Ethics, Shmethics: The Culture of NY Politics
In Albany, even the watchdogs have ethics issues
By GABE PRESSMAN, NBC, Feb 1, 2010
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It’s an epidemic. The lack of ethics is spreading like a bad disease from Albany to New York to Washington.

Wherever you look, it seems, some legislator or candidate or public official is suspected of breaking ethical rules or actually breaking them. It’s a depressing spectacle. No wonder the average citizen is fed up.

There’s a flagrant violation of propriety in the news that four members of the Public Integrity Commission have contributed $5,000 -- to the campaigns of Governor Paterson and the man who may run against him in this year’s Democratic Primary, Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, and other potential candidates for state office.

Mayor Bloomberg, it turns out, has made a questionable contribution to the state Independence Party.

And Congressman Gregory Meeks and State Senator Malcolm Smith have set up, the New York Post says, a non-profit organization that functions more like a slush fund than a charity.(See article below - Editor)

So what are all these guys up to? Ethics are the rules we set up to guide our office holders in what’s right and wrong. And we have, in the first place, the Public Integrity Commission, whose members are supposed to be the watchdogs over New York’s elected leaders, contributing to political campaigns.

If that isn’t illegal, it should be. How can the people meant to enforce proper behavior give money to the very people they’re supposed to police? It can only, it seems, happen in a place like New York. Blair Horner of Common Cause says: "It’s a clear conflict of interest."

His associate, Susan Lerner, says: "These people are supposed to be impartial. But they are ethically tone deaf. It’s amazing."

One commission member, Richard Emery, insists that the commission members are chosen for their knowledge of the political system, "not because they’re celibate priests who are divorced from anything that goes on in the world."

Another commission member, Andrew Celli, was also critical of the critics. He asked: "Do I have to stop voting now?"

Certainly, we don’t need celibate priests to monitor these people. Nor is it necessary for the commission members to stop voting. But, if they’re going to rule on whether campaigns have committed unethical acts, they shouldn’t be contributing to these campaigns. It’s as simple as that.

As for the Bloomberg matter, two Post reporters, Fred Dicker and David Seifman, found that the Mayor had donated $1.2 million to the Independence Party just before Election Day. Bloomberg sent two checks for $600,000 each to the party just before Election Day. The party then gave $750,000 to what the newspaper calls "a shell company" associated with Bloomberg operatives. One former Bloomberg aide says he believes the money was used as "street money" -- to encourage voters to go to the polls.

As for the charge that Congressman Meeks and State Senator Smith founded a charity that appears to have been used to pay for meals, entertainment, consulting fees and IRS penalties, among other things, we were unscuccessful in trying to reach Meeks for comment.

So, adding it all up, we seem to have a Public Integrity Commission that has integrity issues. And we have two legislators who founded a charitable organization but seem to believe that charity begins at home. And the question of where and how that 1.2 million that Bloomberg donated to the Independence Party was spent requires further investigation.

As my grandmother might have said: "Ethics, shmethics, so long as you’re healthy!"

Pols pushed $$ into their do-nothing Qns. charity
By ISABEL VINCENT and MELISSA KLEIN, February 2, 2010
Posted: 4:04 AM, January 31, 2010
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State Sen. Malcolm Smith and Congressman Gregory Meeks have funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars, including taxpayer money, into a charity led by their spouses and cronies -- an organization with almost no accountability on its spending.

Smith and Meeks, both Democrats, have championed New Direction Local Development Corp., a group based in their Queens districts that claims its mission is community development "in Far Rockaway and surrounding areas."

What, if any, community development it fostered is unclear. Only a few programs are detailed on the charity's tax filings, including money given to a senior-appreciation week, for a basketball and jump-rope tournament, a "family day" and a donation to Toys for Tots.

QUEENS CRONIES' HORSE POWER

But it did spend $11,783 for meals and entertainment and $9,004 in federal tax penalties in 2007.

Smith, who became temporary Senate president after being ousted as majority leader last year, tried to funnel at least $105,000 in pork-barrel money to New Direction beginning in 2001, The Post has learned.

The latest so-called member item was a $15,000 grant to New Direction in the 2007-08 fiscal year, a time when the charity owed money to the IRS for tax penalties.

There is no record of the grant being paid, but state records show $56,500 went to the nonprofit from 2001 to 2006.

"This raises important issues about whether this charity is acting in the public's interests or someone's political interests," said Blair Horner, legislative director of the New York Public Interest Research Group.

The charity's biggest boost was a $250,000 contribution in 2004 from International Airport Centers, the developer of a giant cargo facility near Kennedy Airport.

Smith, Meeks and City Councilman James Sanders (D-Queens) were credited in news reports for brokering the deal with the developer to donate for community programs.

Smith was the one who suggested New Direction get the cash, according to a source familiar with the deal.

That same year, the charity reported total revenue of $272,480. But it spent just $100,736 on programs, including $80,870 in grants, according to its tax forms. Nearly $150,000 remains unaccounted for.

The organization did not identify who received the grants or how it was spending the rest of the money.

Nonprofits are required to reveal on tax forms which organizations they give grants to, said expert Bennett Weiner of the Better Business Bureau's Wise Giving Alliance.

Fred Kress, former head of the Rosedale Civic Association, said he was hoping his group would receive some of the windfall, but never got any cash. He said he was unaware of any initiatives New Direction had accomplished.

Smith's spokesman, Austin Shafran, denied the senator had anything to do with the $250,000 contribution or with the charity itself, beyond helping establish it. He brushed off Smith's member items that funded New Direction, saying the senator appropriated money to many community groups.

But public records show strong ties between Smith and New Direction.

The group's Web site says it was founded in February 2001 by "the initiatives of Congressman Gregory Meeks and Sen. Malcolm Smith." Meeks and Smith are close political allies and protégés of the Rev. Floyd Flake, a former congressman whose district Meeks now represents.

State papers show that New Direction was actually incorporated a year earlier and that Smith's wife, Michele, was a founding board member. Also on the initial board was Cathy Greene, the wife of Darryl Greene, Smith's former business partner. From 2002 to 2008, the charity's address was in the same Queens office as Joan Flowers, an attorney who worked as campaign treasurer for both Smith and Meeks.

The group's mission is community development and to "preserve, renovate, rehabilitate and beautify neighborhoods" in Queens.

State money began to flow to New Direction in 2001. The charity received $17,000 that year -- taxpayer money designated by Smith in a member item for the organization's startup costs, according to the Empire State Development agency.

Smith was also involved in a New Direction initiative to help families affected by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The group started an appeal called New Yorkers Organized to Assist Hurricane Families, or NOAH-F. Its Web site asks donors to send their money to Smith, Meeks or Assemblywoman Barbara Clark.

Two donos listed in tax filings as contributing to New Direction that year said they actually gave money to the Katrina effort. One was the Rent Stabilization Association of New York, which said it made a $5,000 contribution after receiving an appeal from Smith. The Hindu Temple Society in Queens gave a $10,000 contribution.

There is no evidence the money ever made it to Katrina victims. The only mention on the charity's tax forms is a $1,392 grant paid in 2006 for "hurricane victim expense."

That same year, Meeks for Congress reported giving two $5,000 donations to NOAH-F. In 2006, records show it canceled one of the contributions.

Meeks' office did not respond to requests for comment about the charity.

The Rev. Edwin Reed, the charity's treasurer, told The Post he could not remember how donations were spent.

"I can't recall any details," said Reed, chief financial officer for the development arm of Flake's church in Jamaica.

Claude Stuart, who was brought on as the charity's director at Smith's behest in 2006, told The Post he advised the charity to revamp its board or disband. Stuart, a former policy adviser to Gov. Paterson, would not say why.

In 2007, New Direction paid fines to the IRS for late filings of its tax returns, according to the charity's accountant, James Lee.

By 2008, New Direction was moribund, listing its only expense as $800 paid in consulting fees and a $10 bank service charge. It had $55,254 in the bank at the end of the year.

Stuart said the group is in the process of disbanding.

Unknown ‘Direction’

Two city politicians have close ties to a mysterious Queens nonprofit

* New Direction Local Development Corp. incorporates in February 2000. The group’s Web site says it was started by the initiatives of state Sen. Malcolm Smith and Congressman Gregory Meeks.

* Initial board members include Smith’s wife, Michele, and Cathy Greene, wife of Smith’s former business partner, Darryl Greene.

* Smith authorizes his first “member item” for the charity, a $17,000 grant, in September 2001 for start-up costs. The charity spends $38,700 out of the $57,050 it takes in on “consultants.”

* In 2004, Smith and Meeks help arrange for a Queens developer to donate $250,000 to New Direction, which is to distribute the money. New Direction reports that it spent $100,736 on programs, including giving out $80,870 in grants, but provides no details. The other $150,000 remains unaccounted for.

* In 2005, New Direction solicits donations to help Hurricane Katrina families. Meeks gives

$10,000 through his political action committee, Meeks for Congress. The next year, he takes back $5,000 of that money. Despite getting at least $15,000 from other contributors, just $1,392 is listed as helping hurricane victims, the only time the charity details its Katrina aid.

* In 2007, Smith authorizes a $15,000 member item to New Direction. The charity pays $9,004 in penalties to the IRS for late filing. It spends little on programs, and the biggest expenditure listed is $11,783 for meals and entertainment.

* In 2008, the group spends just $810 on consulting and professional fees and a bank service charge. It has $55,254 in the bank; the charity’s director says he doesn’t know if that money has ever been spent.