New York State of Mind - Police Blotter Edition

Let's see, where do I begin? It's been a tough couple of weeks for our local, state, and federal elected officials in New York. Investigations, indictments, arrests, and just plain old stupidity.

Local: Following up on my report on New York City's controversial "Stop and Frisk" policy. As I have reported in the past, Ray Kelly, our beloved Police Commissioner, has been spending much time defending his department. For a few years, the police have been showing a heavy presence in high crime areas by stopping and frisking people they observe may be carrying guns. Of course, the ACLU got their panties in a twist because as it turns out, most of the people the police stop and frisk are minorities - Black and Hispanic. And as you can well imagine the accusations of racism have been loud and proud. But recent reports shed some light on why Kelly and his police force are targeting certain neighborhoods and "minorities".

As reported in the the NY Post on September 6:

"Blacks and Hispanics account for 96 percent of city shooting victims...while comprising 86 percent of murder suspects and 94 percent of robbery suspects.

Just in case one may think that these statistics are skewed by the conservative Post, the NY Daily News went a step further and published colorful pie charts and graphs to support these findings which strangely do not appear in their online version for easy access...

Overall Population
33.3% White
28.6% Hispanic
22.8% Black

Victims - Murder Robbery Rape
Black - 64% - 33% - 41%
Hisp - 25% - 36% - 38%
White - 7% - 18% - 18%

Suspects - Murder Robbery Rape
Black - 55% - 70% - 54%
Hisp - 31% - 24% - 32%
White - 10% - 5% - 11%

Draw your own conclusions. I must point out that even though we have a large Asian population, once again they are not included in the statistics. I can only conclude that the incidences of crime among Asians is insignificant. They are not included as "minorities" in graduation and reading/math score statistics either...

Now moving on to crimes against the taxpayers -

State: It's been quite the month for our state legislators and not in a good way. For the past few years, New Yorkers have had a slew of our elected officials under investigation, indicted, or currently serving sentences for on various charges. But August 27, 2012 was a big banner day. On this day, the NY Post reported a "three-fer" on one page. Yes, we had three of our elected officials caught in one day (four if you count the alleged cover up):

1. Assemblyman Vito Lopez (D/Brooklyn), has been doing double duty as an Assemblyman for a valuable Brooklyn district since 1986 AND as the Assembly's Chief Serial Sexual Harasser. Who knew? Well, Sheldon Silver did. Sheldon "Shelly" Silver (D/Manhattan), head of the Assembly for years now, and THE most powerful man in Albany after Gov. Cuomo, paid secret taxpayer-funded hush money ($103,000) to a woman to cover up for his good buddy Lopez. It appears the the esteemed Assemblyman Lopez (I stress the "ass") has a long history of roaming hands and other parts. At first Ol' Shelly supported his friend, then he tried to urge him to resign, then he begged, conjoled, pleaded, and threatened him with official sanctions and rebukes. Shelly was doing anything to keep the heat (and local MSM) off of him during the DNC Convention for which he was to play a central role. Up until yesterday, our Attorney General went along with the powerful Shelly Silver and declined to investigate his involvement. The State Ethics panel also declined. However, a state court judge in the very red Staten Island didn't declined and decided that an investigation was in needed and ordered a Special Prosecutor to investigate.

2. State Senator Shirley Huntley (D/Queens) - As reported by the local news outlets - Sen. Huntley has been indicted for "conspiring in a scheme to use state grants to benefit associates in a nonprofit group she founded....Huntley had secured a $30,000 grant in 2006 for the group, which was formed to help parents work effectively with the New York City school system." Problem is that her group never actually used the money to "help" one parent.

3. State Assembly-member Naomi Rivera (D/Bronx)- Our State Joint Commission on Public Ethics (JCOPE) "is looking into claims that the Bronx assemblywoman put two lovers on the public payroll and used her nonprofit as a personal piggy bank". Her publicly funded non-profit - the Bronx Council for Economic Development - has been allotted about $1.2 million taxpayer dollars to presumable fund activities for her non-profit However it looks like she was using the funds to pay, wine, and dine her boy toys. Now, if the two lovers were qualified to administer or develop programs then she chooses her lovers wisely. However from all accounts, her lovers are her "personal trainer" and a gym teacher already on a very lucrative payroll as a NY City school teacher. So the best she could have hoped for were better developed glutes. But, she comes by her alleged graft and nepotism honestly. Her father Jose Rivera was ousted as Bronx Dem leader in 2008 for doing pretty much the same thing minus the boy toys.

You see, our Legislators get what I call a "slush funds" - taxpayer dollars to pass out to worthy organizations that they wish to support. Unfortunately, the worthy organizations they wish to support are turning out to be non-profits that our Legislators set up to better the lives of their families and friends, and not to help better the lives of their constituents on bit.

Just so you do not think these are isolated events, here's a sampling going back to 2004:

Sen. Hiram Monserrate (D & R/Sing Sing) - 2 years for misappropriation of campaign funds
Sen. Carl Kruger (D/Sing Sing) - 7 years for bribery
Sen. Pedro Espada (D/Sing Sing) - convicted of stealing thousands of dollars
Sen. Larry Seabrook (D/soon to be Sing Sing)- recently found guilty of fraud and conspiracy; awaiting sentencing.
Sen. Joe Bruno (R/Sing Sing) convicted of bribery
and since the list is going way too long - Sen. Guy Velella, Ass. Clarence Norman, Ass. Diane Gordon, Ass. Brian McLoughlin, Ass. Anthony Seminerio - all found guilty of crimes against the tax payers of NY.

It has gotten so bad that I suggest that we just move the state capital from Albany to Sing Sing Prison in Ossining [see photo above] just to save the taxpayers time and money.

And finally, this is just a crime against humanity...

Federal: There is a saying (that I am making up now) that says "If you are a really stupid politician and have no sense of humor do NOT go on Stephen Colbert's Show!" This segment is an "interview" with Rep. Yvette Clarke (D/Brooklyn). I will assume that the "D" in this case stands for "dumb". Well judge for yourself starting at 01.40m...



Okay by now you are thinking to yourself "Wah???? This woman is voting on legislation that will effect my life, liberty and pursuit of happiness? How can this be?" Stop shuttering uncontrollably and remember that she will probably be re-elected! Okay, you can start shuttering again...

FYI - I am travelling today and will jump in as I can...