Arroyo received over $13,000 for “travel” to and from Albany and stipends for working in Albany. Even the night before Thanksgiving!
What about Assembly Member Carmen Arroyo’s travelgate?
From April to September 2012, the latest dates available she was paid $6,662 in travel stipends. With a lot of Fridays claimed as a workday in Albany for her, hhhmmm.
She also spends $25,000!! of our money in mail for that period.
The defense of almost former Council Member Maria del Carmen Arroyo for the fraud that permeated her petitions was that she did not do it. She is so shameless did it again at the NY1 debate so shameless is she. It has been weeks since the DA allegedly received a complaint and allegedly is investigating.
2 She paid the people involved thousands of dollars.
3 It was operated out of her nephew Richard Izquierdo and his boyfriend and Assembly Member Chief of Staff Ricardo Cosme’s personal home, he who embezzled $200,000 and took the fall for the rest of them. And yet to pay restitution (reporter’s anywhere?).
Arroyo with buddy DA Johnson
It is reported she was involved in getting the people she reported to the Bronx District Attorney Robert Johnson there, multiple, affordable apartments.
She and DA Johnson are good friends, she can just ask him how the coverup is going! “Make sure it is not settled before the election Robert, and you will be a Judge soon”
Today in the City Council while all eyes were on the Community Safety Act and Stop and Frisk, Council Member Arroyo engineered a sneaky trick.
She introduced legislation for City Council review of a project going though ULURP, the Uniform Land Use Review Process, which happens anyway. She did this so she can say she tried to have more input.
At the same session, a Brooklyn Council Member for some reason introduced legislation to allow the very variance Arroyo was seeking to “review”. Odd.
The project in question is the controversial New Hope Transitional Housing by Liska Inc owned by Julius Ausch on 731 Southern Boulevard in the Bronx. Ausch is missing Certificate of Occupancy from another building in the area, 1073 Hall Place. Community Board # 2 has long opposed this facility and the Borough President recently asked the City Planning Commission not to approve the variance application. He also owns empty junkyard lots.
The eight-story residential complex at 731 Southern Blvd. has been used as a shelter by New Hope Housing since it was built in 2009 — but such a shelter needs a zoning change to rise that tall.
Here is the head of New Hope, Bishop Fernando Rodriguez, doing the tango with former Senator Espada.
According to the NY Daily News :” Rodriguez also is a convicted felon under indictment along with other members of a controversial group of police buffs who illegally pass themselves off as law enforcement officers… Rodriguez, …, pleaded guilty in 1998 to scheming to defraud at least a dozen tenants who gave him deposits for apartments he had no authority to rent, according to court records. According to a law enforcement source, he also was busted in 1994 by the FBI for passing bad checks, although the disposition of that case is unclear. … When Rodriguez was collared Jan. 24 in upper Manhattan, he was driving with a suspended license, carrying a bogus police badge and also had a forged California driver’s license. On the dashboard was a red bubble light and a bogus placard …”
But for some reason, “plans for the building were approved,” admitted Buildings Department spokeswoman Kelly Magee.
But now the agency changed its mind — apparently because the building currently has nine open construction violations, city records show.
The violations include elevator infractions, operating a shelter without a permit and failure to maintain the interior of the building.
“People shouldn’t be living like this,” said Community Board 2 District Manager Rafael Salamanca, who walked through the building in May.”
Diaz stated: ” The real losers in this situation are the families being sheltered in this building and the residents of Bronx Community Board #2, who have had to deal with the problems this building represents. Not only is it overbuilt and an improper use it is not aesthetically pleasing, and there have been a number of issues, such as presence of rats, reported at this location. “
Why is a Brooklyn Council Member leading a land use legislation about a contentious Bronx property?
What role does Arroyo have in denying the will of the Community?
Judge Sallie Manzanet- Daniels swearing in Puerto Rican Bar Association Board Members, including Ricardo Aguirre at the far left, Maria del Carmen Arroyo’s husband.
Getting more tips and emails and photos than we can handle at once about the corruption and web of relationshsips the Arroyo’s have cultivated.
What does it take for a judge to recuse? One Judge did recuse in the Arroyo case, but not this one. Looks like there are grounds for Judge Sallie Manzanet- Daniels to have recused herself, no?
See previous post about conflicts of interest with Judge Sallie Manzanet- Daniels here:http://wp.me/p2KpFW-2q
*Judge Darcell Clark gave thousands of dollars to the same organization Maria del Carmen Arroyo is a member of
*the same organization who’s head counsel is the partner of Maria del Carmen Arroyo’s lawyer
*received money from the head of same organization Maria del Carmen Arroyo is a member of
and did not recuse herself?
Judge Darcell Clark, appointed to the Appellate First Division by Governor Cuomo in November of last year is in her first full election season on the bench where their role is to turn back any appeals that make it from the Supreme Court in the Bronx.
Judge Clark speaking before organization that Heastie gives thousands of dollars too
The Appellate Judges are appointed, but prior to that they all had to run for election in their boroughs and turf, with all the political baggage that comes with it. Judge Clark may have some good decisions under her belt, but election law is something else and subservience and deference to the Party bosses is expected.
Judge Clark has for over a decade been backed by Assembly Member Carl Heastie, and the relationships are reciprocal.
We are not only referring to the recent reports in the NYTimes and elsewhere, just weeks ago, that Mr. Heastie will back her for Bronx District Attorney, and oust the currently much embattled DA Robert Johnson. To get such a nod from the Party don one has to be deeply enmeshed in the electoral party system.
There are varied views on her, Judge Clark has been called a “Johnson clone”
So we know clearly that Judge Darcel Clarke is in the good graces of Carl Heastie, he is the head of the Bronx Democratic Committee that BOTH Arroyos, the Assembly Member and the Council Member are part of.
Judge Clark gives $3000 to organization Arroyo is part of, and does not recuse herself
To be clear, Judge Darcell Clark has given $3000 to an organization a defendant before her is part of!!!
Stanley Schlein is of course the lawyer defending fraud and other charges against current Council Member Maria del Carmen Arroyo. Less known is his bag man,buddy and partner in crime, Howard Vargas, Esq. Mr. Vargas is also the Counsel to the Bronx Democratic Party, among many other “jobs”.
Stanley Schlein’s partner Howard Vargas, formerly of the TLC
In his role at the Bronx Democratic Party he is also the screener and counsel for the so called “Independent Judicial Screening Committee of the Bronx Democratic County Committee”. This means he screens all the applications, with sensitive information, for Judicial candidates in the Bronx.
Arroyo’s lawyer’s partner Vargas reviews the applications of the Judges themselves
It is well known and well researched and reported that Mr. Vargas is part of a cabal of crooked and connected Bronx lawyers that profit off of foreclosures and estates by assignments given to them by… the Bronx Judges they help elect and pick!
Over $300,000 thanks to judicial appointments
According to the Village Voice “There was the construction worker, brain-damaged from an accident, whose family could never get hold of Schlein when they needed him so that they could spend money from a lawsuit settlement to buy a wheelchair and clothes. Schlein somehow let a condo the victim owned go into foreclosure and be sold at auction. At the same time, he steered legal work from the estate to his friends in the Democratic Party.
vargas Howard R. Vargas, a former commissioner of the Taxi and Limousine Commission, was awarded $28,000 for three cases. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/21/nyregion/connected-nyc-lawyers-reap-foreclosure-benefits.html?pagewanted=all
More on this aspect shows, “Carl Heastie, chair of the Bronx Democrats, is barred from work as a court-appointed attorney, but Mr. Dinowitz, the county party’s second-in-command, is not. Howard Vargas, the party counsel, is also free to receive appointments… Both men are popular with certain judges.”
“But Howard Vargas, with long-standing ties to Bronx Democrats, is a cautionary tale of what can happen when politics trumps competence. With Mr. Vargas as the receiver, five buildings have been added to the city’s list of most distressed properties. Many tenants in buildings like 2239 Creston Ave. in Fordham Heights live in squalor while Mr. Vargas collects up to 5 percent of their rent. Despite his troubling performance, Mr. Vargas never seems to have trouble landing more appointments. ”
Assembly Member Carl Heastie has been paying Stanley Schlein’s partner Howard Vargas over $20,000 in 2011-2012 and in the first half of 2013 already $20,000 for “part time work” six months in 2013 alone as a Legislative Advisor.
More on the intimate relationships?
Heastie regularly gives thousands of dollars gives money to the 47th Precinct Community Council, not only from our public monies but from his private campaign funds, buying tickets to their events for over a decade, quite the relationship.
Here is the judge interviewed at the 47th Precinct Community Council breakfast this year, where she was honored on the panel.
Lest you think the DA thing is one example of relationships…
Heastie was previous going to back Clark for Surrogate Judge in the Bronx in 2012, but he supported Justice Gonzalaez, and she later is the one who made all the appointments to Bronx Democratic connected lawyers for foreclosures and estate in the papers that made all the latest controversy.
“Looks like a reverse play – or (mea culpa) bad sourcing on the party pick for Bronx Surrogate. Our “Weak Throat” had us writing Party Boss Carl Heastie was measuring Bronx Supreme Court Justice Darcel Clark for judicial robes for the plum job. But when petitioning kicked off June 5, the party had Acting Supreme Court Justice Nelida Malave-Gonzalez on their list for the job, which assigns (we assume party-loyal) lawyers to administer (at handsome fees) the estates of persons who die without wills.”
And about the current plan that would call for Mr. Johnson to step down in September, after the Bronx Democratic Party’s judicial nominating convention, at which Mr. Heastie would push for Mr. Johnson to appear on the party line for the November election. The state’s complicated election and public officers law would then allow the Bronx Democratic County Committee, led by Mr. Heastie, to select Justice Clark to appear on the ballot as the party’s candidate for district attorney without her having to win a primary.”
Judge Darcel Clark is a product of the Bronx Democratic Party.
Judge Clark, head bowed
And is even now in current times discussed as a candidate for office by the head of the very organization a member is before her in Court.
Elections talk, party politics, campaign contributions,all current. Not grounds for recusal?
Oh and the 47th Precinct is where Ramarley Graham was shot and killed.
Getting tips from people in the field and in the Court. Serious issues that demand investigation. Report and expand, no copyright.
Tuesday at the Appellate Court, First Division, the appeal from the Supreme Court Decision by Judge John Carter, one of the five panel of judges recused herself. Why? Why didn’t other judges recuse themselves? We tried to look into it.
Judge Judith J. Gische recused herself immediately, why?
Judge Gische, who recused herself in the Arroyo fraud Appellate case
A quick bit of research does NOT show any obvious connections, except the usual inter-borough Democratic political club flotsam. The Campaign Financial Disclosure Provided by the New York State Board of Elections for the C0MMITTEE TO ELECT JUDGE JUDITH J. GISCHE is similarly unrewarding. But SOMETHING, not obvious, not stated in Court led her to recuse herself. She was previously under investigation for ethical violations and may be more sensitive to such issues.
IN CONTRAST to another Judge who sat in on the panel and in fact questioned sharply the Attorney opposing Maria del Carmen Arroyo’s, represented by, of course, creep Stanley Schlein. (GOOGLE HIM)
Justice Sallie Manzanet-Daniels stayed on the panel, despite the colleague right next to her recusing herself for reasons we do not currently know and are researching and encourage colleagues to look into.
Here is the Justice Sallie Manzanet-Daniels getting an award.
Here is another photo from the event, for context.
So who is giving Justice Sallie Manzanet-Daniels of the Appellate First Division an award?
It is her Law Clerk and Senior Court Attorney who works at the Appellate Court First Division, Elena Goldberg Velazquez, Esq. hired during the Justice Luis Gonzalez scandal that led to a report and admonishment from the Court on his practices.
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Plenty more on some other relationships that will come out soon if it is needed, but isn’t this enough?
Judge Gische recused herself and a search shows no overt and obvious corruption.
But Justice Manzanet-Daniels did not? Though she was at an awards gala where both Arroyos were on the Committee, with $10,000 tables, she got an ward form her law clerk who donated $2500 to the COuncil Member campaigns just last month and who is on the board of the Council Member nephews scandalized charter school?
If this is not grounds for recusal and justice what is?
Arroyo Watch 