Nonprofit's Workers Gathered Sigs for Thompson, Silver

The thin line between nonprofit organizations and local politicians was blurred once more again today. Elizabeth Benjamin of the Daily News reports that a ballot squabble between two city council candidates revealed that officials at the United Jewish Council of the East Side have been doing campaign work for Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and mayoral challenger City Comptroller Bill Thompson. Renee Abromowitz of UJC said under oath that she had gone out to gather signatures for candidates testifying, "I have done this many years...So I know when the sheets on my desk [sic], I just go out and I volunteer to do signatures." Abromowitz also admitted to handing signature sheets over to her boss, a UJC director. The News says that Silver has directed more than $2.3 million in member items to UJC since 2006. The UJC has also received $16,000 in slush funds from City Councilman Alan Gerson, the man at the center of the controversy when the issues was raised by his Democratic primary challenger, Pete Gleason. A lawyer for Gleason said, "This is a charitable organization, and it's being perverted for political purposes."