Finance Commissioner Martha Stark turned in her resignation yesterday; in a statement (described as "terse" by the NY Times) she said, "As I serve at the pleasure of the mayor, I hereby resign... It has been my great honor to serve." Stark had been scrutinized lately for serving on the board of a real estate company outside of NYC, keeping her deputy's husband on as a parking judge while he billed the office for time he wasn't working, for her relationship with an employee at the Finance Department, and apparent nepotism. A former Finance Department employee told the Post, "She should've resigned many years ago because there's been a lot of stuff that she was doing that nobody's caught. She got a lot of people that she knew into positions [even though] they didn't know anything about the jobs." The Post adds, "Her resignation puts Bloomberg... in the awkward spot of having only two African-American commissioners—Human Rights Commission head Patricia Gatling and Veterans Affairs Commissioner Roger Newman." more ›

In an "exclusive," the NY Post looks at Finance Commissioner Martha Stark's relationships in her department—leading with how she "has been dating a former assistant commissioner in her department—which also hired her lover's ex-husband and three of Stark's family members." Dara Ottley-Brown was Stark's "assistant commissioner in the property division between 2004 and 2006. But Stark says the love affair started after Ottley-Brown transferred to another department." The Post also describes photographs of Stark and Ottley-Brown (found on Ottley-Brown's daughter's Facebook page) and lists other relations working there in this graphic. Stark told the Post, "I have never used my position to obtain any advantage for any relative or personal relation, and I have not had a personal relationship with any subordinate." Last month, Stark resigned from the board of a national real estate company (that does not do work in NYC) after the Post revealed the gig earned her an extra $90K in 2007. more ›