How Did The State of New York Get it So Dramatically Wrong… and ParCare

Dear Reader:

The name ParCare is flying through the news media and blogosphere like wildfire. There are dozens of links, each regurgitating much the same story – that ParCare either fraudulently obtained and distributed Covid-19 vaccines or that ParCare legitimately obtained the Covid-19 vaccine but fraudulently distributed it to places for which they were not licensed to distribute and to people to whom they were not permitted to administer it. There are also variations in between. Sadly, however those two versions of the same story cannot co-exist.

Did ParCare obtain the vaccine legally or did they not? Simple question. One would think there is a simple answer; but no one is really demanding the answers from the State of New York, which has historically lacked oversight in all areas of healthcare and medicine. ParCare is allegedly cooperating with the investigation and has returned unused vials of the Moderna vaccine.

The most irking question is why is the very community that has flaunted unabashedly an aversion to the laws, even to the braggadocios conclusion that the group is not comprised of Americans and therefore not going to follow US laws, were some of the first to be granted access to a vaccine. Okay. If you are not going to follow the law then why should you be afforded the benefits that the law allows? How can a community so openly unwilling to cooperate and to do what’s right for the preservation of human life be granted first rights to healthcare and vaccinations supplied by the very same laws they refuse to follow? This is not about religion, it is about the sanctity of human life and a group unwilling respect it.

An Alluring Question and the Termination of the Rivington House Whistle Blower

Ricardo Morales (left) and NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio (right) (Andrew Savulich/Mayor’s Office/New York Daily News)

De Blasio dodges questions on firing of Rivington House whistleblower

By MICHAEL GARTLAND

Mayor de Blasio ducked questions Friday about the firing of Ricardo Morales, the whistleblower who’s suing the city for his termination in the wake of the Rivington House scandal.

Morales was canned from his post at the Department of Citywide Administrative Services in 2017, a year after the scandal first came to light.

The controversy centered around the city’s lifting of deed restrictions on a Lower East Side nursing home, which eventually paved the way for its sale to a private developer for $116 million.

At the time, de Blasio denied any involvement in the firing of Morales, who has maintained that City Hall was directly involved in the removal of the deed restrictions. Morales filed his lawsuit in February 2018, claiming that he was terminated because he wouldn’t go along with covering up City Hall’s involvement.

More recently, documents filed in Manhattan federal court suggest there’s more to this story.

In a March 25, 2016 email submitted as evidence in the case, de Blasio wrote to top advisor Emma Wolfe about Morales.

“I spoke to Dom,” de Blasio wrote at the time, referring to advisor Dominic Williams. “This is about the riccardo morales issue. Pls follow up with Dom.”

Around that time, DCAS Commissioner Lisette Camilo was emailing with Williams about Morales’ fate at the agency, court records show.

To continue reading at The Daily News, click here.

Mr. Seabrook, Will It Ever Be More Clear Who Has Pull in New York? A Losing Appeal

Former jails union boss Norman Seabrook loses appeal in bribery case

Disgraced jails union boss Norman Seabrook is going to jail.

The former leader of the Correction Officers’ Benevolent Association lost an appeal Tuesday of his conviction for accepting a $60,000 bribe in exchange for a $20 million investment of members’ money in a doomed hedge fund.

Seabrook had been out on bail while he fought the case. The decision means it is highly likely he will have to begin serving his sentence of four years and 10 months.

His appeal had hinged on his belief at the time he made the investment that it would get good returns for correction officers. He said details of the loss suffered as a result of the hedge fund, Platinum Partners, going bankrupt prejudiced his right to a fair trial.

The 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals rejected those arguments. Seabrook, the three-judge panel noted, had suppressed warnings from a union lawyer that the investment was risky.

To continue reading, click here.

Oh… Congressman, Can Any Politician Have Clean Hands? Espaillat and Rechnitz – the Jona Opera Continues

Harlem Congressman Adriano Espaillat, right, allegedly received real-time election results in 2014 thanks to the NYPD connections of Jona Rechnitz, left. (Obtained by Daily News)

Congressman Adriano Espaillat solicited donations from Jona Rechnitz after favor: source

Harlem Congressman Adriano Espaillat received real-time election results in 2014 thanks to a notorious Mayor de Blasio donor’s connections at NYPD headquarters, evidence obtained by the Daily News shows.

The previously undisclosed episode involving Jona Rechnitz and Espaillat, who was then a state Senator, is yet another example of how the City Hall insider quickly developed unique access to New York politicos by throwing around money.

Emails obtained by The News show Rechnitz got Espaillat to do him a big favor in the midst of the competitive race — and then swapped numerous emails with his chief of staff on primary night.

A source with direct knowledge said Rechnitz’s ties to Espaillat were investigated by prosecutors in the Southern District of New York. That office brought charges against high-ranking cops, members of the NYPD’s gun license division and former jails union boss Norman Seabrook, thanks to the aspiring real estate power player’s cooperation.

The News reported last month on an episode involving de Blasio, the then-landlord of Grand Central Terminal and Rechnitz as part of the federal probe of Hizzoner’s fundraising practices.

To read in its entirety, click here.

Jona Rechnitz, His Supporter and – of all Places – Apthrop… So a Charming and Charitable Criminal Deserves a Break?

If State Funds are Funding Yeshivas then They Should be Held to Same or Similar Standards of Secular Education

The Secret Garden: Set Up Multiple Funds For Donations, Head up Political Parties, Donate Big and then – Being Bill de Blasio –

Community garden head wants probe of de Blasio, non-profit and Brooklyn Dem big

The head of a lower Manhattan community garden is demanding the state attorney general and the city Conflicts of Interest Board probe plans to turn over valuable city land to a group of developers that includes a non-profit with strong ties to Mayor de Blasio.

The Brooklyn-based RiseBoro non-profit includes among its board members Frank Carone, who, campaign finance records show, has donated nearly $11,000 to de Blasio since 2011. Carone is also the chief lawyer for the Brooklyn Democratic Party.

RiseBoro, formerly known as the Ridgewood Bushwick Senior Citizens Council and once synonymous with the disgraced late Assemblyman Vito Lopez, is one of three entities slated to take over Elizabeth Street Garden in Nolita and convert it to 123 units of affordable housing.

The two other developers are Pennrose and Habitat for Humanity NYC. The city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development selected the team to take on the project, dubbed Haven Green, in Dec. 2017.

Joseph Reiver, the garden’s executive director, contends Carone’s connection to the mayor and his role at RiseBoro — he’s also chairman of the non-profit’s Audit Committee — creates, at the very least, the appearance of a sweetheart deal.

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