GREEN KEEPING BAD COMPANY Assemblyman Roger Green couldn't have been pleased to read one morning in the New York Post that the State Lobbying Commission was probing Florida company Correctional Services for possibly giving illegal gifts to Green's former colleague Gloria Davis of the Bronx, who recently resigned in disgrace. Green knew that investigators would soon be knocking on his door, since Correctional Services had given twice as much money to his campaign committee as it had to all other candidates for state office combined over the last four years.

Thinking along, we called Green to ask if he'd gotten the same gifts Davis did-chauffeur-driven cars to shuttle him between his home and Albany. The Post posed the same question. Green, who's been home sick since mysteriously collapsing during a speech by the governor January 8, didn't call us back (was it something we said?) but did talk to the Post and, incredibly, admitted to getting free rides from Correctional Services for several years. "Any request that I've made for Correctional Services was not based upon any type of personal advantage," Green told the tabloid.

Note that he did not say he didn't do the company any favors. He simply said those favors were not influenced by the free rides he was getting. Mm-hmmm.

We know you'll be shocked, shocked to hear that the company has been awarded at least $25.4 million in state contracts in the last decade, including to operate juvenile facilities in Brooklyn that fall under the purview of Green, chairman of the Assembly Children and Families Committee. Brooklyn District Attorney Joe Hynes immediately launched an inquiry into the matter, the Post reported. Among the questions Hynes will be asking is whether Green was reimbursed for trips to Albany that were actually provided free by Correctional Services, and whether the company gave him a free cell phone. The feds, who are also investigating, have discovered that Correctional Services employees "volunteered" for Green's campaigns after being told they'd be fired if they didn't, the Post reported. If so, we wonder if Green asked these people who they were. Teams of strangers don't often show up out of the blue to volunteer for an assemblyman's campaign. Green's campaign pulled in $5,500 from the company, including $4,500 in 2002, when he was raising money to fend off a Democratic primary challenge by Hakeem Jeffries.

The only other candidate for state office to get four-figure contributions from the company was Assemblywoman Annette Robinson, who represents Bed-Stuy. She got $2,000 in 2002 from the company, which broke state law by giving more than $5,000 to New York politicians last year. Also on Correctional Services' list were Assemblymen Darryl Towns ($250), Clarence Norman ($150), Nick Perry ($100), and Frank Boyland ($65), who just resigned, but all those donations were in 1999. Borough President Marty Markowitz, then a state senator, got $200 that same year. Markowitz told us he never got any free rides and has not been contacted by investigators.

The Post's Fred Dicker reported that from 1998 to 2002 the company regularly shuttled Davis between Albany and the Bronx in free, chauffeur-driven limousines. That was part of the corruption case that led to Davis's guilty plea and resignation. "The commission is also expected to seek to determine if other state lawmakers received similar favors from Correctional Services, which could constitute illegal gifts," Dicker wrote. An illegal gift is anything worth over $75 given to influence a state official. The revelation of the free rides and Hynes's inquiry immediately spawned rumors that as many as eight legislators were facing indictments, including several Brooklyn representatives, as Davis ratted them out to save her own skin.

THE FONZO FIRING You've heard of the blind leading the deaf. But firing them? That's what happened January 13, as Idelfonso Velasquez, a deaf messenger for State Senator Marty Connor, was fired by legally blind State Senator David Paterson, who replaced Connor as minority leader on January 1. The dismissal stunned Connor and his staff.

It's common for political appointees to be cleared out in these situations, but the messenger, known as Fonzo, is a simple-minded fellow who plays dominos, not politics. He simply made deliveries, not just for Connor but for the previous minority leader, Manfred Ohrenstein. Fonzo earned just $25,000 per year, had been at his job since 1980, was two years from qualifying for a pension, has had health problems over the years, and recently had surgery. "I will never forget the look on my co-worker's face when they told him he was fired," one person said of Fonzo. "It was just horrible."

Another former colleague commented, "That's just heartless…He's got no political agenda whatsoever. When he's not messengering, he reads mystery novels." Fonzo is also a champion domino player, the staffer added. Said Connor of the firing, "This is just disgusting-politicians so greedy for patronage jobs, they can't even suffer a handicapped person…It's just despicable." The first former colleague we quoted predicted the explanation Paterson's people would offer: "They're going to lie about it and say it was a mistake with the paperwork." Paperwork was indeed mentioned: Paterson's office claimed Fonzo never submitted the form that all Connor staffers got asking why they should keep their jobs. Yet Connor told us his staff helped Fonzo fill out the form.

Despite the appearance, this was more a case of political bungling than mean-spiritedness. Paterson's people simply didn't know Fonzo or realize that he didn't understand he had to reapply for his job. Responding to the outrage over Fonzo's dismissal, Paterson investigated and intimated that a job would be found for him. We heard from elsewhere that he'd be placed with the City Council. We also heard that Maryrose Sattie, a Democratic district leader from Bensonhurst who worked for Connor, also got the ax from Paterson-who immediately got an earful from State Senator Carl Kruger and Assemblyman Clarence Norman and offered to hire her back.

But Sattie told Paterson to take a hike-she'd already taken a job with the Board of Elections. Another Brooklyn district leader, Connor part-timer Steve Cohn, was not offered a position by Paterson, because he was on Connor's district office payroll. Cohn's employment was unknown even to members of Connor's own staff, so secret was it. (Cohn was out of the country and couldn't be reached for comment.) Connor said Cohn covers meetings and provides constituent services and would remain on his staff, though at a reduced salary because the payroll is a third of what it was. The minority leader's staff under Connor numbered about 140 people and was so far-flung that Paterson's people had trouble finding all the bodies.

One guy Paterson did know about was Jeff Feldman, who moonlights as the executive director of the Kings County Democratic Party, headed by Assemblyman Norman, the county Democratic leader. Norman and State Senator Carl Andrews lobbied so hard to save Feldman's Senate job, we hear, that Paterson finally agreed to keep him.

After losing the leadership, Connor only had enough payroll to keep a few of his 30-odd staff members, but some decisions were easier than others. For example, he retained Rachel Gold to run his district office. She's more than qualified to do that, but it couldn't have hurt that she's the daughter of a Supreme Court judge who employs Connor's wife as her law clerk.

WHAT GOES PUTT-PUTT AND COSTS $17,000? Councilman Bill deBlasio recently secured $17,000 to buy another three-wheeled police scooter for Park Slope's 78th Precinct. The councilman's office told us the police like the vehicles for patrolling where cars can't, especially in bad weather when bikes are impractical. Of course, cops often use scooters on warm, sunny days to look for expired car registrations and the like. But we digress.

A few years ago, when he was a councilman himself, Rep. Anthony Weiner did a study that found the scooters broke down constantly and were a waste of money. When we brought this to deBlasio's attention, his press person replied that the scooters have a "standard life cycle" and cost as much as mid-sized cars because they are not mass-produced.

CHUCK DUCKS IN No one should have been surprised to see left-wing Democratic U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer of Park Slope praising right-wing, anti-choice Republican State Senator Marty Golden at the latter's swearing-in ceremony in Bay Ridge. Schumer is up for reelection next year and could face a challenge from Rudy Giuliani. Making nice with Republicans could help Schumer fend off Rudy or even dissuade him from running. Schumer might also be socializing across party lines to build support for a run for governor in 2006.

Whatever the case, Golden certainly welcomed Schumer's remarks, especially since Golden's new district includes many folks who loved Schumer when he was their representative in the House. "It was the most to-die-for endorsement that any politician could have asked for," one observer remarked.

SEMINARA, GENTILE GET LEG UP Rosemarie O'Keefe's people showed up bright and early at the Board of Elections on January 10 and filed petitions for her candidacy in Bay Ridge's City Council election at 9:01 a.m., five days before petitions were due. By filing first, they'd ensure that O'Keefe appeared first on the ballot for the special election on February 25.

But a rude surprise awaited them. Joanne Seminara had filed before them. So had Vinny Gentile. Seminara, in fact, had filed at 9:01 a.m. on January 2, the same day Mayor Mike Bloomberg announced the special election.

How could she have collected the 1,385 signatures needed to make the ballot in one morning, you ask? She didn't. She just collected a few on a single sheet and turned it in to the board. O'Keefe's people protested, saying they filed the first complete petition and thus O'Keefe should appear first on the ballot. But Seminara's campaign manager, Brian Honan, said, "The board doesn't say that it has to be complete. It just says you have to file a volume." At press time, a final decision hadn't been made, though Honan said, "So far, the word we're getting is we're going to be first."

Will ballot position matter much? Said Honan, "In an election like this, with voters not sure of a lot of the other candidates, it could make a big difference to be first or second."

In other news from the race, Danniel Maio, a virtual unknown in the 43rd Council District (Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights, Bensonhurst), managed to file 2,295 signatures given by people who, unlike Maio, actually live in the district. Maio lives in Long Island City, Queens. But he has until February 15 to move into the 43rd, and reportedly signed a lease there that begins February 1. But he ignored an invitation to take part in the first candidates forum and has failed to return our call or e-mails.

UNA CLARKE, OSTRICH Did Former Flatbush Councilwoman Una Clarke think she if she stuck her head in the sand, the violations committed by her 1997 reelection campaign would go away? Clarke, who now works for the governor's office, did not respond to a suit by the Campaign Finance Board charging that her campaign spent 25 percent more money than allowed by the program, which she'd joined in order to receive matching funds.

Clarke wasn't very grateful after the board reduced its initial $100,000 penalty to $57,943, since she didn't pay a red cent of it. Perhaps she thought she should only have to cough up $33,121, the amount her campaign illegally spent. Or perhaps she thought she was above the law. If so, Judge Leland DeGrasse just disabused her of that notion by upholding the $58,000 penalty. The board can now move to garnish Clarke's wages.

THE "FARCE" OF TWO STREET NAMES The first response to our suggestion that ceremonial street renamings to honor local residents are a waste of time was more of a love note than the hate mail we expected. It came from longtime Community Board 6 member Mike Rosenthal. "Had to write and heartily endorse your views on second naming of streets. I have been voting against this at CB 6 for some time," Rosenthal e-mailed. "I could almost agree if sometimes the street were actually renamed. But this half-baked use of multiple signs is a farce." Rosenthal endorsed park naming or the dedication of a plaque as more appropriate.

SAME GREEN FOR EILEEN It became more apparent this month why Eileen Long, daughter of Conservative Party Chairman Mike Long, declined to run for the City Council seat vacated by state Senator Marty Golden. Long was promoted by her boss, Governor George Pataki, to deputy secretary for administration and operations. However, she'll continue to receive the same salary as before, $120,000 (about 50 percent more than what she'd have earned in the council).

In her new position, she oversees the Office of Technology, the Office of General Services, the Office of Regulatory Reform, and other agencies, said Pataki press secretary Joe Conway. Conway volunteered that Long is "an extremely intelligent, talented, and hardworking professional." We hadn't asked, but perhaps he was trying to counter the impression of insiders that Long owes her job to her father's political support for Pataki. Long was previously chief of staff for the lieutenant governor and Pataki's deputy press secretary. Her promotion was announced January 7.

Borough Politics Archive

2002
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2002
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2001
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2000
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1999
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