Category Archives: Piggy Bank
Discretionary Funds for Mayoral Race
“As the Manhattan Democrat contemplates her campaign for mayor, she enjoys a political boon that has to make her opponents salivate — millions of dollars in pork that’s hers to hand out like party favors…‘Having tens of millions of dollars available to distribute to Council members and their constituents translates to votes,’ said Baruch College political scientist Doug Muzzio. ‘It gives her an advantage, a significant advantage, as a matter of fact.’”
High Line contributions
“A celebrity-studded campaign to turn a rusting elevated rail line into a glitzy West Side park has received hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars through Council Speaker Christine Quinn. And she’s gotten a little something in return. Officials with Friends of the High Line – the top recipient of Quinn-controlled City Council pork – have given more than $50,000 to her campaigns since 1999, records show.”
Funds distributed based on politics
“City Council members received up to $578 million in Fiscal Year 2012 to fund construction projects and a variety of non-profits in their districts, according to new report from the good government group, Citizens Union. Who got what was mostly decided by Council Speaker Christine Quinn — and the distribution, the group contends, was based more on politics than need.”
$2 billion in discretionary funds; nothing by merit
“A new analysis of how the City Council allocated more than $2 billion in discretionary funds between 2009 and 2012 has found a wide gulf between the haves and have-nots. . . . (Former Council Member Tony) Avella, an outspoken critic of Council Speaker Christine Quinn, said the results should come as no surprise to anyone. ‘Nothing is done by merit,’ he said.”
Citizen’s Union Report
“There is also no correlation between the level of need in a given district and the amount of funding it receives. . . This means that some low-income Council districts have received a large share of funding while other low-income districts have been left out. . . . .These funding discrepancies exist because the Council Speaker has too much power in the distribution of the Council’s discretionary funds, which totaled more than $578 million in last year’s budget.”
Citizen’s Union
“The (Citizen’s Union) report analyzed budget data from fiscal years 2009-2012 and found a wide disparity in how much discretionary funding different Councilmembers receive, with committee chairs and more powerful Councilmembers receiving a significantly larger share of funds than newly elected members.”
Slush money to groups controlled by friends or relatives
“One of her (Quinn’s) major challenges in her expected run (for Mayor) is the so-called slush fund scandal that erupted in 2007. It revealed a longstanding pattern of Council members steering money to groups controlled by their friends or relatives.”
Quinn pretends that all groups who apply are equal
“Speaker Christine Quinn and her members only pretend that everyone who applies for so-called member item funding – for Little Leagues, senior centers and other local programs – has an equal shot at success. In fact, as far as the Council is concerned, some New Yorkers are much more equal than others.”
slush funds keep members in line
“The speaker uses control over the slush fund to keep members in line. They then can trumpet an ability to win funding at election time.”
slush funds inconsistent with transparency
“The Council has budgeted more than $17 million dollars to fund fictitious organizations, freeing up those dollars to be distributed at the discretion of the Speaker’s Office. . . Reserves of this magnitude were inconsistent with the transparency she (Quinn) had brought to the earmarking process generally.”
