Monday, August 4, 2014

GOP Congressional Candidate Bruce Blakeman needs to Tie former Brooklyn ADA Kathleen Rice into more than Nassau DA's problems as Moreland Commission Co-chair "Assisting" Investigators


Blakeman needs to look into whether Kathleen Rice is a bridge between some or all of the Hynes Scandals and  Cuomo's Moreland Commission Scandal


With just a little digging, Blakeman can show  >>>   that not long before the 2013 election, the now-discredited Hynes was telling insiders in his campaign that fellow DA Kathleen Rice was a "Good Friend of this Office"  >>>  that Kathleen Rice was broken-in as a Brooklyn ADA by former Brooklyn Senior ADA Michael Vecchione with all his baggage   >>>   that Rice was pushed in her run for Nassau DA by former Brooklyn ADA and Nassau OTB CEO Dino Amoroso, who also saw to it that  her name was scrubbed from problem files in the Brooklyn DA's Office


It has been widely reported that former Moreland Commission Co-chair,  current Democratic Congressional Candidate and Nassau DA  Kathleen Rice is a lynchpin and keystone character in the investigation(s) of Governor Cuomo's alleged "Interference" with "His" Moreland Commission.   Rice's Republican opponent Bruce Blakeman has attempted to have Rice lay bare her involvement with the Moreland Commission.  Although he needs to look  closely at all of that, he has to widen his search into other areas where Rice might have been connected with other scandalous  goings-on   ---   most notably, those involving the recent scandals surrounding Rice's former boss, former Brooklyn DA Charles J. Hynes.

"Democratic congressional candidate Kathleen Rice’s campaign issued a statement Sunday rejecting her Republican opponent’s claims that she 'hand picked' an email released to The New York Times involving her work on the troubled Moreland Commission on Public Corruption. ***  'In her role as a contributor to the integrity of the federal probe, Ms. Rice has not and will not be releasing such information [to the media],'  Rice campaign spokesman Eric Phillips said in a news release Sunday...." (See "4th C.D.: Blakeman, Rice in new exchange over her Moreland role" by Laura Figueroa, 8/3/14, Newsday  [http://www.newsday.com/long-island/politics/spin-cycle-1.812042/c-d-4-rice-refutes-blakeman-claim-that-she-released-moreland-e-mail-1.8955354]).  The Blakeman campaign renewed its call, first made last  Thursday, that Rice release all of her Moreland Commission emails to show that one of her emails that had appeared in the NY Times was not selectively released. According to Laura Figueroa's account in Newsday,  "Blakeman campaign spokesman Matt Coleman on Sunday declined to specify why the campaign believed Rice had provided the email in question to the New York Times. ***  Coleman said:  'If Ms. Rice has nothing to hide, why is she refusing to release all her Moreland communications?' ”  In the same Newsday report, "Rice’s campaign has said she is not releasing emails because it would 'deeply compromise an ongoing federal investigation that she is assisting,' referring to U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara’s probe into Cuomo’s abrupt disbanding of the commission in March."

A  report covering much of the same material appeared in today's Daily News, but it used a slightly different quote by Kathleen Rice's spokesperson that expressed thoughts similar to those above thus: "Rice’s spokesman, Eric Phillips, confirmed she was providing assistance to federal investigators but would not comment on his boss’ role. 'Consistent with her interest and responsibility in helping to preserve the integrity of the ongoing federal inquiry, District Attorney Rice is declining to comment publicly at this time,' Phillips said...." (See "Moreland Commission co-chair Kathleen Rice is 'assisting' feds with probe"  by Kenneth Lovett, 8/4/14, Daily News [http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/moreland-commission-co-chair-helping-feds-article-1.1890649]).

Frankly, Eric Phillips is pedalling a load of crap, it doesn't matter whether it's to Newsday, the Daily News or any other media outlet.  Blakeman and his people are really onto something.  The voluntary  release of all of  Moreland Commission Co-chairperson Rice's emails about the activities of the Moreland Commission shouldn't compromise anything, except possibly for some cooperation deal that Kathleen Rice might have worked out with the Federal prosecutors.  You know how that works, often a more guilty smaller fish gets a good deal to help out in catching  a  bigger fish ( just picture Kathleen Rice in a low budget knockoff of  "American Hustle" [I know she's no Amy Adams or Jennifer Lawrence]).

BLAKEMAN CAN BLOW THE LID OFF THE RICE CAMPAIGN  >>>  HE NEEDS TO BRING OUT ALL OF RICE'S HISTORY AND CONNECTIONS TO THE BROOKLYN DA'S OFFICE AND TIE THAT INTO HER CURRENT "ASSISTANCE" OF THOSE NOW INVESTIGATING THE GOVERNOR

Right now,  it would appear that Rice's most newsworthy actvity is as a cooperating witness with U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara's investigations into Governor Cuomo's alleged "interference" with the most recent version of the Moreland Commission, while at the same time running in Nassau County for the seat being vacated by Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy.  Rice's opponent, Bruce Blakeman, may have an opportunity to take advantage of some problems that might crop up regarding who Kathleen Rice actually is and who have pushed some of her  key career moves.

Blakeman needs to bring out that Kathleen Rice's apparently  successful career is not the result of a combination of luck and talent, but is instead the result of the heavy use of helpful connections and putting herself  in the right place at the right time.  Blakeman needs to say something like this right away: "What else would you expect from someone who can say this about herself, 'Obviously I’m very ambitious, but I don’t think ambition should have a negative connotation....' ”   (See "Nassau County Prosecutor’s Decision to Seek House Seat Is Rooted in Family" by Joseph Berger, 3/20/14, NY Times {http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/21/nyregion/nassau-county-prosecutor-kathleen-rices-decision-to-seek-house-seat-is-rooted-in-family.html?_r=0]).  Blakeman and his team only have to show that any assistance Rice is giving to those investigating the recent Moreland Commission fiasco is the product of just another piece of that ambition.

Of course it wouldn't hurt if Blakeman  followed-up with some of  the dirt he can dig up on Kathleen Rice's days at the Brooklyn DA's office.  Here are a few clumps he can start with.

 AN INCONSISTENT PERFORMER IN THE BROOKLYN DA's OFFICE

In spite of being held up by former Kings County District Attorney Charles Hynes " a good friend of this office,"  some who worked with her there say that Kathleen Rice was not well-liked at the Brooklyn  DA's Office.  Nonetheless,  she did get the opportunity to prosecute some big felony homicide cases.  But, even that was not without some controversy.

RICE WAS  A MIKE VECCHIONE GROUPIE

First,  like most female ADAs who rose to the top among the trial attorneys in the office, Rice had to align herself with Michael Vecchione. That meant she had to be broken-in and even indoctrinated in Vecchione's preferred methods, practices and procedures.  In short, Kathleen Rice had to become one of Vecchione's groupies.   That would not have been unusual; during the late 90's early 2000's that was important for any on-the-rise female ADA who wanted to have a chance to try big cases.  To the extent Kathleen Rice subjected herself to all or most the corrupting influences of Michael  Vecchione's mentorship, she was unexceptional.

DINO AMOROSO HELPED COVER FOR RICE  ON PROBLEM FILES

Of course that kind of background can be problematic for any prosecutor, sespecally one who is the Nassau County DA running for the U.S. Congress.  For example,  even an early puff piece in th New York Times had to point out that , "She worked on some cases with Louis J. Scarcella, the detective whose work in 50 convictions is being reviewed for possible error or misconduct, though as far as she knows not in her cases...." (See by 3/20/14, NY Times article by Joseph Berger, cited above).  Maybe, what Rice was  actually talking about  should have been reported like this: "... though as far as she knows not on any cases that her name is still on."  You see, one of my sources that  worked on many of the problem files in the Brooklyn DA's office has indicated that Kathleen Rice's name had been scrubbed from some of the significant problem cases; most likely by, or as directed, by Dino Amoroso, one of Kathleen Rice's more significant personal patrons.

The interactions between Rice and Amoroso are especially interesting in many ways, but start with these two. Rice has reciprocated favors to Amoroso in her current position as Nassau DA  ---  like why wasn't  the Teresa Butler -- OTB case pursued as a criminal matter against Amoroso and others?  Maybe an even more interesting question about the current interaction between Rice and Amoroso is this  ---  how does Rice's current assistance of the investigations into Andrew Cuomo go down with such a close-in retainer of Mario Cuomo as Dino Amoroso ?

TO BRUCE BLAKEMAN  AND THE BLAKEMAN CAMPAIGN  >>>   I'VE GIVEN YOU A GOOD START, SO GO OUT AND DO YOUR RESEARCH  >>>  BRING THIS ONE HOME FOR THE HOME TEAM GOP IN NASSAU COUNTY

COMING SOON ON THIS BLOG HOW TO CONNECT THE  HYNES SCANDALS AND CUOMO'S MORELAND COMMISSION SCANDAL

24 comments:

Anonymous said...

What does anything that happened in Brooklyn, NYC, have to do with the 4th CD in Nassau County, LI, NY?

Galewyn Massey said...

That's a little parochial, isn't it.

If you're at all interested, maybe my next comment will help.

Galewyn Massey said...

BACKFILL & A LITTLE BIT OF UPDATE: THE "PRE-AMOROSO EBT" EDITION

AMOROSO IS A LONGTIME INSIDER IN ALBANY, IN BROOKLYN AND IN NASSAU COUNTY

AN UPCOMING EBT WILL VERY LIKELY GET INTO AT LEAST SOME OF THAT

Dino Amoroso began at the Brooklyn DA's office in 1990. Since he came from an inner circle of Governor Mario Cuomo's administration, where he worked from 1983 through 1990, he virtually started as an insider in the Brooklyn DA's Office and rose quickly, ultimately becoming First Assistant District Attorney.

Problems arose when Amoroso's actual residency in Long Island came to light, becasue at the time, it was unlawful for any ADA in the Brooklyn DA's Office to live outside of New York City. There were several published references to that flap, including editorial commentary. While under a cloud of almost fifteen years of unlawful employment for DA Hynes, Amoroso got a plum job from the Nassua County Democratic Organization -- President and CEO of the Nassau County Off-Track Betting Corporation.

Amoroso's departure from his position at the KCDA was marked by a terse press release that noted Amoroso's leaving in November 2005 "after 16 years of service..." to assume his position at the Nassau OTB. Amoroso held the position of President & CEO of NC-OTB and related entities roughly from the beginning of 2006 until about mid-2010; his tenure at OTB was marked by several controversies.

Due to a change in the law (Sponsored in the NYS State Senate by Brooklyn's Republican-Conservative State Senator Martin Golden) Dino Amoroso was able to return to the Hynes herd at the KCDA's office, again in a high confidential position as counsel to Hynes. That's where Amoroso he stayed until swept out this year by the new DA in town, Kenneth Thompson.

Much of what was mentioned about Amoroso in the main post above [along with what was posted on this blog in earlier posts] occurred during his second go-round working for Hynes, this time out of an office on the 19th floor at 350 Jay Street. However, some of it does go back to his first time on the books. Some or all of it will be subject to some intense questioning at an EBT by Joel Rudin, attorney for Jabbar Collins -- any day now, any day.... Who knows, maybe Nassau DA Kathleen Rice's name might come up in connection with one or more of the cases handled by Mr. Rudin -- whether her name was still mentioned in the case files or not.

Anonymous said...

Rice was the prosecutor who found no wrongdoing by Vecchione in the Jabbar Collins case.

Anonymous said...

blog finally has some good info that can help a Republican Blakeman.

A first !!

Anonymous said...

The whole Hynes story about playing around with assets seized from drug cases is yesterdays news.

The so-called investigation will drag on for years and nothing will come of it.

I remember the same scandal in New York Times when Manhattan DA Morgenthau left office. It came out he had a dozen secret accounts and nothing happened.

Galewyn Massey said...

UPDATE: THE "NOW WHAT DO YOU THINK" EDITION

A PAIR OF "BAKER STREET IRREGULARS" WHO ARE WELL-CONNECTED DEMOCRATS SENT ME SOME INTERESTING EMAIL THIS EVENING

BOTH INVOLVED STATE SENATOR MARTIN GOLDEN

IT'S STILL ALL SMOKE AND NO FIRE --- BUT, WHAT DO YOU THINK WILL HAPPEN NEXT ?

The first was from a prominent Bay Ridge Dem, who is actively supporting Jamie Kemmerer, Marty Golden's Democratic opponent. That person gave me a heads-up that contained this provocation: "You've heard it all before but I am hearing, yet again, that something big [Baker Street Irregular's conjecture]is coming down for "Marty and his staff". Who the F knows if its true or not but this is what I'm hearing from [a well-connected source]." When I pressed the person for more details, I got this response: "Don't know. Can only assume all this Moreland talk about "Republican State Senators" has to do with our buddy Marty."

The second electronic missive was from a real swashbuckler with very good press connections. This buccaneer sent an email link to yesterday's NY Post article ( See "Cuomo’s anti-corruption panel nixed 15 probes: Report" by Aaron Short, 8/4/14, NY Post [http://nypost.com/2014/08/04/cuomos-anti-corruption-panel-nixed-15-probes-report/]). The thing that makes this interesting is that, when I called this usually dependable Baker Streeter for an explanation of the day old link, he said, "Don't you see -- this means GOLDEN !" He even went further, saying "This is more of link to the Hynes-Golden stuff. Now you can say it's a Golden-Hynes-Rice thing..."

Sure it's all smoke and no fire. But, lot's of smoke can kill ya.

Like I said in my headlines above, "Now, what do you think?" Even better, "What do you think will happen next ?"

Anonymous said...

If Golden was one of the fifteeen suspects in Moreland Investigation than Cuomo definitely would have pulled it.

The link between all the players is Dennis "I'll get you 5 grand" Quirk.

Anonymous said...

Gail, How can your blog that starts out pretending to pushing something for Blakeman wind up going after Golden? Your all still a bunch of democrats. You even admit this is all from democrats.

Anonymous said...

The commenter is correct that there will be no indictment of Hynes or any others on theft of funds. For some reason people have stopped cooperating with both the Kamins investigation and the Hynes inquiry. Wonder why.

Anonymous said...

Everybody lawyered-up...

Galewyn Massey said...

UPDATE: THE "KASSAR SAID IT IT BEST, BUT LEFT SOMEONE OUT" EDITION

THIS WEEK'S KASSAR COLUMN >>> "COMMON SENSE - SAY NOTHING !" <<< SAYS EVERYTHING ABOUT THE RECENT MORELAND INVESTIGATIONS AND DISCLOSURES, AND HIS BOSS, STATE SENATOR MARTIN GOLDEN'S, RESPONSE TO THEM

BUT, SOMEHOW, KASSAR LEFT GOLDEN'S NAME OUT OF IT -- AGAIN

I'm shocked that Jerry Kassar, who is the Chief of Staff to State Senator Martin Golden, has doubled down on his poking at Governor Andrew Cuomo for saying so little about his Moreland Commission problems (See "Common Sense: Say nothing!" by Jerry Kassar, 8/5/14, Home Reporter/ Spectator [http://www.homereporternews.com/news/government/common-sense-say-nothing/article_f2ed9f0c-1c2b-11e4-b4be-001a4bcf887a.html]). Once again, Jerry Kassar has told the story without mentiong that his boss is probably up to his neck in it.

Maybe, Kassar did the column before it had become public that several GOP state senators and key staff members were going to be subpoenaed by the Moreland Commission when Governor Cuomo shut it down. Another guess is that Kassar either knew that the story about the subpoenas on the GOP state senators was about to drop and he was trying to get ahead of it, or that more and more people were talking about the Moreland Commission investigating people like Marty Golden, so Kassar had to try to turn that around somehow.

Regardless of what Kassar's intentions were a few days ago, subsequent revelations make everything that Kassar said about Cuomo equally applicable to Kassar's guy, Golden. However, it is only when substituting "Golden" for "Cuomo," that it all will make more sense. Also, when Kassar uses the words "Democratic Party" or "Democrats" you substitute "Republican-Conservative State Senators" and "Kassar and other state senate staffers".... You get the idea.

The most important thing that Kassar had to say was contained in his ultimate paragraph to the first segment of his column. Kassar's statement takes on a richer and closer to home meaning when it reads like this: "This story is not going away anytime soon. Major media like the New York Times, every good government group, the [the state senator]’s political opponents as well as the U.S. attorney ‘s increasing interest assures that the public will receive a full airing with or without [Marty Golden]'s cooperation."

Anonymous said...

Golden Rice.

Yuck !!!!

Anonymous said...

I think that commenters "ANONYMOUS SAID - August 5, 2014 at 9:31 PM" and "ANONYMOUS SAID - August 6, 2014 at 6:05 AM" are the same person. I anonymously responded to the second of those commenst that asked, ".... For some reason people have stopped cooperating with both the Kamins investigation and the Hynes inquiry. Wonder why." My answer was short and to the point: "Everybody lawyered-up.... " THERE IS ANOTHER REASON WHY THE INVESTIGATIONS INTO HYNES' MISUSE OF ASSET FORFEITURE FUNDS WILL GO FORWARD --- MORGANTHAU'S SLUSH FUNDS DIDN'T GO TO PEOPLE LIKE LARRY MORRISH AND JACK MALONE AND MORTY MATZ FOR POLITICAL ACTIVITIES. Also I'm sure that nobody commenting on this blog has any contacts that will leak any information indicating ".... For some reason people have stopped cooperating with both the Kamins investigation and the Hynes inquiry...."

Anonymous said...

Please Stand corrected:

People did not stop co-operating with the Hynes/Kamins inquiry. The inquiry is over.

Kamins will be removed from the bench by the Commission on Judicial Conduct and everything else will be business as usual.

Anonymous said...

The comment above that Morgenthaus secret asset forfeiture accounts didnt go to guys like larry morrish or mot matz amuses me.

How do you know that?

There was no investigation into the Manhattan Da's secret accounts and there were a dozen of them.

My point is grow up and realize how it works. Prosecutors dont investigate other prosecutors. Its never happened and it never will.

Anonymous said...

The Cuomo rats are jumping off the sinking ship. Dino has no love lost for the Cuomo clan that put him out to pasture.
Dino is with Rice.

Galewyn Massey said...

UPDATE & BACKFILL: THE "NARCISSUS AND ECHO" Edition

RICE NEEDS TO TALK --- SHE IS RUNNING FOR OFFICE, DAMN IT !

WHETHER IT'S "HOW HIGH THE MOON" OR "THE COW JUMPED OVER THE MOON" RICE HAD BETTER START SINGIN' IN PUBLIC

The echo chamber on this Blakeman-Rice stuff is starting to hum like the old days in Les Paul's basement, only without the lilt of Mary Ford's voice. Case in point is a very good complilation of the recent back and forth in the Blakeman-Rice dustup over her dooze and don'tses during her abbreviated tenure as a co-chairperson on the Moreland Commission ( See "Blakeman demands Rice defend time at Moreland -- Rice can’t comment because of U.S. probe: spokesman" by Brian Racow, 8/6/14, LI Herald.com [http://liherald.com/stories/Blakeman-demands-Rice-defend-time-at-Moreland,56719?page=1&content_source=]).

I warn people that are just starting to get into this stuff, don't buy-in to Rice's spokesman, Eric Phillip's often repeated BULLSHIT about Kathleen Rice's not making any statements about what she did or didn't do while on the Moreland Commission, because she supposedly is cooperating with the investigation of U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara.

As LI Herald's Brian Raco pointed out, Phillips has declined to elaborate on the exact assistance Rice has supposedly given to the Feds. And, even though Rice's campaign spokesman repeatedly cited the ongoing federal investigation -- he declined to answer six out of 10 different questions that the Herald reporter had posed to him.

For all we know, any assistance or cooperation that Rice is giving to Preet Bharara might be the result of a prosecutor-defendant cooperation agreement that resulted from god-knows-what that the Feds had on Kathleen Rice. Who knows, before it's all over, Kathleen Rice or her defense counsel might be claiming that Preet Bharara personally water-boarded her.

Anonymous said...

Kathleen Rice is unfit to represent anybody in congress or anyplace else. A few years ago it came out that she didn't vote for a stretch of eighteen years as an adult. She was registered to vote, she just never voted. At the time she said it proved that she wasn't a calculating politician. That's absolutely wrong, what it shows is that for eighteen straight years she wasn't a responsible citizen or even an occasional voter, and a good amount of that time she was a government employee as well.

Anonymous said...

The comment above was well put.

Rice has a pattern of being a no show, and I just dont mean at the voting booth on election day.
When Rice ran for AG in 2010 she refused to address the ballroom on primary night to give her concession speech. We were told she was resting.

Anonymous said...

Here is an interesting letter penned by two fellow Democrats in advance of the 2010 Democratic Primary for AG:

"Dear Ms. Rice,
As progressives who have fought for core values like a woman’s right to choose, civil liberties, and a judiciary that appreciates civil rights, among many others, we were distressed to learn that you did not see any reason to cast a vote for Al Gore over George Bush in 2000, while you were living in a battleground state, no less. As you know, this was literally the closest presidential election in history, where the stakes could not be higher and where an individual’s vote, particularly in a swing state like Pennsylvania, could not be more important.

To explain this decision, you have used the excuse that “like a lot of young adults early in their professional lives, I failed to see the political significance of casting a ballot.” However, let us be clear: you were not a young person at this time, but a 35-year-old practicing attorney.

In all candor, if you could not see the “political significance” in voting for Al Gore over George Bush, one of the most destructive presidents of all time, then we have serious reason to question your judgment and commitment to core progressive values.

What was it that made such a decision so difficult? Did you fail to see the political significance of Bush’s promise to appoint anti-choice judges, his obsession with Iraq, or his commitment to eroding civil liberties? With all due respect, we believe that until such time that you can explain this decision, you are ill-suited to represent the Democratic Party as our nominee for Attorney General.

Sincerely,
Brad Lander & Melissa Mark-Viverito
New York City Council Members"

---Source Albany Times Union, Capitol Confidential 7-26-10

Anonymous said...

You've wrote about HYNES and his ASSET FORFEITURE FUND SCANDAL and you've wrote about how KATHLEEN RICE was trained and broken in by guys like top Brooklyn ADAs like VECCHIONE AND AMOROSO. why have you wrote nothing about this.

"The office of Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice also is among the most aggressive agencies in New York when it comes to seizing cash and property, records show. The agency has a current balance of nearly $15 million in seized assets.
Its 2013 expenditures included:
More than $100,000 for youth camp and after-school programs.
About $25,000 for a Mothers Against Drunk Driving awareness campaign.
About $42,000 for gun buyback programs...."
-- SOurce, Newsday, Long Island, 7-13-14

Do the math and what is shown as expenditures is way less than $15 million. Besides that, what do these categories really mean and what else does Rice use this money for. This is a straight out slush fund of money stolen from crooks. And you know who steals money from crooks? That is nothing but other crooks.

Anonymous said...

The details in the comment above regarding DA Rice having 15 million dollars in seized assets, the largest in NYS, is a scandal that can put her out of the race.

And it adds up. Rice spent a decade as the protege of Joe Hynes.

Rice hasnt spent 90% of the money.
Maybe its being stockpiled for Larry Morrish?

Galewyn Massey said...

UPDATE: THE "LET'S BLAME THE JUDGE FOR DA RICE'S MISTAKES" EDITION

TOMORROW'S LAW JOURNAL IS GOING TO EXPOSE NASSAU DA AND DEMOCRAT CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE KATHLEEN RICE AS SOMEBODY THAT WANTS TO PLAY FAST AND LOOSE WITH THE LAW

According to one of my newest Baker Street Irregulars, an article will appear in tomorrow's New York Law Journal that will demonstrate Nassau DA Kathleen Rice learned her trade from Brooklyn DA Charles "Joe" Hynes. The article discusses a case wherein the judge has found a Brady violation took place on Rice's watch, in one of her pet "No Tolerance - DWI cases" (See "DA Error Leads Judge to Vacate Conviction" by John Caher, 8/13/14, New York Law Journal[http://www.newyorklawjournal.com/home/id=1202666587596/DA-Error-Leads-Judge-to-Vacate-Conviction%3Fmcode=1202617075062&curindex=0?LikelyCookieIssue=true]).

The novice Baker Streeter further stated that Rice's doubling-down -- and, according to the article, rather than acknowledging the DA's Office got caught off-base, but instead blaming the Judge on the case -- is exactly what Hynes would do under the same circumstances. But here's the kicker, my new BSI, a commited Democratic voter, said this: "[DA Kathleen Rice] has been such a disappointment in so many ways. I could not even imagine ever voting for a Republican... but Blakeman has my vote...."

Enough said !