Sunday, April 17, 2016

Lobbyists Pitta Bishop Del Giorno Giblin




From True News During the Past Year
Lobbyists Campaign Consultants Pitta Bishop Works Both for the I Can't Breathe and Pitta Bishop Which Represents the Detectives Endowment Assoc. 
Pitta Bishop Del Giorno Giblin is paid $40,000 a year to represent the PBA's Detectives' Endowment Association, Inc. After the split with the Advance Group, Ms. Mark-Viverito indeed made hefty payments to a number of other consultants (including lobbying and compliance firm Pitta Bishop) that aided her speaker bid. In a novel move, Pitta Bishop set up a 2017 campaign account for an unspecified city office, and Ms. Mark-Viverito raised more than $100,000, despite only needing the votes of 26 council colleagues to win the early 2014 leadership race. That led another good-government group, Common Cause/NY, to charge that she had exploited loopholes in state election law. Ms. Mark-Viverito's opponents in the speaker race did not similarly set up campaign funds to hire staff. But officials from Pitta Bishop say the move was fully vetted by the city   Campaign Finance Board and state Board of Elections.Pitta Bishop Del Giorno Giblin Has Hit the Jack Pot With Over A 100 New Lobbying Clients Since She Took the Speakers Office .One Wonders How the lobbying Firm Explains the Speakers Views to Their PBA Client. 

What Does the Council Speaker Really Believe?
Council speaker puts connected lobbyist on payroll(CrainsNY) Melissa Mark-Viverito quietly handed a $130,000-a-year staff position to a lobbyist from the firm that helped propel her to the City Council speakership, payroll records show. In late March, Carlos Beato, who was a lobbyist at the firm Pitta Bishop Del Giorno & Giblin, joined the City Council payroll as a deputy general counsel. The move came not long after the lobbying sho * Nicole Gelinas of the Manhattan Institute writes in the Post that New York City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito’s push to decriminalize “nuisance” offenses would lead to an increase in more serious crimes:




City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito got help landing job from top lobby firm that reps unions and real estate doperevels(NYDN) Documents released Wednesday show that the councilwoman set up a fundraising committee called Viverito NYC on Nov. 5 and designated Vito Pitta of the lobbying firm Pitta Bishop Del Giorno & Giblin as its "liaison."  About one-fifth of the contributions, $21,400, came from Pitta's clients, mostly municipal unions who pay him to press their causes before city government.  On the other side of the ledger, Mark-Viverito’s committee spent $80,000 on her campaign for speaker — including “consultant” fees of $17,000 to Pitta’s firm, according to the campaign finance documents released by the state Board of Elections.


To the Winner Lobbyists Goes the Spoils (City Council)
Since the 2013 elections Pitta Bishop Del Giorno & Giblin has picked up of 70 clients to lobby for. 51 clients to lobby the city council, 17 to lobby the office of the mayor


Another big winner of 2013 made a similar argument. Jon Del Giorno, sitting in his firm's 28th-floor conference room a few blocks from City Hall, downplayed the notion that his closeness with Ms. Mark-Viverito will help his firm, Pitta Bishop Del Giorno & Giblin, which has hovered near the bottom of, or just out of, the top-10 list.  Pitta Bishop has done Ms. Mark-Viverito's election-law compliance since 2005, and last year Mr. Del Giorno quarterbacked her uphill speaker bid. In a clever and unprecedented move, the firm set up a 2017 campaign account for an unspecified office with the state Board of Elections, which allowed Ms. Mark-Viverito to raise $100,000 and hire a full staff for her run, despite needing just 26 votes from council colleagues to win. More than $21,000 of the money reportedly came from Pitta Bishop's long roster of business and labor clients, and gave Ms. Mark-Viverito an edge over her rivals. Common Cause New York said the new speaker was "exploiting" the state's lax campaign-finance system.

 In an unseemly but legal case of double-dealing, Pitta Bishop Del Giorno & Giblin helped Melissa Mark-Viverito become New York City Council speaker and is now lobbying Council members to pass mostly pro-union legislation

The Speakers Lobbyists Cash In
Pitta Bishop is A Lobbyist for A Nunber of LLCs Including Litwin's Glenwood management 


Lobby for the City Council Pitta Bishop Del Giorno & Giblin,: MedReview, Inc.,  Meadows Office Supply Co., Inc.,  National Lighthouse Museum,  Simon Wiesenthal Center, Inc.,  Knickerbocker Plaza LLC,  Local 420 AFSCME AFL-CIO,  Vera Institute of Justice, Inc.,   Hotel, Restaurant & Club Employees & Bartenders Union Local 6, New York Hotel and Motel Trades Council AFL-CIO,   Detectives Endowment Association Police Department, City of New York Inc.,  Lakeside Manor Home For Adults Inc.,   Community Health Center of Richmond, Inc,,  Grasmere and Cameron Lakes Bluebelt Conservancy, Inc.,  Plumbers and Gasfitters Local Union No. 1 of the United Association,  New York State Conference of IUOE,  Richmond Uni Home Care, Inc.,  Adco Electrical Corp,  BIO-REFERENCE LABORATORIES, INC.,   New York Hotel Trades Council and Hotel Assoc. of NYC, Inc. Health Benefits Fund,  LOCAL 372 NEW YORK CITY BOARD OF EDUCATION EMPLOYEES,  UNITE HERE,  MagnaCare Administrative Services, LLC,  District Council No. 4, International Union of Painters and Allied Trades, AFL-CIO, A.T.U.-Division 1181-1061 AFL-CIO,  OFFICE &PROFESSIONAL EMPLOYEES INTERNATIONAL UNION LOCAL 153,  International Union of Painters and Allied Trades DC 9 ,  RICHMOND UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER,  BJ's Wholesale Club, Inc.,  International Union of Operating Engineers Local 14-14B,  Brooklyn Legal Services Corporation A,  Glenwood Management Corp.,  LOCAL UNION NO. 94-94A-94B, I.U.O.E., AFL-CIO,  NYSARC, INC., NEW YORK CITY CHAPTER,    New York Black Operator's Injury Compensation Fund, Inc.,    UNIFORMED SANITATIONMEN'S ASS'N LOCAL 831 - I.B.T,   Associated Brick Mason Contractors of Greater New York, Inc.,  East Side Alliance Against Overdevelopment, Inc.,   Urgent-MD Hewlett Management LLC , SOSH Architects, P.A.,, Lobby for the City Council and office of the mayor Pitta Bishop Del Giorno & Giblin,:  New York Wheel LLC, WellPoint, Inc.,  Pier A Battery Park Associates, LLC,  Garage Employees Local Union No. 272,  Staten Island Marine Development, LLC,  The Francis School,  Chef's Choice Cash & Carry Food Distributor, Inc.,  THE WITKOFF GROUP LLC,  Il Commandatore Restaurant Inc.,  RJ LEE GROUP, INC.,  Cameron Club of Staten island, Inc.,  Milrose Consultants, Inc.,  Jewish Community Center of Staten Island, Inc,  UNIFORMED FIRE ALARM DISPATCHERS BENEVOLENT ASSOCIATION, INC. , Lobby for the office of the mayor Pitta Bishop Del Giorno & Giblin,:  Gardeners/Growers/Landscapers Association of New York, Inc.,  Council of School Supervisors and Administrators,  SOSH Architects, P.A.

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Puppet Council Speaker Controlled By New Private Tammany Hall Shadow Govt
Top Speaker Lobbyist Pitta Bishop Puts A Man Inside Her Office
Council speaker puts connected lobbyist on payroll(CrainsNY) Melissa Mark-Viverito quietly handed a $130,000-a-year staff position to a lobbyist from the firm that helped propel her to the City Council speakership, payroll records show. In late March, Carlos Beato, who was a lobbyist at the firm Pitta Bishop Del Giorno & Giblin, joined the City Council payroll as a deputy general counsel. The move came not long after the lobbying shop—which has long served as Ms. Mark-Viverito’s campaign compliance consultant—quarterbacked her council speaker bid. The firm’s Jon Del Giorno set up an “appointments committee” for Ms. Mark-Viverito to vet applicants for the council staff. The firm lobbied Ms. Mark-Viverito as her speaker bid was ongoing, and has continued to do so since her ascension to the city's second-most powerful post. The close ties have drawn scrutiny and a call from the Daily News for Ms. Mark-Viverito to sever ties with the firm and its clients. In an unprecedented and clever move, the Pitta Bishop set up a 2017 campaign accountto facilitate Ms. Mark-Viverito’s speaker run. That allowed her to raise $100,000, with more than $20,000 coming from the lobbying firm’s clients. The good-government group Common Cause accused Ms. Mark-Viverito of exploiting loopholes in state election law. Pitta Bishop's clients also reportedly funded much of her $27,000 inauguration party. * NY lobbying grows another 4%, spent $109 M in first sixmonths of this year; now 32 lobbyists for every legislator 

Who Are the Lobbyists Pitta Bishop and How Do They Control the Council
The unions — the Correction Officers Benevolent Association, the Detectives Endowment Association, the NYC Coalition of Operating Engineers, the Uniformed Sanitationmen’s Association, plus local arms of the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades, Teamsters Local 237, the International Union of Operating Engineers and the Municipal Hospital Employees Union — paid a collective $218,000 to Pitta Bishop in the first four months of 2015. Pitta Bishop was founded in 2008 by four connected buddies who have known each other since the early 1980s: Vincent Pitta, a labor lawyer from Staten Island; Robert Bishop, a Republican from Queens who now runs the company’s Albany office; Jon Del Giorno, a Democratic Party bigwig and former Board of Elections official who once ran for the council; and Vincent Giblin, a former assistant US attorney in New Jersey whose father was the national president of the International Union of Operating Engineers. A few key hires in recent years — former Fire Commissioner Salvatore Cassano and former Staten Island Borough President James Molinaro, came on board as senior managing directors in 2014 — helped cement its ties to City Hall.

How Does the Speaker Within Months Lead A Protests Against the NYPD and Ask for 1000 More Cops?
The Detectives Endowment Association paid Pitta Bishop $66,000 in 2014, pushing for legislation on undercover detectives and 1,000 new police officers. Mark-Viverito announced last month that she supported the 1,000-new-cops initiative, in opposition to the mayor.* The New York City Council, led by Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, voted to create a new “Office of Civil Justice” to better connect plaintiffs in housing and immigration court with attorneys, the Observer writes:   * NYC Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito will march in Manhattan on Saturday to demand the liberation of Oscar López Rivera, a Puerto Rican nationalist currently held in federal prison for conspiracy.


True News Has Reported That the Lobbyists Campaign Consultants Have Destroyed the Election Process
What Pitta Bishop Did for the TWU  A $42 million deal for school-bus drivers, Mayor de Blasio’s reward to the transport unions after the previous administration opened up city contracts to non-union drivers. To help push the deal, Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1181 paid Pitta Bishop $36,000 in 2014, keeping the firm on a monthly retainer of $3,000, which rolled over into 2015, while the Transport Workers Union paid $17,500 to Pitta Bishop to lobby.* In another TWU proposal — “Intro 663,” sponsored by Councilman I. Daneek Miller (D-Queens) and 24 co-sponsors — the TWU paid Pitta Bishop to push for a law letting MTA bus drivers off the hook if they maim a pedestrian. The bill has been referred to the Committee on Transportation. What Pitta Bishop Did for the Hotel Unions  Two hotel-workers unions paid a combined $81,000 to push for a bill that restricts the rights of hotel owners who seek to turn their rooms into condos, a jobs-saving move that one critic called “an unprecedented intrusion in the private market.” The council passed that bill on May 14.

The Shadow Govt Controls By Controlling the Elections Process

Campaign Consultant Lobbyists Work to Elect Kings So They Can Feast Like Kings
In another bit of coziness, Pitta Bishop donates to friendly lawmakers’ campaigns. Though the lobbying firm can give no more than $400 per candidate, the two founders also run Pitta and Giblin LLP, an affiliated law firm that has no donation restrictions.  In 2014, that firm gave out $71,700, including $37,000 to Gov. Cuomo’s re-election campaign. Individual donations also sidestep the lobbying firm’s limits. Vincent Pitta’s wife, Antoinette, donated $4,500 to de Blasio’s 2013 race, campaign-finance records reveal. While there are no direct donations to Mark-Viverito, more than 20 percent of the $100,000 raised for her speaker campaign came from Pitta Bishop’s clients, mainly unions, as did much of the cost of her $27,000 inauguration. Critics say that allowing lobbying firms to donate to politicians, be paid by politicians as consultants, and then lobby those same politicians is troubling.


Why Did the NYP Keep Out the Lobbyists Advance Group Illegally Working for Speaker Mark-Viverito?
 
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)


Politicker Reports Than Advance Group Was A Crucial Player In the Brooklyn Deal to Make Mark-Viverito Speaker
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 * 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.


Mark-Viverito Like the Mayor Won't Comment On Her Lobbyist Political Consultant

And They Both Won't Hold Town Hall Meeting to Explain the Role Pitta Bishop and Berlin Rosen Play in Their Administrations
Mark-Viverito won’t discuss lobbyist connections (NYP) City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito dodged questions Sunday about her cozy relationship with a powerful lobbying firm, arguing she’s “doing everything by the rules.” Mark-Viverito refused to discuss her conversations with Pitta Bishop Del Giorno & Giblin — even though she paid the company $61,000 during her run for City Council speaker. “As you guys reported, we follow and we’re doing everything by the rules and legal. That’s the bottom line,” she told The Post. Since Mark-Viverito was elected to the top post a year and a half ago, Pitta Bishop has raked in more than $3.3 million to lobby council members. The firm successfully lobbied the council on 12 bills since she won the job.
NY1 Berlin Rosen and the Wiseguys Lobbyists


NYP Waits Almost 1 Year After True News Reported On Pitta Bishop Control of the Speaker and Ties to the Union
Lobbying firm makes millions on political, union ties(NYP) The lobbying firm Pitta Bishop Del Giorno & Giblin helps elect politicians — then tells them how to vote when they get in office. In her quest to become City Council speaker, Melissa Mark-Viverito enlisted the help of the firm, paying it more than $61,000 in consulting fees. Since Mark-Viverito took power last year, Pitta Bishop has been paid more than $3.3 million by clients to lobby council members, including the speaker, to get mostly pro-union laws passed. Mark-Viverito even hired a former Pitta Bishop lobbyist, Carlos Beato, as her $130,000-per-year legislative counsel. This unseemly — but legal — double-dealing has transformed the once-obscure Staten Island firm into one of the city’s most powerful political forces. In 2012, Pitta Bishop wasn’t in the Top 10 of city lobbying firms. This year, with 90 clients, it’s No. 4.  In just a year and a half, Pitta Bishop has lobbied for or against 40 bills in the council, plus assorted other state measures, budget proposals and as-yet unintroduced legislation. Its success rate is impressive. Of the 28 bills it favored, 12 passed and the other 16 are still before council committees. Some of Pitta’s successes include *True News Wags the NYP on Shadow Govt Lobbyists Pitta Biship Control of the Council Speaker and the Detectives Union 




The Permanent (Shadow) Government Created Lobbyists As A Way to Control Who Gets Elected and A Way to Get Government to Do What They Want and Stay As Victims
As the city's political machines weakened the permanent government created lobbyists to remain in control of New York City

Today lobbyist political consultants and favored PR firms that pour money into campaigns form a powerful and growing shadow government in New York. Pols trying to cover that up. They cut government contracts for their clients without media or prosecutors attention who sent Tammany Boss de Sapio to jail for a pay to play government contract for Con Ed.   The Old Tammany Hall Machine was corrupt, but the only function of the new lobbyists consultant created after the de Sapio era to pay to play government contracts.  Today's lobbyist's controlled private machine gain power by getting electing candidates, feeding them with campaign contributions from their clients who are looking for city contracts or zoning changes, they never meet the voters. They move government without having to disclose their activities. They elect candidates who will be helpful to the clients they lobby for.  Call them clever, call them stealthy. Most are not a registered lobbyist. Yet he regularly meets with government officials.

For Six Months True News Has Been Reporting That the Council Speaker Paid A Lobbyists Who Was Lobbying Her . . . Today the Daily News Reports the Same Info As Exclusive 
EXCLUSIVE: City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito paid $28G to lobbying firm for consulting, while they lobbied her on behalf of clients(NYDN) During the period that she was paying Pitta Bishop Del Giorno & Giblin, the firm lobbied her office and members of the City Council on behalf of at least a half-dozen clients, according to lobbying reports filed with the city clerk’s office. Simultaneously paying and being lobbied by the same firm is legal, but the practice has been criticized by good-government  groups worried that such a cozy relationship can give lobbyists special access to a politician. The Daily News between Dec. 1 and July 11, her campaign, Viverito NY, wrote six checks ranging from $722 to $6,630 to the firm Pitta Bishop Del Giorno & Giblin, the campaign finance statements show.On 11/27/2013 the Daily News wrote a story that forced the speakers hand.


Daily News Dumb Crook Reporters?
The Daily News Does Not Even Understand That It Was Them Who Forced the Speaker to Pay Lobbyists Pitta Bishop Del Giorno When They Wrote A Story Attacking the Advance Groups Free Help to Mark-Viverito to Make Her Council Speaker.  A Violation of the City Ethics Rules for Lobbyists.  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)


As Reported in True News for Months

Lobbyists Are the New Party Bosses 

Melissa Mark-Viverito spent big bucks on speaker's race, campaign filings show

  Mark-Viverito spent significant amounts on campaign consultants - paying $22,352 to consultants Pitta Bishop Del Giorno Giblin. She also owes that firm another $6250.She paid $8295 to Amelia Adams from New York Communities for Change, now a top staffer on her city payroll, $10,000 to H Strategies, where her now-communications director Eric Koch then worked, and $10,000 to Jon Paul Lupo, who worked on her speaker campaign and is now a top aide to Mayor de Blasio.  She also donated $8500 to the Working Families Party.  Mark-Viverito collected donations from unions 1199 SEIU, CWA Local 1180, and 32BJ. An opponent of the proposed big soda ban, she also got $1000 from Coca Cola’s PAC.* Mark-Viverito spent $106K on bid to become speaker(Capital)

Council Speaker
Top Speaker Lobbyists Puts A Man Inside
Council speaker puts connected lobbyist on payroll(CrainsNY) Melissa Mark-Viverito quietly handed a $130,000-a-year staff position to a lobbyist from the firm that helped propel her to the City Council speakership, payroll records show. In late March, Carlos Beato, who was a lobbyist at the firm Pitta Bishop Del Giorno & Giblin, joined the City Council payroll as a deputy general counsel. The move came not long after the lobbying shop—which has long served as Ms. Mark-Viverito’s campaign compliance consultantIt was reported that another political insider and lobbying firm, Pitta Bishop, helped Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito with City Council staffing. In respect of City Council staffing, loyalists to the mayor being paid for by special interest donors act as gatekeepers for the mayor's agenda. —quarterbacked her council speaker bid. The firm’s Jon Del Giorno set up an “appointments committee” for Ms. Mark-Viverito to vet applicants for the council staff. The firm lobbied Ms. Mark-Viverito as her speaker bid was ongoing, and has continued to do so since her ascension to the city's second-most powerful post. The close ties have drawn scrutiny and a call from the Daily News for Ms. Mark-Viverito to sever ties with the firm and its clients.
Pitta Bishop also worked for PA Letitia James, Brooklyn BP Eric Adams, Councilman Chaim M Deutsch


Pitta Bishop Del Giorno & Giblin Makes the Speaker and Cashes In

Meet the New Progressive City Council, Sock Puppets for Lobbyists
A consulting firm—Pitta Bishop Del Giorno & Giblin—that helped Melissa Mark-Viverito in her runs for City Council and Council speaker has lobbied her on behalf of four clients, the Daily News reports: Disclosure reports show an advocacy group, the East Side Alliance Against Overdevelopment, paid Pitta Bishop $15,000 in November to fight a plan by Memorial Sloan-Kettering hospital to build two towers on city-owned land on E. 73rd St. Pitta Bishop lobbied Council members from Manhattan, including Mark-Viverito — who represents East Harlem — to vote against the project when it came before the 12-member Manhattan Borough Board on Nov. 21. Mark-Viverito voted no, but the project was approved 6 to 4. Mark-Viverito’s spokesman said her vote had no connection to the lobbying by her consultant. In January and February, Pitta Bishop lobbyists also met with Mark-Viverito’s staff on behalf of another client, the Vera Institute. The goal? Vera’s request for additional Council funding of a pilot program providing legal aid to immigrants. Vera received $500,000 in funding last year and wants $5 million more this year. Pitta Bishop also lobbied Mark-Viverito in January and February seeking “support for museum programming related to anti-bullying” run by the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Manhattan. She was asked to speak at an anti-bullying event targeted to children, which she agreed to do, her spokesman said. And Luis Miranda of the MirRam Group enjoys a close relationship with Ms. Mark-Viverito.

Mark-Viverito's Council is Really A Lobbyists Pay to Play Dream, What About the Rest of City Hall?

The Daily News writes that in continuing to deal with Pitta Bishop Del Giorno & Giblin, City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito has brought pay-to-play to the Council, and she must cut ties with the firm or its clients: http://goo.gl/u9Rtmg Campaigning for appointment as the Council’s leader, Mark-Viverito accepted freebie services from a political consultant and lobbying firm — until, in November, the Blogs and Daily News caught her at it. Then she dipped into her campaign treasury to hire a different lobbyist to boost her fortunes. Having relied on this second firm during her reelection, Mark-Viverito retained its help in persuading her colleagues to name her speaker and then in raising money for her inauguration. Pitta Bishop Del Giorno & Giblin reciprocated by raising more than 20% of the $100,000 that Mark-Viverito spent on her speakership drive, as well as most of the $27,000 tab for her bash. Now, the Daily News’ Greg Smith reports, Pitta Bishop has lobbied Mark-Viverito on behalf of four clients — who will surely be the first of many unless Mark-Viverito either recuses herself from voting on matters involving Pitta Bishop clients or bars Pitta Bishop representatives from her office. A Manhattan community group hired Pitta Bishop to oppose a development plan by Memorial Sloan-Kettering hospital. Pitta Bishop lobbied Mark-Viverito. Wonder of wonders, she has turned thumbs down on the project. The criminal justice non-profit Vera Institute retained Pitta Bishop to seek a boost in city grants from $500,000 to $5 million. Pitta Bishop lobbied Mark-Viverito. She’s making up her mind. And so on and so forth ad nausea. Mark-Viverito has brought pay-to-play into bloom in the Council. She must sever ties with Pitta Bishop or its clients.
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