Lobbyist Capalino now working for old P.S. 64 dorm developers (Villager)
Rivington Deed Change, LICH Closed Capalino Still Making Millions During the de Blasio Era
The Privatization of the Tammany Hall Machine
DE BLASIO DILEMMA: Both Rivington Nursing Home Deed Change and LICH Hospital converting to luxury apartments...Both Under Fed Investigation . . . Both Involve Lobbyist Capalino
de Blasio After the Investigation Kick Capalino to the Curb Berlin Rosen is Still In
de Blasio Not the Lobbyists Cause the Corruption - He Let Them Run City Hall
In truth, the poison oozes from the mayor who invited the lobbyists and donors in to feed at his political profit.
Now That the Feds Look to Book Him the Media Discovers How Capalino and the Other Lobbyists Ran City Hall
The Wall Street Journal reported on those boasts in February, in a story on how the lobbying biz has soared since de Blasio took office. Now Politico has detailed how Capalino earned his pay, by looking at the e-mail trail between Capalino’s firm and City Hall for the first 16 months of the mayor’s term. Capalino and his staff exchanged messages with more than 120 administration officials — including every deputy mayor and nearly a dozen different agency heads. The lobbyists made a lot of requests for their clients — and look to have gotten action more often than not, even when the “ask” was at odds with the mayor’s progressive values. Of course, Capalino “earned” his access, having raised more than $45,000 for de Blasio’s 2013 campaign. Since then, he’s kicked in more cash to the mayor’s re-election bid, his nonprofit slush fund and even the private Gracie Mansion Conservancy He’s now the city’s top lobbyist, with his firm’s earnings up 172 percent since 2013. But he’s also tied into at least two different scandals, with his firm subpoenaed by state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman. That prompted de Blasio to disclose last week, “I do not have contact with [Capalino] anymore.” Then again, a mayoral spokesman calls that an “ethical decision” the mayor made for himself alone — leaving other city employees free to make “ethical judgments every day in a wide variety of interactions with the lobbying industry. That won’t change. Sounds an awful lot like a recipe for business as usual, as long as de Blasio’s fingerprints don’t show. Which would be par for the course for a mayor who pledged to drive special interests out of City Hall — but instead has welcomed them with open arms. * Sixteen months of emails between the de Blasio administration and Capalino + Company, one of the largest lobbying firms in New York City, show employees cajoling City Hall on behalf of his clients, often with favorable results, Politico New York reports. * * Reports detailing de Blasio’s close relationship with lobbyist James Capalino shows that while the mayor once pledged to drive special interests out of City Hall, he has instead welcomed them with open arms, the Post writes. * City revokes registration of billboard group run by de Blasio backer (NYP)
Another Lobbyist Capalino de Blasio Pay to Play Fake Bid Central Park Bathhouse Contract Has Cause A Lawsuit
De Blasio ethics stench hovers over Central Park boathouse (NYP) A restaurateur who lost out on the concession to run the Loeb Boathouse in Central Park — even though his offer was $19.5 million higher than the winner — is now suing the city, charging that he lost out to a bidder who should never have been involved in the process because he donated to Mayor Bill de Blasio’s Campaign for One New York. Robert Towers, who once ran the Bryant Park Grill, is suing the city to void the contract awarded to longtime Loeb Boathouse operator Dean Poll. The lakeside restaurant is among the city’s most popular wedding venues. Towers says in his Manhattan civil suit that Poll should have been disqualified from bidding for the 15-year concession, largely because he donated $10,000 to the mayor’s nonprofit, which is now shuttering amid an ethics probe, in what the state Board of Elections called a potential conflict of interest. The Post could not find a record of Poll donating to The Campaign for One New York, but he did give $10,000 to the New York State Democratic Campaign Committee in October 2014. The State Board of Elections said in a January document that Poll’s donation to the committee may be a conflict of interest because it was made at the mayor’s behest while Poll had business before the city. Under city laws Poll “would not have been permitted to contribute more than $400…to the mayor directly,” according to the Board of Elections. “Dean Poll’s donation to Mayor de Blasio’s Campaign for One New York can be characterized as one made to ‘pay-to-play’ to” continue running the Central Park landmark. Poll’s hiring of James F. Capalino Associates, a lobbying firm linked to de Blasio, coincided with the bid renewal process in late 2015 and early 2016, the suit says. That retention was prohibited by state law because Poll had a pending bid before the city at the time, according to court papers.m The Parks Department used “changed selection criteria” that “benefitted only Dean Poll” by downplaying his history of labor violations and underreported revenue. The Parks Department told Towers that Poll was the winning bidder even though Poll only offered a minimum $19.2 million in fees over 15 years to the city while Towers proposed $38.8 million.
Deptuy Mayor Capalino Emailed 120 Administration Employees
LOBBYING DE BLASIO -- Emails show Capalino's reach in City Hall -- POLITICO New York's Dana Rubinstein, Sally Goldenberg, and Laura Nahmias: "When a construction company with a tarnished reputation sought a contract from Mayor Bill de Blasio's public housing authority, it got it. When City Hall seemed like it would delay, if not outright stymie, a prominent developer's plan for a so-called "poor door," the developer ultimately won the day - with some minor concessions. When an energy company wanted a show of support for a microgrid project in Brooklyn, it got that, too. All of these companies had one thing in common - they employed Capalino and Company, the lobbying firm whose founder and CEO Jim Capalino was such an ardent de Blasio supporter that he raised nearly $45,000 for his 2013 mayoral run and personally wielded a "Come Meet Bill" sign at a rally that year."
DURING THE FIRST 16 months of the de Blasio mayoralty, Capalino and his employees exchanged emails with more than 120 administration employees, including each of its deputy mayors and nearly a dozen individual agency heads. They offered praise. ("Kudos on Deputy Mayor Glen's excellent ABNY speech.") And they offered commiseration. When Capalino failed to secure de Blasio's attendance at a tribute to the late Ed Koch in April 2014, mayoral scheduler Lindsay Scola urged Capalino lobbyist Tom Gray to "Please keep me posted on any events in the future." "Will do," Gray replied. "In my opinion you have the hardest job in government (politics), I absolutely appreciate your level of communication." "Thank you, this means a lot," responded Scola. "I worked for bdb for 8 years," said Gray, referring to de Blasio. "I know some of ups and downs folks face over there well ;)" Gray was de Blasio's director of land use from 2009 to 2011, when the mayor was public advocate. He also worked for de Blasio from 2005 to 2009, when he was in the City Council. In another exchange, Ellyn Canfield Nealon, who handles special events for the mayor, was asked whether First Lady Chirlane McCray would attend several events. "I finally had my weekly FLONYC meeting this past week and pitched tour AND food bank meeting and they were amenable to both," she wrote to Gray on April 2, 2014. "Things move VERY slowly through that team but I will keep pushing that." READ MORE: http://politi.co/2cvqaqd* Mayor Bill de Blasio has added about 16,000 New York City workershttp://on.wsj.com/2cKIpMF via
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