Saturday, October 18, 2014

Lobbyists Berlin Rosen Takes Over NYC Government X 

























































































Berlin Rosen Client Developer Two Trees Lawsuit Filed Charging Bilking Tenants, Even Low Income Because of A Conflict of Interests Caused By Walentas' Campaign Contributions to Mayor  





Billionaire landlords extorted tenants, ripped off city: lawsuit (NYP) The billionaire real-estate dynasty behind Brooklyn’s hipster DUMBO neighborhood bilked struggling tenants out of a fortune in rent, a new lawsuit alleges.  The Walentas family — whose ties to Mayor de Blasio have been scrutinized in the investigations into the city’s pay-to-play scandal — allegedly filed false statements to help land $92 million in city tax breaks and other subsidies, the suit says. Then patriarch David, son Jed and associates used “extortion’’ and other alleged forms of deceit to jack up the rents at downtown 125 Court St. over the years and illegally pocket $10 million, according to the residents’ lawyer and the document, which was filed in Brooklyn federal court Tuesday. “This is a racketeering enterprise — it’s basically organized fraudulent activity,’’ the tenants’ lawyer, Matthew Berman, told The Post. According to the suit, the family’s powerhouse company, Two Trees:




    

  • Duped the city and state to net lucrative tax breaks meant for rent-stabilized and affordable-housing properties.
    • 

  • “Committed extortion’’ by allegedly tricking tenants into shelling out more than they owed in monthly rent by sending phony notices saying rent was due.
    • 

  • “Coerced’’ the cheaper-paying residents into vacating their apartments so the developer could charge new tenants 20 percent higher rents
    • 

  • 







DOI Goes After Tenants Ripping Off Public Housing $ Not Berlin Rosen Client Two Trees Ripping Off Millions in 421-a Tax Breaks 





City public housingtenants rip off taxpayers by under-reporting income: DOI (NYDN) A slew of public housing tenants ripped off the taxpayers by under-reporting income to inflate their benefits, the city Department of Investigation charged Friday. Over the last few weeks, 17 tenants have been charged with stealing public funds, including 12 who deliberately hid income-producing husbands and other relatives to collect more federal rent subsidies.* Dozens busted for ripping off public housing program (NYP) Another 17 people have been caught ripping off the federally subsidized Section 8 housing program, authorities announced Friday. With the latest fraud sweep, the city Department of Investigation has collared 39 people on charges of collecting $1.4 million in undeserved public-housing subsidies so far this year.  Of the latest arrests, 11 involved renters hiding the presence and income of a family member to make them eligible for subsidies. Other alleged scams included concealing a familial relationship between landlord and tenant and illegally renting out a subsidized apartment to a friend. “This pernicious fraud undermines government’s efforts to ensure affordable housing for some of the most vulnerable in New York City,” said DOI Commissioner Mark Peters.





























Berlin Rosen Client Two Trees Overcharged Renters for Years in Buildings With $10 Million Tax Breaks







Two Trees Donated $100,000 to the Campaign Of One New York Which Berlin Rosen Unregistered Lobbyists Runs







Tenants Take the Hit as New York Fails to Police Huge Housing TaxBreak (Propublica) Top developer Two Trees Management overcharged renters for years – but still cashed in on $10 million in tax cuts the city never officially approved. When prominent New York developer Jed Walentas asked the city to approve a set of sleek towers on Brooklyn’s industrial waterfront last year, pitched his company as a player that always abides by the rules. The project, remaking the old Domino Sugar factory into a 2,300-unit apartment and office complex, would be the biggest ever for his firm, Two Trees Management. As with earlier projects, Two Trees would get millions in tax breaks in return for capping rents and reserving some units for low-income tenants.  “We’ve done everything we always said we were going to do in every one of these projects,” Walentas assuredthe City Council at a public hearing last year. An investigation by ProPublica into one of Two Trees’ major developments in downtown Brooklyn shows that regulators stood by as the company flouted laws requiring rent stabilization in exchange for a large property tax break it received.











Despite that requirement, the firm promptly told regulators that most of the apartments were exempt from rent stabilization when the complex at 125 Court Street opened in 2005. Then, over the next eight years, Two Trees repeatedly exceeded city limits on rent increases in the 321-unit luxury building, even overcharging the majority of its low-income renters. Regulators took no action until 2011. Although they eventually informed Two Trees that it was out of compliance, they never moved to revoke the tax benefit.















In fact, they had never approved it in the first place.In response to questions by ProPublica, city officials confirmed that 125 Court Street has yet to officially qualify for the tax break program, known as 421-a, even though Two Trees has received more than $10 million in tax savings that continue to this day.Together, the overcharges and Two Trees’ lack of final approval show a city that is eager to give out tax breaks but loathe to police them, enabling developers to easily sidestep tenant protections under its single-biggest housing subsidy. Long controversial, the 421-a program is now on the brink of an historic expansion. Under a deal brokered in Albany last summer, the $1.1 billion-a-year program would allow developers to claim longer tax breaks in exchange for providing more low-income apartments. For the first time, the revamped law also would exempt most new apartments built with 421-a subsidies from rent stabilization. Critics of the reforms have called them a giveaway that will ultimately push up rents, but there’s been little attention paid to the program’s regulatory shortcomings.* De Blasio has had to do damage control on his citywide housing plan as widespread opposition has challenged a mayor who wants to address inequality and who has long preached the need for community input, Politico New Yorkwrites: 







The Rent Racket ProPublica is exploring New York City’s broken rent stabilization system, the tax breaks that underpin it, the regulators who look the other way and the tenants who suffer as a result.

























Berlin Rosen Helps A Developer Win Approval of Sugar Development From Mayor it Elected Then Collects $100,000 For the Mayor's Slush PAC That It Runs















BerlinRosen's current and recent clients include Two Trees Management Negotiations between Mr. de Blasio’s team and Mr. Walentas’s firm took place over the last few days. The two men share a mutual adviser: Jonathan Rosen, one of the mayor’s top political hands and the chief executive of a public affairs firm, Berlin Rosen, that counts Mr. Walentas’s company as a client. * Berlin Rosen who is not for some reason not listed as registered lobbyist work for a lot of real estate developers.   Berlin Rosen’s current and recent clients include Two Trees Management Negotiations between Mr. de Blasio’s team and two trees' Walentas’s firm took place over a few days. The two men share a mutual adviser: Jonathan Rosen, one of the mayor’s top political hands and the chief executive of a public affairs firm, Berlin Rosen that counts Mr. Walentas’s company as a client. Berlin Rosen served as a consultant to de Blasio campaign and runs he slush fund PAC NY1 which pushes the mayor’s agenda. The NYT Michael Powell – “A couple last year; "I called the mayor’s press office and asked about Mr. de Blasio’s perhaps too-optimistic cost projections for prekindergarten.  Twenty minutes later, I heard from Dan Levitan of Berlin Rosen, which is the “it” P.R. firm of the city’s left and a close adviser to the mayor.”  Berlin Rosen worked all the candidates that hired the WFP’s Data and Field in 2009.  One of their clients is still being investigated by a SI special prosecutor.  Both partners in Berlin Rosen, Jonathan Rosen and Valerie Berlin worked for Schneiderman.  Berlin was his chief of staff when he was a NYS Senator.





























































de Blasio One NY PAC Slush Fund, Berlin Rosen, Bill Hyers, Red Horse

















Even Weak JCOPE Says consultants who take actions related to lobbying efforts must register as lobbyists





 The state Joint Commission on Public Ethics said consultants who take actions related to lobbying efforts must register as lobbyists, even if they do not directly ask officials to take action on bills,the Times Union reports * Legislative Gazette: Senator Avella worried about lobbyistsin consultants' clothing * Just don't call these consultants lobbyists | Crain's New York ... They move government without having to disclose their activities. Call them clever, call them stealthy.consultants' clothing." * Cuomo has pushed the legislature to enact a series of ethics reforms in response to scandals and public pressure, but public integrity in New York is worse today than it was three years ago, according to a new 50-state analysis. * Silver, Skelos &secrets and why JCOPE is a joke (NYDN) The Joint Commission on Public Ethics sprung in 2011 from seed planted by Gov. Cuomo, who saw a chance to strengthen New York’s pathetically weak oversight of elected officials after authorities had busted a string of legislators. But the beast of a law that emerged from his negotiations with Skelos and Silver made investigations of wayward legislators all but impossible. By statute, the half-Republican, half-Democratic JCOPE operates in near-total secrecy. Indeed, it is a crime for its 14 members to reveal anything about proceedings. Commission meetings, vote tallies and even the names of those under investigation are shielded from public view. Ugliest of all: a measly two commissioners can kill a probe before it’s begun, even if the other 12 members give the green light. How very convenient for the Assembly speaker and Senate majority leader who each appointed three commission members. Cuomo, Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie and Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan must kill the partisan veto and open JCOPE proceedings except where public disclosure would hamper an investigation. They need to understand that transparency breeds accountability and accountability breeds honesty. The blackout produces absurd results that undermine trust. In September, for example, JCOPE ended a 20-month study of a complaint filed by Donald Trump against Attorney General Eric Schneiderman — without any explanation. Did JCOPE conclude that Trump was full of bull? Or did it find that, although the accusations were true, Schneiderman violated no ethics rules?* The secrecy and partisan nature of the state’s Joint Committee on Public Ethics has rendered it a joke, but the state Legislature’s new leaders should make changes to ensure greater accountability, the DailyNews writes: * The reforms offered in a report on JCOPE don’t come close to addressing the issues of independence that have made it a joke, and the only real weapon against corruption in Albany now is Bharara, the Post writes:  * New teeth for New York’s ethics watchmouse (NYP) *  New York'santi-currption laws ranked 30th in the nation. Three men in a room budgeting?Dead last. (by @Mahoneyw) 







DavidGrandeau&Asoc ‏@DaveGrandeau  







The Times Union writes the same JJOKE editorial over and over and over again http://bit.ly/nvxQUf  Gagan v Grandeau to lead JJOKE













Moreland and JCOPE



















































Berlin Rosen Not the Mayor Office Listed As Contact for the Mayor in Iowa
















...And while @BilldeBlasio is in Iowa, it's not @NYCMayorsOffice Press Off who is listed as the contact...It's @BerlinRosen











After Holding Off On Clinton Endorsement and Failure of His Progressive PAC Mayor Heads to Iowa to Campaign for Clinton





Bill de Blasio’s off to Iowa to sell his soul (NYP) The trip comes in the wake of two years of ego-driven national overreach. Last year, he set his heart on his Progressive Agenda Committee hosting a presidential forum on income inequality. Oops: Not one candidate, not even Bernie Sanders, agreed to show. As another part of his broader plan to make himself the face of the new progressive movement, the mayor also loudly held off on endorsing Clinton — despite having run her 2000 US Senate campaign. He insisted he needed to hear more “commitment” from her on progressive issues like inequality.













































A Record of Berlin Rosen Lobbying For Developers  



The NYT Wrote in 2014 Berlin Rosen Negotiated A Deal With the the Developer of the Domino Sugar Site



Berlin Rosen’s current and recent clients include Two Trees Management (3/3/2014, NYT) "Negotiations between Mr. de Blasio’s team and two trees' Walentas’s firm took place over a few days. The two men share a mutual adviser: Jonathan Rosen, one of the mayor’s top political hands and the chief executive of a public affairs firm, Berlin Rosen that counts Mr. Walentas’s company as a client."

Berlin Rosen Works for Blackstone Which Bought Stuy Town









Berlin Rosen Was Pay to Work for Brookfield Properties and which has bought  Stuyvesant Town/ Peter Copper Village. * The saving of Stuy Town: has corporate greed in New York been dealt a blow?



The Guardian








Berlin Rosen Work for the Brooklyn Library System That Sold the Brooklyn Heights Library to A Developer Against Community Opposition 



Sold! Brooklyn Heights library to developer for $52 ...



Berlin Rosen is Work for Bruce Ratner's Atlantic Yards



In NYC Power 100, Ratner one notch ahead of City's Housing director; p.r. firm BerlinRosen continues rise; Lewis, James slip (AYO) BerlinRosen also represents developers Forest City Ratner and Two Trees Management, potentially putting the firm on both sides of a contentious issue: how much affordable housing must be part of residential projects. Two Trees clashed with de Blasio officials on that issue last winter but ultimately resolved the dispute.







On the Animal Farm Some Are More Equal Than Others







Greedy City Council members seek whopping 71% raise that will bring salaries to up to $192G — as cops, firefighters face measly 1% to 2.5% hikes (NYDN) A rip-off at halfthe price: Say no to a City Council pay raise (NYDN ED) Whereas City Council members want to boost their pay to $192,500, up from $112,500, a 71% increase that would set their annual salary at almost three times New York’s median family income, and Whereas the Council would pull down a higher salary than received by members of Congress, as well as by even highly responsible, in fact, indispensable city workers, such as police and fire captains, and Whereas, the Council has passed budgets including minuscule raises for the municipal workforce, and Whereas, Council members routinely beat up on the 1%, into whose income neighborhood they would be moving, and De Blasio disagreed with Bratton’s slam of the NYC Council as a destructive bunch of novices.









The Fix is In for A Raise





Some elected city officials say they don’t need a raise (NYP) Some elected city officials say they’re satisfied with their paychecks and aren’t looking for raises — even as a mayoral commission studies whether to boost their salaries for the first time in nine years. “I’m perfectly happy with my salary,” said City Councilman Alan Maisel (D-Brooklyn), who like other legislators earns $112,500 a year in base pay, plus bonuses for serving as committee chairs. “I’m not pining for a raise. I’m doing OK.” Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer echoed that stance Monday, but said it was not clear what the advisory panel would decide. The panel’s recommendations are due by the end of November.







Mayor's Lobbyists Berlin Rosen Working to Give de Blasio and Other Pols A Raise

























FAO Schwarz to chair Mayor's Quadrennial Advisory Commission for the review of compensation levels of elected officials.  Schwarz is the Chief Counsel at the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University.  Berlin Rosen is a Lobbyists for the Brennnan Center * De Blasio moves to give himself — and others at City Hall — a raise  (NYP) Mayor de Blasio is paving the way for hefty raises for himself and other elected officials. Hizzoner on Friday announced the formation of three-member advisory commission that will determine whether all city elected officials merit getting pay hikes for the first time in more than eight years. The commission will report its recommendations in November.* Mayor Bill de Blasio announced the formation of a three-member advisory commission that will determine whether all city elected officials merit getting pay hikes for the first time in more than eight years, the New York Post reports:  * Mayor de Blasio wantsto give himself a raise (NYP)Unregistered Lobbyists Berlin Rosen Bag Men to the Pols















Brennan Center Has Never Demanded That Berlin Rosen Register As A Lobbyists











BerlinRosen Works for the Good Government Brennan Center





A growing class of New York political consultants who enjoy close ties to elected officials but don’t register as lobbyists may well have to start doing so, in light of a proposed guidance issued by JCOPE. * The state Joint Commission on Public Ethics said consultants who take actions related to lobbying efforts must register as lobbyists, even if they do not directly ask officials to take action on bills,the Times Union reports:  * ALBANY’S TOP 10LOBBYISTS: City & State features the top 10 lobbying firms in Albany in 2014, including a summary of each and an introduction to their key players in Albany: * Queens state Sen. Tony Avella, who has been pushing a bill to require more disclosure by political consultants, is praising new guidelines from the Joint Commission on Public Ethics, the Times Union reports







More About the City Council Demand for A 71% Raise



City Council Crime Fighting and the NYPD






Sugar Fix: Berlin Rosen an Unregistered Real Estate Lobbyists



NY1 Berlin Rosen and the Wiseguys Lobbyists



Berlin Rosen and de Blasio One NY PAC Slush Fund 




















Berlin Rosen Helps A Developer Win Approval of Sugar Development From Mayor it Elected and Collects $100,000 For the Mayor's Slush PAC That It Runs









Berlin Rosen who is not for some reason not listed as registered lobbyist work for a lot of real estate developers.   Berlin Rosen’s current and recent clients include Two Trees Management Negotiations between Mr. de Blasio’s team and two trees' Walentas’s firm took place over a few days. The two men share a mutual adviser: Jonathan Rosen, one of the mayor’s top political hands and the chief executive of a public affairs firm, Berlin Rosen that counts Mr. Walentas’s company as a client. Berlin Rosen served as a consultant to de Blasio campaign and runs he slush fund PAC NY1 which pushes the mayor’s agenda. The NYT Michael Powell – “A couple last year; "I called the mayor’s press office and asked about Mr. de Blasio’s perhaps too-optimistic cost projections for prekindergarten.  Twenty minutes later, I heard from Dan Levitan of Berlin Rosen, which is the “it” P.R. firm of the city’s left and a close adviser to the mayor.”  Berlin Rosen worked all the candidates that hired the WFP’s Data and Field in 2009.  One of their clients is still being investigated by a SI special prosecutor.  Both partners in Berlin Rosen, Jonathan Rosen and Valerie Berlin worked for Schneiderman.  Berlin was his chief of staff when he was a NYS Senator.  






This is How de Blasio's New York Works







One of the biggest real estate donors was Two Trees Management, which gave $100,000 through various other LLCs. Two Trees, of course, is the well-known Brooklyn developer who reshaped Dumbo and is currently transforming the landmarked Domino sugar refinery in Williamsburg into one of Brooklyn’s largest residential developments. When Mayor de Blasio took office, he pushed for Two Trees to devote more space to affordable housing in its already unusually generous plans for Domino. Ultimately, he won concessions and theplan went through. * BerlinRosen was the top consultant that helped New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio get elected in 2013. It also has helped environmental groups in their anti-hydraulic fracturing campaign in Albany, aided some firms looking to win medical-marijuana licenses and collected $300,000 in campaign funds from candidates since 2010, a review of state records showed. In 2014, the firm received $10,000 from the campaign for former Sen. Ted O’Brien, D-Irondequoit, for Internet ads — a race he lost.  In the case of SKDKnickerbocker, it received $1.2 million to help run campaigns since 2010, including more than $155,000 from the Monroe County Democratic Committee, which was then headed by Assembly Majority Leader Joseph Morelle, D-Irondequoit.  The firm isn’t registered as a lobbying firm. It is run by Jennifer Cunningham, a former campaign adviser to Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the ex-wife of Attorney General Eric Schneiderman. Cunningham said that she would no longer lobby because of her close ties to both powerful leaders after they were elected to their respective posts in 2010. “SKDKnickerbocker is the only national, full-service strategic communications firm in Albany that does not lobby, and we are very clear with our clients about what we can and can not do,” Morgan Hook, a spokesman for the firm and a former spokesman for then-Gov. David Paterson, said in a statement.  Another firm, Mercury Public Affairs, received $1 million last year to run a Jobs for New York campaign funded by New York City business interests to aid Republican state Senate candidates, including upstate and in the Hudson Valley. It also has a prominent lobbying firm, including work for the Committee to Save New York in 2011 and 2012.







Lobbyists BerlinRosen Takes Over NYC Government



Berlin Rosen and de Blasio One NY PAC Slush Fund 



NY1 Berlin Rosen and the Wiseguys Lobbyists



The WFP and Berlin Rosen Has Played Fast and Lose With the Election Law, Data and Field Arrests



Lobbyists Berlin Rosen Takes Over NYC Government







Moreland Investigation Ends, Media Cover-Up 















































Only True News Has Reported the Full Story of de Blasio Illegal Campaign Slush Fund 







Inside Bill de Blasio’s slush fund (NYP Ed) ‘Show me today’s reformer,” the late Brooklyn Democratic Chairman Meade Esposito once said, “and I’ll show you tomorrow’s hack.” Though Esposito, last of the old-time New York political bosses, delivered that quip three decades ago, he easily could’ve been talking about Mayor de Blasio.  We’ve long referred to the Campaign for One New York nonprofit as the mayor’s personal slush fund, raising millions from folks trying to curry political favor. Of the 74 donors in the first six months of 2015 (for $1.71 million in gifts), fully 62 percent either had business or labor contracts with de Blasio’s administration or were trying to get a project OK’d when they donated. But de Blasio used to be the most vocal advocate of limiting the role of “dark” money — especially corporate dough — in politics. Now that he’s mayor, his deposit box is wide open for unlimited donations.  Somewhere, Meade Esposito is smiling.












NYP Write That One of the PR Firms That Runs OneNY PAC But Does Not Name Them or Explain Who They Work For









The PR firm that runs the Campaign for One New York enjoys unrivaled insider access at City Hall.







True News:  There is Not One PR Firm There Are Three That Works for the OneNY PAC and They are Not Only PR Firms They are the Biggest Unregistered Lobbyists in the City



Berlin Rosen, Hilltop and Red Horse All Joined At the Hip With City Hall





























de Blasio Campaign Manager Bill Hires' Hilltop Helps Run the OneNY PAC 













1. Hires: de Blasio Campaign Manager Who Uses Candidate Fake Arrest to Protest A Closing Hospital As A Prop 












2. Once the Hospital is Closed Hires Who Works for the Mayor Slush Fund PAC One NY Uses It to Tell the Community That the Band Aid ER the Developer Agreed to Build is As Good As the Closed Hospital












3. Hires: Sell A Large Development to Replace te Closed to A Community Who Opposes It












4. Is de Blasio Using His 2013 Campaign Account to Pay Hires to Supplement His Pay the Director of His One NY PAC?





The de Blasio Red Horse One New York Connect



The political organization that raises money for Mayor Bill de Blasio's issue-advocacy campaigns has hired longtime political operative Nathan Smith as its director, several sources told Capital. Smith, a founding partner of Red Horse Strategies, will oversee Campaign for One New York, which raised $1.76 million in private funds for the mayor's universal pre-kindergarten program last year. Smith has close ties to the de Blasio administration, having worked with the mayor's intergovernmental affairs director, Emma Wolfe, in winning a Democratic majority in the State Senate in 2008. (PoliticoNY)











Lobbyists Consultant Murder, Inc Run NY Govt and Campaigns Just As Much As Murder, Inc Ran NY in the 40's







The NYP and CFB Look At Gray Areas of Election Law While Covering-Up Illegal Coordination Between Lobbying Consultant, PACS and Candidates









The worst part of the city campaign-finance system is what’s legal (NYP Ed) News of a probe into Mayor de Blasio’s 2013 campaign finances might offer some great comic relief — if it didn’t also raise troubling questions about the city’s rules. As The Post’s Yoav Gonen reported this week, the Campaign Finance Board began looking into possible Team de Blasio no-nos in 2013, after a magazine reported that the 1199 SEIU union “coordinated with the [then-candidate’s] campaign.” Under the city’s rules, candidates must cover the costs of any “coordinated” activities or list them as donations, which are subject to strict limits. It seems the board focused on whether de Blasio’s folks complied. Thing is, the rules themselves are laughable — as is the entire system. For one thing, if de Blasio did break the rules, then he had an edge in the mayoral race.































Will JCOPE Expose Berlin Rosen









A growing class of New York political consultants who enjoy close ties to elected officials but don’t register as lobbyists may well have to start doing so, in light of a proposed guidance issued by JCOPE. * The state Joint Commission on Public Ethics said consultants who take actions related to lobbying efforts must register as lobbyists, even if they do not directly ask officials to take action on bills,the Times Union reports:  * ALBANY’S TOP 10LOBBYISTS: City & State features the top 10 lobbying firms in Albany in 2014, including a summary of each and an introduction to their key players in Albany: * Queens state Sen. Tony Avella, who has been pushing a bill to require more disclosure by political consultants, is praising new guidelines from the Joint Commission on Public Ethics, the Times Union reports







Has de Blasio Ever Met A Development Deal He Did Not Like? In a policy win for de Blasio, the NYC Council approved a rezoning for a five-block stretch of east Midtown, allowing SL Green Realty Corp. to build an enormous skyscraper near Grand Central Terminal and setting the stage for much bigger changes. More here. * The New York City Council approved SL Green Realty’s plans to build a 63-story office tower near Grand Central Terminal in exchange for making $220 million in transit upgrades, The New York Times reports:  In de Blasio's NYC Building In Parks  The Brooklyn Bridge Corporation settled a lawsuit brought by a group alleging it improperly modified plans to include affordable housing in two towers and has agreed to amend its application, The New York Times reports:









Sugar Fix: Berlin Rosen an Unregistered Real Estate Lobbyists



Berlin Rosen and de Blasio One NY PAC Slush Fund 

NY1 Berlin Rosen and the Wiseguys Lobbyists

The WFP and Berlin Rosen Has Played Fast and Lose With the Election Law, Data and Field Arrests

Lobbyists Berlin Rosen Takes Over NYC Government















.





























The Columbia Journalism investigation of Rolling Stone was one article in one publication.  The Berlin Rosen political spin that blamed Cuomo for the city's homeless increase effected all of New York's newspapers and almost all of the media outlets. NY1 journalist Errol Louis believes that Berlin Rosen has manipulated and comprised journalism. What Berlin Rosen did was get a homeless non-profit they controlled to issues a report blaming Cuomo for the increase in homelessness in the city.











The non-profit Coalition for the Homeless was run by the son-in-law for a client of Berlin Rosen, Forest City Ratner. The report even praised the mayor who Berlin Rosen works for, despite the fact that the 10% increase in homelessness has come under de Blasio's term. The reason that True News is asking Steve Coll Dean of the Columbia School of Journalism to investigate the influence of lobbyists on the NYC news media, goes way beyond using the homeless as a political football.  Many activists in the city believe that the 421-a tax breaks are causing the increase in homelessness in the city.  Berlin Rosen client Forest City Ratner is counting on that tax break program to help them fund and sell the luxury housing they are currently building in Brooklyn.  True News is asking the Columbia School of Journalism to investigate if Berlin Rosen blame of Cuomo of the growing homeless problem was covering-up the real reason for the increase in homelessness the 421-a tax break program. It is not only the homeless that the 421-a program is hurting.  Thousand of New York's poor and middle class have been pushed out of communities by gentrification, which is being caused or fueled by the 421-a program.  The tax break program is even at the center of the corruption charges against former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver. The New York Times reporter wrote about how lobbyists control a shadow government.  There is now proof that the lobbyist shadow government control and manipulates the news media.  It is up to the Columbia School of Journalism to restore democracy and a free press to the people of New York City.  The Top media outlets in the city were mislead by Berlin Rosen Cuomo and de Blasio Clash Again, This Time Over Homelessness (NYT, March 25th), *Miley Cyrus urges Andrew Cuomo and state Legislature to boost funds for homeless (NYDN, March 19th), Democrats nudge Cuomo on homeless youthfunding (YNN)  True News: It is Time for Columbia Journalism School to Investigate the Control Over News That Lobbyists Like Berlin Rosen Have in NY

















NY1's Louis Concerned That Lobbyist Have Manipulated and Comprised Journalism







On Inside City Hall host Errol Louis in a discussion of the stations report on Berlin Rosen admitted that he was surprised at the reach of Berlin Rosen. He expressed concern that advocates that use the media might not be independent.  He said he was shocked to lean that the Coalition for the Homeless which was blaming Cuomo for the increase the city's homeless hired Berlin Rosen as its consultant.  Louis on NY1: "Last week when I interviewed the coalition for the homeless, I did not know they were a Berlin Rosen client. The report (the coalitions issued) goes out of their way to blame everyone but the mayor for the record high homelessness in the city.  They talked (blamed) the governor and (blamed) at length the last past mayor.   When I realized they were a client, I realized this is a problem not just for transparency and private sector clients not being registered lobbyist . . . this works both ways. Maybe we got advocates who are not independent advocates."  NY1 Online: Reporters Weigh In on BerlinRosen's Influence onCity Hall











Adam Skelos Not Registered As A Lobbyists . . .  What About Berlin Rosen NY1?









According to complaint, Adam Skelos failed to register as a lobbyist. So, literally, everyone in Albany should take note.


    

  • CW-2, ADAM SKELOS said “[I]t’s better that I distance myself from being in like official meetings, you know, that have to do with the State because, one, I’m not a registered lobbyist and, two, it’s a conflict.”
    • 












Mayor's Unregistered Lobbyists Berlin Rosen Used the Media to Blame Cuomo for Increased Homelessness









NY1's Louis interviewed Patrick Markee, deputy executive director for advocacy at the Coalition for the Homeless on March 26th.  In the interview Markee blamed Cuomo and Bloomberg for the increase in the city's Homeless.  When Markee offered that de Blasio plan would decrease homeless in the coming year, Louis asked him why his report did not blame the mayor also for increasing homeless. In a period of 5 days starting on March 19th the media acted as a court stenographer for Berlin Rosen and their main client de Blasio on blaming Cuomo for the homeless increase.  *Coalition for the Homeless Demands More from Cuomo ...(NYO, March 19th) * State Budget Expected to Provide Relief for Homeless, but Advocates Say It's Still Not Enough



Is the City's 421-a Housing Policy Causing an Increase in Gentrification Causing More Homelessness? 











Senate Democrats Nudge Cuomo On Homeless Youth ...(YNN, March 19th) * Miley Cyrus asks Gov. Cuomo to boost funds for homeless ...)syracuse.com, March 19th) *  De Blasio Slams Cuomo Homelessness Proposals (ObserverMarch 25th) *Cuomo and de Blasio Clash Again, This Time Over Homelessness (NYT, March 25th) Mr. de Blasio’s homeless services commissioner, Gilbert Taylor, told the Council that the administration was going to lobby officials in Albany this week about the rent subsidy issue (for the homeless) * Miley Cyrus urges Andrew Cuomo and state Legislature to boost funds for homeless (NYDN, March 19th) * #MileyCyrus appealing to #Cuomo for more funds. Housing Homeless Youth Poses Challenge for Mayor deBlasio (NYT)  * Ambitious Call for De Blasio, Cuomo to Build Supportive Housing (City Limits, March 25th) * Senate Democrats nudge Cuomo on homeless youthfunding (YNN)  *Activists and politicians laid out an aggressive nine-point plan they say de Blasio and Gov. Andrew Cuomo could implement to stem the growing homeless population by the decade’s end, the Observer reports * State Budget Expected to Provide Relief for Homeless, but Advocates Say It's Still Not Enough (NY1) *On Homeless Fight, State Says to City: 'Next Year' - Bergin WNYC 


















When is A Reporter Going to Ask A Pol What is Causing the Increase in Homelessness?





Speaker Blames New Yorkers for Not Allowing Homeless in Their Neighborhoods



New York City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito called for more supportive housing to tackle the “alarming” homelessness crisis, and slammed local resistance to shelters, the Daily News writes: * NYC Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito called for more supportive housing to tackle the city’s “alarming and truly heartbreaking” homelessness crisis, and slammed “NIMBYism” from New Yorkers who have resisted sheltering the poor in their neighborhoods. * Board members at two Brooklyn charities — including a former makeup artist for Oprah Winfrey — kicked homeless and low-income families out of two brownstones so they could sell the buildings for a bundle, AG Eric Schneiderman’s office alleged.








Why Did NY1 Who Help Create the Lobbyists Shadow Government in NYC Only 



Turn Against Berlin Rosen?

























































The City Blames Cuomo While It Builds Luxury HQ for Its Homeless Agency



Will de Blasio Fire Homeless Commission Gilbert Talyor?

Will Columbia Deans Coronel and Coll Investigate Berlin Rosen Control of the Media?



































Homeless agency spends $600K on office upgrades as families live with vermin: report (NYP) The agency that looks after the city’s neediest is blowing through cash for its own digs like LeBron James furnishing his next mansion. The Department of Homeless Services, which was recently blasted over squalid conditions at dozens of shelters, spent $600,000 beautifying its offices, according to a report Monday. The lavish expenditures included two 75-inch Samsung 3-D TVs that cost $3,297.99 each — even after a $500 rebate. DHS also bought 11 28-inch Samsung LED TVs for $308 each and another dozen 19-inch Samsung models that cost $174.14 a pop, according to DNAinfo, which first reported the upgrades. Other pricey electronics included 13 Apple iPad Air tablets with 32GB of memory, and 30 iPad Airs with 16GB of memory. The portable computers retail for $449 and $399, respectively. The agency also spared no expense on seat comfort — dropping $429 apiece on 16 Air Grid office chairs with headrests. n all, the department spent $90,000 on high-tech gear and furniture for its offices at 33 Beaver St.  That’s on top of $171,000 to create additional offices at the Financial District building, and $150,000 on a paint job for the seven floors the department occupies.







Will the CUNY School of Journalism Show Some Social Responsibility and Investigate Berlin Rosen Control on the NYC's News Media?







Last month, the city Department of Investigation issued a scathing report that exposed what Commissioner Mark Peters called “perilous” conditions at 25 shelters housing thousands of destitute families.The report revealed 621 violations of building and fire-safety codes, as well as vermin infestations — including hordes of roaches and a smelly, decaying rat corpse— and garbage littering the hallways and stairs. At one of the worst shelters, the Brooklyn Acacia Cluster in Brownsville — where investigators found one elevator broken, and the other fouled with a large puddle of urine — residents were outraged at the DHS spending. “When we moved in, they gave us a broken bed, a broken dresser, one chest that has two of the drawers broken,” said Denise Annisa, 49, a mother of five whose previous apartment was destroyed by fire. “We’ve requested new stuff, but we haven’t gotten anything. It’s been over a year.” DHS said it was “ramping up its efforts to curb an unprecedented homelessness crisis.” “This includes adding 154 new staff members to keep families at the brink of homelessness in their homes, and help people in shelter transition back to permanent housing, and upgrading old facilities to accommodate this new staff and operation,” the DHS statement added.positioning









NYP Leaves Out the How Shadow Govt Lobbyist Berlin Rosen's Interlocking-Directorates Destroyed A Library for A Developer 







Developer with ties to de Blasio scores job, despite being outbid (NYP) A developer with ties to Mayor de Blasio won the right to transform a Brooklyn library
 into a residential skyscraper despite being outbid by at least two 
other builders, multiple sources told The Post. Hudson Companies bid $52
 million for development rights to the Brooklyn Heights Library, $6 
million and $1 million less than two other bidders. The bids of 11 other
 developers who lost out on the lucrative project have never been 
publicly revealed. Hudson CEO David Kramer, a mayoral friend and 
fund-raiser, proposed a 30-story residential tower with space for a new 
library on the ground floor and $40 million to fix up other branches. 
(It has since grown to 36 stories.) Not only was his bid lower than 
others, Kramer was the only competitor to proposeplacing the required 
affordable housing units off-site — at a location two miles away in 
Clinton Hill. This despite de Blasio long decrying projects that 
separate subsidized apartments from market-rate ones.



Nearly all the other bidders put the affordable units in the same building on Clinton Street,
 according to sources familiar with the bid process. Kramer proposed 114
 units; another bidder planned 117. The price tag for Kramer’s plan came
 out to be about $100 per square foot less than the going rate of $500 
per square foot for Brooklyn Heights properties. Critics said Hudson got
 a de-Blasio-sized discount. “This is a sweetheart deal to a politically
 connected supporter, directly contrary to de Blasio’s stated goals for 
development projects,” said one source familiar with the bids. “He was 
not going to be the winning guy pre-de-Blasio.” Kramer has known de 
Blasio since the mayor was a Park Slope councilman. He and his wife gave
 more than $9,000 to de Blasio’s public-advocate and mayoral campaigns 
since 2007, although de Blasio had to return all but $400 of Kramer’s 
cash because his company did business with the city. Hudson employees
 gave an additional $2,450 during that time. Kramer acknowledged that he
 did speak to Deputy Mayor Alicia Glen, who used to run Goldman Sachs’ 
Urban Investment Group, to “look at the project” shortly after she 
arrived at City Hall. That same Goldman Sachs division provided Kramer 
with a $10 million loan to help finance the library project. Library 
board member Peter Ashkenasy said, “At the end of the day, it was the 
issues that concerned the library the most — what the new library would 
look like and the economic benefits to the library, and Hudson had identified a site for the interim library. No one else had done that.” But real-estate insiders were flabbergasted.* De Blasio accused of sweetheart deal with Hudson Companies(Real Deal)

















Last week, Councilman Stephen Levin backed a new deal for
 the library's $52 million sale the sale of the business library in his 
district of Brooklyn Heights to a developer to build a 36 story 
building. According to lawyer urban planer Michael White who with 
members of Citizens Defending Libraries has been trying to block the 
sale the last minute deals that Levin and Economic Development. Deputy 
Mayor Alicia Glen took credit for was in the works for months, and sold 
out the community. White group had it work cut out for them. Berlin 
Rosen not only help elected Councilman Levin, but also represent or was 
connect to every major party in the library theft from the Brooklyn 
Heights’ community.





















1. Councilman
 Steven Levin paid Berlin Rosen over $100,000 to run his re-elected 
campaign in 2013.  Levin ties to the unregistered lobbyist Berlin Rosen 
go back to his 2009 campaign when he spent $8,000 on WFP's Data and 
Field, that former county leader the late Vito Lopez ran. 2. Berlin
 Rosen also represents the Brooklyn Public Library that is selling the 
library with almost no community support to developers, Hudson 
Companies, in partnership with Marvel Architects.  3.  Berlin Rosen also represents Hudson and
 has many connections to Marvel Architects. It is impossible to tell who
 are the Berlin Clients are since the firm does not registered as a 
lobbyist. 4. Hudson Companies and Marvel Architects are putting up the strongly opposed Pierhouse at Brooklyn Bridge Park, the hotel and condominium complex that the same Brooklyn Heights community failed in court to stop 











de
 Blasio and Berlin Rosen Joined At the Hip Their 
Interlocking-Directorates of Unregistered Lobbyists and PACs Are A 
Cancer to Our Democracy







 5. That
 is not the end of Berlin Rosen Interlocking-Directorates with the sell 
of the library. Citizens Defending Libraries White pointed out that 
Forest City Ratner owned zoning rights connected to the library, Noticing New York  Berlin Rosen is also work for Ratner. White called Forest City Ratner, as it's a gatekeeper to the transaction. Mayor To Back Library Sale Because of Ties to Condo Developer, Critics Say (DNAINFO)
 "Mayor de Blasio has been taking money from the developer and his team 
while their application to acquire and shrink the library was pending," 
White's group said in a press release issued early Tuesday. David 
Kramer, a principal of Hudson, donated
 $4,725 to the mayor in 2011. Berlin Rosen work for the de Blasio's 2013
 campaign for mayor and now work for his slush fund PAC Campaign for One
 NY   6. (All Blue) In the space of 6 years Berlin Rosen has 
taken the lead in electing puppets to mostly the city council that 
follow the needs of their clients over the needs of the voters who 
elected them.   7. (All Black) Besides working for de Blasio 
campaign Berlin Rosen the councilman Steve Levin who had the power in 
the council to stop the deal. True News has reported that lobbyists have
 taken over most of the old Tammany Hall to run a shadow govt that cuts 
out the public. Citizens Defending Libraries in their press release 
after the sale of the library said it has been clear that with this 
library sale we have been witness to the exercise of an enormous amount 
of power.  What we did not see today was the exercise by the City 
Council of the power that it has to protect the public.* More than two yearsafter he first took office, de Blasio has yet to fulfill that pledge.
 A de Blasio spokeswoman said the mayor is in talks about requiring city
 officials to disclose their lobbying meetings. "The Mayor's position is
 that lobbyist meetings with officials at city agencies should be 
reported. The administration is discussing changes to require lobbyists 
to report meetings with city officials, in addition to other ways to 
improve reporting, such as encouraging more frequent reporting and more 
details about subject matter," said de Blasio spokeswoman Karen Hinton. 
Hinton offered no timeline for when those talks would conclude.



 `









The New Tammany Hall Bosses are The City Real Estate Robber Barons and Their Mini Me Lobbyists 












The Interlocking-Directorates of CM Levin, Lobbyists Berlin Rosen and the Sale of a library That the Community Did Not Want Sold






Berlin Rosen and de Blasio One NY PAC Slush Fund 



NY1 Berlin Rosen and the Wiseguys Lobbyists



The WFP and Berlin Rosen Has Played Fast and Lose With the Election Law, Data and Field Arrests



Lobbyists Berlin Rosen Takes Over NYC Government



The Lobbyist's Shadow Government

The Privatization of the Tammany Hall Machine



More on Dark Pool Corrupt Consultant Who Will Have to Register As Lobbyists



Media Cover-Up of NYCLASS, Other Citizens United PACs,  MayorOne NY PAC



How the Advance Group Conspired to Steal the 2009 and2013 Election 



CrainsNY on the Advance Groups Double Dipping 



  







de Blasio's War On NYP and Daily News 



Bratton Backs Mayor Crime Increase Is Not the Bad Old Day . . .  Nattering Nabobs of Negativism?











By Bill Bratton -Bratton: Crime surge not a return to NYC’s ‘bad old days’ (NYP)  It’s time for a sense of proportion about the increase in shootings and murders in New York City in the first five months of 2015. While it’s true that both categories have risen over last year’s low numbers, the increase is not a harbinger of collapsing law enforcement or crime raging out of control, as some local columnists would have it. Nor is it evidence that the steep decrease over the past four years in reasonable-suspicion stops — or “stop-and-frisks,” as they’re colloquially known — has caused the increase in shootings.  The NYPD has plans to counter the current rise in shootings, including reinforcing patrols this summer with police officers who usually do administrative work, and targeted investigations of known gangs and shooters. 









City Hall Ties to Control the Crime Narrative By Attacking the Press 



 NYPD Commissioner William Bratton writes in the Post that a rise in shootings and murders in New York City is neither “a harbinger” of struggling law enforcement tactics nor the result of fewer stop-and-frisks









We may be able to moderate the increase or even reverse it over the summer.  But even if we don’t succeed, the current rise is not the earth-shaking event that has been pictured. By far, the largest and most dense city in the United States remains an extraordinarily safe environment, with the lowest property-crime rates among the nation’s 25 largest cities and a murder rate lower than the nation’s as a whole.  …Michael Goodwin’s not buying it, saying Bratton is waving a “white flag” at criminals and making a defense of the mayor that “reeks of politics.* Bratton, responding to a call from some police union leaders to conduct more stop-and-frisks amid an uptick in violent incidents, told reporters today the controversial tactic doesn’t really impact crime at all. “Let’s get over this issue of stop-question-and-frisk, how impactful it is, or isn’t,” Bratton said in a press conference at NYPD headquarters Monday morning. * The City Poll: Crime Tops Concerns for Bronx Residents (NY1) * "Broken Windows" policing does work. Says who?Residents of poor black neighborhoods.  (Manhattan Institute) * New York City Police Commissioner Bill Bratton tells the Guardian that hiring more non-white officers is difficult because so many would-be recruits have criminal records: 













.



de Blasio "Don't Believe What You Read In the NYP and Daily News About Crime Rising"












Friday Do Not Believe Everything You Read in the NewYork Post': Mayor Smacks Down Tabloids (NYO) Once again, Mayor Bill de Blasio dinged the city’s two tabloids today, telling radio listeners that the New York Post and Daily News are greatly exaggerating the threat that crime and shootings pose to the five boroughs. Mr. de Blasio, a Democrat, appeared on WNYC this morning, taking call-in questions from New Yorkers for the first time since he became mayor more than a year ago. He took special aim at “New York’s Hometown Newspaper.”

A Tale of Two Press Attacks: On the Right Agnew vs On the Left de Blasio









“The Daily News, with all due respect to them, was really misleading to the people of this city,” Mr. de Blasio told host Brian Lehrer. “The headline you talked about on the subway crime, it doesn’t surprise me that there would be sensationlist headlines.” Mr. de Blasio was reacting to a Daily News cover from yesterday that announced subway crime had soared, pointing to a 27 percent increase in felony assaults in the city’s subways. The mayor aggressively pushed back on those numbers, telling Mr. Lehrer that a straphanger has “about a one in a million chance of being a victim of crime.” *  Bill de Blasio: Rikers Reform and HomelessnessMore Important Than 1K Cops  (NYO) * the mayor’s office is using @Genius to “factcheck” the @nypost:  * De Blasio downplaysquestions regarding uptick in subway crime, claims Daily News report onassaults was ‘very misleading’  (NYDN) * De Blasio downplays questions about uptick in subway crime (NYDN) * Jeffries takes on role as de Blasio watchdog (Capital)











































The Mayor's Door Wide Open to Lobbyists













De Blasio’s door is open to lobbyists (NYP) Mayor de Blasio has met personally with a dozen lobbyists so far this year — most of them campaign supporters and just two shy of the 14 he huddled with in all of 2014, records show. Leading the pack was last year’s highest-earning city lobbyist, James Capalino, who met with Hizzoner three times in the last three months. Capalino hosted two fund-raisers for de Blasio’s successful mayoral run in 2013. Clients who accompanied him to the meetings included Chinese real-estate and movie-theater mogul Wang Jianlin, chairman of Dalian Wanda Group, and Janno Lieber, a top Silverstein Properties exec who bundled $11,100 for de Blasio two years ago. Capalino most recently met with the mayor on May 28 on behalf of helicopter-tour operators in lower Manhattan — an opportunity that critics of the noisy flights say they haven’t gotten. “It’s very discouraging but not surprising,” said Delia Von Neuschatz, a resident of Battery Park City who founded an advocacy group to halt the tours.  Other lobbyists/campaign supporters who met Hizzoner privately included Michael Woloz, who bundled nearly $237,000 for his campaign on behalf of the yellow-cab industry but who met with him on a doctors-union labor issue on Feb. 2. * The mayor has met personally with a dozen lobbyists so far this year — most of them campaign supporters and just two shy of the 14 he huddled with in all of 2014, records show.

The Lobbyist's Shadow Government

NY1 Berlin Rosen and the Wiseguys Lobbyists

Foreign Ownership of NYC Real Estate and the Lobbyists Who Work for Them




NY1 Reports On Attempt to Make Berlin Rosen Disclose Its Clients, But Leaves Out 1NY PAC Mayor's Slush Fund







Avella Proposes Bill to Require Consultants to Disclose Clients (NY1) State Senator Tony Avella introduced legislation Thursday that would require firms like BerlinRosen to publicly disclose all of their clients. NY1's Grace Rauh filed the following report. Avella's legislation would require communications and consulting firms like BerlinRosen to disclose all of their clients. Jonathan Rosen, who co-founded the firm, is a close adviser to the mayor. At the same time, he also advises clients with business before City Hall. Because he is not a registered lobbyist, he does not have to reveal the clients he represents.





"We're saying you have to disclose it so the public has an opportunity to know exactly what's going on and who has influence above and beyond what the average citizen may have," Avella says. Avella's bill is modeled after the state lobbying law. He says he is most concerned about consultants who advise private clients and also advise public officials. He says that special relationship between a consultant and a politician may mean clients could be getting favorable treatment from the government. "It's that relationship that provides his or her clients access that anybody else would not normally have," Avella says. Avella's bill is quite broad and, as written, would require any consultant in the state who earns more than $5,000 from consulting work to disclose all clients, even if they do not have business with the city or with Albany.







Sal Albanese ‏@SalAlbaneseNYC  @unitedNYblogs



I am @NY1 fan but disingenuous 4 consultants/lobbyists2 opine on politics their paychecks hinge on "relationships" with pols













Berlin Rosen Does Lobbying Work Through the Mayor's One New York, Both Groups Not Registered As Lobbyists









Group Supportingde Blasio’s Agenda Is Said to Draw Interest of Ethics Panel (NYT) A political group run by close allies of Mayor Bill de Blasio has attracted the interest of a New York State ethics panel, which is concerned that the group could be violating lobbying rules, according to two people familiar with the inquiry.Representatives from the state’s Joint Commission on Public Ethics have contacted the group in recent weeks to ask why it has not yet registered as a lobbyist, in possible violation of rules requiring it to do so if it plans on influencing the outcome of pending legislation. The group, the Campaign for One New York, was created by the mayor’s political consultants to raise money and attention for Mr. de Blasio’s political agenda while operating outside the city’s limits on campaign contributions. The group is paying for the mayor’s trips to California and for a previous one to the Midwest; on Thursday, Mr. de Blasio is to speak with technology moguls at a fund-raiser for the group in San Francisco. Tickets are selling for up to $10,000. Under New York’s ethics rules, groups that “reasonably anticipate” spending more than $5,000 on lobbying activities are required to register with the ethics commission, known as Jcope, within 15 days.* City Hall's new 'in' crowd of lobbyists (CrainsNY) *  The Perma-Campaign: For Bill de Blasio, the Race Never Ends(NYO)





More on the Berlin Rosen and de Blasio One NY PAC



NY1 Berlin Rosen and the Wiseguys Lobbyists



Lobbyists Berlin Rosen Takes OverNYC Government



The Privatization of the Tammany Hall Machine



How Berlin Rosen Comprised Journalism

Sugar Fix: Berlin Rosen an Unregistered Real Estate Lobbyists 











de Blasio Says One New York is Not Lobbying Behind Capital's Paywall





De Blasio insisted that the nonprofit political group raising millions for his agenda, Campaign for One New York, is not engaged in lobbying, though it has drawn scrutiny form JCOPE. Also Behind the Paywall De Blasio paid consultants up to $4 million for OneNYC (Capital) HR&A Advisors helped with the OneNYC report * When Campaign Aides Are Lobbyists, Questions Mount - City Limits(City Limits)









Berlin Rosen Worked With the Advance Group for the Two Councilmembers Fined By CFB







Two City Council members were slapped with fines Wednesday for taking off-limits contributions from animal rights group NYCLASS, which bankrolled Mayor de Blasio's mayoral campaign for his pledge to ban horse-drawn carriages. Council members Laurie Cumbo (D-Brooklyn) and Mark Levine (D-Manhattan) have to pay back money they were given by New Yorkers for Clean, Livable and Safe Streets because they shared the same political consultant — the Advance Group — as the anti-carriage group. One ambiguity is that Ms. Mark-Viverito was not running in an election regulated by the city Campaign Finance Board, but rather in a leadership race within the council. City council members fined over money from anti-horse carriage group(NYP)Two city council members were slapped with hefty fines for accepting prohibited campaign contributions from a group at the center of the Central Park horse carriage brouhaha. Freshman member Laurie Cumbo (D-Brooklyn) was fined $7,868, and newbie Mark Levine (D-Manhattan) was fined $8,686 by the city’s Campaign Finance Board for accepting over-the-limit funding from a “prohibited source.” The board found that the funding source for both campaigns – New Yorkers for Clean, Livable and Safe Street (NYCLASS) – was too intertwined with the candidates’ consultant, The Advance Group (TAG).Campaigns are prohibited from coordinating with third-party groups that make “independent” expenditures. Yet TAG president and lobbyist Scott Levenson was political director for NYCLASS, and both groups shared the same office space. Councilman Rodriguez was also a client of the Advance Group and got mailing from Advance's PAC United for the Future and was not fined by the CFB



The Advance Group Represented Yetta Krukland and the PAC It Controlled Contributed to Its Opponent Represented By Berlin Rosen









The Advance  group was paid by democratic candidate Yetta Krukland $28,000 and the IE NYCLASS that Advance paid for $30,000 in mailings to promote Yetta Krukland.  The UFT PAC which Advance Was Working for United for the Future funded Krukland Opponent Corey Johnson. Krukland fired Advance during the campaign. The following Berlin Rosen clients were funded by Advance's PAC United for The Future: Elizabeth Crowley.Donovan Richards, Rory Lancman, Steven Levin, Mark Levine, Ydanis A Rodriguez, Austin I  Shafran (Not Elected), Kirsten J Foy (Not Elected)



















de Blasio NYCLASS Advance Group Pay to Play







Edison Hires the Advance Group Six Days After de Blasio Became Mayor, Where is the Prosecutors?









 Edison is also pushing a plan to extend the No. 7 train from Manhattan's West Side, where it owns properties, to a Secaucus, N.J., site, where a major Edison parking facility sits next to a New Jersey Transit hub.  Six days after Mr. de Blasio's inauguration in January 2014, Edison inked a $7,500-a-month lobbying contract with Manhattan-based Advance—which had orchestrated the anti-Quinn political action committee and NYCLASS' own efforts to undermine Ms. Quinn's bid. Advance's political consulting activities during the campaign season are now reportedly being investigated by the FBI, and last week NYCLASS was  for violations stemming from its work with Advance.* Nislick &Feldman ('spender") held personally "LIABLE" for $26K @NYCCFB Hearing




Advance— Orchestrated the anti-Quinn political action committee and NYCLASS' own efforts to undermine Ms. Quinn's bid. 











 Edison’s StephenNislick pushes real estate agenda with mayor (Real Deal) Among other things, the developer is pushing for an extension of the 7-train to New Jersey. Nislick co-founded a political action committee — New York City Is Not For Sale — that spent more than $1 million to help defeat Christine Quinn, who was then de Blasio’s main opponent and didn’t support the horse carriage ban. A spokesman for the mayor told Crain’s that the meeting between de Blasio and Nislick in 2013 was about “parking rules and regulations, specifically things like parking minimums.” Developers have lobbied to city to try to cut down parking mandates. In May, the mayor said his administration would re-examine those mandates. [Crain's]











Chris Bragg ‏@ChrisBragg1  Days after deBlasio inaguration, Edison Properties inked the Advance Group to lobby him (CrainsNY) Edison and its related companies own some 40 parking lots and garages, and have made a fortune constructing everything from Manhattan Mini Storage facilities to luxury apartments on their extensive roster of parcels.* The man behind the horse-carriage fuss(Capital)  Steve Nislick believes his ally de Blasio will deliver












How the Advance Group Conspired to Steal the 2009 and2013 Election 



















Who Guards the Guards Themselves? 



Berlin Rosen Worked for the AG Other Consultants for the DAs











Since the state attorney general and local district attorneys must run for public office, all of the state's top prosecutors must rely on corrupting influence of campaign consultants and campaign donors to win elected office.  Once a prosecutor relies on the advice of campaign consultants, that opens the door to potential lobbying, because, in New York, campaign consultants often double as lobbyists.  Political consultant Red Horse worked for Brooklyn DA Thompson campaign along with Berlin Rosen.  Both Red Horse and Advance Group worked for the UFT's PAC United for the Future (the UFT attempted to covering up Advance involvement by paying them through a fake company) Red Horse worked for Manhattan DA. Red Horse worked for Brooklyn BP Adams, Bronx BP Diaz and PA James. Red Horse worked for Manhattan DA Cy Vance. Red Horse worked for Pitta Bishop for Brooklyn BP Adams. Red Horse worked with George Arzt in the Queens BP campaign. Berlin Rosen not only help elected Schneiderman to his AG position, both it partners worked for him when he was state senator. * Preet Bharara has become well-known in New York for prosecuting the state’s top political players. This month, the Manhattan U.S. attorney might be better known as the hottest ticket in town when it comes to law-school commencement speakers.











Who Watchers the Watchman, Lobbyists, Grand Jury, AG - DAsConflict of Interests With NYPD and Elected Officials









Berlin Rosen Worked With the Advance Group for the Two Councilmembers Fined By CFB







Two City Council members were slapped with fines Wednesday for taking off-limits contributions from animal rights group NYCLASS, which bankrolled Mayor de Blasio's mayoral campaign for his pledge to ban horse-drawn carriages. Council members Laurie Cumbo (D-Brooklyn) and Mark Levine (D-Manhattan) have to pay back money they were given by New Yorkers for Clean, Livable and Safe Streets because they shared the same political consultant — the Advance Group — as the anti-carriage group. One ambiguity is that Ms. Mark-Viverito was not running in an election regulated by the city Campaign Finance Board, but rather in a leadership race within the council. City council members fined over money from anti-horse carriage group(NYP)Two city council members were slapped with hefty fines for accepting prohibited campaign contributions from a group at the center of the Central Park horse carriage brouhaha. Freshman member Laurie Cumbo (D-Brooklyn) was fined $7,868, and newbie Mark Levine (D-Manhattan) was fined $8,686 by the city’s Campaign Finance Board for accepting over-the-limit funding from a “prohibited source.” The board found that the funding source for both campaigns – New Yorkers for Clean, Livable and Safe Street (NYCLASS) – was too intertwined with the candidates’ consultant, The Advance Group (TAG).Campaigns are prohibited from coordinating with third-party groups that make “independent” expenditures. Yet TAG president and lobbyist Scott Levenson was political director for NYCLASS, and both groups shared the same office space. Councilman Rodriguez was also a client of the Advance Group and got mailing from Advance's PAC United for the Future and was not fined by the CFB



The Advance Group Represented Yetta Krukland and the PAC It Controlled Contributed to Its Opponent Represented By Berlin Rosen









The Advance  group was paid by democratic candidate Yetta Krukland $28,000 and the IE NYCLASS that Advance paid for $30,000 in mailings to promote Yetta Krukland.  The UFT PAC which Advance Was Working for United for the Future funded Krukland Opponent Corey Johnson. Krukland fired Advance during the campaign. The following Berlin Rosen clients were funded by Advance's PAC United for The Future: Elizabeth Crowley.Donovan Richards, Rory Lancman, Steven Levin, Mark Levine, Ydanis A Rodriguez, Austin I  Shafran (Not Elected), Kirsten J Foy (Not Elected)



















de Blasio NYCLASS Advance Group Pay to Play







Edison Hires the Advance Group Six Days After de Blasio Became Mayor, Where is the Prosecutors?









 Edison is also pushing a plan to extend the No. 7 train from Manhattan's West Side, where it owns properties, to a Secaucus, N.J., site, where a major Edison parking facility sits next to a New Jersey Transit hub.  Six days after Mr. de Blasio's inauguration in January 2014, Edison inked a $7,500-a-month lobbying contract with Manhattan-based Advance—which had orchestrated the anti-Quinn political action committee and NYCLASS' own efforts to undermine Ms. Quinn's bid. Advance's political consulting activities during the campaign season are now reportedly being investigated by the FBI, and last week NYCLASS was  for violations stemming from its work with Advance.* Nislick &Feldman ('spender") held personally "LIABLE" for $26K @NYCCFB Hearing




Advance— Orchestrated the anti-Quinn political action committee and NYCLASS' own efforts to undermine Ms. Quinn's bid. 











 Edison’s StephenNislick pushes real estate agenda with mayor (Real Deal) Among other things, the developer is pushing for an extension of the 7-train to New Jersey. Nislick co-founded a political action committee — New York City Is Not For Sale — that spent more than $1 million to help defeat Christine Quinn, who was then de Blasio’s main opponent and didn’t support the horse carriage ban. A spokesman for the mayor told Crain’s that the meeting between de Blasio and Nislick in 2013 was about “parking rules and regulations, specifically things like parking minimums.” Developers have lobbied to city to try to cut down parking mandates. In May, the mayor said his administration would re-examine those mandates. [Crain's]











Chris Bragg ‏@ChrisBragg1  Days after deBlasio inaguration, Edison Properties inked the Advance Group to lobby him (CrainsNY) Edison and its related companies own some 40 parking lots and garages, and have made a fortune constructing everything from Manhattan Mini Storage facilities to luxury apartments on their extensive roster of parcels.* The man behind the horse-carriage fuss(Capital)  Steve Nislick believes his ally de Blasio will deliver












How the Advance Group Conspired to Steal the 2009 and2013 Election 



















Who Guards the Guards Themselves? 



Berlin Rosen Worked for the AG Other Consultants for the DAs











Since the state attorney general and local district attorneys must run for public office, all of the state's top prosecutors must rely on corrupting influence of campaign consultants and campaign donors to win elected office.  Once a prosecutor relies on the advice of campaign consultants, that opens the door to potential lobbying, because, in New York, campaign consultants often double as lobbyists.  Political consultant Red Horse worked for Brooklyn DA Thompson campaign along with Berlin Rosen.  Both Red Horse and Advance Group worked for the UFT's PAC United for the Future (the UFT attempted to covering up Advance involvement by paying them through a fake company) Red Horse worked for Manhattan DA. Red Horse worked for Brooklyn BP Adams, Bronx BP Diaz and PA James. Red Horse worked for Manhattan DA Cy Vance. Red Horse worked for Pitta Bishop for Brooklyn BP Adams. Red Horse worked with George Arzt in the Queens BP campaign. Berlin Rosen not only help elected Schneiderman to his AG position, both it partners worked for him when he was state senator. * Preet Bharara has become well-known in New York for prosecuting the state’s top political players. This month, the Manhattan U.S. attorney might be better known as the hottest ticket in town when it comes to law-school commencement speakers.




































Almost the Entire Council is Infected With PACs That Advance Worked for 31 of the 51 Members, Including the Speaker







Candidates Funding By Advance's NYCLASS PAC: Yetta Krukland (Advance Client), Councilman Mark Levine (Advance Client), Councilwoman Laurie Cumbo (Advance Client)



Candidates Funding By Advance's United for the Future PAC: Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, Inez Dickens (Advance Client), Corey Johnson (Berlin Rosen Client) (running against Advance client Yetta Krukland), Mark Levine (Advance Client), Councilwoman Laurie Cumbo Councilman Ydanis Rodríguez, Paul Vallone (Mercury Client), Rosie Mendez, Councilman Andrew King, Councilman James Vacca (Red Horse Client), Councilwoman Vanessa Gibson (Red Horse Client), Councilwoman Annabel Palma (Red Horse Client), Councilman Costa Constantinides, Mark Weprin (Hudson TG), Councilman Daneek Miller (Red Horse Client), Councilwoman Karen Koslowitz (Hudson TG), Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley (Berlin Rosen Client), Councilman Richard Donovan (Berlin Rosen Client), Councilman Eric Ulrich, Councilman Antonio Reynoso (Red Horse Client), Councilman Brad Lander, Councilman Mathieu Eugene (Advance Client), Councilwoman Inez Barron, Councilman Jumaane Williams, Councilman Alan Maisel (Brandford), Councilman Mark Treyger (Hudson TG), Councilwoman Debra Rose (Brandford), Councilman Steven Matteo, Councilman Robert Jackson (Boro President Candidate), Councilman Vincent Ignizio























True News Wags NY1 And Berlin Rosen Story 













NY1 Reporter Grace Rauh ‏@gracerauh 



Must give props to @ChrisBragg1 and @unitedNYblogs for earlier reports on @BerlinRosen and role of consultants/lobbyists.







Behind the scenes at City Hall, a communications consultant and his public relations firm, BerlinRosen, wield tremendous influence. NY1’s Grace Rauh has more on the firm's co-founder, Jonathan Rosen, and the calls for reform from government watchdogs. The Goo Goos In the NY1 Reporter Have Never Said A Word About Berlin Rosen in the 3 Years True News Has Been Writing About Them



Norman Oder ‏@AYReport  A history of warnings re BerlinRosen role, from @unitedNYblogs @powellnyt & also @ChrisBragg1



































True News Reported Over A Year Before NY1 About the Conflict of Interests of Berlin Rosen Working for Both the Mayor and Developers like Two Trees, Domino Sugar















From True News Real Estate developers now understand if you want to get an OK for your housing plan hire Berlin Rosen.  BerlinRosen's current and recent clients include Two Trees Management Negotiations between Mr. de Blasio’s team and Mr. Walentas’s firm took place over the last few days. The two men share a mutual adviser: Jonathan Rosen, one of the mayor’s top political hands and the chief executive of a public affairs firm, Berlin Rosen, that counts Mr. Walentas’s company as a client. Twitter / BerlinRosen: Congratulations to whole team ...  














Mayor and Berling Rosen Transparency Not





Mayor Does Not Seem Eager to Discuss Relationship With BerlinRosen Co-Founder(NY1) In the wake of the NY1 report Wednesday night about the web of influence at City Hall that a top advisor to the mayor has woven, there are calls for reform, while Mayor Bill de Blasio does not seem eager to discuss his relationship with Jonathan Rosen, who co-founded the public relations firm BerlinRosen.   State Senator Tony Avella, who chairs the Senate's Ethics Committee, said it is time for public relations firms with close ties to government to be regulated much in the same way lobbyists are.  As we work to repair public trust in our elected officials," Avella said, "we must no longer tolerate lobbyists in consultants' clothing."

Call For Reform Of Consultant Lobbyists Corruption Coming From IDC Member Avella Not NYC Progressives 





Many of the City's Progressives Including the Mayor Who Your Would Expect to Be Fighting Pay to Play Lobbyists are Hiding From Reform







Corrupting Progressives Era



NY1's Rauh needs to ask the following progressives who have hired Berlin Rosen to run their campaigns if they support Avella's reform to regulate political consultant who work for private clients as public relations consultants as lobbyists. Speaker Mark-Viverito;  Councilmembers: Chin, Johnson, Levine, Rodriguez, Lancman, Crowley, Donovan, Levin, Garodnick, Dromm, Van Bramer, Lander, Williams, Rose,  State Senators: Squadron; Comptroller Stringer; Attorney General Schneiderman



The 1st Progressive Era Goal Was to Destroy Political Bosses and Reform Government 









The Progressive Era was a period of social activism and political reform in the United States that flourished from the 1890s to the 1920s. One main goal of the Progressive movement was purification of government, as Progressives tried to eliminate corruption by exposing and undercutting political machines and bosses. Many (but not all) Progressives supported prohibition in order to destroy the political power of local bosses based in saloons. At the same time, women's suffrage was promoted to bring a "purer" female vote into the arena. A second theme was building an Efficiency movement in every sector that could identify old ways that needed modernizing, and bring to bear scientific, medical and engineering solutions. 









City Council 2014, Fake Progressives



The Real Progressives ReformMovement 1890 to the 1920's





























Berlin Rosen Is Not Only Ducking Lobbyists Disclosures . . . Also Failed to Register With the Foreign Agent Act















Two years ago True News broke the story that Berlin Rosen was not a registered lobbyist. CrainsNY's Bragg follow sometime later and last week NY1 reported the same information.  Playing fast and lose with the city and state lobbying regulations is not the only thing Berlin Rosen failed to registered for.  Berlin Rosen worked the ground breaking event for a government subsided building with Atlantic Yards developer Ratner and a Chinese government funded company called Greenland Group. According to the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) enacted in 1938, a persons acting as agents of foreign principals in a political or quasi-political capacity to make periodic public disclosure of their relationship with the foreign principal, as well as activities, receipts and disbursements in support of those activities. The purpose is to facilitate "evaluation by the government and the American people of the statements and activities of such persons." At the least Berlin Rosen activities with the Chinese government company is fueling gentrification pushing the poor and middle class out of the projects surrounding communities.







Foreign Ownership of NYC Real Estate is Increasing At AFast Pace





How Blacks the Poor and the Middle Class are Being Push Outof Brooklyn Because of Albany's Tax Breaks for Luxury Developers



Campaign Lobbyists Control A Secret Shadow Government 



de Blasio At Ground Breaking Press Even of A Chinese Funded Housing Organized By Berlin Rosen







Greenland has agreed to fund Ratner's building in exchange for 70% of the Atlantic Yards housing project ownership.  Much of the Ratner's 30% funding comes from tax breaks from the government. Or borrowing using the govt tax breaks as leverage.  Berlin Rosen is very close to many federal, state and city elected officials.  As the Chinese government who is pumping billions into New York becomes a bigger stake holder in real estate it is unclear what their demands from government and elected officials will be.  With the power of the NY's real estate barons and their lobbyists attack dogs it does not take must imagine to see a future scenario when Chinese or other foreign real estate owners force the elected officials and pay off the lobbyists to pass laws helpful to their them and harmful to American citizens.  True News has written about the The Privatization of the Tammany Hall Machine, which reported that the new lobbyists machine is not accountable to the voters like the old party boss who were elected by the voters.* Just don't call these consultants lobbyists | Crain's New York ...

Berlin Rosen is Already Making Government Work Against New Yorkers 



Berlin Rosen Help Ratner Obtain Millions of Government Dollars As Thousands of Middle Class and the Poor Have Been Pushed Out the Stadium's Neighborhood







The lobbyists are also not accountable to the prosecutors, because they are the ones that elect the DAs and AG.  Berlin Rosen not only started out with AG Schneiderman when he was a state senator they work in both of his campaign for AG.  Berlin Also help elect the Albany DA, as other lobbyists elected the state other DAs and elected officials.  Who will stop a future lobbyists Berlin Rosen, Silver Brian Meara or any of the other scum bag lobbyist or elected officials who decide to go for the foreign money over the interests of the American people? * BerlinRosen Isn’t Registered As A Foreign Agent, Either (Bronx Chronicle)









Do We Have to Hope That A Future Berlin Rosen, Sheinkopf or Advance Don't Get Hired By A Foreign Government and Pay to Play NY's Government







Maybe its already happen why would our government give billions to a stadium and housing they is mostly owned by the Russian and Chinese government. (Nets stadium and team owned by Russia billionaires Mikhail Dmitrievitch Prokhorov). Another component of Chinese deal with Berlin Rosen and Ratner is the EB-5 Program Green Card program that is helping fund the housing.  A $100 million slice of the overall Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park project, marketed under the EB-5 program, in which investors and their families get green cards by parking $500,000 in a low-interest loan for five years or so, as long as an economist's report suggests those funds create ten jobs. That means the Chinese government will be able to bring their people into the city. Who is watching them?  Who is watching Berlin? Obama’s nod to China could bring NYC real estate boom







Lobbyists the New Permanent Government



The Lobbyist's Shadow Government 



Real Estate Developers, Tax Breaks and Politics   



Lobbyists BerlinRosen Takes Over NYC Government



More on Dark Pool Corrupt Lobbyists















What If A Future Lobbyists Like Meara Decided to Take the Money or Was Blackmailed By A Foreign Government Who Owned NY Real Estate?









Close friend, top lobbyist helped feds take down Sheldon Silver(NYP) Brian Meara, 63, is the person referred to in court papers as “the Lobbyist” who revealed that Silver told him “there was nothing to worry about” regarding the speaker secretly sharing in legal fees paid by Meara’s client, billionaire developer Leonard Litwin, the sources said. * Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver's arrest aided by closefriend, Albanylobbyist (NYDN) Brian Meara has been cooperating as a 'fact witness' as part of U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara's investigation, sources told The News. The criminal complaint against Silver references an unnamed lobbyist who the sources say was Meara. According to the criminal complaint, the lobbyist represented a developer who was using a law firm that paid Silver for bringing in business. The developer, sources say, was politically connected Leonard Litwin, who Meara repped at the time. “The fact that Meara is the witness is not a good sign for Shelly,” said one Albany insider, alluding to how much Meara knows about his pal. In addition to the state court officers union and other labor groups, Meara represents a host of big-bucks industries, including casino operators, insurance companies and soft-drink makers. His clients also include the Yankees owners and the Silvercup Studios production facility in Queens.








Corruption Real Estate and the Silver Indictment 







U.S. Attorney Bharara



More On Albany's Corrupted Pols 



More on the Closing of the Moreland Commission




Did Silver Corrupt the Manhattan Court?















.



NY1 Joining True News and Chris Bragg in Berlin Rosen Makes Clear . . . 





A Media Lobbyists Conspiracy to Cover-Up Conceal the Shadow Government That Runs NYC













At last weeks Inner Circle journalist and lobbyists danced and sung making fun of pols, in front of an audience of lobbyists, developers and special interests paying thousand of dollars a ticket.  When the Inner Circle first started out it made fun of the member of the political machines, de Despio, Manus, Freedman and Esposito  The actors on the stage this year did not make fun of political consultant lobbyists like Berlin Rosen, Advance Group or George Arzt because the developers, lobbyists and the other members of the permanent government ticket holders, need them to run their shadow government to make money off of government.







The Inner Circle Has Become the Symbol of DefiningJournalism Down, Corrupt Govt and A City Run By Developers













Atlantic Yards Report's Norman Oder Looks Back at a Berlin Rosen Success: Massaging Ratner's ACORN Bailout 











In 2008, national ACORN--the larger parent of New York ACORN, which signed a Community Benefits Agreement and Housing Memorandum of Understanding with Forest City Ratner--faced a big hit to its reputation. * For eight years, founder Wade Rathke had covered covered up a $1 million embezzlement by his brother Dale Rathke. As the Timesreported September 10, 2008, the news was “concealed by senior executives until a whistle-blower told a foundation leader about it in May.” * Noting that the money had been paid back (Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Report)

NYCLASS Advance Group's Levinson and the Black Institute Bertha Lewis Both Have Deep Root in ACORN





“Rathke's misjudgment in covering up his brother's embezzlement has now provided ACORN's opponents with ammunition to attack the organization,” wrote two ACORN defenders in The Huffington Post.  * ACORN’s antagonists extended beyond the right wing, which was attacking ACORN for purported deception in voter registration, the authors suggested, citing critics on the left who were either jealous or disliked “ACORN's tactics or its willingness to forge compromises in order to win victories for its members.”  *One such compromise was about to pay off, as Wade Rathke stepped down and, from New York, Bertha Lewis stepped up. “In a shrewd move to consolidate support for her candidacy as the chief staff member of ACORN, [Lewis] negotiated a combination deal with Ratner to prove her fundraising prowess,” Rathke explained years later. * “With the voter registration crises swirling around ACORN, Bertha pulled the one string where she had leverage from her New York base—damn the torpedoes—realizing that Brooklyn was so polarized around Atlantic Yards and ACORN that it would hardly matter much more,"

Berlin Rosen Has Delivered to Developers While Hiding Under the Progressives Shirt





Rathke continued, "and the likely criticism was secondary to her desperate need for bridge money while she waited for funders to grow a backbone.” * No one, however, knew about that deal until an angry former ACORN staffer, Anita MonCrief, revealed to me that Forest City had agreed to provide a $1 million low-interest loan—with onerous terms if late—and a $500,000 gift. * In New York, ACORN spokesman Jonathan Rosen, of the firm BerlinRosen, tried to deflect the story, which I broke in early December. “This is old news," he said of the bailout. "We have confirmed this to multiple media outlets over the past few months.”  * Actually, no article had been published, though MonCrief revealed that Lewis had confirmed it to the Times, which had covered the embezzlement but not the bailout. So Rosen had been very effective. * As I wrote, the news should have made the Times, since it was just as big as the Dale Rathke story. Nearly a year later, the Times finally backed into the story, mentioning the bailout parenthetically.








How Bruce Ratner Wins Approval for his Projects







ACORN, NY Communities for Change









More On Berlin Rosen's Attempts to Misleader New Yorkers













NYT Leaves Out Berlin Rosen Illegal Campaign and Lobbying Work 



Or the Firms Cheney Like (Brainwashing) and the Privatization of Tammany Hall Corruption













Who is Jonathan Rosen? The Most Powerful Man in Politics –Outside City Hall (NY1)

De Blasio-allied group defends LICH deal to brownstone Brooklyn (Capital)  The outside group that advocated for Mayor Bill de Blasio's pre-K plan is sending out a mailer praising a deal that resulted in a dramatic downsizing of Long Island College Hospital in Cobble Hill. The Campaign for One New York is the new iteration of UPKNYC, the advocacy group run by the mayor's former campaign aides that spent more than $1 million promoting the mayor's universal pre-K plan. When its name change was announced in May, the group's spokesman, former de Blasio campaign aide Jonathan Rosen, told the Wall Street Journal that it would "build on the grassroots energy of UPKNYC and last fall's  campaign to support the mayor's bold, progressive agenda as it continues to move forward — building the affordable housing we need, fighting inequality, and ensuring that every child receives a great education." The mayor got arrested during his mayoral campaign protesting the prospect of the hospital's closure.

















































When You Elect Double Digit Elected Officials And You Represent Developers How Are You Not A Lobbyists?



Why Has Only CM Rose Taken the Fall For WFP's When Berlin Rosen Ran All the Data and Field Campaigns?







In the 1800's Thomas Nash Covered the System That Elects New Yorkers . . .  2014's Media Cover Up the Corruption of the Shadow Government That Controls Elections and Forces Voters to Boycott Elections







Councilwoman Deborah Rose 2009 campaign paid the WFP's for profit company $40,000 and the Berlin Rosen consulting firm $125,000.  The money paid to Data and Field has now resulted in criminal charges against those running her campaign for conspiring to defraud the city’s taxpayer-funded Campaign Finance Board. According to the NYP the councilwoman herself will be named as an un-indicted co-conspirator in an 18-page criminal complaint that special prosecutor.  The SI DA's Special Prosecutor said the Rose campaign got got "sweetheart deals on campaign services from Data and Field and NY Citizen Services. 




Berlin Rosen Worked for All the 2009 Candidates Funded By Data and Field













Mayor de Blasio's 2009 campaign for public advocate campaign paid WFP's Data and Field $225,000 and Berlin Rosen $6,000.  Councilman Lander's campaign paid Data and Field $55,000 and paid Berlin Rosen $85,000.  Speaker Mark-Viverito's campaign paid Data and Field $1000 and Berlin Rosen $75,000.  Councilman Dromm's campaign paid Data and Field $55,000 and Berlin Rosen $20,000. Councilman Van Bramer's campaign  paid Data and Field $35,000 and Berlin Rosen $80,000.  Councilman Williams' campaign paid Data and Field $55,000 and Berlin Rosen $125,000.













NY1 in Its Report Said the Speaker Has Close Ties to Berlin Rosen, But There is No Record Of Her Paying Them Since 2009



Berlin Rosen Was In the Room When Brookyn Boss Seddio Made His Deal With the Mayor to Back Mark-Viverito for Speaker in 2009. BerlinRosen worked on the campaigns of 15 members of the City Council—including Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito.in the 2013 campaign 








Berlin Rosen Worked With the Advance Group for the Two Councilmembers Fined By CFB



Two City Council members were slapped with fines Wednesday for taking off-limits contributions from animal rights group NYCLASS, which bankrolled Mayor de Blasio's mayoral campaign for his pledge to ban horse-drawn carriages. Council members Laurie Cumbo (D-Brooklyn) and Mark Levine (D-Manhattan) have to pay back money they were given by New Yorkers for Clean, Livable and Safe Streets because they shared the same political consultant — the Advance Group — as the anti-carriage group.

The New Political Bosses Are Not Elected



The Old Tammany Hall Welcomed All the Voters New Lobbyists Private Tammany Hall Pushes the Public Out







 Over the last few years the lobbyists started to make their way into the political system by offering party bosses campaign services and campaign funding which in the old Tammany days would have been done in the club house and by its members.  In the old days hundreds of people worked in the clubhouse to put our mailings.  Today a campaign consultant emails a mailing house with a flyer designed by his or her company and the mail goes out.  The entire social structure of the community helping the machine and in return the machine helping the community and it residences is gone.  The news lobbyists machine hang out is their beach houses or million dollar apartments and never meet anyone in the community they seek to elect someone in. The public who used to at least have a choice to elect their party leaders.  The permanent government picks the Tammany's lobbyists cutting out the public completely.







 



















There are very important campaign filing differences between de Sapio's Tammany Hall and today's lobbyists Tammany Hall.  Old Tammany and today's political party leaders were required to file their all their expenses and how much money their received. The new lobbyists Private Tammany Hall uses money from their lobbyists clients in campaigns which are not required to be filed with the Board of Elections. 







































Why Did Silver Pay Berlin Rosen $750,000 When He Had No Challengers?











Does It Connect to the Albany DA Berlin Client, Never Going After A Corruption With the Lawmaker?







From 2010 to 2014 Friends of Silver (the former Speakers main campaign account) paid lobbyists campaign consultant Berlin Rosen over $750,000.  During that three election cycles Silver paid his campaign consultant he had only one election with a very weak GOP opponent Maureen Koetz in 2014.  Koetz received less than 20% of the vote against the speaker.  Why was Berlin Rosen paid so much money? Was the speaker trying to hide his involvement in other races that Berlin Rosen was running like de Blasio for mayor in 2013? Or was the speaker trying to get over the spending limit by paying the consultant Berlin Rosen directly for candidates he was supporting? Berlin works in a lot of campaigns.  Developer number one in the Silver indictment used LLC as a “loophole corporations,” to get around the election law to funnel more money to political candidates, to buy influence. Was Silver trying to buy with the $750,000 payment to Berlin Rosen?  Besides his own campaign account Friends of Silver, the speaker controls the Assembly Campaign Committee account and the Speakers PAC, which had Trump, James Dolan and Meryl Tisch among its individual donors.  Other than a handful of individuals with less colorful names (Schedule A) SpeakerPAC is mostly a destination for corporate and PAC money (Scheds B, C).  At its beginning, in 2000-02, SpeakerPac spends over $100,000 on entertainment (MARTEL’S RESTAURANT, THE GRAND DELI, RICK ANGERAMI-D.J., ALBANY PARTY WAREHOUSE, RADIO CITY ENTERTAINMENT, SODEXHO, and so on) and nothing else.  SpeakerPAC makes it rain like crazy on the Assembly, and occasionally writes out fat checks to DACC.














































Berlin Rosen Worked With Ratner to Push Affordable Housing Out of Prospect Heights Brooklyn

How Berlin Rosen Led A Conspiracy to Hijack the Progressive Movement to Make Millions







The "most powerful" Jonathan Rosen, Mayor de Blasio, and the Forest City connection (AYR) Rauh got a quote from a BerlinRosen client. “Our company has always felt that having outside PR firms brings a great external presence and a great external set of ideas. A consultant has a way of looking at a project that we are knee-deep in from a little distance,” Forest City Ratner’s Ashley Cotton told NY1. What's unmentioned is the situation involving a project like Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park, when various parties are all on the general same team. BerlinRosen represents not only de Blasio and Forest City, but has represented community partners like ACORN. That leads to harmony in the message being put before the public rather and likely leads to less scrutiny. It also makes me wonder how the BerlinRosen connection affects a client like Council Member Brad Lander, a de Blasio ally (and successor in Council seat) who once was much more critical of Atlantic Yards.



When Will NY1 Take On More Friends of Bill





Ickes Is A Lobbyist for Con Ed Who See Illegal Gas Hook Ups? 







What the Seniors will soon find out the Lobbyist Berlin Rosen have long root many connected to AG Schneiderman. The mayor has paid BerlinRosen $270,000, nearly all of it for his mayoral bid.  Both partners in New York One’s letter lobbyist Berlin Rosen, Jonathan Rosen and Valerie Berlin worked for Schneiderman.  Berlin was his chief of staff when he was a NYS Senator. Valerie Berlin is  married to Congressman Nadler's Chief of Staff Amy Rutkin. Congressman Nadler is against the senior move. Rosen wife works for de Blasio’s budget director. Attorney General Eric Schneiderman (whose election Rosen facilitated) and disgraced/indicted speakerSheldon Silver  Lobbyists Search for Berlin Rosen * When Campaign Aides Are Lobbyists, Questions Mount - City Limits(City Limits) * 8 Lobbyists Consultants and Citizen United  * True News (The Bund): Dark Pools * City Hall's new 'in' crowd of lobbyists (CrainsNY) Lobbyists behind the campaigns of ascendant power brokers are now poised to cash in.*  The Perma-Campaign: For Bill de Blasio, the Race Never Ends(NYO) * Last September, Crain's New York Business's Chris Bragg wrote Just don't call these consultants lobbyists: They move government without having to disclose their activities. Call them clever, call them stealthy.  In May 2013, Ross Barkan wrote in City Limits, When Campaign Aides Are Lobbyists, Questions Mount: Besides Parkside, Sheinkopf Ltd., MirRam Group and the Advance Group are all major firms that lobby and consult on political campaigns simultaneously. Statewide, Berlin Rosen, a firm that consults and lobbies, was the biggest recipient of campaign money in the 2010 election cycle among firms that perform both functions, according to NYPIRG. (In a statement, BerlinRosen's Michael Rabinowitz-Gold stresses that the firm "never communicates directly with elected officials on legislative or regulatory issues" but registers as a lobbyist because it creates websites and 800 numbers to facilitate constituent contact with officeholders.) * Lobbyists brought in a record $71.9 million—up roughly 15 percent from last year—targeting the New York City government in 2014, with James Capalino & Associates taking the top spotRecord $71.9M spent on lobbying city officials in 2014














Who Watchers the Watchman, Lobbyists, Grand Jury, AG -DAs Conflict of Interests With NYPD and Elected Officials



..















Why Did NY1 Who Help Create the Lobbyists Shadow Government in NYC Only 

Turn Against Berlin Rosen?





Political Consultants Run Wild At NY1







NY1 Online: Wise Guys Discuss State Budget Outcomes * NY1 Online: Consultants Talk Democrat Losses NY1's Errol Louis discussed last week's losses for Democrats in the state Senate and House of Representatives with four political consultants: Republican consultants Kelly anne Conway and Bill O'Reilly and Democrats Lis Smith and George Arzt.  * NY1 Online: Consultants Corner On "Inside City Hall" 10/11/10 Republican consultants Susan Del Percio and Jonathan Greenspun and Democratic consultants Doug Forand and Scott Levinson discussed Republican gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino's latest efforts at damage control on Monday's edition of "Inside City Hall." * NY1 Online: Longtime City Hall Insider Talks de Blasio Transition Longtime City Hall insider and Lindsay administration official Sid Davidoff joined Inside City Hall to discuss the de Blasio transition, the mayor's struggle to stay ahead of the snow, and the fight between the mayor and governor over how to pay for universal pre-k.* NY1 Online: Political Consultants Preview Grimm-Recchia Debate NY1's Errol Louis discussed the governor’s leadership and the upcoming Grimm vs. Recchia debate with the NY1 Consultants Corner: Republicans Kellyanne Conway and Boris Epshteyn and Democrats Patrick Jenkins and Evan Stavisky.





Campaign Lobbyists Control A Secret ShadowGovernment 



NY1 and Their Corrupt Lobbyists Wise Guys



Lobbyists Berlin Rosen Takes OverNYC Government




Corrupt lobbyist: Arzt, Mercury, Advance Group, BerlinRosen, Parkside, Schlein. Kasirer, Bolton-St. Johns, D'Amato, Sheinkopf



NY1 Does A 180 On Berlin Rosen in 6 Months

Biviano Asked NY1's Rauh Over A Year and A Half Ago to Investigate Berlin Rosen . . .  He Ask Why Now?







Ms. Rauh's report represents a dramatic turn of events at NY1 Inside City Hall, where only last year host Errol Louis threatened to turn off the microphone and send home a candidate for public office, Doug Biviano, after Mr. Biviano complained about the duplicitous role of BerlinRosen in his campaign race.*  NY1 Online: Democratic Candidates in Brooklyn Assembly District Debate on NY1 * The Thrilla in Manilla (Brooklyn) NY1 debate last night was not a love fest between the host and the anti-lobbyists candidate Doug Biviano, but at least the station and host saw it as their journalists obligation to put the controversial candidate on news program. And that was not hard for the station that gives lobbyists and consultants free air time on a news program to help their clients and get new ones.  While the buzz last night was all about how the host threaten to cut the mike and end the debate with the very first question to assembly candidate Doug Biviano. 













More on Biviano and NY1































Lobbyists Berlin Rosen Operates Inside City Hall, AG and A Congressman's Office







NYT Michael Powell - A couple of weeks back, I called the mayor’s press office and asked about Mr. de Blasio’s perhaps too-optimistic cost projections for prekindergarten.  Twenty minutes later, I heard from Dan Levitan of Berlin Rosen, which is the “it” P.R. firm of the city’s left and a close adviser to the mayor. He advised that I should study the mayor’s proposals carefully if I presumed to take “a skeptical look” at prekindergarten. I asked if Berlin Rosen had a contract to handle queries placed with the mayor’s office. He replied that he handled the “campaign” for pre-K. In the 3rd council district Berlin Rosen candidate Corey Johnson received mailing from United for the Future PAC, which the Advance Group worked for. Advance worked for Johnson opposing candidate Yetta Kurkland. A group of spry seniors — including 82-year-old retired lawyer Eliot Loshak — are plotting to pressure the state Attorney General’s office to block the multimillion dollar contract. * In 2014, Mr. Rosen attended 20 meetings with Mayor de Blasio, according to a review conducted by NY1 of Mayor de Blasio's calendar.













NY1 in Its Report Said the Speaker Has Close Ties to Berlin Rosen, But There is No Record Of Her Paying Them Since 2009








Berlin Rosen Was In the Room When Brookyn Boss Seddio Made His Deal With the Mayor to Back Mark-Viverito for Speaker in 2009







Daily News Charges Against Mark-Viverto



EXCLUSIVE: City Council Speaker candidate Melissa Mark-Viverito may have violated city ethics rules(NYDN) Mark-Viverito, an East Harlem councilwoman, accepted unpaid assistance from the Advance Group, a prominent lobbying firm working to further her candidacy (Daily News 11/27/2013)







Mark-Viverito Drops Advance



Melissa Mark-Viverito Drops Advance Group for Speaker Bid(NYO) Ms. Mark-Viverito insisted today that this was not the case but out of an “abundance of caution,” the relationship would end. Melissa Mark-Viverito Drops Advance Group for Speaker Bid - Blogs(TU) * Melissa Mark-Viverito Lobbyist Firm Never Quit, Continued Lobbying Despite Investigations







Politicker Reported That Advance Was A Crucial Player In the Seddio Deal After the Group Left the Speakers Race















An operative with the controversial Advance Group, Jonathan Yedin, who has been working in Brooklyn Democratic Party politics for more than a decade and belongs to Mr. Seddio’s political club. Though Ms. Mark-Viverito eventually stopped taking free advice from the Advance Group, Mr. Yedin remained a crucial  player in the brokering of the deal, sources said.  Inside Melissa Mark-Viverito’s Road to Victory(NYO) * Melissa Mark-Viverito Lobbyist Firm Never Quit, Continued Lobbying Despite Investigations * More on the Advance Group Under Investigation  * The Big 8 Lobbyists * CrainsNY on the Advance Groups Double Dipping







CrainsNY on the Advance GroupsDouble Dipping



Horse-Carriage Fight Politics 



How the Advance Group Conspired to Steal the 2009 and 2013 Election
More About the Advance Group









.

.

.

.

NY1 Did Not Report How Berlin Rosen Was Interconnected With Other Campaign Lobbyists



Berlin Rosen Worked With the Advance Group for the Two Councilmembers Fined By CFB



Two City Council members were slapped with fines Wednesday for taking off-limits contributions from animal rights group NYCLASS, which bankrolled Mayor de Blasio's mayoral campaign for his pledge to ban horse-drawn carriages. Council members Laurie Cumbo (D-Brooklyn) and Mark Levine (D-Manhattan) have to pay back money they were given by New Yorkers for Clean, Livable and Safe Streets because they shared the same political consultant — the Advance Group — as the anti-carriage group.

















Almost the Entire Council is Infected: Advance Either Managed or Funded 31 of the 51 Council Members Including the Speaker







Candidates Funding By Advance's NYCLASS PAC: Yetta Krukland (Advance Client), Councilman Mark Levine (Advance Client), Councilwoman Laurie Cumbo (Advance Client)

Candidates Funding By Advance's United for the Future PAC:

Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, Inez Dickens (Advance Client), Corey Johnson (Berlin Rosen Client) (running against Advance client Yetta Krukland), Mark Levine (Advance & Berlin Rosen ), Councilwoman Laurie Cumbo Advance Berlin Rosen Councilman Ydanis Rodríguez, Paul Vallone (Mercury Client), Rosie Mendez, Councilman Andrew King, Councilman James Vacca (Red Horse Client), Councilwoman Vanessa Gibson (Red Horse Client), Councilwoman Annabel Palma (Red Horse Client), Councilman Costa Constantinides, Mark Weprin (Hudson TG), Councilman Daneek Miller (Red Horse Client), Councilwoman Karen Koslowitz (Hudson TG), Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley (Berlin Rosen Client), Councilman Richard Donovan (Berlin Rosen Client), Councilman Eric Ulrich, Councilman Antonio Reynoso (Red Horse Client), Councilman Brad Lander (Berlin Rosen), Councilman Mathieu Eugene (Advance Client), Councilwoman Inez Barron, Councilman Jumaane Williams, Councilman Alan Maisel (Brandford), Councilman Mark Treyger (Hudson TG), Councilwoman Debra Rose (Brandford), Councilman Steven Matteo, Councilman Robert Jackson (Boro President Candidate), Councilman Vincent Ignizio



More on the Advance Groups Corruption  *  CrainsNY on the Advance Groups Double Dipping *  The Big 8 Lobbyists * Dark Pool Politics 

NY1 Reported Today The public relations firm has close ties to many other
elected officials as well. BerlinRosen worked on the campaigns of 15 members of
the City Council—including Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito.







How the Advance Group Conspired to Steal the 2009 and2013 Election 













True News Along With CrainsNY Reported Berlin Rosen is Not A Registered Lobbyists Last Year 







Just don't call these consultants lobbyists(CrainsNY)  They move government without having to disclose their activities. Call them clever, call them stealthy.Like Ms. Cunningham, Mr. Rosen is not a registered lobbyist. Yet he regularly meets with government officials. The mayor's schedule from his first five months in office shows Mr. Rosen was in at least nine meetings and on two calls.BerlinRosen understands how issues play out in the public sphere, its clients say.













Was $750,000 Silver Gave Lobbyist Berlin Rosen When He Had No Campaigns? Was the Money Designed to Stop Corruption Investigation of the Assembly by the Albany DA which Berlin Rosen Helped Elect?



The firm's real growth, though, began before de Blasio became mayor. In fact, it appears to be closely tied to former Assembly speaker Silver's decision to hire the firm in 2008. He has been one of the firm’s biggest political spenders. .* Senate Democrats spend big bucks on consultants, including Melvin Lowe and BerlinRosen, both with Forest City Ratner ties (AYR)* Why DidSheldon Silver Pay A Consultant $750,000 and Spend Almost $2 Million WhenHe Had No Challengers?

NY1's Rauh Claimed Silver Help Berlin Rosen Grow in 2008 But Left Out Their Data and Field Connection 



Three of Counclmember Debi Rose campaign workers have been indicted in the 2009 Run By Berlin Rosen







Many of BerlinRosen's political clients say they hired the firm simply because they do excellent work.  “BerlinRosen are smart and strategic and they make their clients, their campaigns, both for public policy and for office, better,” says Councilman Brad Lander. The firm's real growth, though, began before de Blasio became mayor. In fact, it appears to be closely tied to former Assembly speaker Silver's decision to hire the firm in 2008. He has been one of the firm’s biggest political spenders. Brad Lander chief of staff Rachel Goodman was one of the 3 indicted by the Staten Island Special Prosecutor.  Councilwoman Debi Rose campaign, Working Families Partyaccused of campaign finance fraud, report says (SI Advance) Adler alleges that Ms. Rose's campaign got "sweetheart deals on services," from the WFP Data and Fields private company.





Read the criminal complaint against Councilwoman DebiRose's campaign members, Working Families Party (SI Advance)















The WFP Has Played Fast and Lose With the Election Law, Dataand Field Arrests

































NY1 Reporter Interviewed Sheinkopf in Her Reporter

Wayne Barrett in 2010: "Sheinkopf makes kings so he can then make deals with the kings he’s made"









Rauh did not report that Both Sheinkopf and Berin Rosen worked for Silver or That Sheinkopf  Took the 5th 51 Times in the AEG corruption investigation. Rauh Reported  “It's a very tight interconnected web of influence because you've helped to elect the candidates to elected office and you are also helping to have the groups that you represent influence the actions of those elected officials. And controlling so much of that process does pose tremendous opportunities for conflict”“We should congratulate them on their success. There's no laws being broken. They are doing what everyone else has done,” says political consulatant and lobbyist Hank Sheinkopf. “Private clients aren't hiring them because they don't think they are connected to City Hall. Of course, they are hiring them because they are connected to City Hall.”







Corrupt Hank Sheinkopf












Shadow Lobbyists Not Covered By NY1 Doing the Same Thing As Berlin Rosen









AG Schniderman  Berlin Rosen, SKD

KnickerBocker,BRANFORD COMMUNICATIONS



Brooklyn DA Hynes THE

ADVANCE GROUP,MILLENIAL STRATEGIES,

GEORGE ARZTCOMMUNICATIONS, DOUGLAS E SCHOEN,BRANFORD COMMUNICATIONS



Manhattan DA Vance Mark Guma Communications, GLOBAL STRATEGY

GROUP, RED HORSE STRATEGIES, STU LOESER & CO



Brooklyn DA Thompson Red Horse,  Berlin Rosen,BROOKLYN STRATEGIES, TIME FOR

CHANGE CONSULTING Queens DA Brown  ARNIE

KRISS, MARK GUMA,  Bronx DA BRANFORD

COMMUNICATIONS, STANLEY SCHLEIN, ESQ

Comptroller Stringer BERLIN ROSEN,BRANFORD COMMUNICATIONS, GEORGE ARZT,

SKDKNICKERBOCKER, THE ADVANCE GROUP

PA Tish James Red Horse, HUDSON TG, Pitta

Bishop Del Giorno, Mirram Group, HUDSON TG, SKD Knickerbocker

Mayor de Blasio  Berger, Henry T, Berlin Rosen, The Advance Group, Berlin Rosen

Bronx BP Diaz, Jr. (no race) Branford Communications, Red Horse, Advance

Group Queens BP Katz  Red Horse, George Arzt Communications, Multi-Media Brooklyn BP Adams (no race) Red Horse, PITTA BISHOP











Who Watchers the Watchman, Lobbyists, Grand Jury, AG - DAsConflict of Interests With NYPD and Elected Officials










Campaign Consultant Lobbyists Led by Advance and Berling Rosen Have Divided Up City Government Like the Mod Did at the Apalachin Crime Summit, 57 Years Ago









Advance, Berlin Rosen, Pitta Bishop Del Giorno and 6 other



campaign consultants divided up control to monopolized city government. There operating model resembles organize crime after the Apalachin crime meeting. That 1957 meeting included over 100 mobsters including "Joe the Barber," divided the illegal operations of loan sharking, narcotics trafficking and gambling  controlled by the late Albert Anastasia.  The big 8 include: the Advance Group, the Parkside



Group/Marathon Strategies (join at the hip), Berlin Rosen, Mercury Public Affairs, Brandford Communications, George Arzt, Multi-Media, Hudson TJ and Red Horse. Like the Apalachin mobsters the consultants/lobbyist has divided up New York to control the



government and rake in corrupt lobbying dollars. Also like the mobsters the big 8 may even be about the law. A Surprise Progressive Takeover of City Hall -Party Leaders, Partnership and Permanent Government Caught Flatfooted* More About The Big 8 Lobbyists





















































Professional Ass Kisser Lehrer Ignore How Berlin Rosen Used the Homeless as A Political Prop and the Dozens of Other Conflict of Interests Like Gentrification Pushing Out Minorities by the Developers the None lobbying Firm Represents  












Brian Lehrer WNYC Radio: “Still a question of what is the price to the public is to the public is there a price to the public anyone getting sweetheart contracts.  I not sure we have meaningful conflict of interests here yet?” * A Noticing New York challenge to WNYC and its Gilmartin appointment (AYR) In a 12/8/14 Noticing New York column, With Big Bucks Out To Hijack Truth and Broadcasting Integrity- The Daily Show and Bill Moyers Set Models for WNYC Radio, Michael D.D. White describes a visit to a board meeting of WNYC, where he queried CEO Laura Walker about the appointment of Forest City Ratner CEO MaryAnne Gilmartin:



















Berlin Rosen Black Box Blame Cuomo Homeless Operation as Ratner Creates More Homeless by Gentrification   








Patrick Markee of the Coalition for the Homeless Who Hired Berlin Rosen, Who Bashed Cuomo Praised de Blasio is Married to Ratner's Daughter



When NY1's Louis interviewed Patrick Markee, head of the Coalition for the Homeless he did no know that Berlin Rosen worked for them. Unregulated Berlin Rosen Will Lead to Foreign Control of New York's Government - A Silent Coup d'etat * The Atlantic Yards CBA promised a path to union apprenticeships. Instead, BUILD's coveted program provoked a bitter lawsuit.(AYR)

















Ratner, de Blasio and Berlin Rosen Created Gentrification in Prospect Heights and Not They Blame Cuomo for the Homeless











On NY1, reporters sift through BerlinRosen suspicion; a look back at how firm massaged Ratner's bailout of ACORN(AYR) Unmentioned  (in news reports) but a clear example is Berlin Rosen's tri-partite work for ACORN, Forest City Ratner, and Mayor Bill de Blasio, all allies on Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park. . . Louis himself acknowledged some doubts, saying that it was "startling" that, in his interview with Patrick Markee of the Coalition for the Homeless--also a Berlin Rosen client--"they seemed to go out of the way to blame record high homelessness on everybody but the mayor.... Maybe we've got advocates who are not quite the independent advocates we're used to seeing." (Note: Markee is marriedto journalist Lizzy Ratner, a daughter of Bruce Ratner.)  . . .  It's good that Louis is skeptical, but keep in mind that he now occupies a more neutral position than he did when he wrote a column for the Daily News. In May 2006, as I wrote, a column about neighborhood support for Atlantic Yards failed to mention how three of the five people mentioned were associated with signatories to the Atlantic Yards Community Benefits Agreement.









Cuomo 2014 Pt2, 2015 And Mario Cuomo



More On Cuomo   More   









Inside City Hall Reporters Round Table on Berlin Rosen II



Why Do Reporters Go On NY1 and Say Things They Never Write About?







Host Errol Louis: "Is That All to the Berlin Rosen Story?"  



Will anything be done to make Berlin Rosen register as a lobbyist? Left unanswered on the show do the reporters think pay to play working as consultants is legal?



Jillian Jorgensen New York Observer: "It looks there like Plenty of Lawmakers who don’t think so? Already been talk of legislation in state senate Tony Avella"



Jorgensen did not list any other lawmaker or give the main reason why Avella was after political consultants. Avella is pissed off at Parkside's Stavisky for working behind the scenes to help John Liu against him as part of a deal to get his mother re-elected.  Parkside was a political consultant lobbyists before Berlin Rosen was a gleam in Jonathan eye NY1 Online: Reporters Round Up Hillary Clinton's ExpectedPresidential Candidacy



.

.

.



Jorgensen's Blog the Observer Made Berlin Rosen Small Agency of the Year







Jillian Jorgensen:  (NY1 report on Berlin Rosen) "Already open up a big discussion been going on for a while? 





Jorgensen has never written about Berlin Rosen, nor has the NY Observer even written about Berlin Rosen being an unregistered lobbyists.  In fact in 2014 the Observer made them Small Agency of the Year.  "Berlin Rosen’s clients reshape New York—like Mayor de Blasio, whose election victory was partly powered by their razor-sharp messaging and unfailing sense of optics. The firm also advises behemoths like Two Trees, Forest City Ratner and SL Green. Our pick for small agency of the year" - Observer.* How Berlin Rosen Started











Kate Taylor New York Times: "It seem like this phomona of political consultants working for all these private clients is a new movement and growing." The NYT or Taylor has never written about Berlin Rosen being an unregistered lobbyists.  The paper of record has written about Berlin Rosen running the mayor/s one NY PAC which the paper said was to inform New Yorker about the issues facing the city. * Familiar Consultants Hired by de Blasio's Pre-K Drive (NYT)





NY1 Berlin Rosen and the Wiseguys Lobbyists

















How Berlin Rosen Broke the Law and Help Close LICH Hospital 





Berlin Rosen Runs the Mayor's PAC One New York Which Mailed to Reduce Its Clients Negatives in Assembly Race 







Berlin Rosen who worked for 52AD candidate Sikora and the PAC One NY, use to the PAC to send out to the voters of the district a misleading letter that a developers ER would be a good substitute for the closed LICH.  Rosen's assembly candidate was arrested during the 2013 mayor's race along with de Blasio protesting the closing of the LICH Hospital.  The Brooklyn Eagle called Berlin Rosen PAC mailing the dark money mailing, claiming the closed LICH hospital developer would build an emergency room that would meet the community’s health care needs.  Doctors and community leader have called that claim an outright lie. Carroll Gardens Association - Cover-Up of Members' Dark Money LICH Mailing

Community Leaders Blamed Berlin Rosen Candidate Sikora (de Blasio campaign worker) for de Blasio Not Living Up to His Campaign Promise of Keeping LICH Hospital Open 









Bill de Blasio arrested at SUNY protest - NY Daily News (NYDN) New York City Mayoral Candidate Bill DiBlasio and a nurse are arrested at protest outside the State University of New York offices on West 42nd st. Hospital workers were protesting the planned closing Long Island City Hospital in Brooklyn. “We’re going to lose Long Island College Hospital in a matter of weeks if we don’t act now ... People are going to be much sicker in this city if we keep losing hospitals,” de Blasio said as he was led away in handcuffs. “This is about fighting for our hospitals. We have to save them* Mayor de Blasio Is Quietly Soliciting Donations for Future Policy Battles (NYT)  Mr. de Blasio and his fund-raising team have quietly solicited large contributions in recent weeks from donors in the mayor’s inner circle, according to three people who requested anonymity to describe moves by the administration that were not yet intended to be public.














Dark Pools Lobbyists Campaign Consultants and Money









Berlin Rosen Grew With the Help of WFP's Data and Field Swamp to Be A Member of NYC's Shadow Government














Berlin Rosen Operates In the Dark Pools of Power Illegal Unchecked Campaign Funding and NYC Lobbyist








NYT Michael Powell -



 A couple of weeks back, I called the mayor’s press office and asked about Mr. de Blasio’s perhaps too-optimistic cost projections for prekindergarten.  Twenty minutes later, I heard from Dan Levitan of Berlin Rosen, which is the “it” P.R. firm of the city’s left and a close adviser to the mayor. He advised that I should study the mayor’s proposals carefully if I presumed to take “a skeptical look” at prekindergarten. I asked if Berlin Rosen had a contract to handle queries placed with the mayor’s office. He replied that he handled the “campaign” for pre-K. Lobbyists Search for Berlin Rosen * When Campaign Aides Are Lobbyists, Questions Mount - City Limits(City Limits) * 8 Lobbyists Consultants and Citizen United  * True News (The Bund): Dark Pools * City Hall's new 'in' crowd of lobbyists (CrainsNY) Lobbyists behind the campaigns of ascendant power brokers are now poised to cash in.*  The Perma-Campaign: For Bill de Blasio, the Race Never Ends(NYO) * When Campaign Aides Are Lobbyists, Questions Mount - City Limits(City Limits)













Lobbyists Rise and Fall As Their Campaign Clients Careers Rise and Fall / Notice Silver's Lobbyist Tag Teams Raking In Govt $$$ Until His Arrest











Michael ‏@powellnyt   Consultants and favored PR firms form a powerful and growing shadow government in NYS. Pols trying to cover that up







Just don't call these consultants lobbyists(CrainsNY) They move government without having to disclose their activities. Call them clever, call them stealthy.Like Ms. Cunningham, Mr. Rosen is not a registered lobbyist. Yet he regularly meets with government officials. The mayor's schedule from his first five months in office shows Mr. Rosen was in at least nine meetings and on two calls.BerlinRosen understands how issues play out in the public sphere, its clients say.



.















Berlin Rosen Causes New Yorkers to Face Cheney Like Fake Reality (Brainwashing) and the Privatization of Tammany Hall Corruption









De Blasio-allied group defends LICH deal to brownstone Brooklyn

(Capital)  The outside group that advocated for Mayor Bill de Blasio's pre-K plan is sending out a mailer praising a deal that resulted in a dramatic downsizing of Long Island College Hospital in Cobble Hill. The Campaign for One New York is the new iteration of UPKNYC, the advocacy group run by the mayor's former campaign aides that spent more than $1 million promoting the mayor's universal pre-K plan. When its name change was announced in May, the group's spokesman, former de Blasio campaign aide Jonathan Rosen, told the Wall Street Journal that it would "build on the grassroots energy of UPKNYC and last fall's  campaign to support the mayor's bold, progressive agenda as it continues to move forward — building the affordable housing we need, fighting inequality, and ensuring that every child receives a great education." The mayor got arrested during his mayoral campaign protesting the prospect of the hospital's closure. *True News:The Privatization Of The Tammany Hall





Sugar Fix: City Hall's Inhouse Lobbyist Political Consultant Lobbies for Developers











Real Estate developers now understand if you want to get an OK for your housing plan hire Berlin Rosen. BerlinRosen's current and recent clients include Two Trees Management Negotiations between Mr. de Blasio’s team and Mr. Walentas’s firm took place over the last few days. The two men share a mutual adviser: Jonathan Rosen, one of the mayor’s top political hands and the chief executive of a public affairs firm, Berlin Rosen, that counts Mr. Walentas’s company as a client.





Twitter / BerlinRosen: Congratulations to whole team ...



Apr 24, 2014 - Congratulations to whole team @TwoTreesNY on the approval of Domino Sugar Refinery. Amazing project for NYC. Proud to be a part of it.   



Lobbyists BerlinRosen Takes Over NYC Government







More on the Secret Shadow Government



























NYT Covers-Up Lobbyists Berlin Rosen and Shadow Government Out of Mayor's Slush Fund 1NY Story 







A video touting de Blasio’s pre-k program was sent from a City Hall address, under the city seal, to a list of de Blasio’s campaign supporters, among others, raising questions among legal experts and good-government groups about whether it was an appropriate form of official communication, The New York Times writes































Berlin Rosen is Working for Michael Blake Campaign








It New Yorkers Face Cheney Like Fake Reality (Brainwashing) and Tammany Hall Corruption










de Blasio Primary: Hospital Not Condos

Mayor's Flack: Condos No Full Hospital 













De Blasio-allied group defends LICH deal to brownstone Brooklyn(Capital)  The outside group that advocated for Mayor Bill de Blasio's pre-K plan is sending out a mailer praising a deal that resulted in a dramatic downsizing of Long Island College Hospital in Cobble Hill. The Campaign for One New York is the new iteration of UPKNYC, the advocacy group run by the mayor's former campaign aides that spent more than $1 million promoting the mayor's universal pre-K plan. When its name change was announced in May, the group's spokesman, former de Blasio campaign aide Jonathan Rosen, told the Wall Street Journal that it would "build on the grassroots energy of UPKNYC and last fall's  campaign to support the mayor's bold, progressive agenda as it continues to move forward — building the affordable housing we need, fighting inequality, and ensuring that every child receives a great education." The mayor got arrested during his mayoral campaign protesting the prospect of the hospital's closure. * BerlinRosen's current and recent clients include Two Trees Management Negotiations between Mr. de Blasio’s team and Mr. Walentas’s firm took place over the last few days. The two men share a mutual adviser: Jonathan Rosen, one of the mayor’s top political hands and the chief executive of a public affairs firm, Berlin Rosen, that counts Mr. Walentas’s company as a client.




A Lobbyists Who Grew Out of the WFP's Data and Field Swamp is Not Telling New Yorkers How to Think?









LICH had been losing millions of dollars a month.  In February, when the mayor announced a "truly historic" agreement with those community groups, health care unions, and the State University of New York that he hoped would save the hospital, he gave a shout-out to Reilly. Following a messy few months, the state has gone back to negotiating with the partner that it had been talking to in the first place: Fortis Property Group. The deal will not include a full service hospital.The campaign would not disclose how much it spent on the mailer, who its donors are, or how many homes the mailer was sent to. The group's spokesman Dan Levitan said it would disclose its donors in its July 15 filing with the state's Joint Commission on Public Ethics. “The Campaign for One New York and many of the activists involved in preserving healthcare at LICH believe it is important that people in the community understand the many critical services that will be still be provided there, including an emergency room, cancer center, HIV/AIDS clinic, as well as urgent, primary, and preventative outpatient services in more than a dozen specialties," he said, in a statement. The mayor's office had no immediate comment. de Blasio Doublespeak   Rent freeze or rent hike? Sources say de Blasioadministration wanted both (Capital) Several members of the board said that a top aide from the de Blasio administration urged them to vote for the increases. (CrainsNY)























Although Berlin Rosen Does Not Register, is A Lobbyist When It Comes to Real Estate According to Its Sugar Addiction











Berlin Rosen who is not for some reason not listed as registered lobbyist work for a lot of real estate developers.   Berlin Rosen’s current and recent clients include Two Trees Management Negotiations between Mr. de Blasio’s team and two trees' Walentas’s firm took place over a few days. The two men share a mutual adviser: Jonathan Rosen, one of the mayor’s top political hands and the chief executive of a public affairs firm, Berlin Rosen that counts Mr. Walentas’s company as a client. Berlin Rosen served as a consultant to de Blasio campaign and runs he slush fund PAC NY1 which pushes the mayor’s agenda. The NYT Michael Powell – “A couple last year; "I called the mayor’s press office and asked about Mr. de Blasio’s perhaps too-optimistic cost projections for prekindergarten.  Twenty minutes later, I heard from Dan Levitan of Berlin Rosen, which is the “it” P.R. firm of the city’s left and a close adviser to the mayor.”  Berlin Rosen worked all the candidates that hired the WFP’s Data and Field in 2009.  One of their clients is still being investigated by a SI special prosecutor.  Both partners in Berlin Rosen, Jonathan Rosen and Valerie Berlin worked for Schneiderman.  Berlin was his chief of staff when he was a NYS Senator.  













Lobbyists BerlinRosen Takes Over NYC Government















 Law Week the CFB Uncover the Tip of the Iceberg About Illegal Coordination Between PACS and Political Consultants







Organized Crime Politics



The CFB determined under its rules last week that the Advance Group’s work on behalf of  Brooklyn Council member Laurie Cumbo and Manhattan’s Mark Levine and the supposedly “independent” anti-carriage PAC really amounted to illegal coordination between the campaigns and the PAC NYCLASS. But the coordination between campaign consultants and PAC goes mush deeper then the CFB fines.Berlin Rosen another political consultant lobbyists besides working for mayoral candidate de Blasio also worked for Advance fined candidate Councilman Levine. Both Advance and Berlin also worked together for councilman Ydanis A Rodriguez. What the CFB is looking at as it continues it investigation of Advance is other types of coordination between the candidates and the political consultants that bring money and additional resources to NYC candidates that bring them over the spending limits they agreed to when accepting public matching funds.











Perhaps the only time the Advance Group told the truth to the press last year was when Levenson said to the Daily News that he was doing a favor for another consultant when he got involved with the the PAC Citizen Action.  The consultants whose candidate got one of the Citizens Action mailings was Berlin Rosen and Pitta Bishop Del Giorno.  Advance and Pitta Bishop both worked for council candidate John Lisyanskiy.   Berlin Rosen was paid $23,000 by the PAC controlled by the same union  that uses Advance as their lobbyists, HOTEL WORKERS FOR A STRONGER MIDDLE CLASS.   Berlin Rosen served as campaign consultants for Councilwoman Chin which got help from the HOTEL WORKERS FOR A STRONGER MIDDLE CLASS PAC.  The Advance Group is a hired lobbyist by for New York Hotel and Motel Trades Council AFL-CIO. Another Berlin Rosen candidate Daniel L Squadron also got help from the New York Hotel and Motel Trades Council AFL-CIO. Forest City Ratner another firm that Berlin Rosen works for had family member of Ratner contributed big time to Squadron.  The Advance Group was hired by the UFT under a fake name Strategic Consultants to work for the  teachers PAC United for the Future.  The following Berlin Rosen candidates got funding from United for the Future: Corey Johnson, Mark Levine, Ydanis A Rodriguez, Austin I Shafran, Elizabeth S Crowley, Richard Donovan, Kirsten J Foy and Rory Lancman. United for the Future Funded 31 of the 51 elected councilman.  In fact there are dozens and dozens of instances where campaign consultants lobbyists worked together through the campaigns they ran and the PACs they controlled. * UFT under fire for apparently trying to hide identity of consulting firm(NYDN) * More on the Advance Group Under Investigation  *  CrainsNY on the Advance Groups Double Dipping  * Melissa Mark-Viverito Lobbyist the Advance Group Never Quit, Continued Lobbying Despite Investigations * A staffer for Joseph Lhota, Mr. de Blasio's defeated general-election opponent, recently filed a complaint with the New York City Campaign  Finance Board charging that Mr. de Blasio's campaign had illegally coordinated with the anti-Quinn super PAC NYCLASS, a complaint the de Blasio campaign called "frivolous."














.














Team Cuomo "A Visit From St. Bill" 










Backlash grows over a controversial letter supporting the sale of LICH to a developer, sent out by de Blasio lobbyists. 















Alarm raised about ‘dark money’ behind de Blasio’s LICH - Fortis letter

























Brooklyn Heights Association joins fray, debunks ‘Reilly’ letter(Brooklyn Eagle)











The backlash continues against a letter sent out by a de Blasio lobbying group supporting the sale of Brooklyn’s Long Island College Hospital (LICH) to a developer.   The government watchdog group Common Cause raised alarms on Tuesday about “dark money” funding the mass mailing, and the Brooklyn Heights Association (BHA) has added its voice to those debunking the letter's claims. The controversial June 26 letter touts the “stand-alone ER” that will be replacing the historic hospital. Although it was signed by Carroll Gardens’ resident Gary Reilly, the letter was mailed from the headquarters of de Blasio lobbyists operating under the name “The Campaign for One New York.” In the letter, Reilly says, “I was asked by Mayor de Blasio to share my views on what [the sale of LICH] means for families in Cobble Hill, Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn Heights, Boerum Hill, Downtown Brooklyn and Red Hook.”  The outcome, Reilly writes, “. . . is a lot better than we had reason to think one year ago.” With SUNY selling the hospital complex to developer Fortis Property Group, “We will have a freestanding, high quality emergency room, with up to 20 observational beds.” The letter has evoked a storm of criticism from residents of these neighborhoods who fought for more than a year to save the hospital, and who supported de Blasio in his campaign for mayor largely based on his promise to save LICH.  That promise was seemingly forgotten after the election, however.* Big city unions bankroll $1.7M to Mayor de Blasio's lobbying arm(NYDN)* * An advocacy group set up by New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s campaign aides raised nearly $1.8 million during his first six months in office to promote his policy agenda, The Wall Street Journal reports:







Sal Albanese ‏@SalAlbaneseNYC



@HammerDaily hopefully we are not returning to the days of @BarrettNation & Jack Newfield's book "City For Sale"





















Safety cameras are a bust, say NYCHA tenants





NYT Says de Blasio's Lobbyists is Advocating True News Calls It Brainwashing and Misleadin







Who Will Investigate Berlin Rosen Who Worked for Brooklyn DA Thompson, AG Schniderman, de Blasio and the Council Speaker? 







Both the Advance Group and Berlin Rosen worked for Comptroller Stringer and CM Mark Levine and Laurie Cumbo were fined for his connection to Advance. Berlin Rosen also worked for NYS AG Schniderman. Mayor de Blasio and Comptroller Stringer. Brandford worked with Berlin for the AG and for Comptroller Stringer along with the Advance Group.













The NYT Left Out The Fact That A Major Promise of the Mayor's Campaign Was to Keep LICH A Full Service Hospital, He Even Got Arrested Protesting the Proposed Closing







Since the city received state funding for prekindergarten, the group has turned to other issues. Recently, it sent a letter  to residents of Brooklyn, defending the outcome of the long legal battle over the closing of Long Island College Hospital, as well as Mr. de Blasio’s role in it.  Some have criticized the mayor for declaring in February that he had “saved” the hospital, after which it effectively closed. It is being sold to a developer to be turned into condominiums; there will be some health care services, including a free-standing emergency room, on the site.  The letter, signed by Gary Reilly of the Carroll Gardens Neighborhood Association, said that, thanks in part to Mr. de Blasio, the outcome was “a lot better than what we had reason to think one year ago.”







True News Wags the NYT Wrote About the UPKNYC Hospital Mailing Last Week









It New Yorkers Face Cheney Like Fake Reality (Brainwashing) and Tammany Hall Corruption









de Blasio Primary: Hospital Not Condos

Mayor's Flack: Condos No Full Hospital 











De Blasio-allied group defends LICH deal to brownstone Brooklyn(Capital)  The outside group that advocated for Mayor Bill de Blasio's pre-K plan is sending out a mailer praising a deal that resulted in a dramatic downsizing of Long Island College Hospital in Cobble Hill. The Campaign for One New York is the new iteration of UPKNYC, the advocacy group run by the mayor's former campaign aides that spent more than $1 million promoting the mayor's universal pre-K plan. When its name change was announced in May, the group's spokesman, former de Blasio campaign aide Jonathan Rosen, told the Wall Street Journal that it would "build on the grassroots energy of UPKNYC and last fall's  campaign to support the mayor's bold, progressive agenda as it continues to move forward — building the affordable housing we need, fighting inequality, and ensuring that every child receives a great education." The mayor got arrested during his mayoral campaign protesting the prospect of the hospital's closure. * BerlinRosen's current and recent clients include Two Trees Management Negotiations between Mr. de Blasio’s team and Mr. Walentas’s firm took place over the last few days. The two men share a mutual adviser: Jonathan Rosen, one of the mayor’s top political hands and the chief executive of a public affairs firm, Berlin Rosen, that counts Mr. Walentas’s company as a client.



A Lobbyists Who Grew Out of the WFP's Data and Field Swamp is Not Telling New Yorkers How to Think?







LICH had been losing millions of dollars a month.  In February, when the mayor announced a "truly historic" agreement with those community groups, health care unions, and the State University of New York that he hoped would save the hospital, he gave a shout-out to Reilly. Following a messy few months, the state has gone back to negotiating with the partner that it had been talking to in the first place: Fortis Property Group. The deal will not include a full service hospital.The campaign would not disclose how much it spent on the mailer, who its donors are, or how many homes the mailer was sent to. The group's spokesman Dan Levitan said it would disclose its donors in its July 15 filing with the state's Joint Commission on Public Ethics. “The Campaign for One New York and many of the activists involved in preserving healthcare at LICH believe it is important that people in the community understand the many critical services that will be still be provided there, including an emergency room, cancer center, HIV/AIDS clinic, as well as urgent, primary, and preventative outpatient services in more than a dozen specialties," he said, in a statement. The mayor's office had no immediate comment. de Blasio Doublespeak   Rent freeze or rent hike? Sources say de Blasioadministration wanted both (Capital) Several members of the board said that a top aide from the de Blasio administration urged them to vote for the increases. (CrainsNY)
























Team de Blasio Spins Win on Pre-K




4m



READ --> Daily News: "giant step forward for Mayor de Blasio's pre-k plan":  The New York Post editorial board “thanked” Mayor Bill de Blasio for working against charter schools, which the paper says only emboldened Albany charter advocates to save them: “New York owes Bill de Blasio a thank you. In trying to squash charter schools, he might just have made them stronger.”


















Permanent Government

Familiar Consultants Hired by de Blasio’s Pre-K Drive(NYT) Mayor Bill de Blasio’s privately financed campaign to offer prekindergarten to all 4-year-olds in New York City paid consultants in his election run much of the money it spent in recent months. Those consultants, who were paid not by the city but by a new nonprofit, the Campaign for One New York, included BerlinRosen, a public affairs firm that took in $43,950 in fees and expenses, and an affiliate of Hilltop Public Solutions, which was paid a $16,500 “management fee,” according to a filing with the state’s Joint Commission on Public Ethics. Hilltop hired Bill Hyers, the manager of Mr. de Blasio’s mayoral campaign, in December, the same month Mr. Hyers established the Campaign for One New York, which quickly branded itself as UPKNYC. Genova Burns Giantomasi Webster, a law firm that worked on Mr. de Blasio’s mayoral run, was paid $23,467 in fees.  







Acres, the media production firm that helped mold Mr. de Blasio’s campaign commercials — including a pivotal advertisement featuring his son, Dante — was paid $16,900, according to the filing. Jessica Singleton, who was digital director of the de Blasio campaign and now works for the mayor, received $2,500 in fees for “brand design” and “digital strategy” before she joined the administration. The nonprofit also paid $40,000 to the North Star Fund, a foundation that supports grass-roots organizations, which added money of its own and spent it promoting “the need for high-quality, universal pre-K and after-school and the UPKNYC plan to pay for these critical investments” within “grass-roots communities,” Dan Levitan, a vice president at BerlinRosen, said by email. Mr. Levitan, who was also the spokesman for Mr. de Blasio’s mayoral campaign, said.* Group Lobbying for Pre-K Plan Closely Associated With Unions, Mayor's Campaign Staff(NY1) The group is run, in part, by the mayor's former campaign aides. Its lobbyist works for the city's massive hotel workers' union, JOSHUA GOLD and his contract allows him to work for both groups at the same time.







Berlin Rosen Helped de Blasio Get Arrested As A Campaign Prop Protesting the Closing of LICH Hospital 

Then Broke the Law Using the Mayor's Slush Fund PAC One New York









Mayor Says He Will Continue to Seek Advice from Top Adviserin Wake of NY1 Report (NY1) In the wake of a in-depth NY1 report last week, the mayor says he will continue to seek advice from a top adviser despite criticism of their close relationship.  Jonathan Rosen runs the public relations firm BerlinRosen and advises private clients with business before the city while also acting as a close advisor to the mayor. Because Rosen is not a registered lobbyist, he does not have to disclose his clients, but the mayor said there's no conflict of interest. "Jonathan is someone I worked with for years. He is a close friend, a close adviser going back many, many years, and he'll continue to be," de Blasio said. "He doesn't represent the interests of his clients when he talks to me. He is someone who I turn to advice on a whole host of issues that have nothing to do with his clients." * NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio said he does not consider it a conflict when he seeks advice from Jonathan Rosen, a political consultant and campaign strategist who represents a host of clients who lobby City Hall on a variety of issues.* In light of the NY1 report on the close relationship between de Blasio and Rosen, Sen. Tony Avella has introduced a bill that would bar lobbyists from also being political consultants.








Berlin Rosen Runs the Mayor's PAC One New York Which Mailed to Reduce Its Clients Negatives in Assembly Race 









Berlin Rosen who worked for 52AD candidate Sikora and the PAC One NY, use to the PAC to send out to the voters of the district a misleading letter that a developers ER would be a good substitute for the closed LICH.  Rosen's assembly candidate was arrested during the 2013 mayor's race along with de Blasio protesting the closing of the LICH Hospital.  The Brooklyn Eagle called Berlin Rosen PAC mailing the dark money mailing, claiming the closed LICH hospital developer would build an emergency room that would meet the community’s health care needs.  Doctors and community leader have called that claim an outright lie. Carroll Gardens Association - Cover-Up of Members' Dark Money LICH Mailing



Community Leaders Blamed Berlin Rosen Candidate Sikora (de Blasio campaign worker) for de Blasio Not Living Up to His Campaign Promise of Keeping LICH Hospital Open 









Bill de Blasio arrested at SUNY protest - NY Daily News (NYDN) New York City Mayoral Candidate Bill DiBlasio and a nurse are arrested at protest outside the State University of New York offices on West 42nd st. Hospital workers were protesting the planned closing Long Island City Hospital in Brooklyn. “We’re going to lose Long Island College Hospital in a matter of weeks if we don’t act now ... People are going to be much sicker in this city if we keep losing hospitals,” de Blasio said as he was led away in handcuffs. “This is about fighting for our hospitals. We have to save them* Mayor de Blasio Is Quietly Soliciting Donations for Future Policy Battles (NYT)  Mr. de Blasio and his fund-raising team have quietly solicited large contributions in recent weeks from donors in the mayor’s inner circle, according to three people who requested anonymity to describe moves by the administration that were not yet intended to be public.







de Blasio's Sugar Fix Will the Council Demand Its Cut? What Role Did Berlin Rosen Play?



City Hall's Inhouse Lobbyist Political Consultant

Real Estate developers now understand if you want to get an OK for your housing plan hire Berlin Rosen





City Hall Gatekeeper

BerlinRosen's current and recent clients include Two Trees Management Negotiations between Mr. de Blasio’s team and Mr. Walentas’s firm took place over the last few days. The two men share a mutual adviser: Jonathan Rosen, one of the mayor’s top political hands and the chief executive of a public affairs firm, Berlin Rosen, that counts Mr. Walentas’s company as a client. SPIN CITY -- Times’ Michael Powell: “A couple of weeks back, I called the mayor’s press office and asked about Mr. de Blasio’s perhaps too-optimistic cost projections for prekindergarten. Twenty minutes later, I heard from Dan Levitan of Berlin Rosen, which is the ‘it’ P.R. firm of the city’s left and a close adviser to the mayor. … I asked if Berlin Rosen had a contract to handle queries placed with the mayor’s office. He replied that he handled the ‘campaign’ for pre-K.”







How Come Berlin Rosen Is Not Registered As A NYC Lobbyist?







Berlin Rosen Operates In the Dark Pools of Power and NYC Lobbyist

NYT Michael Powell - A couple of weeks back, I called the mayor’s press office and asked about Mr. de Blasio’s perhaps too-optimistic cost projections for prekindergarten.  Twenty minutes later, I heard from Dan Levitan of Berlin Rosen, which is the “it” P.R. firm of the city’s left and a close adviser to the mayor. He advised that I should study the mayor’s proposals carefully if I presumed to take “a skeptical look” at prekindergarten. I asked if Berlin Rosen had a contract to handle queries placed with the mayor’s office. He replied that he handled the “campaign” for pre-K. Lobbyists Search for Berlin Rosen * When Campaign Aides Are Lobbyists, Questions Mount - City Limits(City Limits) * 8 Lobbyists Consultants and Citizen United  * True News (The Bund): Dark Pools * City Hall's new 'in' crowd of lobbyists (CrainsNY) Lobbyists behind the campaigns of ascendant power brokers are now poised to cash in.*  The Perma-Campaign: For Bill de Blasio, the Race Never Ends(NYO)







Twitter / BerlinRosen: Congratulations to whole team ...



Apr 24, 2014 - Congratulations to whole team @TwoTreesNY on the approval of Domino Sugar Refinery. Amazing project for NYC. Proud to be a part of it.  Two Trees Cedes to de Blasio’s Demands, Agrees to Build More Affordable Housing at Domino Site



Secret Budget Negotiations, are Lobbyist the Reason for the Closed Doors?  



Disputes Over City Budget Not Yet Spilling Into Public View(NY1)











de Blasio Slush Fund PAC Controlled By Berlin Rosen 







New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has been soliciting contributions to his non-profit Campaign for One New York for advertising campaigns that will support his top policy goals





Mayor de Blasio Is Quietly Soliciting Donations for Future Policy Battles (NYT)  Mr. de Blasio and his fund-raising team have quietly solicited large contributions in recent weeks from donors in the mayor’s inner circle, according to three people who requested anonymity to describe moves by the administration that were not yet intended to be public.  Donors are being asked to contribute to a nonprofit fund, the Campaign for One New York, that is operated by political consultants with close ties to Mr. de Blasio. The fund can accept donations that are significantly larger than those allowed within New York City’s strict campaign finance system.* De Blasio is ramping up a political campaign to promote his housing and education priorities, with an eye toward amassing a financial war chest that can compete with well-funded opponents. The mayor and his fund-raising team have quietly solicited large contributions in recent weeks. Donors are being asked to contribute to a nonprofit fund, the Campaign for One New York, that is operated by political consultants close to de Blasio.














Dark Pools Lobbyists Campaign Consultants and Money























Mayor's Office an Berlin Rosen Joined At the Hip and the Media Ignores 







NYT's Michael Powell -  A couple of weeks back, I called the mayor’s press office and asked about Mr. de Blasio’s perhaps too-optimistic cost projections for prekindergarten.  Twenty minutes later, I heard from Dan Levitan of Berlin Rosen, which is the “it” P.R. firm of the city’s left and a close adviser to the mayor. He advised that I should study the mayor’s proposals carefully if I presumed to take “a skeptical look” at prekindergarten. I asked if Berlin Rosen had a contract to handle queries placed with the mayor’s office. He replied that he handled the “campaign” for pre-K. Lobbyists Search for Berlin Rosen * When Campaign Aides Are Lobbyists, Questions Mount - City Limits(City Limits)  * City Hall's new 'in' crowd of lobbyists (CrainsNY) Lobbyists behind the campaigns of ascendant power brokers are now poised to cash in.*  The Perma-Campaign: For Bill de Blasio, the Race Never Ends(NYO) * When Campaign Aides Are Lobbyists, Questions Mount - City Limits(City Limits) Sugar Fixed Why is Berlin Rosen Not A Registered Lobbyists?  BerlinRosen's current and recent clients include Two Trees Management Negotiations between Mr. de Blasio’s team and Mr. Walentas’s firm took place over the last few days. The two men share a mutual adviser: Jonathan Rosen, one of the mayor’s top political hands and the chief executive of a public affairs firm, Berlin Rosen, that counts Mr. Walentas’s company as a client





Lobbyists Berlin Rosen Takes Over NYC Government











The Privatization of the Tammany Hall Machine  





The Old Tammany Hall Machine was corrupt as corrupt as the lobbyists who have run today's New York's political system.  But the machine of the Boss Tweed era was far more responsive to voters and the communities that it served.  Terry Golway recent book explained how Tammany Hall depended on voter turnout for power.  To get votes the old machine offered services, provided jobs and protected the neighborhood where their votes came from. Tammany Hall governing style was responsible for creating New York's strong Neighborhoods of old. Tammany leader George Washington Plunkitt — the man who coined the phrase “honest graft” — met with constituents and lesser Tammany officials in his district several times a week to find out who was happy with Tammany’s services and who required some special attention. Today's lobbyist's controlled private machine gain power by getting electing candidates and feeding them with campaign contributions from their clients who are looking for city contracts or zoning changes, they never meet the voters.





Lobbyists Political Consultants Have At First Worked Side by Side With Party Bosses to Cut Themselves Into Election System . . .  They Are Now in the Process of Cutting Out Those Party Machines Who Brought Them In





Today's Lobbyist Private Political Machine did not replace the old Tammany Hall.  It replaced political parties machine running on fumes, using the election low and decreasing voter's turnout to stay in power.  The dumbing down of the press and the voting public and the end of organized political competition after the Eleanor Roosevelt who pushed out Tammany's de Sapio and the anti-Viet Nam reform movement, have left party bosses in power unchallenged.



The Old Tammany Hall Welcomed All the Voters New Lobbyists Private Tammany Hall Pushes the Public Out





 Over the last few years the lobbyists started to make their way into the political system by offering party bosses campaign services and campaign funding which in the old Tammany days would have been done in the club house and by its members.  In the old days hundreds of people worked in the clubhouse to put our mailings.  Today a campaign consultant emails a mailing house with a flyer designed by his or her company and the mail goes out.  The entire social structure of the community helping the machine and in return the machine helping the community and it residences is gone.  The news lobbyists machine hang out is their beach houses or million dollar apartments and never meet anyone in the community they seek to elect someone in. The public who used to at least have a choice to elect their party leaders.  The permanent government picks the Tammany's lobbyists cutting out the public completely.



 









There are very important campaign filing differences between de Sapio's Tammany Hall and today's lobbyists Tammany Hall.  Old Tammany and today's political party leaders were required to file their all their expenses and how much money their received. The new lobbyists Private Tammany Hall uses money from their lobbyists clients in campaigns which are not required to be filed with the Board of Elections. 







They use the Data and Field model of charging their clients below costs, that the Working Families Party and others are under investigation for by the Staten Island DA's special prosecutor, and it is all legal for the new lobbyists political consultants.   The political party machines are quired to file any money they spend with other clubs or political leaders that is used to elect their candidates.  The new private lobbyists can hire other lobbyists or anyone else and is not required to file any financial report.  In the 2013 elections there were over 200 incidents of 8 lobbyists either working with other or against each other















de Blasio Developer Contributor Blocks the Brooklyn Bridge View 





 De Blasio has not responded to complaints that a high-rise built by a developer who is one of his campaign contributors is illegally blocking iconic views of the Brooklyn Bridge













Activists protest de Blasio pal’s view-blocking high-rise (NYP) Mayor de Blasio has been MIA amid complaints that a high-rise built by a developer who is one of his campaign contributors is illegally blocking iconic views of the Brooklyn Bridge, say local residents. Advocates in Brooklyn Heights say that the luxury 10-story hotel and condo being built by Toll Brothers on parkland just south of the bridge has overshot its 100-foot height limit by 35 feet. That difference blocks age-old views of the landmark bridge from portions of the historic promenade, the residents complain. Last year, Toll Brothers donated $25,000 to the mayor’s nonprofit, the Campaign for One New York — which isn’t governed by campaign-finance donation limits. “It really calls into questions whether public officials are able to act on behalf of the public when so much of their political future rests on these private firms,” said Cristina Page, 44, a member of the advocacy group Save The View Now. Park reps say mechanical equipment had to be put on the roof after Superstorm Sandy, but it’s still within contractual height limits. De Blasio said he didn’t know enough about the controversy to comment.











de Blasio Slush Fund Run By Berlin Rosen Got $25,000 From Toll Brothers Who Over Built In Brooklyn Bridge Park  



When Asked About the Over Building By the Toll Brothers de Blasio Said:  De Blasio said he didn’t know enough about the controversy to comment







New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has been soliciting contributions to his non-profit Campaign for One New York for advertising campaigns that will support his top policy goals Mayor de Blasio Is Quietly Soliciting Donations for Future Policy Battles (NYT)  Mr. de Blasio and his fund-raising team have quietly solicited large contributions in recent weeks from donors in the mayor’s inner circle, according to three people who requested anonymity to describe moves by the administration that were not yet intended to be public.  Donors are being asked to contribute to a nonprofit fund, the Campaign for One New York, that is operated by political consultants with close ties to Mr. de Blasio. The fund can accept donations that are significantly larger than those allowed within New York City’s strict campaign finance system.* De Blasio is ramping up a political campaign to promote his housing and education priorities, with an eye toward amassing a financial war chest that can compete with well-funded opponents. The mayor and his fund-raising team have quietly solicited large contributions in recent weeks. Donors are being asked to contribute to a nonprofit fund, the Campaign for One New York, that is operated by political consultants close to de Blasio.* Campaign for One New York paid BerlinRosen $363,000 throughJune, according to its lobbying disclosure.(CrainsNY) * Familiar Consultants Hired by de Blasio's Pre-K Drive (NYT) * Give the money back, Mayor de Blasio | New York Post Maybe Mayor de Blasio’s spokesman is right: There’s “zero” connection between the sweetheart deal the teachers union won from the city and $350,000 its parent union donated to Mayor Bill’s Super PAC. Maybe it’s also just a coincidence, as Crain’s reported, that the donation from the American Federation of Teachers to the Campaign for One New York came less than a month before the mayor agreed to a nine-year-contract with its New York local whose health “savings” are vague but whose retroactive pay is all too real.* De Blasio called a hypocrite for raking contributions in pre-K fight (NYP) * Bill de Blasio's Potential Conflict of Interest | Washington ... de Blasio Does Not Know About A Developer Who Contributed to His Campaign and His Re-Election Slush, Over Building in A Park. De Blasio’s ‘conflicting’ accepted donations(NYP)A nonprofit launched by Mayor de Blasio accepted money from at least two donors that his mayoral campaign had rejected because they had city contracts, a Post review found.Joseph and Chris Termini, owners of the yellow-school-bus companies Hoyt Transportation and Dak Transportation, respectively, each donated $4,500 to de Blasio’s mayoral-transition campaign in December.











The AG and the DAs By Not Enforcing the Election Law Has Enabled Lobbyists and Special Interests to Legalize Bribery Though PACs



PACs are A Crime on the Book Because Prosecutors Who Look the Other Way



The CFB determined under its rules that the Advance Group’s work on behalf of both Council candidates and the supposedly “independent” anti-carriage PAC really amounted to illegal coordination between the campaigns and NYCLASS. The board properly fined Cumbo and Levine. And its crackdown on the out-of-bounds campaign spending by NYCLASS has done the city a huge favor, by providing a badly needed glimpse into the big money play that successfully swung the 2013 city elections. Using funds from donors that included UNITE HERE — a union chaired by Mayor de Blasio’s cousin John Wilhelm — NYCLASS slimed mayoral rival Christine Quinn into oblivion.Now the FBI is probing the funding of the attacks on Quinn, and de Blasio’s flip-flop that led to his vow to ban the horses. The CFB needs to stay vigilant, making every effort to hold NYCLASS, the Advance Group and sponsored candidates to account for their actions in the 2013 campaign. Among the others benefiting from NYCLASS spending was Melissa Mark-Viverito, who took free services from the Advance Group in her successful bid to become City Council speaker.












NYT Silent On Local Impact of Citizens United Has Enabled the Coordination Between PACs and Campaigns to Be Taken Over By Lobbyists 











Even After Two Councilmembers Were Fined



The NYT has written several times on the national impact of Citizens United but never on the impact of that  special interests big money supreme court decision on the 2013 NYC election. Not Even after the CFB fined two city council members who were helped by the Advance Group campaign consultant who used the Citizens United PAC they controlled to help their candidates. Both the Daily News and NYP which reported on the fines, limited their coverage on the fines without comment on how far the CFB could go.  Nobody except this blog is doing the investigative reporting that shows the depth of corruption of the Advance Group and the Citizens United PACS in the 2013 city elections. Or about how Berlin Rosen and the One New York PAC coordinated with a candidate in the 52nd.  Have these PACs made NY government worse (if that is possible)? Have these PACs and lobbyist consultants committed crimes? Have these groups legalized bribery








Campaign Consutants Lobbyists Who Run the Council Take Over the BOE - Ballot Knock Offs of Candidates Who Don't Hire Them? 











Back Continuing The Tammany Hall Future 



Board of Elections President Greg Soumas quits ahead of possible ouster in City Council power play(NYDN) Ahead of his possible ouster by the City Council, Board of Elections President Gregory Soumas quit in a terse Friday note."By this letter, I resign my position as commissioner of the Board of Elections of the city of New York effective immediately," the Manhattan Democrat wrote to Board Secretary Michael Michel.Soumas, an attorney and former district leader, was first appointed to the 10-member bipartisan Board in 2005. As first reported in the Daily News Monday, Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito was poised to potentially ignore Manhattan Democratic Chairman Keith Wright's hopes of keeping Soumas on. But because Wright missed a legal deadline to tell the Council he wanted to reappoint Soumas, the Council seized control of the appointment process. By replacing Soumas with a candidate of her own, Mark-Viverito could intensify her influence over the Board and its host of patronage jobs.



But Soumas's resignation could potentially throw the speaker's plan off track. As news of his bow-out spread Friday, there were conflicting arguments about whether the appointment power still rested with Mark-Viverito and the Council, or whether it would reset the clock for Wright to make another pick.Frederic Umane, the Manhattan Republican commissioner, said the Council would pick a replacement for Soumas -- but said the timing of his departure, right during petition season, was tough and that it would be hard to find a new commissioner "as talented and knowlegeabe as Commissioner Soumas.* Councilwoman funds expansion of museum she founded  via @capitalnewyork








How Come Berlin Rosen Answered A NYT Reporter Question For City Hall?







Berlin Rosen Operates In the Dark Pools of Power and NYC Lobbyist

NYT Michael Powell - A couple of weeks back, I called the mayor’s press office and asked about Mr. de Blasio’s perhaps too-optimistic cost projections for prekindergarten.  Twenty minutes later, I heard from Dan Levitan of Berlin Rosen, which is the “it” P.R. firm of the city’s left and a close adviser to the mayor. He advised that I should study the mayor’s proposals carefully if I presumed to take “a skeptical look” at prekindergarten. I asked if Berlin Rosen had a contract to handle queries placed with the mayor’s office. He replied that he handled the “campaign” for pre-K. Lobbyists Search for Berlin Rosen * When Campaign Aides Are Lobbyists, Questions Mount - City Limits(City Limits) * 8 Lobbyists Consultants and Citizen United  * True News (The Bund): Dark Pools * City Hall's new 'in' crowd of lobbyists (CrainsNY) Lobbyists behind the campaigns of ascendant power brokers are now poised to cash in.*  The Perma-Campaign: For Bill de Blasio, the Race Never Ends(NYO)







 


Thanks to Berlin Rosen Its No Longer A Wonderful Life For Seniors On the Westside of Pottersville







“It’s horrible to move at our age,” said Lillian Schafer, 90, balking at the notion of leaving the assisted-living facility Williams Memorial Residence to go to East Harlem. A developer wants to build a luxury  development on the sight of Schafer building. “All the way up there? East 125th Street. Oh my god!  That the way the new lobbyists private Tammany Hall unanswerable to the voters treat seniors when their is a buck to be made for the developers and themselves. New York City being overrun by developers has more in common with Pottersville than Bedford Falls and their is no George Bailey to save us.  Not even Clarence can't earn his angle wings against these money hungry lobbyists, Rosen-Potter and Kasirer-Potter and the developers they work for.  They even want to use the white seniors to push the gentrification of Harlem making new markets for them to push long term middle class residence out of the city.  Forget about the poor door.  Seniors who have built our city, defended our country and raised our families are now treated like lobbyists who run the new private Tammany Hall. The international faith-based organization which will run the new Harlem senior housing, promised it won’t increase rents for those who make the move for at least 18 months, and moving fees will also be paid.





Lobbyists for Developers Throw Seniors Who Have Built This City Out of Their Homes







Berlin Rosen who is working for both the mayor and developers all over the city is working with the Salvation Army who is pushing the senior out their long term community on the Westside. The developer interested in buying the senior home Brack Capital Real Estate has been represented by NYC's top lobbyists Suri Kasirer who is the biggerst lobbyists in the city.  “Moving from the Upper West Side to East Harlem is very difficult for a senior who is set in their routine and unfamiliar with a new neighborhood,” said James, organizing a protest last Wednesday denouncing the Salvation Army. “I am urging the Salvation Army and Brack-Capital to help keep these seniors on the Upper West Side.” It only a matter of time before the lobbyists in New York are hired by the Soylent Green company.


Berlin Rosen Joined At the Hip With A Congressman and AG







A group of spry seniors — including 82-year-old retired lawyer Eliot Loshak — are plotting to pressure the state Attorney General’s office to block the multimillion dollar contract. What the Seniors will soon find out the Lobbyist Berlin Rosen have long root many connected to AG Schneiderman.  Both partners in New York One’s letter lobbyist Berlin Rosen, Jonathan Rosen and Valerie Berlin worked for Schneiderman.  Berlin was his chief of staff when he was a NYS Senator. Valerie Berlin is  married to Congressman Nadler's Chief of Staff Amy Rutkin. Congressman Nadler is against the senior move.  It A Wonderful Life in New York City Congressman Nadler and AG Schneiderman.  Is the way they treat senior who have built this city, defended our county and raised our families?  “The mission of a non-profit like the Salvation Army is to support, in this case, senior affordable housing, not to sell a building to an owner who is going to put in luxury housing,” the question the protested want answered.*PR "specialists now outnumber reporters by nearly 5 to 1" (Politico)











More $$$ for Berlin Rosen?








Did the Advance Group Do Favors For Other Political Consultants?









The firm admitted its work for City Action Coalition PAC was problematic. “We did a favor for a political operative that we have a longstanding relationship with by sending his mailer to a printer,” an Advance Group spokeswoman said. (NYDN)













Lobbyists Campaign Consultants Have Caused the Walmartization of NY's Politics . . . Using the Wal-Mart Business Model to Win Campaigns and Drive Out the Competition 





NYC does not have a single Walmart because of the WFP and their friends in the progressive movement protesting the company unfair business practices. The protesters accuse Wal-mart of bulk purchasing and corporate financing to sell merchandise at low costs in order to drive competitors out of the market.  WFP says the Wal-Mart's business model pushes mom and pop business out of the market creating an economic monopoly.  It is now clear that less than a dozen lobbyists political consultants has use the Wal-Mart unfair business model to take over NY's politics by using unfair 2009 the WFP Data and Field model to give them and their candidates a competitive advantages in campaigns.    



 





Centralization of Money And Campaign Consultants Taking the Power Out of the Local Communities to Choose Who Represent Them





New York's poor are being push out of their neighborhoods by the same lobbyists who work for the elected officials. Besides having no party leaders to run to save their homes or apartments tenants being push out by the very people who elected their local officials. Lobbyist George Artz who helps elected Comptroller Stringer and others is a lobbyist for Extell real estate which is not only pushing the poor door on us but receiving millions in tax credits to build luxury housing that is fueling gentrification in the outer boroughs pushing many of Stringers voters out of their homes. Lobbyists James Capalino a big de Blasio and Cuomo fund raiser works for developers who closed two hospitals, LICH and St Vincent's Hospitals. Berlin Rosen who worked with Data and Field in 2009 is the epicenter of the new private machine.  They worked with de Blasio, Speaker Comptroller Stringer, Council Members Levin, Richards, Rodriguez, Crowley, Lancman, Kallos, Johnson; Mealy also works for many of the city's real estate developers who are gentrifying people out of their homes in Crown Heights and Bed Stuy. Berlin Rosen is working to move seniors who live at Williams Memorial Residence, at 720 West End Ave into Harlem while the local elected officials, many who work with them do not put up much of an effort to stop them.







NYCLASS, United for the Future PACs in 2013, Like Data and Field in 2009 Helped the Private Lobbyists Defeat the Party Machine in 2013







It is clear that the lobbyists and their political allies used Citizens United PACs to defeat the party bosses and elected a mayor, Council Speaker and Council. Data and Field was not longer available so the progressive lobbyists  developed a close working relationship with two PACs, NYCLASS and United for the Future- funded by the UFT. We know that the Advance Group is under FBI and CFB investigation for their role in running NYCLASS.  We also know that two council members have been fined for their campaigns being run by Advance and receiving mailings by the Advance run PAC NYCLASS.  What is unclear is if the CFB or the FBI is looking at the 200+ interconnection between the lobbyist's consultants and the PACS n the 2013 city elections. The same political consultant that benefited from Data and Field Berlin Rosen were side by side with Advance in the 2013 WFP campaigns of fine candidates Mark Levine, Laurie Cumbo.  Berlin Rosen also worked in the campaigns of WFP candidates funded by the UFT Advance run United for the Future PAC: Corey Johnson, Kirsten J Foy, Rory Lancman and Ydanis A Rodriguez.    The Advance Group involvement in the UFT PAC United for the Future was covered up by the UFT who paid the consultant though a fake company.  The following additional WFP candidate received funding by the United for the Future PAC: Rosie Mendez, Vanessa L Gibson and Alan Maisel. Red Horse another consultant that worked for United for the Future PAC also got funding for two of their WFP back candidates Ritchie Torres, Paul Vallone.





Organized Crime Politics: 

The New Private Tammany Hall



Operating in Secret Dark Pools A Mob of Campaign Consultants/ Lobbyists Coup d'État of New York Government Goes Unreported











Political Goodfellas









Eight campaign consultants all but one are also lobbyists, have monopolized NYC elections system that only the Justice Department using the Sherman Antitrust Act can bust.  These consultants run every important campaign in New York.  The campaign monopoly is only part of a conspiracy that is not only about who gets elected.  It is also part of a second conspiracy to make money off of government as lobbyist or insiders. There is serious evidence of illegal coordination between the Independent Expenditure PACs and consultants. The data of big 8 working together is massive.  In the 20 competitive races for the city council this year’s these big 8 consultants helped 98 of the 54 competitive candidates in those races.  Consultants were able to help more candidates in the races by being on more than one side in the same race. They don't only compete with each other as one would think.





Using PAC the Big 8 Has Gamed New York Democracy, By Controlling Elections 

















Parkside working for The Real Estate Board of New York's PAC Jobs4NY worked for and against 35 candidates in the 20 competitive council races.  The Advance Group working through 4 PACs NYCLASS, United for the Future, Citizen Action and Hotel Workers for A Strong Middle Class worked for 27 of candidates in the 20 competitive council campaigns. Of the 21 candidates supported by Parkside Jobs4NY 17 were run by the big 8. Another candidate Dickens who had no race is running for speaker and some Jobs4NY money went to a republican candidate. Of the 44 council candidates supported by PAC in which Advance worked for or had a relationship with 34 when to candidates run by the Big 8.  Half of the other 10 went to incumbent candidates who had no races. The big 8 worked for council candidates who may be running for speaker, who had no races.  Berlin Rosen Daniel Garodnick, Red Horse and Hudson TDG James Vacca, Hudson TG Mark Weprin. Multi-Media run by newspaper publisher Michael Nussbaum have been doing printing for the Parkside Group for years in the dark pools because state election law does not require subcontractors are reported. Red Horse worked alongside Parkside for DSCC where Melvin Lowe was indicted this week for fake printing invoices. Red Horse has at least 20 interest group clients. This summer the New York World reported Hudson TG LLC – offer lobbying services to represent special interests with the officials they have sometimes helped to get elected. The only campaign consultant that does not directly lobby is Brandford Communications. But Brandford's Ernie Lendler did pull a Melvin Lowe when he gave convicted Brooklyn Boss Norman fake invoices.  Lendler did not get indicted in exchanged for testifying against Norman Background on the Big 8 Consultants as Lobbyists * CrainsNY on the Advance Groups Double Dipping (CrainsNY)















The New Private Tammany Hall Operates Like the Apalachin Crime Summit, 56 Years Later













These same big 8 consultants also have the same monopolized control of citywide, state election and law enforcement elections. There operating model resembles organize crime after the Apalachin crime meeting. That 1957 meeting included over 100 mobsters including "Joe the Barber," divided the illegal operations of loan sharking, narcotics trafficking and gambling controlled by the late Albert Anastasia.  The big 8 include: the Advance Group, the Parkside Group/Marathon Strategies (join at the hip), Berlin Rosen, Mercury Public Affairs, Brandford Communications, George Arzt, Multi-Media, Hudson TJ and Red Horse. Like the Apalachin mobsters the consultants/lobbyist has divided up New York to control the government and rake in corrupt lobbying dollars. Also like the mobsters the big 8 may even be about the law.





















The Forgotten Virtues of Tammany Hall







lobbyist hired by real estate report nothing

work for the lobbyists who make money by changing neighborhoods



Favor for each other by consultant to advance 

Hire each other



Tammany wanted more voters lobbyist and today's elected official or machine running on fumes want less





de Blasio's Sugar Fix/ Will the Council Demand Its Cut? What Role Did Berlin Rosen Play?



City Hall's Inhouse Lobbyist Political Consultant

Real Estate developers now understand if you want to get an OK for your housing plan hire Berlin Rosen





City Hall Gatekeeper

BerlinRosen's current and recent clients include Two Trees Management Negotiations between Mr. de Blasio’s team and Mr. Walentas’s firm took place over the last few days. The two men share a mutual adviser: Jonathan Rosen, one of the mayor’s top political hands and the chief executive of a public affairs firm, Berlin Rosen, that counts Mr. Walentas’s company as a client. SPIN CITY -- Times’ Michael Powell: “A couple of weeks back, I called the mayor’s press office and asked about Mr. de Blasio’s perhaps too-optimistic cost projections for prekindergarten. Twenty minutes later, I heard from Dan Levitan of Berlin Rosen, which is the ‘it’ P.R. firm of the city’s left and a close adviser to the mayor. … I asked if Berlin Rosen had a contract to handle queries placed with the mayor’s office. He replied that he handled the ‘campaign’ for pre-K.”

  

Setting Up a Better Domino Plan(NYT) In a good start, Mayor Bill de Blasio closed a deal with developers that would add more affordable housing in Brooklyn.* Affordable Housing Advocates Demand More from Mayor * Politicians, unions leave ‘Domino’ deal far from done(NYP Ed) The touted “compromise” to build apartment towers, offices, stores and a park at the Domino Sugar site in Brooklyn is anything but a done deal, despite absurd claims the city has “approved” it. Far from it: The City Council, not the Planning Commission, which OK’d it Wednesday, will have the final say. And construction unions and “affordable housing” agitators are ganging up on the agreement Mayor de Blasio reached this week with developer Two Trees Management. They could easily derail it in the council, which stands even farther to the left than de Blasio.** A coalition of tenant groups, anti-poverty advocates and unions, which includes some of de Blasio’s liberal allies, is poised to begin a campaign to call for more homes for the city’s poorest residents, the Journal writes * Meanwhile, Mr. de Blasio is about to face his first major lobbying effort from the left.  “Real Affordability for All,” a new coalition of tenant groups, anti-poverty advocates and unions, is set to launch a campaign today to create more affordable housing for very low-income residents, “posing an additional challenge for the administration as it develops its own housing plan,” the Wall Street Journal reports. The group “could make it more difficult for the mayor to meet his target of building or preserving 200,000 units of low-cost housing,” the paper reports. 




Lobbyist Berlin Rosen Works for Domino's Developer and the Mayor







Labor unions are demanding that the redevelopment project at the Domino Sugar factory in Brooklyn be done using union construction workers, with leaders arguing that City Council members should withhold approval of the project unless workers receive union wagesUnions demand all workers at Domino factory be organized(NYDN) * VIDEO: Inside the Williamsburg Domino Sugar project's affordable housing plan *Mayor de Blasio's plans to go big on housing is building worries over quality of life(NYDN) * BerlinRosen founders say "mission-driven company" turns away clients who don't share ideals (so, what about Ratner?)













Lobbyist Berlin Rosen Works for Domino's Developer and the Mayor







Labor unions are demanding that the redevelopment project at the Domino Sugar factory in Brooklyn be done using union construction workers, with leaders arguing that City Council members should withhold approval of the project unless workers receive union wagesUnions demand all workers at Domino factory be organized(NYDN) * VIDEO: Inside the Williamsburg Domino Sugar project's affordable housing plan *Mayor de Blasio's plans to go big on housing is building worries over quality of life(NYDN) * BerlinRosen founders say "mission-driven company" turns away clients who don't share ideals (so, what about Ratner?)









Update 2  Deal on Domino between  and  - developer will build 700 affordable units, 40 more than in previous plan. * Deal Is Reached on Redevelopment of Brooklyn Sugar Refinery(NYT)The compromise on the redevelopment of the former Domino Sugar plant includes more units of affordable housing and taller buildings. From 660 to 700 Affordable Units.

Monday Update The developer of the apartment project at the Domino Sugar refinery in Brooklyn is threatening to sell if the de Blasio administration keeps pushing for bigger affordable housing units than originally proposed, the Daily News reports *  The Domino effect(NYP Ed) Now the city has announced a deal that will produce 700 of the units de Blasio wants. That may be good news for those who end up in these apartments. What the mayor doesn’t seem to appreciate is that building by threats and decree only makes it more expensive for people to build housing non-millionaires can afford. * de Blasio notches an early real-estate win(Capital) Mayor Affordable Housing Goals* Key members of de Blasio’s administration charged with implementing his plan to create or preserve 200,000 units of affordable housing met with advocates behind closed doors for a strategy session,Crain’s reports:









Plan to Redevelop Brooklyn Sugar Factory Hits Snag: De Blasio(NYT) A $1.5 billion proposal to redevelop Brooklyn’s Domino Sugar plant is in jeopardy as officials ask for a higher quota of affordable housing units.de Blasio administration, which wants him to add additional affordable housing units in exchange for the required zoning changes* Bill’s sugar rush(NYDN Ed) A dangerous approach to a laudable ideal.





In an attempt to squeeze out more affordable housing, Mayor de Blasio has touched off a tug-of-war over a 3-million square foot development at the old Domino sugar refinery on the Williamsburg waterfront. While the mayor’s goals are laudable, his timing is bad — and the eleventh-hour action risks upending a delicate deal struck, after exhaustive negotiations, during the previous administration. The iconic Domino site, which has been vacant since 1994, has attracted potentially sweet development schemes, only to see them go sour with turns of the economy and the screws of the city’s arduous community approval process.News * New York Post lies about Greater Harlem Housing Development Corp (Amasterdam News)











Gambling Follow the  Money If You Can











A growing number of casino developers are scrutinizing locations and drafting proposals for upstate casinos, with state officials saying that bids would be due by mid-2014 and licenses awarded in the second half of the year, The New York Times writes: New York Jobs Now Committee took in $1.425,000 but only spent $360,000 according to the State Board of Elections filings. Stu Loeser: The former press secretary for Mayor Mike Bloomberg helped lead NY Jobs Now, a coalition of pro-casino interests, in advocating for the constitutional amendment that passed Tuesday, yet there is no record of him being paid.  The State BOE is know for its poor campaign filing system and the fact that it has nobody investigating improper filings or fraud.  We do know that gambling interests contributed to New York Jobs Now: Monticello' Empire Resorts $125,000, Genting New York $500,000, Saratoga Harness Racing $250,000, Yonkers Racing Corporation $500,000.* NY casinos poised to explode after 'yes' vote(NYDN) * A day after voters approved a New York state constitutional amendment allowing up to seven commercially operated casinos, investors were already placing their bets on where the gambling palaces might be located

Gambling and lobbyists   





How Come Berlin Rosen Is Not Registered As A NYC Lobbyist?





Berlin Rosen Operates In the Dark Pools of Power and NYC Lobbyist

NYT Michael Powell - A couple of weeks back, I called the mayor’s press office and asked about Mr. de Blasio’s perhaps too-optimistic cost projections for prekindergarten.  Twenty minutes later, I heard from Dan Levitan of Berlin Rosen, which is the “it” P.R. firm of the city’s left and a close adviser to the mayor. He advised that I should study the mayor’s proposals carefully if I presumed to take “a skeptical look” at prekindergarten. I asked if Berlin Rosen had a contract to handle queries placed with the mayor’s office. He replied that he handled the “campaign” for pre-K. Lobbyists Search for Berlin Rosen * When Campaign Aides Are Lobbyists, Questions Mount - City Limits(City Limits) * 8 Lobbyists Consultants and Citizen United  * True News (The Bund): Dark Pools

* City Hall's new 'in' crowd of lobbyists (CrainsNY) Lobbyists behind the campaigns of ascendant power brokers are now poised to cash in.*  The Perma-Campaign: For Bill de Blasio, the Race Never Ends(NYO)





Lobbyists Political Consultants Cut Themselves Into Permanent Government Since Jack Newfield Wrote the Book 1977 











Kings Makers Eat the Kings Meat

Former Borough President Molinaro joins high-powered consulting firm with strong Staten Island ties(SI Advancew)  Molinaro has joined the Pitta Bishop Del Giorno and Giblin LLC government relations and consulting firm, a company with strong ties to the Island. In his role as senior managing director, Molinaro will oversee the firm's new satellite office in St. George, close to many of the economic development projects that Molinaro helped become a reality during his time in office. Pitta said that the Wheel development as well as other Island projects, including the development of the Stapleton home port and the re-development of the former Arthur Kill Correctional Facility in Charleston, "are sure to spur further growth, opportunity and investment across all of Staten Island." Jon Del Giorno of the politically-prominent law firm Pitta Bishop Del Giorno & Giblin LLC (which manages Melissa Mark-Viverito campaign finance filings) also helped pave the way for the councilwoman's deal with Brooklyn Boss Seddio.Feds charge Senate Dems' operative (CrainsNY) Michael  Cohen, who now works for the New York lobbying firm Pitta Bishop Del Giorno and Giblin, did not return a request for comment made through a firm spokesman. Pitta Bishop lists crisis management among its specialties, and is affiliated with the law firm Pitta & Giblin. Ms. Mark-Viverito was escorted around Brooklyn's Thomas Jefferson Democratic Club recently by Michael Cohen













WFP Caused the Walmartization of NY's Politics . . . Using the Wal-Mart Business Model to Win Campaigns and Drive Out the Competition



NYC does not have a single Walmart because of the WFP and their friends in the progressive movement protesting the company unfair business practices. The protesters accuse Wal-mart of bulk purchasing and corporate financing to sell merchandise at low costs in order to drive competitors out of the market.  WFP says the Wal-Mart's business model pushes mom and pop business out of the market creating an economic monopoly.  It is now clear that the WFP has use the Wal-Mart unfair business model to take over NY's politics by using unfair economic advantages.  In 2009 the WFP created Data and Field as a for profit company to give them competitive advantages in campaigns.



Centralization of Money And Campaign Consultants Taking the Power Out of the Local Communities to Choose Who Represent Them



WFP, Unions and Developers Sucking the Life Out of NYC Neighborhoods

Date and Field was a complicated web of coordinated campaign services at reduced prices, shared resources and staff, and quiet money transfers between six 2009 Council campaigns, as well as Bill de Blasio’s campaign for public advocate. Upwards of a million dollars, and possibly more, was involved, with over $1.7 million in matching funds comprised of taxpayer dollars already disbursed and more are potentially was at stake. Data and Field was forced to shut down as part of a lawsuit settlement against Councilwoman Debi Rose, filed by five Staten Island voters. The voters alleged that Rose was under billed for a services provided by Data and Field Services (DFS), a political company created by the WFP. Rose should have paid DFS $100,000, but the lawsuit alleged that her campaign was under billed because she was endorsed by the Working Families Party, which violates election laws. After years fighting in court the Staten Island DA has just won the right to use a special prosecutor to investigate Data and Field.  Special prosecutor Roger Adler will be looking at all the campaigns run by Berlin Rosen, which is now the house lobbyists for City Hall that received funding and services from Data and Field, including Bill de Blasio, Brad Lander, Debi Rose, Daniel Dromm,  Jumaane Williams and Melissa Mark-Viverito.





Permanent Bosses Broken Parties and the Speaker's Race







Last Hurrah

The Progressives , Unions and Working Families Party won the speakers position with Mark-Viverito.  It may be all over for the Democratic party bosses.  The city's GOP bosses died long ago kept alive by Bloomberg dollars and what every they can extort from the elected officials to get through the BOE toll gate  The party bosses have like their partners at the city papers become disconnected from the city's voters.* Rise of the New Machines: Mayor and Labor Supplant County Organizations(NYO)



.

Losing the Council Speaker Race Would be The Last Hurrah of the Political Bosses



The progressives unions and WFP have become better at controlling the city's dysfunctional election system than the permanent government. All the papers supported and lost with Quinn and Squadron. The Queens Boss supported Quinn, the Bronx and Brooklyn bosses supported Thompson the Manhattan and Staten Island bosses did not endorse anyone. Over on the GOP side none of the party bosses supported Joe Lhota in the primary, but the voters in their party did. In in golden era Tammany Hall was corrupt but delivered jobs and services to the community. 







There were hundreds of political clubs that empowered neighborhoods (gave them a collective voice), were locals completed for services and the chance to run for office. Today the part boss system like everything else in the city is disconnected connected from the public and serves only to keep a small group of the political class in power. Their mini me's the lobbyist get paid not to empower the community but to mislead or trick into supporting their clients.  If the old Tammany Hall existed today it is hard to see how the real estate interests would be allow to break up neighborhoods all around the city, like they have.







Parkside Groups A Big Loser in Speakers Race

A Born Loser Protected By His Boss Crowley

 

Boss Crowley's Right Guy Stavisky is Are Born Losers

The Parkside Group's Evan Stavisky is using the Supreme Courts Citizen United ruling to completely hide from the city and state campaign disclosure reporting reporting system. In 2009 Parkside lost 5 of the 6 council campaign there were running for the Queens organization.   Stavisky ran the so called independent expenditure PSC Jobs4NY which spent $7 million to elect council members to elect help the Queens organization pick the next speaker.  Last years Parkside made $1.8 million in lobbying fees.  Parkside also took in $2.77 million from the democratic state senate PAC to put the dems back in control of the senate, they failed.





The Old machine just fads Away



Last Weekend True News Story that Waged the Speaker's Race 

Can the Democratic Bosses Hold On?





Permanent Bosses Broken Parties and the Speaker's Race

If the Progressives , Unions and Working Families Party wins the speakers position with Mark-Viverito it may be all over for the Democratic party bosses.  The city's GOP bosses died long ago kept alive by Bloomberg dollars and what every they can extort from the elected officials to get through the BOE toll gate  The party bosses have like their partner at the city papers become disconnected from the city's voters. 

.

Both the machines do not represent the district or the voters.















Sharpton Filling NYC's

Power Vacuum

Team de Blasio moves quick to wipe out Bratton Giuliani story line

Bratton: "your police force will be respectful *Bratton says one of his big regrets is never having met Mandela * "We have has our good days and bad."  says about Bratton. Says he worked with him in LA.









































r 



Why Did Bloomberg Wait for 12 Years to Tell Truth



He Put Up His Money to Buy the Party Bosses and Their Ballot Lines Why Doesn't Bloomberg He Spend to Get Rid of Them?



I don't think it can get any worse': Bloomberg says public must rise up to fight wave of corruption (NYDN)The mayor said on his radio show that the political system is ‘like the school system that's designed for the people who work there and not for the people they are supposed to help.’The only way to stop the spate of crooked pols and fix New York's “broken” political system is a public uprising against greedy party bosses, Mayor Bloomberg said Friday on his radio show.“I don't think it can get any worse," the mayor told WOR-AM host John Gambling\





Lobbyist Campaign Consultants the New Universal Soldier



SKDK for Charters Berlin Rosen for Pre-K









In 2013 Both SKDK and Berlin Rosen Worked Together to Defeat Spitzer and Elect Controller Stringer

Kerry Lyons, a SKDKnickerbocker consultant who works for Moskowitz's schools, sent reporters a snapshot of the three schools, saying the displaced students are "left homeless next year." The loss of space for the two new schools, she said, will mean 420 kids in the kindergarten and first grades lose their enrollment.*  I still find it a bit funny when group sends out release praising , who of course is a client.



The group, UPKNYC, is a coalition of citizens asking Albany to raise taxes on the wealthy in order to fund the mayor’s education initiatives. The group was established by Bill Hyers, the mayor’s former campaign manager. Its treasurer, Ross Offinger, is the mayor’s former campaign-finance director. De Blasio’s former campaign consultant Stephanie Yazgi serves as its secretary.Hilltop Public Solutions, the p.r. firm that formerly employed de Blasio senior adviser Rebecca Katz, is doing strategy for the ­UPKNYC campaign out of its Brooklyn office. Dan Levitan, a spokesman at p.r. firm BerlinRosen, which is handling press, said, “UPKNYC is supported by thousands of grass-roots New Yorkers.“Dozens of leaders from business, civil rights, academia, advocacy and the arts have joined our growing campaign committee.” BerlinRosen is also handled communications for de Blasio’s campaign.




True News Wags the NYT on Team de Blasio Lobbyists Political Consultants







Lobbyist Campaign Consultants the New Universal Soldier





SKDK for Charters Berlin Rosen for Pre-K



In 2013 Both SKDK and Berlin Rosen Worked Together to Defeat Spitzer and Elect Controller Stringer



Kerry Lyons, a SKDKnickerbocker consultant who works for Moskowitz's schools, sent reporters a snapshot of the three schools, saying the displaced students are "left homeless next year." The loss of space for the two new schools, she said, will mean 420 kids in the kindergarten and first grades lose their enrollment.*  I still find it a bit funny when  group sends out release praising , who of course is a  client. The group, UPKNYC, is a coalition of citizens asking Albany to raise taxes on the wealthy in order to fund the mayor’s education initiatives.







The group was established by Bill Hyers, the mayor’s former campaign manager. Its treasurer, Ross Offinger, is the mayor’s former campaign-finance director. De Blasio’s former campaign consultant Stephanie Yazgi serves as its secretary. Hilltop Public Solutions, the p.r. firm that formerly employed de Blasio senior adviser Rebecca Katz, is doing strategy for the ­UPKNYC campaign out of its Brooklyn office. Dan Levitan, a spokesman at p.r. firm BerlinRosen, which is handling press, said, “UPKNYC is supported by thousands of grass-roots New Yorkers.“Dozens of leaders from business, civil rights, academia, advocacy and the arts have joined our growing campaign committee.” BerlinRosen is also handled communications for de Blasio’s campaign.





Peter Sikora’s campaign manager Berlin Rosen sent out the Gary Reilly LICH mailing which deceptively told the voters that the developer’s proposed ER would protect the community’s emergency health care needs.  Doctors and civi leaders immediately called Sikora campaign  manager’s letter a fraud.  The misleading 1NY PAC LICH  letter was illegally coordinated with the Sikora campaign.  Berlin Rosen who is working for Sikora also works for One New York. The PAC letter was sent out to answer the criticism Sikora and de Blasio were getting from the voters after pledging during the 2013 mayoral 

campaign staged arrests to never allow LICH Hospital to close.



















Wednesday, October 30, 2013











BerlinRosen founders say "mission-driven company" turns away clients who don't share ideals (so, what about Ratner?)







Bloomberg News two days ago published a profile of BerlinRosen, headlined NYC Firm Helps De Blasio Go From Obscurity to Frontrunner:



BerlinRosen Public Affairs, the eight-year-old firm founded by Valerie Berlin and Jonathan Rosen, has built a reputation working behind the scenes for Democratic candidates and causes such as paid SICK leave, limiting police stop-and-frisk tactics and universal preschool -- issues that dominated [Democratic nominee Bill] de Blasio’s message and helped take the 52-year-old from underdog to frontrunner.

With polls showing de Blasio 40 percentage points ahead of Joseph Lhota a week before the election, and with Lhota’s fellow Republicans outnumbered 6-to-1 in the most populous U.S. city, de Blasio is likely to be the first Democrat to run New York since 1993. That leaves BerlinRosen poised to extend its influence and access to power.

The company sounds idealistic



The article states:



They call it a mission-driven company and said they turn away potential clients who don’t share their ideals and values. Some ORGANIZATIONS they represent advocate raising the minimum wage, protecting voting rights and providing more services for poor children and families.

...Interviews with a dozen clients and peers elicited descriptions of BerlinRosen’s staff as smart, hard-working and good listeners... Assembly speaker [Sheldon] Silver said he relies on Rosen as a “trusted adviser.”

Um, should working for speaker-for-life Silver be a red flag?



The corporate biz



The article states:



They’ve also represented Brookfield Office Properties, a subsidiary of the owner of Zuccotti Park, from which Occupy Wall Street was ousted in 2011, and Bruce Ratner, founder and chairman of Forest City Ratner Cos., developer of Brooklyn’s 22-acre Atlantic Yards, which includes Barclays Center with plans for thousands of market-rate and discount apartments.

My comment



I posted a comment responding on this line, "They call it a mission-driven company and said they turn away potential clients who don’t share their ideals and values."





Hmm... If you want to understand developer Forest City Ratner, check out the two posts below: "Atlantic Yards and The Culture of Cheating" and the story behind the developer's Yonkers project.

And, perhaps, count the number of people in FCR's orbit who get indicted.









uesday, March 27, 2012











Jonathan Rosen, public affairs consultant for Forest City (and many others), honored by Crain's












Photo from Crain's NY Business



Hey, ever noticed this gent at an Atlantic Yards meeting?



He's p.r. man Jonathan Rosen of BerlinRosen, one of Crain's New York Business's "40 Under 40" honorees.



He started in politics, working for state Senator (now Attorney General) Eric Schneiderman, then joined Valerie Berlin, Schneiderman's chief of staff, on Mark Green's mayoral campaign.



After some more campaigns, the duo in 2005 founded BerlinRosen. Crain's reports:



In just six-plus years, their communications consultancy has grown into a team of 20 strategists that is in the middle of campaigns shaping public policy in the city, the state and, increasingly, the country. Its revenues have increased every quarter as the firm has expanded well beyond its roots on the left.



Mr. Rosen is a top strategist for Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, New York State Board of Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch and real estate titan Bruce Ratner. Recent clients include the nationwide group Rock the Vote and a coalition of Brookfield Properties and tenants looking to buy Stuyvesant Town. Perhaps his most impressive victory came last year in helping Cornell University win the mayor’s tech-campus competition.

Potential synergy



With Silver, Schneiderman, and Public Advocate Bill de Blasio on board with BerlinRosen, among others, Forest City has to like the synergy. The firm also represented ACORN.



The firm's motto:



Our clients come to us with their toughest public policy and political challenges—when their highest priorities, reputations, businesses or careers are on the line.



When the chips are down, we help them win.





riday, December 03, 2010











Senate Democrats spend big bucks on consultants, including Melvin Lowe and BerlinRosen, both with Forest City Ratner ties







A City Hall News article yesterday, headlined Helping Build Senate Democrats’ Debt, $6 Million In Outside Consultants And Vendors, explains that state Senate Democrats spent more than $6 million between consultants and outside vendors.



And two of those recipients have ties to Forest City Ratner and the Community Benefits Agreement.



The Melvin Lowe connection



City Hall reports that "Melvin Lowe has now received $156,000 from the DSCC just in 2010 (and an additional $108,000 paid from Conference Leader John Sampson’s account this year)."



Lowe, as I wrote in July, has lobbied for Forest City Ratner on its Ridge Hill project in Yonkers, apparently previously worked on Atlantic Yards, and worked on Tracy Boyland's unsuccessful 2006 challenge to state Senator Velmanette Montgomery.



The Berlin Rosen connection



Also from the article:



The relationships built over the course of the campaigns could lead to even more benefits for the groups involved next year, since most of the consultants and vendors paid by the DSCC this year also have lobbying operations, including Parkside, the WFP and several of the other highest-paid outside contractors for the Democrats, like BerlinRosen and Red Horse Strategies.

BerlinRosen, which has long represented ACORN, is now working for Forest City Ratner on unspecified outreach efforts, likely including a new Atlantic Yards web site due FCR has promised by the end of the year.



(It has a wide range of advocacy and political clients, though relatively few corporate ones.)



BerlinRosen asserts on its web site:



Our clients come to us with their toughest public policy and political challenges—when their highest priorities, reputations, businesses or careers are on the line.



When the chips are down, we help them win.







Communities
United for Police Reform replaces BerlinRosen as public relations firm as CPR
ramps up NYPD criticism of Bratton BerlinRosen's close ties to de Blasio
meant that CPR couldn't make aggressive demands for NYPD reform, because
BerlinRosen wouldn't allow Mayor de Blasio to be outflanked or embarrassed by
police reform activists.







Jonathan Rosen, public affairs consultant for Forest City





www.nolandgrab.org/archives/2012/03/jonathan_rosen.html









Mar 27, 2012 - Atlantic Yards Report. Hey, ever noticed this gent at an Atlantic Yards meeting? He's p.r. man Jonathan Rosen of BerlinRosen, one of Crain's ...
















































Posted by



at






































No comments:















Post a Comment


















        

      









Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)