Monday, April 11, 2016

Is there any connection between Preet Bharara’s current probe of Mayor Bill deBlasio and the more than year-long investigation of State Senator Marty Golden ???


Some of the things that recently appeared in the NY Post must have disturbed Marty Golden’s sleep and sent a shiver down his spine   —    You know  —  the articles and columns involving U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara’s further investigations into corruption involving the NYPD and possible corruption involving Real Estate Industry political donations to campaign committees

Do these NY Post Headlines* look familiar to you ???  

—  “FBI probing State Senator Golden’s fundraising activities” “Golden has no one to blame but himself for what happens next” and  —  “Golden’s lust for power will be his final downfall” 



* Actually these are mock-headlines adopted from recent New York Post headlines referring to U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara’s investigations of Mayor de Blasio, and then adapted by this blog to be about U.S. Attorney  Prett Bharara’s ongoing investigations of State Senator Marty Golden. What is quite interesting is that they are so apt and accurate in both "the original" and in the adapted format, which appears above.
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PART 1  —  NEW YORK POST’S RECENT COVERAGE OF CURRENT POLICE & REAL ESTATE INDUSTRY CORRUPTION

According to the NY Post, “US Attorney Preet Bharara now has Mayor de Blasio in his cross hairs — investigating his campaign fund-raising activities as part of a widening probe into NYPD corruption, sources said yesterday....  The feds are looking at how the mayor solicits campaign cash from members of the real-estate industry — and the fund-raising activities of his former campaign treasurer, Ross Offinger, the sources said....  A source who dealt with Offinger told The Post he “plays fast and loose” with campaign-finance regulations....”  (See  “FBI probing Mayor de Blasio’s fundraising activitiesa’ by Jamie Schram and Larry Celona, 4/8/16,  NY Post/ Metro [http://nypost.com/2016/04/08/fbi-probing-mayor-de-blasios-fundraising/]).

Also according to that story, the very same Real Estate Industry donor and bundler that gave money to Mayor deBlasio’s campaign, gave donations to at least one NYS State Senator, Adriano Espaillat.

In addition to the news article above, a couple of the NY Post’s top columnists weighed in on the budding scandal, that might blossom into something as big as the Big Apple itself..

NY Post columnist Michael Goodwin wanted to focus your attention here >>> “Forget for a minute the gift and cash scandal rocking the NYPD. Even the two shady Brooklyn businessmen who allegedly handed out the goodies are not the big fish. And don’t be distracted by the arrest of a man accused of running a Ponzi scheme out of a failed restaurant that some of the cops frequented....   Block all that out and keep your eyes where they belong — on Mayor de Blasio. He’s the focus of the FBI and Preet Bharara’s federal prosecutors. Everyone and everything else is an important detail, but just a detail....  I wrote Friday that all the probers’ tips lead back to City Hall, and now the target is coming into clear view. It looks as if the mayor’s three slush funds, the ones that good-government groups blasted as a “shadow government,” have a bull’s-eye on them....”  (See “De Blasio’s lust for power will be his final downfall” by Michael Goodwin, 4/9/16, NY Post/ Metro [http://nypost.com/2016/04/09/probe-into-de-blasios-lust-for-power-will-be-his-final-downfall/]).

Another of the Post's regular columnists, Bob McManus, had his say, thus:   “So now Preet Bharara has cast a gimlet eye on Bill de Blasio’s campaign fund-raising....  Which comes as no surprise. If de Blasio isn’t running one of the gamiest administrations since Tammany’s sachems were pulling the strings at City Hall, it isn’t for lack of trying....   But not to worry....  As mayoral operative Dan Levitan says: ‘We are fully confident that the campaign has conducted itself legally and appropriately at all times.’...  [However,] given Bharara’s performance to date — Shelly Silver and Dean Skelos go before federal judges for sentencing Wednesday — the prosecutor’s interest in de Blasio can only be stirring mayoral nightmares....  Bharara appears to be setting himself up to be the final arbiter [, which] must be sending shivers down the mayoral spine.... ” (See “De Blasio has no one to blame but himself for what happens next” by Bob McManus, 4/10/16, NY Post/ Metro [http://nypost.com/2016/04/10/de-blasio-has-no-one-but-himself-to-blame-for-what-happens-next/]).

PART 2  —  CURRENT PROBE OF MAYOR DE BLASIO SIMILAR TO THE U.S. ATTORNEY –  FBI PROBE OF STATE SENATOR GOLDEN

If all of those NY Post stories above seem very familiar  —  they should....   Not that long ago, similar stories about all of the same kind of corruption were being put out there about our local Republican-Conservative State Senator Martin J. Golden.  And those articles appeared both on this blog and other media, including the NY Post, during the last two years; here are some of them ( See “Bharara investigating Golden’s campaign finances” by Carl Campanile & Rich Calder, 10/9/14, NY Post [http://nypost.com/2014/10/09/bharara-investigating-goldens-campaign-finances/]; “BIG NEWS ! ! ! — NEW YORK POST REPORTS: U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara Specifically Investigating Brooklyn’s Only Elected Republican — State Senator Martin Golden” by Galewyn Massey, 10/9/14, Brooklyn.... Fountainhead [http://galewynmassey.blogspot.com/2014/10/big-news-new-york-post-reports-us.html]; “Brooklyn Eagle and Home Reporter ‘See No Evil’ and ‘See No News’ in the U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara’s investigation of Marty Golden’s Campaign Finances” by Galewyn Massey, 10/15/14, Brooklyn... Fountainhead [http://galewynmassey.blogspot.com/2014/10/brooklyn-eagle-and-home-reporter-see-no.html];
 “More Bad News for Dean Skelos ! --- And Marty Golden Too ?” by Galewyn Massey, 4/16/15, Brooklyn.... Fountainhead [http://galewynmassey.blogspot.com/2015/04/more-bad-news-for-dean-skelos-and-marty.html]);
“Another link between State Senator Martin Golden and Preet Bharara's Ongoing Investigation(s) of Republican State Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos and his son Adam” by Galewyn Massey, 4/21/15, Brooklyn...  Fountainhead [http://galewynmassey.blogspot.com/2015/04/another-link-between-state-senator.html]).

Seeing the most recent headlines in the Post has to be upsetting for State Senator Golden, his staff and his insider-operators in the Brooklyn Republican Party. Of course, they would be most upsetting to Marty Golden, because as they say in legal circles, Marty’s case is “On All Fours” with the case that’s being pushed against NYC’s Mayor de Blasio. Like what the NY Post articles above show about Preet Bharara’s de Blasio investigation, the backgrounds of the two cases are almost identical.  The beginning is against a backdrop of police corruption, money is poured into “non-political” activities, those activities merge into self-sustaining political machine that attempts to create a monopoly in its political niche, and whose fund raising activities have become the focus of two U.S. Attorney-FBI investigations  —   one looking into Republican State Senator Marty Golden, and the other looking into Democrat NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio.

I recently spoke to a source, who has been closely reviewing Preet Bharara's case against Golden. That source reported that the case remains open; and the investigation moves along with other similar and/or related investigations. The similarities of the Golden & de Blasio investigations mentioned in this post did not surprise my source in the least.

To paraphrase a couple of lines from the Bob McManus column quoted in Part 1 of this post, above  —  Prosecutor Preet Bharara’s continued interest in Golden and relatively new interest in de Blasio can only be stirring the State Senator’s nightmares, like it's likely to be doing to the mayor's; and, given that Mr. Bharara appears to have set himself up to be Golden’s and  de Blasio's final arbiter, it must be sending shivers down the State Senatorial spine as much as it is to the mayoral spine.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

One of the real articles in the POST said Mayor D-B is the big fish. And that's likely to be true. As long as Marty stays the small fish in the big pond, he'll probably be able to avoid getting caught in PB's bigger nets going for the bigger fish.

Galewyn Massey said...

COMMENT: THE "FISHING FOR BIGGER FISH" EDITION

IS THE NEW THIRD MAN IN THE ROOM A BIG ENOUGH FISH FOR PREET BAHARA TO GO AFTER

If U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara wants to find a big fish to fry, why not look into this bit of corruption by NYS Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan -- subsidizing State Senator Marty Golden's attempt to take over the Brooklyn Republican Party.

The key to all of this is John Ciampoli, an Albany & Long Island attorney, and a key operator for Republican Senate Majority Leader Flanagan. Ciampoli has been advising State Senator Marty Golden and his faction in Brooklyn since before the 2015 Kings County Republican Convention.

There has been a lot of chatter that Ciampoli is representing the Goldens at the behest of Flanagan. Those chatterboxes include several of the real principle players on both sides of the case pending in front of Judge Edgar Walker in Brooklyn[State]Supreme Court.

The proof of that comes from the fact that Mr. Ciapoli has spoken to the lawyers representing and/or speaking for Dr. Ferraro; and Ciampoli has expressed that he favored a proposal for the NYS GOP Chairman to select the Brooklyn Chairman, but also saying that Marty Golden probably won't go for it. However, the Golden-Flanagan folks might go for it if there's a "No Primary for Golden" deal in it.

In looking into what Ciampoli is up to here, the U.S. Attorney can look at what Ciampoli has done and said in matters involving the prior GOP Senate Majority Leader and other political matters on Long Island. At very least, there are a few John Ciampoli sub-files in the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Meanwhile, there's a conference scheduled in NYS Supreme Court before Justice Walker for April 27th --- for all sides to talk about the case before the April 28th evidentiary "Hearing."

Anonymous said...

New York Times states focus is on diBlasio non profit, "The Campaign for One New YorK", which was the mayors slush fund. All this centers around a liquor store in Harlem that laundered money.

Nothing. And I mean NOTHING !!! Has to do with New Yorks hardest working public servant and decorated Police Officer and War Veteran Senator Golden.

Anonymous said...

War Veteran? That's a new one, I think.

Is Marty Golden now channeling his inner Richard Blumenthal and Bruce Caputo?

As for "Hero Cop" -- why has Marty always kept his disciplinary, medical and/or his complete NYPD personnel history secret?

Anonymous said...

marty fought the battle of the buldge

Anonymous said...

And lost......