Political Corruption Slot Games: Lt Gov Benjamin Thought He Would Get Away with Bribery, Most of his Colleagues Did
By Gary Tilzer
Former Lt. Gov. Brian Benjamin did not expect to be arrested on federal bribery charges in connection with a political corruption scheme. Benjamin was taught by his fellow NY elected officials, party bosses, and political consultants, how to funnel fraudulent donations to his campaign. Using nonprofits, pay to play and PACs to raise funds to run campaigns is mother’s milk to NY’s elected officials. In fact, most of the elected official’s corruption schemes are more complicated and thousands of times larger than the former Lt. Governor’s fundraising operation. Today, Benjamin sits in his Harlem apartment out of work with no future, in shock not that he broke the election law, but that he got caught for campaign finance corruption, that other pols like the former mayor got away with.
Benjamin’s indictment also charged him with offering to help the developer obtain a zoning variance if he made a $15,000 donation to a separate fund for State Senate Democrats. At the same time that the Lt. Gov is being charged with bribery, The Gothamist reported, “PAC Tied To Real Estate Lobbying Firm Spreads Campaign Contributions Across 2021 Candidates.” The Cozen O’Connor Political Action Committee, run by a prominent law firm whose lobbying arm regularly weighs in on rezoning matters, Penn Station area rezoning has poured thousands of dollars into candidates long rumored to be contenders for the next Council Speaker, who will have a major voice in the rezoning of that area.
Benjamin had a good reason to lie about his deal to fund the Harlem developer’s nonprofit in exchange for campaign contributions. For one, he was counting on the former Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell U.S. Supreme Court ruling that overturned his bribery conviction, which made it manifestly more difficult for prosecutors to prove political corruption. The Supreme Court ruled that federal prosecutors in the McDonnell case falsely relied on a “boundless” definition of the kinds of acts that could lead politicians to face criminal charges. One of the biggest beneficiaries of the McDonnell ruling was former Mayor Bill De Blasio who used pay to play to build a political machine out of interlocking PACs, lobbyists, developers, and city contractors who needed favors from City Hall.
Benjamin Showed Up in Court With Ex-de Blasio’s Defense Lawyer — Who Helped Get de Blasio Off the Hook in a “Pay-to-Play” Corruption Probe
“This is a very unusual political corruption case because the charges are based solely on political contributions and no personal benefits,” Berke said during an appearance in Manhattan federal court.
NY Daily News reported on 4/18/22: “Benjamin hired de Blasio’s lawyer Barry Berke, who calls his new clients bribery case ‘flimsy’ and ‘very unusual.’ Benjamin is facing corruption charges that carry a maximum of 55 years in prison, Berke represented former Mayor de Blasio in a federal probe of his fundraising practices, to end with no charges. Berke argued Benjamin’s indictment described standard conduct in Albany politics. “This case is an unprecedented attempt to criminally charge an upstanding state leader for routine fundraising and support of a non-profit providing needed resources to Harlem public schools,” Berke said in a statement. NY Times Ex-New York Lt. Gov. Previews Bribery Defense: ‘No Personal Benefits’ The case against Brian Benjamin, who resigned as New York’s second-in-command last week, may hinge on whether political contributions in this case constituted a bribe.
Sal Albanese Twitter @SalAlbaneseNYC Since 2006 41 state bipartisan elected officials have been nabbed in corruption scandals (of course many have been lucky & haven’t been caught) & yet lawmakers refuse to reform the political system to minimize conflicts & outright thievery. See latest “ethics panel” scam.
Berke’s law firm Kramer Levin also works as a lobbyist. The former mayor sided with the law firm when one of the developers they represented wanted to dig up a lead-tainted parking lot next to their Upper West Side elementary school, to build a 20-story nursing home. In 2018, de Blasio acknowledged owing Berke’s firm, Kramer Levin, around $300,000 in unpaid legal fees, which The City website last year said had likely ballooned to $435,000 with interest.
A Generation of Grifters: Benjamin Learned From de Blasio and Others it is Possible to Get Away With Pay to Play Fundraising
In 2016 the NY Times wrote, “Federal Inquiry Into Mayor de Blasio Is Said to Focus on Whether Donors Got Favors.” U.S. Attorney Kim stated after he dropped the de Blasio investigation, “that there were “several circumstances” in which de Blasio “made or directed inquiries to relevant city agencies on behalf of” donors seeking official favors from the city.” “This conclusion is not an endorsement of the conduct at issue; indeed, the transactions appear contrary to the intent and spirit of the laws that impose candidate contribution limits,” said former Manhattan DA Vance who investigated de Blasio’s PAC “Campaign One NY,” which was closed down during the state and federal investigation.
De Blasio and his main partner in political corruption, the Working Families Party, were investigated by the feds several times for different fund-raising schemes, over the years, but never indicted. The former mayor’s pay to play secret agent lobbyists, straw donor fund-raising and an in-house firm that illegally cut campaign costs, defrauded the public finance system, and violated the election laws. de Blasio’s scheme put to shame in complexity and size of Benjamin’s alleged simple operation. The U.S. Attorney accused Benjamin of conspiring to direct state funds to a Harlem real estate investor nonprofit in exchange for orchestrating thousands of dollars in illegal straw donor campaign contributions to Mr. Benjamin’s State Senate race and his unsuccessful 2021 campaign for NYC comptroller.
Like Benjamin, de Blasio was Investigated by the Feds for Straw Donors Campaign Contributions, Unlike the Former Lt. Gov, He Was Never Charged
Crooked restaurateur Harendra Singh who pleaded guilty to bribing a government official, helped put former Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano in jail. Singh also claimed he bribed de Blasio with campaign cash, including straw donations from workers in his company, in exchange for official favors involving his restaurant Water’s Edge. A former employee of Singh testified that he attended a fund-raiser for de Blasio at the request of his boss — who later paid him back for a $1,500 campaign contribution. Paul Evwiehor, who was a maitre d’ and general manager at Singh’s now-defunct Water’s Edge restaurant in Queens, said he handed over a check during one of two fund-raisers at the eatery Singh claimed de Blasio encouraged him to make illegal, “straw” donations to himself and political pals. “Did you give these contributions as bribes to Bill de Blasio?” an assistant United States attorney, Catherine Mirabile, asked Mr. Singh. “Yes,” he replied. de Blasio was investigated but never charged for Straw Donor contributions.
A Queens construction magnate, Husam Ahmad, pleaded guilty after he pumped hundreds of thousands of dollars into campaigns across the state and made illegal straw donations to Mayor de Blasio and other candidates during the 2013 election to capture over 300 million in city funding for his construction company, prosecutors said. The NY Daily News wrote, “Former de Blasio fund-raiser facing criminal charges for straw donations in 2013 mayoral election.” Three big New York City developers—Toll Brothers, Brookfield Properties, and Greenpoint Landing Developers—agreed to pay fines levied by the state’s Joint Commission on Public Ethics over contributions they made to de Blasio’s Campaign for One New York, the nonprofit he established in 2013 to advance his pet projects, such as universal pre-K. According to the New York Times, the developers agreed to pay $15,000, $30,000, and $25,000, respectively.
Wielding the city’s most lucrative resource — land — developers have long used their purse strings to try to influence City Hall. In 2009 the most viable citywide candidates collected more than $2.5 million from real estate, according to an analysis by Gotham Gazette. At that time Melinda Katz, City Council Land Use Committee Chair took in almost a million dollars in her successful campaign for Queens Borough President. Also at the same time, some of the city’s most well-known or active developers have increased their donations by more than 30 percent since 2001 — and we haven’t even passed the primary.
Lobbyist Berlin Rosen, de Blasio & WFP Have Built A Complicated Pay to Play System That Functions the Same as the Bribery Operation Benjamin Was Charged With
Lobbyist and campaign consultant Berlin Rosen (BR) works for Two Trees and other real estate developers seeking favors and zoning changes from City Hall. In 2009 BR who worked for de Blasio, for Public Advocate, Brad Lander, and Jumaane Williams for City Council, all who used the Working Families Party (WFP) inhouse slush fund Data and Fields company to illegally reduce campaign costs to the candidates endorsed by the WFP. BR helped ACORN where several of the WFP leadership worked before the party was created and helped arrange a loan for the nonprofit when it was under investigation from another one of the lobbyist clients, Forest City Ratner who built the buildings and stadium at the Atlantic Terminal site. BR was one the mayor’s Agents of the City lobbyist. According to a NY Times reporter BR worked inside the mayor’s office and also was paid to run his political PAC Campaign for One NY, that was investigated by the Manhattan DA for money laundering and the feds for pay to play corruption, before the investigation was dropped without charges.
Another lobbyist James Capalino worked in the mayor’s campaign, steered $50,000 in his client’s donations to de Blasio campaign and Campaign for One NY nonprofit political slush fund PAC. Capalino was paid for the illegal deed change Rivington St site, by both the nursing home original owners and the developers that intended to build luxury housing on the property. After de Blasio denied any knowledge of how the clause in the deed was removed that restricted the site to operate only as a nursing home, the Department of Investigation’s report on the deed change said, “City Hall knew or should have known it would be possible to use the property for any purpose if the deed restriction was removed.” The report also says a damning email shows First Deputy Mayor Tony Shorris wrote to the mayor on Aug. 3, 2014, mentioning that the Rivington property had been discussed during a meeting. Capalino, who represents clients that include real estate powerhouses such as SL Green and Two Trees Management, tripled its earnings during the de Blasio term in office.
Benjamin Worked in Albany’s Pay to Play Culture Where Most Pols Have Normalized Bribery and Political Corruption Raising Million
NY Times 2019 “How I Captured a Snapshot of Albany’s Pay-to-Play Culture.” I had made plans to show up at the fund-raiser a few weeks earlier when I was reporting on an article about what people often call “the circuit” in Albany: simultaneous fund-raisers that take place within walking distance of the State Capitol when the Legislature is in session. During that reporting, I learned that Mr. Cuomo would be having a fund-raiser in New York City on March 14. The timing struck me: The governor and state lawmakers would be in the midst of deciding the state budget, due on April 1. At the very least, it seemed like a convenient time to ask people for political contributions.”
In 2016, US Attorney Preet Bharara said the feds were unable to build a criminal case over Cuomo, Speaker Silver, and Majority Leaders Skelos’ disbanding of the Moreland Commission on Public Corruption. “After a thorough investigation of interference with the operation of the Moreland Commission and its premature closing, this office has concluded that, absent any additional proof that may develop, there is insufficient evidence to prove a federal crime,” Bharara said. The abrupt end was part of a deal with state lawmakers that led to the creation of new ethics rules in Albany. This year Governor Hochul disbanded the ineffective JCOPE ethics commission but was blocked by the Assembly and State Senate leadership from replacing it with a panel made up of law school deans. The news ethics commission will again be picked by Albany’s leadership, which amounts to a name change for the failed JCOPE ethics commission.
Benjamin Entered Politics After Brooklyn Boss Assemblyman Vito Lopez Got Away With Building A Nonprofit Empire for Politics and Fundraising
The template or model for these new modern pay to play nonprofits was developed by former Brooklyn Assemblyman Vito Lopez who according to the NY Times built the new age political machine in the 1990’s. The Lopez nonprofit, the Ridgewood Bushwick Senior Citizens Council, employed 1,400 people, obtained more than fifty grants budgeted at more than $33 million annually. The political power and fund-raising propelled Lopez to become the boss of the Brooklyn Democratic Party. The crucial difference between the Lopez machine and today’s nonprofits is that are controlled by lobbyists or board members who have the connections to obtain funding from politicians they fund-raise for or are active in their re-election campaigns Since Lopez began funding his nonprofits in 1985, NYC and NYS budgets have supersized, which included billions more on nonprofits spendings. When Lopez started funding his nonprofits the NYS budget was $31 billion, today it is $220 billion, which means billions more to nonprofits. The NYC budget in 1985 was $17 billion dollars, today it is close to $100 billion. Spending has skyrocketed across the board since de Blasio took over City Hall, but no government expenditures have soared as fast as nonprofit homeless services, which more than doubled since 2014, from $1 billion to $2.1 billion in 2021.
Acacia Nonprofit Network Represented by MirRam’s Lobbyist Castell On the Transition Team of Brad Lander Who Beat Benjamin for Controller
The nonprofit Acacia paid one of the most powerful lobbyists in the city, the MirRam Group, $700,000. Twi$ted web of political nonprofits in Bx. – NY Post 8/26/2012. MirRam has run the campaign for dozens of elected officials including Senator Clinton, AG Tish James, former Governor Cuomo, and most of the Bronx’s machine elected officials. Acacia received $259 million in contracts from the Department of Homeless Services (DHS), which accounted for 18.5% of the department’s contracts that year. Acacia gets additional funding from the Department of Social Services and the Department of Housing Preservation and Development. Since the 2011 fiscal year, it has received over $1.1 billion worth of city contracts. As of Aug. 31, 2019, Acacia buildings had hundreds of open violations. Over the decades, Acacia has built a small empire with connections running up the ladder of city government. It has amassed a web of interconnected nonprofits and for-profits that offer shelter, affordable housing, addiction and medical services, and security.
The Progressives Led by the WFP, DSA Built Interlocking Govt Funded Nonprofits to Help Them Win Campaigns, Same Thing Benjamin Arrested For
The nonprofit Make the Road receives millions of dollars in city and state funding annually, ostensibly to run adult literacy classes, “know-your-rights” clinics, cultural activities, and assorted information sessions. But Make the Road’s real purpose, to paraphrase its mission statement, is to “build power through organizing.” Leaders of New York’s far-left Working Families Party and Democratic Socialist of America (DSA) run the group, which urges its clients to participate in political indoctrination as an implicit condition of receiving aid and encourages them to join as members. Make the Road’s legal structure and leadership closely overlap with Make the Road Action — a 501(c)(4) organization that engages in electoral activity and endorsing candidates — to which Make the Road regularly makes contributions in the six-figure range. New York Communities for Change, successor organization to the disgraced Acorn, also receives money from Make the Road. Controller Brad Lander and Public Advocate Jumaane Williams’ campaigns were endorsed by both government funded Make the Road and NY Community for Change, these two nonprofits which receive govt money, have also endorsed dozens of left-wing council candidates, including Tiffany Cabán. Benjamin faces jail for funding a nonprofit, something the progressives and the rest of NY’s elected officials are doing to win campaigns.
