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Misuse of Office: COIB v. Birdie Blake-Reid, NYC BOE Office of Parent Engagement; Bernard Kerik is fined
Ms. Blake-Reid, aunt of another BOE official Mr. Jamal Young, pays $8000 fine. Who's minding the store?
          
Conflict of Interest Board (COIB)
Chapter 68 Enforcement Case Summary

Misuse of Office: Birdie Blake-Reid

"In COIB v. Birdie Blake-Reid, COIB Case No. 2002-188 (2002), the Board and the New York City Board of Education ("BOE") concluded a settlement with Birdie Blake-Reid, Executive Director of the Office of Parent and Community Partnerships at BOE. Ms. Blake-Reid, who agreed to pay an $8,000 fine, misused her City position habitually by directing subordinates to work on projects for her church and for a private children's organization, on City time using City copiers and computers. She also had BOE workers do personal errands for her. Ms. Blake-Reid admitted that over a four-year period, she had four of her BOE subordinates perform non-City work at her direction, including making numerous copies, typing, preparing financial charts and spreadsheets and a contact list, stuffing envelopes, e-mailing, working on brochures, typing a college application for one of Ms. Blake-Reid's children, and running personal errands for Ms. Blake-Reid. The subordinates performed this non-City work for her on City time and used City equipment. These subordinates believed that their jobs with the City could be jeopardized if they refused to work on Ms. Blake-Reid's non-BOE matters. One temporary worker sometimes fell behind in his BOE work when Ms. Blake-Reid directed him to make her private work a priority. BOE funded overtime payments to him when he stayed to finish his BOE work. Ms. Blake-Reid acknowledged that she violated City Charter provisions and Board rules that prohibit public servants from misusing their official positions to divert City workers from their assigned City work and misapplying City resources for their private projects."

COIB has Bernard Kerik, Cathy Mumford, and others, all rebuked by the Board and all online.

 
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