Nutbusterz

WOULD BE MAYOR BILL deBLASIO CAUGHT IN PAY FOR PLAY SCAM

admin — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 14:15:24 +0000

Misuse of public money sure to resurface as issue in 2013

New York City Comptroller John Liu has eliminated himself as a serious contender for Mayor due to the campaign finance scandal in which he was caught using so called “straw-donors” and failed to supply the City Election board with complete and accurate information. New York Public Advocate Bill deBlasio was involved in campaign finance maneuvers far more egregious as he used taxpayer money to line his campaign war chest in a complex “pay to play” scam.

Former Public Advocate Mark Green outlines the deBlasio scam

which is sure to resurface when deBlasio runs for Mayor in 2013. As a Brooklyn City Councilman, deBlasio secured $7 milion in taxpayers funds for 31 non-profit organizations who then kicked-back a stunning $200,000 in campaign contributions to his campaign for Public Advocate. deBlasio than applied for and got the 6-to-1 match in public funds for these contributions- raking in an incredible $600,000 in taxpayer money.

Instead of being indicted and tried, deBlasio went on to be elected Public Advocate where he has largely carried the water of the Public Employees Unions who’s rich compensation and benefit packages are bankrupting the City. deBlasio actually worked as a lobbyist for a union-funded front group, the Working Families Party, while serving on the very same City Council he was lobbying.

Once again deBlasio demonstrates that he has neither the integrity or the honesty to be Mayor. Mis-use of public funds in a raw “pay-to-play” scheme like this is not befitting a Mayor of New York City.

Who does deBlasio work for?

admin — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 11:04:48 +0000

Former New York Public Advocate Mark Green has it right.

Bill deBlasio got caught working as a lobbyist, lobbying the New York City Council when deBlasio was actually a member of the City Council!

How can you be a lobbyist and a City Councilman at the same time?

Making it worse, it was a front for the Public Employee’s Union paying deBlasio to be a lobbyist!

Public Employee Unions have big business before the City Council.

Who did deBlasio represent, the taxpayers who elected him or the Public Employees unions who were paying him?

Maybe that’s why the Public Employees and their front the Working Families Party got caught providing campaign services at discount prices to deBlasio’s campaign essentially illegally subsidizing the cost of deBlasio’s election.

YELLOW CABS GIVE $76,000 TO deBLASIO TO OPPOSE LIVERY CAB PICK-UPS

admin — Mon, 04 Jun 2012 13:17:28 +0000

deBlasio Ethics Questioned Again

Bill de Blasio

New York City Public Advocate Bill deBlasio is opposed to the City plan that would allow Livery cabs to pick up passengers in the outer-boros where yellow cabs can be scarce. deBlasio has gone so far as to file a law suit to block the plan. Bill deBlasio doesn’t care about whether folks in Brooklyn, Queens or the Bronx have access to taxi-service. What he does care about are campaign contributions for his 2013 campaign for mayor. DeBlasio has taken in a whopping $76,000 from people affiliated with the yellow-cab industry, who opposes the outer-borough plan, with most of the contributions made since last November.

It raises again the question of whether Bill deBlasio has the integrity to be mayor. DeBlasio was first elected Pubic Advocate thru a campaign finance scam in which public sector unions subsidized DeBlasio’s campaign illegally by providing him campaign services at deeply discounted rates through their front organization, the Working Families Party and the WFP’s Field and Data services. The Staten Island District Attorney put an end to the practice and Field and Data was disbanded.

While serving as a New York City Councilman it was revealed that deBlasio had a lobbying contract with the New York Working Families Party ( WFP) DeBlasio failed to publically disclose the contract or the $10,000 that was paid to him by the WFP. How can you be an elected official and a lobbyist at the same time ?

We’ve got to keep an eye on Bill DeBlasio.

admin — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 14:17:40 +0000

Doubts Raised on Donations to Comptroller

By RAYMOND HERNANDEZ and DAVID W. CHEN

John C. Liu, the New York City comptroller, has vaulted into the top tier of political figures in the city, building a formidable fund-raising machine that has quickly established him as a contender to succeed Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg.

Mr. Liu recently announced, with great fanfare, that he had taken in $1 million in the first six months of the year, much of it from donors who gave him $800 — to reflect the number 8, which is lucky in Chinese culture.

But there is much about Mr. Liu’s campaign money that does not add up.

Canvassing by The New York Times of nearly 100 homes and workplaces of donors listed on Mr. Liu’s campaign finance reports raises questions about the source and legitimacy of some donations, as well as whether some of the donors even exist. Some two dozen irregularities were uncovered, including instances in which people listed as having given to Mr. Liu say they never gave, say a boss or other Liu supporter gave for them, or could not be found altogether.

Two people who described attending banquets in which Mr. Liu appeared and posed for photos said that company executives who support him provided donations in the names of those in attendance.

In addition, Mr. Liu is not complying with some basic campaign finance laws: To protect against so-called straw donors, the city requires that donor cards submitted with campaign contributions be filled out only by the person making the donation. In numerous instances in Mr. Liu’s campaign, one person appears to have filled out cards for multiple donors.

His campaign is also engaging in bundling, in which well-connected individuals collect contributions for a candidate from friends, relatives and others, but Mr. Liu has not disclosed the bundlers’ names, as required.

Asked about the findings, Mr. Liu, 44, a Democrat, expressed bafflement and vowed to conduct an internal investigation.

“To the extent that there are problems — and I’m not suggesting there are — we cannot accept those contributions, nor do we need them,” Mr. Liu said.

The veracity of Mr. Liu’s donor list has implications beyond his campaign. In New York City, which has a generous campaign finance system, candidates can receive $6 in public money for every $1 raised from individual donors.

Many of the irregularities in Mr. Liu’s campaign account are tied to companies in the Chinese business community in Queens, where he has been hailed as a hero and his picture adorns the walls of shops and restaurants.

One of his most visible sources of support is Dynasty Stainless Steel in Maspeth, Queens, a city contractor that makes metal doors and guardrails for public housing and other agencies. Campaign finance documents show that Dynasty’s president, Ming Kun Lee, and eight people listed as Dynasty workers each gave Mr. Liu $800 in January.

All the donor cards bear the same handwriting, suggesting they were filled out by one person.

Of the eight people listed, however, at least four do not work for the company, according to interviews with them or their relatives. Two of the four told The Times that they never gave to Liu; two others were out of the country. A fifth, a scientist at Columbia University, declined to answer questions.

Raymond Chen, in Flushing, who was listed as a Dynasty project manager who gave $800, said he did not work for Dynasty and did not give to Mr. Liu’s campaign. Mr. Chen, a Pace University student, said he could not afford to contribute to political campaigns, though he may consider doing so in the future.

“Small amounts, yeah, probably,” he said. “Not like a few hundred dollars.”

Dynasty’s president, Mr. Lee, did not reply to e-mails and phone calls seeking comment.

In another case, 18 employees, from janitor to clerk to project manager, for W&L Construction in Fresh Meadows, Queens, were listed as having given $800 apiece to Mr. Liu.

More than half of the donor cards appeared to be filled out by the same hand.

Among them was Zhong Qun Tan of Gravesend, Brooklyn, who is listed as a carpenter. But, in an interview, Ms. Tan said she worked at a garment factory and had never heard of W&L. She said that her husband, a livery driver, had talked to her about donating to Mr. Liu but that she did not know if someone had given money in her name.

Five W&L employees reported their home address as the residence of the company’s owner, Meng Jia Wang. Mr. Wang initially said that the donors were his employees and subcontractors who had attended a fund-raising event for Mr. Liu and that he had permitted them to list his address because their English was not good. When The Times sought contact information to speak to the donors, Mr. Wang referred a reporter to Xing Mei Ni, a secretary at the company.

Ms. Ni said she did not recognize some of the names and declined to provide contact information for those she did. She offered a different account from Mr. Wang’s, saying that there was no fund-raising event, but that the employees decided together, over lunch one day, to make out checks to the Liu campaign, and sent it in one package.

“It was easier for all of us to do the paperwork together,” she said.

Yet another version of events was offered by Kui Ping Young of Flushing, who was described in the campaign finance report as an office worker for W&L who gave $800. In interviews, she and her husband, Andy, said she worked not for W&L but at a nail salon. She said that she was not politically active but that she had bought a ticket for a Liu fund-raising event after her brother, whom she described as a partner at W&L, asked her to.

But she said she spent only $200 on the ticket — not the $800 she is listed as having donated. “Her brother paid for it,” her husband said. “I don’t know anything about the amount. Please go interview somebody else.”

Then there is the case of a construction company called Kang Kang: 10 people are listed on the Liu campaign finance report as a “worker” for Kang Kang, each having given $800 in early May. All of the workers list the company’s business address as 135-25 167 Street in Flushing, but that address does not exist. At the home addresses listed for three of the workers, there is no one there by that name, according to public records and neighbors.

The Kang Kang donor cards all appear to have been filled out by one person.

And one of the workers listed, Sheng Lin Zhang of Elmhurst, Queens, provided an account of how donations were made to Mr. Liu’s campaign. He described attending a recent fund-raising party for Mr. Liu. He said the comptroller appeared at the event, shook hands and posed for photos. While campaign finance records say that Mr. Zhang donated $800 to the Liu campaign, he said that his boss, whose name he gave as Jian Kang Chen, did.

“My boss took care of all that,” he said. “I heard that it was 800 or 900 dollars.”

In a follow-up interview, Mr. Zhang said that the boss had made donations on behalf of some other workers who attended, and would, in some cases, later garnish their wages.

The company itself is hard to locate. The address on the campaign records does not exist, and another address for the company that The Times found through independent research is a residential house. The man listed as its owner did not know anything about Kang Kang.

Mr. Zhang said that he had never visited the company’s premises, and that he and other workers typically met at sites where they worked.

The problems are occurring against a backdrop of an aggressive fund-raising drive by Mr. Liu, the first person of Chinese descent to hold major elective office in New York City.

But with that success have come questions about how he has amassed his war chest. The Times began reviewing his campaign finance records after his most recent filing in July.

In response to the inquiry from The Times, Mr. Liu furnished copies of checks and donor cards for those listed on his campaign finance report. But some of the records raised more questions. Mr. Liu said he had a check for $800 written by Cheng Tsung Tung of Oakland Gardens, Queens, who was listed as a project manager for Dynasty Stainless Steel.

But in an interview, Mr. Tung said that he did not give Mr. Liu’s campaign a check and that he did not work for Dynasty; he owns a gift store.

Mr. Liu, in reviewing his records, acknowledged that donor cards appeared to have been filled out by people other than the purported donors, and said his campaign should not tolerate that.

“It’s got to be your own money,” he said.

In the interview, Mr. Liu vowed to return any money from questionable sources and said he had personally warned many of his donors that they were not helping him if they broke the rules.

As for his failure to list bundlers collecting money for him, Mr. Liu said he would begin complying with the city’s rules.

He also questioned how The Times approached people whose names were on the donor list, many of whom do not speak English well. He suggested that perhaps they were intimidated by the experience, and may have denied donating when they actually did. Many of the interviews were conducted in Mandarin.

“If someone was asking me the question, I’d say, ‘No, no, no, no — I don’t know who you are,’ ” Mr. Liu said.

Mr. Liu’s campaign records suggest he is attracting an unusually large number of new donors to politics; more than half of his 2,100 donors had never given before to any candidate.

A spokesman for the city’s Campaign Finance Board, while declining to comment directly on Mr. Liu’s situation, said that before the city released public money to a campaign, it sought to ensure that donors were being reported accurately.

“If our routine audit reveals documents or contribution patterns that raise further questions, we may conduct a more intensive investigation,” said the spokesman, Eric Friedman.

Mr. Liu began his political ascent in 2002 when he became the first Asian member of the City Council, representing Flushing. He coasted to re-election in 2003 and 2005, then ran for the comptroller’s office in 2009 and won.

Since then, Mr. Liu has emerged as a significant force in city politics, known for his fiery speeches, aggressive courtship of labor unions and blunt criticism of Mr. Bloomberg.

Mr. Liu said that his campaign had never heavily relied on an accountant or treasurer to handle its finances, and that he oversaw much of the operation.

“I’m responsible for my own campaign,” he said. “To the extent that I think something has been done wrong, or people engaged in behavior that broke my rules, we’ll reverse anything.”

Jeffrey E. Singer contributed reporting, and Toby Lyles contributed research.

admin — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 14:20:39 +0000

http://frontpagemag.com

ACORN: Puppet Master of Occupy Wall Street

Posted By Matthew Vadum On October 11, 2011 @ 12:50 am

The Working Families Party, an infamous ACORN front group notorious for corruption, was instrumental in organizing the Occupy Wall Street protests, according to radical journalist Laura Flanders of Free Speech TV.

The protests, which have spread to several other large U.S. cities, are part of what ACORN’s neo-communist founder Wade Rathke calls an “anti-banking jihad.”

Working Families Party (WFP) organizer Nelini Stamp has “been here since day one and she is part of the organizing team and the outreach team that has managed to bridge the distance between that first day and this day and between the grassroots folks here and the labor movement,” Flanders said at the protest in lower Manhattan.

We are “actually trying to change the capitalist system we have today because it’s not working for any of us,” Stamp told Flanders in an interview. Demonstrators are asking “how do we really reform and bring revolutionary changes to the states?”

The WFP is part and parcel of ACORN. In 1998 the party was officially recognized in New York State. WFP’s headquarters is at the same address as ACORN on Nevins Street in Brooklyn. WFP’s executive director is longtime ACORN operative Dan Cantor.

One of the SEIU-funded party’s co-founders is ACORN’s former national chief organizer, Bertha Lewis. Democratic National Committee executive director Patrick Gaspard also contributed to the creation of the party and sat on its board. Gaspard was a political director in the Obama White House and is a former SEIU executive. Gaspard was also an organizer for the radical New Party in the early 1990s. That party’s membership consisted largely of individuals from the Democratic Socialists of America, SEIU, and ACORN. The party endorsed Barack Obama when he ran for the Illinois State Senate.

WFP takes credit for raising taxes both in the city and state of New York and for pressuring the state’s congressional delegation to oppose Social Security reforms. The party has sister WFP-branded parties in Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, Oregon, South Carolina, and Vermont.

Working with its radical friends at SEIU, WFP advocates more government spending, higher taxes, universal government-run health care, campaign finance restrictions, free universal higher education, oppressive rent control, same-sex marriage, amnesty for illegal aliens, “greening” the economy by creating heavily subsidized union jobs in the energy sector, and mandatory paid sick leave for all workers.

In 2009 Connecticut WFP sent busloads of thugs to confront American International Group Inc. (AIG) executives at their homes. The protests were calculated to intimidate executives who had been receiving death threats after the company reportedly paid out bonuses using taxpayer bail-out funds.

ACORN allies are also involved in protests aimed at destabilizing the nation’s financial system.

SEIU board member Stephen Lerner has vowed to do his part to drive a stake through the heart of capitalism. Lerner says he wants to “bring down the stock market” through a campaign of disruption. He said last week that SEIU plans to terrorize bank executives at their homes.

Last year George Goehl, executive director of Chicago-based National People’s Action, said that “the banking crisis” was “the next big thing,” and “the way to build a big economic justice movement in this country.”

Meanwhile, ACORN’s new front groups are also deeply involved in the Occupy Wall Street movement.

In Pennsylvania, Action United said it plans to participate in Occupy Pittsburgh on Oct. 15. Organize Now will be occupying Orlando, Florida, on the same day.

New York Communities for Change (NYCC), led by longtime ACORN lobbyist Jon Kest, is one of the major protest groups leading the demonstrations in lower Manhattan. Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment is leading the Occupy L.A. protests.

New England United for Justice, which is headed by former ACORN national president Maude Hurd, is participating in the related “Take Back Boston” protests in Massachusetts, according to watchdog group Judicial Watch. Hurd is a close political ally of Boston mayor Thomas Menino.

The influence of ACORN on the Wall Street protests should have been clear by the unhinged nature of much of the demonstrations. The question is really only whether the radical outfit will push the mob into more and more extreme behavior. Determining the answer to this question will likely not be pleasant.

URL to article:

http://frontpagemag.com/2011/10/11/acorn-is-behind-occupy-wall-street/

admin — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 00:15:38 +0000

KOMRADE LIU

City Comptroller Hires Active Anti-American Anti-Israel Red

By Josh Margolin

The Korean War is being fought again — this time, in the city Comptroller’s Office.
Comptroller John Liu has hired back former top aide John Choe, who had resigned amid controversy over his alleged support of North Korea.

Choe, a Korean-American, had been chief-of-staff for Liu when Liu was a City Council member.

Choe quit to run for the council himself in 2009, but continued to work on old boss’ campaign for comptroller. He left the Liu campaign after reports emerged that in 2006, he had told a conference on the “Global Struggle for Socialism” that North Korea “is at the front line of the liberation struggles against imperialism.”

John Chloe

At the time, Liu denied Choe made the comments, saying his aide was the victim of “McCarthyism.”

But Choe admitted to The Post, “I may have said something like that.”

Still, four days after taking over as comptroller in 2010, Liu hired Choe — who lost his council bid — for the $105,000-a-year job of director of policy and research.

Councilman Vincent Ignizio (R-SI) said, “It certainly calls into question for New Yorkers who John Liu is putting his faith in.

“For the comptroller to hire this guy clandestinely leads me to question his judgment.”
Neither Liu nor Choe responded to requests for comment.

admin — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 23:15:36 +0000

WILL NADLER AND STRINGER KNIFE JOHN LIU?

By Dick Kleindiesnt

The weird sumo-wrestling-style maneuvering between New York City Comptroller John Liu and Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer- and his patron, Congressman Jerry Nadler has begun.

With the leader of the city’s largest municipal union is already talking up the candidacy of Comptroller John Liu for Mayor in 3013, Stringer and his patron Nadler must decide whether to strong-arm the Working Families Party into backing Stringer for Mayor or push Liu for Mayor, confident of his defeat and position Stringer for the vacated office of Comptroller.

“Liu is a Moron whose constant self-promotion has hurt him with voters.”
-Veteran Democrat Operative

Sources said that while Lillian Roberts, executive director of District Council 37, has told people privately that the union could end up endorsing Liu but WFP officials said Nadler has the power to push the union-based party to back Stringer for mayor.

“Nadler and Stringer think Liu is a dope,” said one WFP insider. They might push him for Mayor, certain he will get beat so that Stringer could move into the Comptroller’s spot.

One veteran Democrat operative, an ex-NY Cop who works mostly for unions and is considered a expert on the outer-borough Catholic vote disagreed. “Stringer is the only Jew in the field after Weiner imploded,” he told us. “Scott could be Mayor if Jerry can deliver the WFP. Liu is a moron who’s constant self-promotion has hurt him with voters.”

“Nadler and Stringer think Liu is a dope,” said one WFP insider.

All of this is bad news for Bill Thompson, the former comptroller who was endorsed by DC 37 in 2009 and is the only black candidate in the Democratic mayoral primary field.

DC 37 — which reps most of the city’s clerical and maintenance workers — is made up mostly of minorities, and the loss of that union- and the Working Families Party nod- would be a severe blow to Thompson’s hopes for taking City Hall.

A Democratic insider said Liu is actively courting municipal unions by virtually every word and deed. “DC 37 supported Liu for comptroller, and he has always delivered for them on pensions, city contracts and other issues,” said the insider. “It would not be a shock to see them support Liu for mayor.” Roberts issued a statement saying it’s way to early to discuss what might happen in 2013.

admin — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 13:57:51 +0000

Liu Steers 144G To His Pro-Pension ‘Partners’

By Josh Margolin
July 18,2011

City Comptroller John Liu has awarded nearly $144,000 to two groups he enlisted to help him battle attacks against public-workers’ pensions, The Post has learned.

Liu, known for pro-union stands, said in March he was “partnering” with the National Institute for Retirement Security and the New School’s Schwartz Center to conduct research supporting his views on pensions.
Those views are in sharp contrast to those of Mayor Bloomberg, who is trying to stem pension spending.

Liu steered $50,000 to the New School’s Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis, and $93,725 to the Retirement Security group in no-bid contracts for research he commissioned.

His spokesman described the two groups as “objective.”

But the National Institute for Retirement Security boasts it promotes “social welfare by conducting national research . . . that fosters a deep understanding of the value of [traditional] pension systems.”

The Schwartz Center says it’s a think tank dedicated to full employment, economic equality and raising living standards.

The Schwartz center did not respond to messages for comment.

Retirement Security spokeswoman Kelly Kenneally defended her group’s research, saying it meets “the highest standards [and is] carefully reviewed by retirement and/or economics experts.

admin — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 05:20:37 +0000

WFP TO STICK IT TO LIU, DI BLASIO

SPITZER COMEBACK POSSIBLE

By Grover J Whalen-The East Village Item

Screwed by WFP

Accident- prone New York City Comptroller John Liu who seems to stumble from mistake-to-mistake and New York City Public Advocate Bill DiBlasio would both like to be mayor of New York City and both covet the valuable Working Families Party endorsement. The WFP controls “ROW” E. on the ballot and is funded largely by the public employee unions. The WFP is closely affiliated with ACORN whose voter registration and absentee ballot programs have been marked with fraud.

Endorsement by the WFP is a valuable asset for any Democrat running for mayor in 2013. Both Liu and DiBlasio are likely to be surprised if West-Side Congressman Jerry Nadler exercises his considerable clout to deliver the WFP nomination for mayor to Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer.

“Its amazing” said one official at Public Employees Union 1199 “Jerry has moved around quietly and locked this thing up for Stringer. John Liu is in for a nasty surprise.”

“John Liu has bent over backwards to curry favor with the unions and the WFP and they will kick him to the curve” said one Democratic observer. “DiBlasio is a better politician but Nadler is going to screw him, too.”

With former Brooklyn Congressman Anthony Weiner out of the race, Stringer would be the only Jewish candidate. City Council President Christine Quinn will be a candidate. Former City Comptroller Bill Thompson who was narrowly defeated by Michael Bloomberg in the last mayoral joust is also expected to run. Rueben Diaz Jr., the Bronx Borough President is also considered a potentially strong contender. The WFP nod would make Stringer a first tier candidate.

Comeback bid?

There is also growing speculation that former Attorney General Eliot Spitzer could throw his hat in the ring. While Spitzer’s CNN TV show was not popular nationally he posted respectable ratings in New York City, particularly Manhattan. Spitzer and his family are independently wealthy and could certainly finance a comeback mayoral bid.

Many New York City Democratic voters believe Spitzer was railroaded out of office by a right-wing kabob of Wall-Street moguls that reached into the highest levels of the George W. Bush Justice Department. “This is New York, anything is possible” said one Democratic political consultant in regard to a Spitzer comeback bid.

admin — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 03:20:54 +0000

Liu Is Sued Over Wages

By MICHAEL HOWARD SAUL

City Comptroller John Liu ignored a state Supreme Court judge’s ruling in setting a new prevailing wage schedule for movers that is much too high, a lawsuit filed Tuesday charged.

In a May decision, Supreme Court Justice Alice Schlesinger concluded that Mr. Liu, a potential 2013 mayoral candidate, “failed to fulfill his responsibility” to “determine the actual prevailing wage” for movers. The judge said the schedule is roughly double actual wages in the marketplace and “drastically” higher than the rate set by the federal government.

“The comptroller has brazenly defied this court’s recent instructions on how prevailing wages must be set,” the suit alleged, referring to the new wage schedule published by Mr. Liu’s office.”Under the comptroller’s new schedule,” the suit alleges, “city contractors, and ultimately New York City taxpayers, will pay far more than what the market dictates for labor.”

Michael Loughran, a spokesman for Mr. Liu, said the city is appealing the judge’s ruling. “We will let the appeals process take its course,” he said. He declined to comment on the lawsuit.

Mr. Liu has aligned himself with the city’s labor unions during his first 18 months in office. In a recent newsletter, he boasted that his office has worked “closely with labor, contractor associations, law enforcement and other municipal agencies to aggressively enforce and strengthen our labor laws.”

Under state law, the comptroller is responsible for setting a wage schedule for workers in 470 job titles—such as movers, bricklayers, plumbers, roofers—performing business for the city. Employers must pay this rate, at a minimum, when these workers with these job titles do work for the city; violators face stiff penalties and a potential five-year disbarment from any public project in the state.

Mr. Liu’s new schedule—covering the fiscal year that began Friday—lowers wages dramatically for the lowest-paid workers but the pay schedule for the bulk of the workers remains high, the suit alleges.”While we’re pleased that our court victory has forced the comptroller to adopt rational minimums for casual [lower-paid] employees, the comptroller’s minimum wage for regular employees is still more than twice that of the wage that’s actually prevailing in the industry,” said Robert Koncelik Jr., president of Metropolitan Movers Association and owner of Universal Moving & Storage, both plaintiffs in the case.

The association, a not-for-profit group, and others also filed suit against the comptroller’s wage schedule last year, prompting the judge’s ruling.

The judge’s decision raised questions about the comptroller’s tight allegiance with labor and the office’s methodology for determining wage rates.

“A comparison of the rates in the comptroller’s schedule alone demonstrates that he simply adapted the rates from Local 814′s collective bargaining agreement without any further inquiry as to whether these rates accurately reflected the actual prevailing wage,” the judge wrote, referring to the Teamsters union.

Roughly 80% of workers in the industry earn hourly wages that are lower than the low end of the comptroller’s 2010 rate schedule, the judge ruled,and about 96% of workers were paid wages lower than the high end of the rate schedule. According to the U.S. Department of Labor’s wage schedule for 2010, movers are to be paid between $15.90 and $20.14, based on seniority.

Judge Schlesinger wrote in her decision that the comptroller’s rate schedule “risks producing inconsistent and arguably absurd results, since a moving company awarded contracts on a municipal job, a private job and a federal job would need to pay its workers twice as much for the municipal job as compared to the private and federal jobs.”

Claude M. Millman, counsel to Metropolitan Movers Association, said: “It’s mind boggling that the comptroller is brazenly using a method that the courts just threw out. “The new lawsuit puts all the schedules for building service trades in play—not just those for movers—because they all appear to be based on the method rejected by Justice Schlesinger,” he said.

Jason Ide, president of Local 814, said in an interview earlier this year that he was “very confident the decision will be overturned.”

For the past year, the union has been trying to stop building owners and others from using moving services of companies that belong to the association— and in some cases placing inflatable rats outside buildings where the companies work. The union has been using the comptroller’s wage schedule as the area standard to criticize these companies, even though the comptroller’s rate applies legally only to employees working on city jobs.