John Haggerty Convicted in NY Ballot Security Scam

HAGGERTY TRIAL

• After Conviction, Haggerty Posts Bail (WALL STREET JOURNAL/ Metropolis, By Michael Howard Saul) The judge said he was unconvinced the e-mail about the Irish passport was a joke and lashed out at Haggerty for misrepresenting himself on his passport application. On the application, Haggerty was asked to list an emergency-contact person; he listed a friend and incorrectly described that person as his uncle.
• Jury Convicts Consultant of Stealing Campaign Money From Bloomberg (By JOHN ELIGON, NY Times) The jury determined that although Mr. Bloomberg had lost legal control of the money, the party was technically acting as the mayor’s agent, authorized to spend the money on his behalf, one juror, Mr. Conroy, said. So it was the party that was duped, Mr. Conroy said, because its leaders gave money to Mr. Haggerty that he said he would use for ballot security, but did not. Asked about Mr. Conroy’s suggestion that the Independence Party was an agent of the mayor, Mr. Vacco laughed. 
• Consultant convicted of stealing from mayor Bloomberg (By Joseph Ax, Reuters) Several jurors told Reuters it was actually the money trail that caused them to convict, citing two instances in which Haggerty received payments of $83,000 and $50,000 from the Independence Party for alleged Election Day expenses, only to wire the money that same day as payments on the house.
• 'Volunteer' day: What is the meaning of Haggerty's guilt, and Bloomberg's independence? (BY HARRY SIEGEL, Capital New York) The Independence Party, which has traditionally profited from the confusion of actually “independent” or unaffiliated voters, still has about $100,000 of Bloomberg’s stolen “gift” that it’s never been asked to return, the defense noted. (Presumably, that loose change was the "wash in" that Haggerty referred to in an email to then-deputy mayor Sheekey discussing the transfer). For years, Bloomberg also funneled campaign and “charitable” money to the New York City branch of the party controlled by Lenora Fulani, the lunatic longtime acolyte of recently deceased psychiatrist-cultist Fred Newman. The pair dominated the city party until 2006, and Fulani continues to control its Manhattan branch. Their rented party line proved crucial to Bloomberg’s tight wins in both 2001 and 2009.

Tom Connolly Testifies at Haggerty Ballot Security Trial

HAGGERTY TRIAL

• Haggerty Contract Is Said Backdated (By MICHAEL HOWARD SAUL, Wall Street Journal) Under cross-examination, Mr. Connolly said the mayor lost all control of the $1.2 million once he sent it to the party. Asked if the mayor could earmark the money specifically for ballot security, Mr. Connolly said he "can make a request" but whether that is "honored or not" is up to the party.
• NY party official testifies at operative's trial (Associated Press, Wall Street Journal) Haggerty approached Connolly in August 2009 to say that "a donation would be coming from the mayor, and it would be their wish that they would use that toward a ballot security operation" that would run up to $1.1 million, Connolly told jurors. He said he checked with some people he didn't name to ensure the arrangement was legal, and then went ahead with it, relying on what Haggerty had told him about the planned operation.
• Testy Mayor Stays Cool on the Stand, Avoiding Potential Fallout (By Jill Colvin, DNAinfo) “How many principals of campaigns really understand campaign finance law?” he said. "No one expects the mayor to know what the money is used for in the end."

Mayor Bloomberg Testifies in Political Operative John Haggerty Trial Over Ballot Security Operation Payment

HAGGERTY TRIAL

• NYC mayor testifies in trial of political operative (By Hussein Saddique, CNN) "I understood that if anyone was denied access to the ballots, that a trained lawyer was to be there to help that individual," Bloomberg told the court when asked to describe the "ballot security" operation.
• Bloomberg Testifies in Political Operative’s Trial (By Michael Howard Saul, Wall Street Journal/ Metropolis) “I did not view it as a campaign expenditure,” the mayor testified, explaining why the campaign did not include this financial transaction on its public disclosure reports. The mayor said the money for the ballot security operation was intended to benefit all candidates running on the Independence Party line.
• Bloomberg Testifies in Consultant’s Trial (By THE NEW YORK TIMES/ City Room) Throughout the cross-examination, Mr. Castello repeatedly tried to suggest that what Mr. Bloomberg described as an agreement to provide ballot security was something much more nebulous: a political donation that he could not exert further control over.
• NYC mayor endures hours of cross-examination; ex-operative accused of bilking him out of $1M (By Associated Press, Washington Post) “Until you had all the documentation, nobody in their right mind would send a check,” said the businessman-turned-politician, who told jurors the lost money mattered to him: “We could have done a lot of good in society” with it, he said. “It’s a lot of money.”

Mayor Bloomberg Might Testify in Haggerty Case

NEW YORK

• Prospect of Bloomberg in court makes picking jurors tricky (Thomson Reuters News & Insight) "Is there anybody here that feels that because a person is wealthy -- very, very wealthy, as we all know Mayor Bloomberg is -- that it's okay to steal from him?" Assistant District Attorney Eric Seidel asked. The prospective jurors shook their heads.
• Jury Selection in Case Involving Mayor Bloomberg and the Independence Party May Take a Week (Ballot Access News)
• How to salvage N.Y. redistricting reform (By Susan Lerner and Sean Coffey, Albany Times Union) The redistricting process should be driven by demographics, not the needs of the incumbent.

Unraveling New York State Independence Party With John Haggerty

• NYC mayor: Victim in political operative's trial? (Associated Press, Wall Street Journal) While the party isn't charged, prosecutors have said in a lawsuit that the party knew or should have known about Haggerty's alleged scam. The lawsuit seeks to force the party and Haggerty to forfeit the money he allegedly stole; for now, the suit has prompted a civil court judge to freeze one of the party's accounts last winter.
  
• Setback in Bloomberg Case (By MICHAEL HOWARD SAUL, Wall Street Journal) Mayor Michael Bloomberg knew he wouldn't control the spending of more than $1 million he gave the New York State Independence Party for the 2009 election, a defense attorney for a political operative accused of stealing the mayor's money argued Monday. State Supreme Court Justice Ronald Zweibel dealt Manhattan prosecutors a setback by denying their motion to bar the defense from making that argument at the trial of the operative, John Haggerty.
  
• Bloomberg recovers in Quinnipiac poll (By ALEXANDER BURNS, Politico) Incidentally, the path for Bloomberg — or any wealthy, moderate independent — to run for president has always involved President Obama tanking and the Republicans nominating someone with drastically limited appeal. So the conditions for a serious third-party run haven't faded, even if the prospect of finding a viable candidate has.
• Is Independence Party’s influence waning? (By ELIZABETH COOPER, Utica Observer-Dispatch) The Independence Party has taken a tumble from the coveted third line — directly below the Democratic and Republican parties — down to the fifth line.

New York Politics: Haggerty, Turner, Weprin, Gonzalez and Towns

NEW YORK

• Trial of ex-aide Haggerty, accused of pocketing $1 million from mayor, is still Bloomberg's problem (BY Melissa Grace and Erin Einhorn, DAILY NEWS) "The mayor violated [campaign finance rules], and Haggerty is going down for it," said one prominent campaign finance lawyer. "[Bloomberg] signed a form that said that he would only spend money on his campaign through his campaign committee....If [the money] wasn't for his campaign, then Haggerty couldn't have defrauded him."
• Vito is a bloc 'blocker' (By AARON SHORT, NY Post) Jesus Gonzalez and Deidra Towns say the Ridgewood Bushwick Senior Center, a Lopez-founded charity that manages several senior facilities in the district, has made it nearly impossible for them to meet constituents in those buildings.
• Guide for the Last Minute Voter: 2011 Primary and Special Election (by Gotham Gazette) The political parties, though see this contest as a chance to show their strength -- or, more accurately, the other side's weakness – and have dumped in money and resources. Over the weeks, both candidate seem to have readily adopted the role as their party's standard-bearer. At a recent debate in Howard Beach -- complete with Tea Party hecklers and a pack of noisy Weprin backers in the rear of the church meeting room -- the two epitomized a left/right split.
• Independence Party endorsements raise questions (By BRYON ACKERMAN, Utica Observer-Dispatch) Dozens of candidates will be on the Independence Party line in elections this year in Oneida County, but there have been questions about the nomination process used in two of the highest profile local races: the Assembly and the Utica mayoral races… Ernie Sanita is running for mayor on an independent line and said he wasn’t interested in screening with any political parties.
• Turner up by six, just two days before New York special election (By Alexis Levinson, The Daily Caller) Turner has a strong lead with independent voters, 58 percent of whom say they will vote for him. Just 26 percent plan to vote for Weprin. Turner also has the majority of the Jewish vote, a demographic that makes up 36 percent of the district according to PPP’s results. Fifty-six percent of Jews say they will vote for Turner, while 39 percent say they have chosen Weprin.