Working ‘Sham’-ilies

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/brooklyn/working_sham_ilies_Lfpn8F7ozvtxFWchVLyoNJ

By Sally Goldenberg

Posted: 2:32 AM, July 12, 2010

A former employee of the Working Families Party says he was so disturbed by the labor-backed group’s practices that he walked out after only one week on the job.

In an exclusive interview, Brooklyn resident Patrick Crooks said he was encouraged by higher-ups to falsify signatures and addresses on petitions supporting the left-wing party’s push to repeal a state law that took rent regulation out of the city’s hands and gave it to the state.

“I saw that everyone else was doing it [putting down fake signatures] and my field manager was encouraging it . . . just so it looked like other people had been signing . . . But from my second day onward I decided not to do it . . . It just didn’t seem right to me,” Crooks, 26, from Maryland, told The Post.

Crooks’ charges come amid a probe of the WFP by the feds and the city Campaign Finance Board. He revealed a litany of shady practices that prompted him to quit, including:

* Being misled about the type of work he was hired to perform — fund-raising and canvassing instead of policy work;

* Getting a paycheck from the party’s former political arm, Data and Field Services, although the job posting he responded to was for the WFP, and

* Receiving instruction to collect money and signatures in buildings that had “no trespassing” signs and only leave if forced out by police.

“By my first day, I was very jaded,” Crooks said.

Mike Boland, executive director of DFS, disputed Crooks’ accusations.

“Like all of our employees, [Crooks] was strictly prohibited from entering residences uninvited or faking any documents,” Boland said. “It quickly became clear that Mr. Crooks was not qualified for the job and he was told he was going to be let go. We are disappointed that [he] has chosen to respond to his dismissal in this way, but we wish him luck.”

A WFP source told The Post that some canvassers put their own names down first to give the appearance of more support. The source said the practice is only carried out with petitions for causes, not voter registration.

Crooks graduated in 2008 from Frostburg State University in Maryland with a degree in political science, and had volunteered with the presidential campaigns of John Kerry and Barack Obama.

He moved to the city in 2008, after landing a constituent-services job in the Queens office of former City Councilman Eric Gioia, a Democrat who has been critical of the WFP.

High bills later forced Crooks to return to Maryland, but he recently spotted a WFP ad online and applied. He started working for $300 per week June 28, but says he quit July 5.

He said he was told he was hired primarily for policy work, but ended up doing nothing but fund-raising.

Crooks also found out when filling out paperwork that he would be working for DFS, a former corporation that recently became a not-for-profit, rather than the WFP. DFS provides election and fund-raising services for the party.

Both groups are under federal and city Campaign Finance Board investigations.

The two groups have formed separate boards and taken other steps to ensure their independence from each other.

Cuomo the cute: Andrew wrongly refuses to rule out Working Families Party nod
EDITORIALS

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Andrew Cuomo waffled in his first major campaign decision when he declined yesterday to reject outright the endorsement of the Working Families Party.

By skipping the party convention this weekend, but keeping his options open down the road, Cuomo fell far short of the clear statement he should have made – that the WFP agenda is incompatible with his promise to fundamentally reform state government.

His campaign explained the straddle in legalistic terms: “There are several open issues that need to be considered, including but not limited to an ongoing federal investigation as well as policy and procedural issues. We will revisit the question in September, at which time there will be more information available.”

Cuomo should simply have said: “No.”

No to the WFP’s water-carrying for labor unions and other special interests in Albany.

No to its lobbying for spending and taxes.

No to its heavy-handed manipulation of state lawmakers in back-room deals.

No to its internal financial shenanigans that sparked the aforementioned federal probe.

By referencing September, Cuomo invites the party to pick a placeholder candidate who could be bumped aside if he decides he needs the WFP ballot line to win. The party issued a statement suggesting openness to such a bait-and-switch.

Instead of engaging in political calculation, Cuomo should have followed the example of Long Island Sen. Craig Johnson – who has run with WFP support in the past but has taken a pivotal position blocking the party from achieving a scheme to rig election laws for its benefit.

Johnson took a principled stand. Cuomo must do the same.

http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2010/06/04/2010-06-04_cuomo_the_cute.html#ixzz0qKAGS6ti

Andrew’s half-step

Last Updated: 10:45 AM, June 4, 2010

Posted: 11:49 PM, June 3, 2010

Gubernatorial front-runner Andrew Cuomo yesterday made a tentative bid toward establishing himself as a genuine Albany reformer — serving notice that he will not accept the nomination of the union-controlled, ethically challenged, under-federal-investigation Working Families Party.

Yet.

“We will not be submitting Andrew Cuomo’s name for the nomination” at the WFP convention this weekend, a campaign adviser announced, citing an ongoing US attorney’s investigation into allegations that the party helped candidates circumvent campaign-finance law.

Good for Andrew: Seeking the WFP nod would’ve instantly put the lie to the attorney general’s promise to impose ethical standards on the state capital.

But, in that respect, we’re a bit puzzled that Cuomo left the door open to accepting the party’s endorsement in September — “at which time there will be more information available.”

Presumably, he’s hoping that the US attorney’s probe will be done — by rights, said inquiry really needs to be finished by then — and he’s waiting to see whether he might need the campaign muscle the WFP can provide.

But ethical concerns aren’t the only reason he needs to shun the party.

Cuomo, after all, has also vowed to bring taxes and spending under control. Yet the WFP is irreparably compromised on that front, being the exclusive agent of the public-employee unions that have all but bankrupted the state.

What would taking their coin say to the hard-pressed taxpayers Cuomo’s relying on to put him in the Executive Mansion?

Andrew needs to stand firm.

And he needs to stand tall.

http://www.nypost.com/f/print/news/opinion/editorials/andrew_half_step_LDbFXBc6vJU6UcGLMqQBcJ

Working Families unit bows to foes’ suit

By SALLY GOLDENBERG

Last Updated: 5:31 AM, June 2, 2010

Posted: 3:51 AM, June 2, 2010

http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2010/05/16/2010-05-16_cancel_the_party_andy.html

Cancel the party, Andy: Cuomo must not toe Working Families line

Posted:Sunday, May 16th 2010, 4:00 AM

New Yorkers are desperate to give their next governor a mandate to fundamentally change the state’s direction, and most believe, with good reason, that Andrew Cuomo will seek that critical mission.

He must do so free and clear of the special-interest groups that hold Albany captive to the detriment of 19 million people whose concerns have been trampled for too long by insiders.

Among those forces is the Working Families Party, a political organization that has become largely a front for labor unions that make claims on public funds.

Cuomo must renounce the party’s support. Cuomo must refuse the party’s endorsement – and its November ballot line. Cuomo must lead Democratic members of the Legislature in spurning the WFP’s electoral resources.

The very success of his presumed governorship could depend on shunning the party line. Because, even now, the WFP is working feverishly to neuter the coming executive by locking legislators into positions that would vastly strengthen labor’s stranglehold.

The party is circulating a stunningly detailed 20-page candidate’s questionnaire, whose pledges reflect the wants of major financial backers – among them the teachers and health care workers unions and, amazingly, trial lawyers.

Cuomo must show the state’s lawmakers by example that genuflecting to win the party’s backing would not be a blessing to them but rather a curse upon their constituents.

Established in 1998 as a counterweight to the power of municipal unions, the WFP morphed over the years into the exact opposite – a group that has the labor funding and troops to boost or battle politicians.

Although couched in terms of the general good, and although including some worthy aspects, the party’s to-do list largely amounts to advancing the agenda of the public workforce in the halls of power rather than at the bargaining table.

The thrust begins with ever larger spending, never mind that the state has a $9.2 billion deficit, and never mind that New Yorkers are among the most heavily taxed people in the country.

To keep feeding the Albany beast, the WFP would impose confiscatory taxes that would cripple Wall Street rather than consider, say, trimming pension benefits for new public workers.

The party’s more extensive causes, as spelled out in its questionnaire, are sweetheart deals for WFP backers.

The party demands support, for example, for special job protections for nurses – who happen to be represented by the health care workers union SEIU 1199, Albany’s biggest-spending lobbying group and a major donor to the WFP.

Carrying water for the teachers unions, the WFP endorses a scheme to squash charter schools – which do a bang-up job educating poor kids but are anathema because they mostly lack union contracts.

On behalf of trial lawyers, the party demands opposition to a key tort reform that would lower the cost of new housing and office space.

Other WFP-backed measures would torpedo an overhaul to the New York City Charter, force taxpayers to subsidize wages for private employees, discourage lower-cost nonunion contractors from bidding on government jobs and drive up already sky-high electric rates with costly mandates.

While Cuomo says it’s premature to discuss his intentions, since he hasn’t yet announced his candidacy, it is clear that no would-be reform governor can afford to associate with such an agenda, let alone run as the candidate of its party. Would his election be a mandate for change? Or would his mandate be for more of the same?

Should Cuomo win with votes on the WFP line, the party could rightly describe him as its man in Albany and stand ready to call in its chits. And he could forget about striding into the Capitol with the clear will of the people behind him.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2010/05/16/2010-05-16_cancel_the_party_andy.html#ixzz0oZWwvEuE

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/editorials/cuomo_the_wfp_killer_X0gukoLB0ByglEqGtWlSTN

Cuomo the WFP-killer?

Posted: May 10, 2010

The union cat’s-paw Working Families Party is ordering up a hit on New York’s school-kids — one more rea son for Democratic gubernatorial front-runner Andrew Cuomo to stay as far away from the malodorous organization as possible.

The Post’s Carl Campanile reports today that the party is making its support in upcoming legislative and other contests effectively contingent on an understanding to toe the teachers-unions’ line on charter schools.

That is, to oppose them.

That would be good for the unions, but exceedingly bad for kids trapped in sub-par public schools.

Andrew Cuomo

But Cuomo may have it in his power to deal a mortal blow to the WFP — and he needs to go for it.

Last month we urged Cuomo to flatly refuse WFP backing, arguing that it would be a critical first step if he truly means to drain the Albany swamp.

Without an affiliation with Cuomo — who remains miles ahead in the polls — the party is unlikely to collect the 50,000 votes for governor in November that it needs to score an automatic line on the ballot for the next four years.

The fundamental problem is that the WFP isn’t a real political party — it’s an agglomeration of public-employee unions dedicated to pursuing union interests, and to hell with everybody else.

Case in point: Campanile reports that the party has collected almost $243,000 in teachers-union cash since 2008 — and is now hectoring candidates to support the teachers’ anti-charter agenda.

Overall, its impact on local government is malignant — as Mayor Bloomberg noted in a recent meeting with Post editors. The WFP’s clout over lawmakers, he said, “is a very big problem” when it comes to negotiating a budget.

Too many WFP-controlled legislators, said Mike, will seek to impose significantly higher taxes on the critical financial industry “because they’re basically — I don’t know if ‘captives’ is the right word — but they’re influenced by” the WFP.

Actually, Bloomberg’s word, “captives,” got it exactly right.

And don’t forget the party’s ethically dubious corporate arm, Data & Field Services, which was set up as an “independent” consulting company — but which more likely was a vehicle for funneling massive, under-the-table illegal contributions to its candidates.

Cutting off the WFP’s automatic line — thereby forcing it to collect nominating-petition signatures if it wants a presence on the November ballot — would weaken it dramatically.

That would be a real public service.

And Andrew Cuomo is in a position to do just that.

As we said last month, publicly and explicitly turning his back on the WFP would send a powerful signal that Cuomo means to be a real reformer, working to bring permanent change to Albany.

Not doing so would be a signal, too — of business as usual.

For children don’t vote, nor do they contribute to political campaigns. They need all the help Cuomo can give them.

—————–
But Is Andrew In Bed With A Public Employee Union Controlled Party??
CITY HALL reports that Cuomo will take the tainted nomination of a union- controled party under criminal investigation which opposes any changes in the Public Employees Union Pension benefits that are bankrupting New York.

http://www.cityhallnews.com/newyork/article-1270-cuomo-ready-to-take-wfp-independence-lines.html

http://biggovernment.com/2010/01/13/nutbusterz-judge-kaye-conflicted-in-working-families-probe/

Judge Kaye has prior conflict
WHEN WILL BERTHA LEWIS BE HANDCUFFED?

By Roscoe Conkling

Only weeks ago the New York Post reported that former Massachusetts Attorney General Scott Harshbarger gave a whitewash to ACORN, the shady community action/organization that specialized in voter fraud and sucking up public funds. Harshbarger, a liberal democrat whose career was funded by the same Labor unions who fund ACORN, is hardly an unbiased analyst.

More ominously, the New York Post predicted a similar Whitewash of the Working Families Party.

An ACORN front, the WFP hired former Judge Judith Kaye, a Pataki appointee to look at their books and pronounce them kosher. Pataki, you will recall, was endorsed by SEIU, the lefty public employee union that …funds ACORN.

In a BIG GOVERNMENT EXCLUSIVE we can now report that Justice Kaye has a prior association with the WFP leadership and in fact ruled for the WFP Bosses in a lawsuit.
This is a stunning conflict of interest. Justice Kaye is in the tank.

The Working Families Party in under investigation for illegal campaign financing in Staten Island, absentee ballot fraud in Upstate New York and the New York Times reported Federal subpoenas raining on this criminal enterprise.

WFP endorsed candidates are stooges of the very union’s whose sweetheart compensation, retirement and pension benefits are bankrupting New York. The WFP endorsement is the Mark of the Beast. New York voters are starting to catch onto this. The WFP endorsement will be an albatross this coming November.

We at NUTBUSTERZ won’t rest until Bertha Lewis – political boss at the Working Families Party – is dragged from her office in handcuffs. We fervently hope she resists arrest so that authorities can use nightsticks on this arrogant, criminal bitch.

THE NEW YORK TIMES
December 16, 2009
By DAVID W. CHEN

Federal prosecutors have subpoenaed documents from the New York City-based Working Families Party, which has been criticized in recent months over its campaign financing activities.

The labor-backed party made a splash this year by helping the incoming public advocate, Bill de Blasio, and several City Council candidates win competitive races.

But their tactics also drew accusations that the party’s for-profit arm, Data and Field Services — which provides staff members to knock on doors, call potential voters and hand out campaign fliers — was charging significantly lower fees than is usual for such services. Party officials have denied the accusation.

Such an arrangement, critics said, constituted an unfair and possibly illegal financial advantage. News of the subpoena, which was delivered on Monday, did not come from the United States attorney’s office, but from the Working Families Party itself on Tuesday afternoon, in what some political consultants saw as an attempt to get in front of the story.

In a statement, Dan Cantor, executive director of the party, said, “We welcome this inquiry, and are confident that it will ultimately demonstrate what we have said before: Our work has complied with both the spirit and letter of New York City’s Campaign Finance Law as well as all relevant state and federal election laws, tax and not-for-profit corporation laws.”

People close to the party who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk on the matter said that they did not know the scope of the subpoena, but said they were taking the investigation very seriously.

A spokeswoman for the United States attorney’s office would not confirm or deny the existence of an investigation.

If there is indeed an investigation, however, the party’s actions in future elections could be curtailed. The party has been hoping to use its increased clout in the city to play a role in statewide races, like those for governor, attorney general and state comptroller. The legislative contests in Albany are sure to be a top priority, too.

But if the party is forced into a defensive crouch, candidates may be reluctant to accept its endorsement or support, according to political analysts. The party’s problems came into focus this summer, after the city’s Campaign Finance Board warned the party that it would be watching its finances closely.

In October, Randy M. Mastro, a former deputy mayor who is now an election lawyer, filed a lawsuit in State Supreme Court on behalf of private citizens on Staten Island claiming that the Working Families Party had unfairly aided their preferred candidate, Deborah Rose, who ended up winning her race. The case is due to go to trial in January.

Then, shortly after the election, the Working Families Party announced the hiring of Judith S. Kaye, former chief judge of the Court of Appeals, and her firm of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom to review their operations.

Boost for pol’s ‘finance charge’ suit

Last Updated: 10:11 AM, December 11, 2009
Posted: 4:46 AM, December 11, 2009

A Staten Island judge yesterday agreed to hold a trial on charges that a subsidiary of the Working Families Party subverted campaign finance rules to help a City Council candidate, Debi Rose, win her seat.

Judge Anthony Giacobbe set Jan. 13 as the trial date on a lawsuit brought by former Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro claiming that Data & Field Services, the subsidiary, gave Rose an unfair advantage by undercharging for its services.

The firm insists it charged market rates.

DFS lawyer Larry Mandelker called Giacobbe’s decision “a tremendous victory for us,” saying the judge limited the issues to DFS and the Rose campaign and excluded a request to bring in evidence involving the Working Families Party and other campaigns involving DFS.
But Mastro said he “couldn’t be more pleased” that the judge declined to dismiss the suit and was moving ahead with a trial.

“We intend to see that the truth comes out,” he said.

The Working Families Party made major inroads in city races last month, propelling Bill de Blasio to public advocate and backing incoming city Comptroller John Liu.
Both are considered leading Democratic mayoral candidates in 2013.

The union-backed party also assisted candidates in Democratic primaries in key City Council races in September, helping to snare seats from a handful of incumbents.

Last Updated: 10:11 AM, December 11, 2009
Posted: 4:46 AM, December 11, 2009

A Staten Island judge yesterday agreed to hold a trial on charges that a subsidiary of the Working Families Party subverted campaign finance rules to help a City Council candidate, Debi Rose, win her seat.

Judge Anthony Giacobbe set Jan. 13 as the trial date on a lawsuit brought by former Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro claiming that Data & Field Services, the subsidiary, gave Rose an unfair advantage by undercharging for its services.

The firm insists it charged market rates.

DFS lawyer Larry Mandelker called Giacobbe’s decision “a tremendous victory for us,” saying the judge limited the issues to DFS and the Rose campaign and excluded a request to bring in evidence involving the Working Families Party and other campaigns involving DFS.

But Mastro said he “couldn’t be more pleased” that the judge declined to dismiss the suit and was moving ahead with a trial.

“We intend to see that the truth comes out,” he said.

The Working Families Party made major inroads in city races last month, propelling Bill de Blasio to public advocate and backing incoming city Comptroller John Liu.

Both are considered leading Democratic mayoral candidates in 2013.

The union-backed party also assisted candidates in Democratic primaries in key City Council races in September, helping to snare seats from a handful of incumbents.