Gothamist: City Council Speaker's "Slush Fund" Investigated

heypatrick

Thu, 03 Apr 2008 15:05:13 -0500

Quinn is our very own Elliot Spitzer. They are both huge, corrupt disappointments who don't belong in office.

JenChungsBra

Thu, 03 Apr 2008 14:51:57 -0500

I thought the same thing, blabla....some of this slushy money went to either directly support congestion pricing advertising and public relations, or for pork to persuade council members to change their votes. The Post editorial board supports congestion pricing so I wouldn't be surprised if they had this story a while ago and sat on it until today so as to not undermine lobbying efforts. I was almost willing to cut Quinn some slack on this one but according to the Post, Quinn says "she knew some funds were being held in reserve, but learned only several months ago they had been allocated to sham organizations, and that "she ordered that the shady practice be abolished and only recently discovered her staff had not complied." First of all, bullshit that her staff didn't comply, and if they didn't then shame on her. But more importantly, by law the funds are supposed to be allocated at the start of the fiscal year and NOT be held in reserve, whether it's in a sham organization's name or not. So...which illegal practice exactly did she ordered stopped? Was it keeping money in reserve or keeping it in the name of bogus organizations? Unless she ordered the end to BOTH, she's GUILTY, GUILTY, GUILTY. In other words, if she knew that money was being held in reserve but only acted against the bogus organization part, THAT'S NOT GOOD ENOUGH.

Robot

Thu, 03 Apr 2008 14:46:57 -0500

Totally unrelated, but I have to say I love babyhitler's new picture.

blablanyc

Thu, 03 Apr 2008 14:09:39 -0500

Christine Quinn is an advocate for congestion pricing. She has been assisting Bloomberg with getting the measure pushed through. Remember the City Council members were persuaded with money for pork projects in their districts by Quinn and Bloomberg. Some of that money will come from these bogus groups Quinn has set up.

dalton

Thu, 03 Apr 2008 13:57:49 -0500

Come on, doesn't anyone watch The Wire? She can beat this! Shiiiiiiiiiit.

westernqueensland

Thu, 03 Apr 2008 13:50:51 -0500

If my boss said: "my instructions to the staff were disregarded." I'd be firedI

sinisterteashop

Thu, 03 Apr 2008 13:33:12 -0500

In a development that sources said was tied to the scandal, two of Quinn's top finance aides were either forced out or resigned earlier this year. Quinn is too low on the overlord totem pole to get away with having peons fall on the sword for her. The following weeks will prove or disprove how influential her backers are.

babyhitler

Thu, 03 Apr 2008 13:14:47 -0500

politician = criminal. C'mon does anyone believe that anyone would want to serve the public trust and good. People become politicians for power and money.

Kevin Bracken

Thu, 03 Apr 2008 12:44:21 -0500

Here's hoping Quinn gets convicted of some kind of major crime, so we can guard the liberties she wants taken away!

kissel

Thu, 03 Apr 2008 12:20:12 -0500

Quinn has been horrible. She is the queen of the backroom deal. This comes as absolutely no surprise and I hope it puts an end to any speculation of a mayoral bid.