexually harassed two employees) and Naomi Rivera (probed for the misuse of state funds) may have killed chances for lawmakers to get a raise later this year. “My God, here we go again! Another round of scandal and they [legislators] expect to get a pay raise? This will make it very difficult if not impossible for it to happen,’’ a senior legislative staffer told The Post.“The public is already dead set against a raise, and this will just make it even harder,’’ the staffer continued.
State lawmakers, with Gov. Cuomo’s backing, have been expected to return for a special post-Election Day session to take up several matters, including the first pay raise in 14 years.Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan) has strongly backed hiking lawmakers’ salaries, which now start at $79,500 a year, contending that the Legislature has taken significant steps to end the corruption and dysfunction that had become its trademarks over the past decade. A base salary of just over $100,000 is under consideration.
But the announcement by Huntley (D-Queens) Saturday that she expects to be indicted, most likely for fraud involving a state-funded local group, Friday’s finding by Silver that Assembly Housing Committee Chairman Lopez, the Brooklyn Democratic chairman, was guilty of sexual harassment, and several ongoing probes involving the alleged use of a state-funded not-for- profit group to provide a job for the boyfriend of Rivera (D-Bronx) have once again put a dark cloud over Albany’s image.
“We’re all just shocked by what’s just unfolded. It’s like back to the future,’’ was how a second senior legislative staff member put it. Cuomo strongly suggested in recent months that he’s open to increasing the Legislature’s pay because he wants salary hikes for his own state commissioners, whose salaries are tied to those given lawmakers. State law prohibits legislators from hiking their own salaries during their two-year terms in office. That means a pay hike approved in November wouldn’t take effect until Jan. 1, when a new Legislature is seated.If a pay hike isn’t approved this year, then one approved next year or in 2014 couldn’t take effect until Jan. 1, 2015, at the earliest.
* Senate Republicans, who hold a bare two-vote majority, are publicly mum but privately gleeful about Huntley’s announcement, convinced that the publicity surrounding her arrest will refocus attention on a series of scandals involving Senate Democrats. “This is just the latest episode involving the Senate Democrats, who have not made a compelling case for being in the majority — either with their history of raising taxes, overspending and dysfunction or their criminal missteps,’’ said a GOP insider.
* Bumbling two-term Albany County District Attorney David Soares, who has been heavily funded by left-wing billionaire George Soros, stands a “very good chance of being defeated’’ in next month’s Democratic primary, one of the county’s top Democrats has told The Post. Soares — who was caught trying to help then-Gov. Eliot Spitzer cover up the “Troopergate’’ scandal five years ago, has botched several recent criminal cases, has been censured by the court system for intemperate comments, and has been personally involved in a relationship with at least one of his subordinates — is facing a tough challenge from Lee Kindlon, a defen fredric.dicker@nypost.comthink Kindlon is going to go all the way,’’ the local Democrat predicted.
SOURCE http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/oh_hoot_scandals_snag_albany_raises_x6taMxbMsyQS17caMrglCL#ixzz24k1dNNJ8
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