New York's Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver Arrested on Corruption Charges

The powerful and long-serving speaker of New York's state assembly was arrested by the FBI after turning himself in to authorities last week. Silver, who had been in the state Assembly representing Manhatta in 65th Assembly district since 1976, is also a practicing attorney and close political ally of New York City mayor Bill DeBlasio. Siver's income from the law firm of Weitz & Luxenberg had long been the subject of criticism. US Attorney Preet Bharara accused Silver of collecting more than $3 million in bribes and kickbacks that were disguised as referral fees.

In a criminal complaint, authorities said Silver abused his power and “obtained about $4 million in payments characterized as attorney referral fees solely through the corrupt use of his official position.”

The arrest sent shock waves through New York’s Capitol as a new legislative session began, and it came just a day after Silver shared the stage with Gov. Andrew Cuomo during his State of the State address.

As speaker of the Democrat-controlled Assembly, Silver is one of the most influential people in New York state government. Along with the Senate majority leader and the governor, he plays a major role in creating state budgets, laws and policies in a system long-criticized in Albany as “three men in a room.”

During a press conference, Bharara also hinted that more charges could be waiting in the wings against state officials.

In July 2013, New York governor Andrew Cuomo announced the formation of the Moreland Commission to examine New York's weak campaign finance laws and investigate any wrongdoing or suspicious activities among state lawmakers. A few short months after the Commission released their preliminary findings, Cuomo abruptly announced that he was shutting down the Moreland Commission. Some observers believe that any further investigating by the Moreland Commission would've brought to light incriminating information against Cuomo's donors or political allies.

In July 2014, the New York Times published an article further alleging that Gov Cuomo was hindering the Moreland Commission's investigations. Assembly speaker Silver was among those who were subpoenaed by the investigative committee, but accused the Moreland Commission of being nothing more than a 'fishing expedition' and attempting to intimidate state lawmakers.

Although Cuomo shut down the Moreland Commission less than halfway into its stated 18-month lifespan, the US Attorney's office was requesting documents from them back in May 2014.

It wasn't until last month that Silver disclosed that he was earning money from a second law firm- something he withheld from the Moreland Commission.

Blue State Graft Watch- Rhode Island Speaker of the House Resigns After Feds Raid Offices

Gordon Fox, a Rhode Island democrat who held the distinction of being the first openly gay speaker of the state house in the USA, abruptly announced that he was resigning from his role as speaker shortly after the FBI, IRS and Rhode Island State Police raided his home and office this week.

The joint effort by Rhode Island state troopers, and investigators from the FBI, the IRS and the U.S. Attorney’s office, began in mid-morning, when troopers took up positions outside Fox’s office.

The troopers would not answer questions about why they had closed off access to the speaker’s State House office. They referred questions to the U.S. Attorney’s office, which provided no further details. Soon after, FBI and IRS agents arrived.


As to the nature of the documents the investigators took, Berman said: “Business-related. They looked like files, but I am not sure.” When asked if that included legal files, Berman noted that Fox has “a separate law office on Dorrance Street where he practices his law.”

“They weren’t asking, from what I understand, for legislative documents, which are all on line and available anyway,” Berman said.

While investigators searched Fox’s State House office, more than a dozen FBI and IRS investigators were searching his East Side home. (A Fox confidante said the investigators asked Fox to leave, but allowed his spouse, Marcus LaFond, to remain behind to look after Fox’s 91-year-old mother.)

The investigators emerged from the house shortly before 2 p.m. in single file, carrying boxes and navigating a gauntlet of media. As a few of the investigators in dark suits watched, others wearing windbreakers emblazoned with “Evidence Response Team” quickly loaded the boxes into a white unmarked truck parked across the street and drove off.

Although the US Attorney declined to specify the charges against Fox, the Providence Democrat has had prior legal and ethics violations. Earlier this year, Fox agreed to pay a $1500 fine after he failed to disclose $43,000 he made preparing loan documents for a local economic development agency. A decade prior, Fox was fined $10,000 for voting on a $770 million lottery deal that assured work would be steered towards his law firm at the time, according to the Providence Journal.

Fox's resignation abruptly triggered an internal struggle among Democrats in the Ocean State after then-house majority leader Nicholas Mattiello [D- Cranston] called for a closed-door caucus at the Providence Marriott as soon as Fox stepped down as speaker. However, a number of members of the House weren't even informed of the caucus until well after the fact. By Tuesday, Mattiello was voted in by colleagues as Rhode Island's latest Speaker of the House.

Blue State Graft Watch: Former Detroit Mayor Kilpatrick Sentenced to 28 Years

Once billed as 'America's First Hip Hop Mayor', former Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick was clad in khakis and gave a brief statement to the court as he was sentenced to 28 years of federal prison on Thursday at Detroit's federal courthouse.

Kilpatrick, now 43, became Detroit's youngest mayor ever at age 32. Prosecutors say he used his position to generate enormous personal wealth for himself and those close to him, not to improve the city he claimed to love and grew up in.

While earning an annual salary ranging from $158,000 to $176,000, Kilpatrick used other means to enrich his bank account, federal prosecutors say.

He evaded taxes and spent $554,000 of funds raised by the Kwame Kilpatrick Civic Fund, which operated under the guise of a nonprofit, on campaigns, rental cars, summer camps for his children, debugging equipment, birthday parties, gifts to relatives, travel and a crisis manager after the text message scandal broke.

Prosecutors tabulated $64,000 spent on suits.

"In all, while he was mayor, he spent $540,000 in cash," Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Chutkow said during the opening statement of the trial. "This was over and above his salary, his payroll check, and it was not disclosed on his tax returns.

"And this was just a minimal, just the amount that these investigators here were able to readily trace."

Before Kilpatrick resigned in 2008, prosecutors presented evidence and testimony showing that Ferguson recruited Mahlon Cliftan, one of Kilpatrick's "best friends" who stood up in his wedding, to deliver him $90,000 dollars.

Cliftan taped the cash to his abdomen, flew to Chicago and hid the cash in the bag of a vacuum cleaner before delivering it to Kilpatrick and his wife in two installments.

Kilpatrick's former fundraiser, Emma Belle, who said she'd known Kilpatrick since he was a boy and regarded him as a son, earned over $900,000 in commissions collecting donations for Kilpatrick's nonprofit, although about half she kicked back to the mayor, she testified.

Kilpatrick's co-defendant and friend Bobby Ferguson is scheduled to be sentenced on Friday. While in office, Ferguson colluded with Kilpatrick and friends to steer millions of dollars worth of lucrative city public works contracts to Ferguson.

From Day 1, Kilpatrick's tenure as mayor was fraught with official misconduct and corruption. Within a year of Kilpatrick's 2002 swearing-in, reports circulated of Kilpatrick's wife interrupting a wild party with strippers and drugs at the mayor's official residence. On April 2013, one of the strippers who reportedly performed at the mansion was shot and killed in her vehicle with a .40 cal Glock- the same type of gun used by the Detroit Police as their sidearm at the time.

Around the same time, Kilpatrick was carrying on an illicit affair with his chief of staff, Christine Beatty and the two were texting on city-issued phones. By 2008, the Detroit Free Press had obtained nearly 14,000 text messages between Kilpatrick and Beatty. In addition to the extramarital affair, the texts also indicated that Kilpatrick was using city funds to arrange getaways with Beatty and the two had colluded to fire then police chief Gary Brown.

Kilpatrick has also been accused of diverting state grant money to his wife and lost a 2007 civil suit filed by Brown and one of the mayor's former bodyguards. The mayor's office initially dragged his feet on paying the $8.4 settlement but quickly changed his tune when the attorney for the policemen had discovered that Kilpatrick and Beatty perjured themselves. The mayor and attorneys for the city then hastily struck a 'secret' deal in which the sacked police chief and bodyguard would lose up to 33% of their settlement if they ever divulged the secret text messages or the deal itself. Ultimately the Free Press ended up publishing the contents of the incriminating texts.

Earlier this year, Kilpatrick was found guilty on 24 out of 30 federal charges of bribery, racketeering and corruption.

Blue State Graft Watch- Jesse Jackson Jr Hoping For Reduced Sentence, Claiming Mental Illness

Lawyers for former Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr are hoping for a reduced sentence, claiming that he won't obtain the treatment he reportedly needs for his alleged bipolar disorder.

Federal prosecutors want Jackson to be sentenced to four years in prison.

According to the new memorandum, two psychiatrists who have treated Jackson, 48, for mental health problems have written letters to the court on his behalf. But the memorandum does not name the doctors nor make public their letters. New are representations from Jackson's lawyers about the psychiatrists' views and Jackson's condition.

Similar defenses were used by the lawyers for former Illinois governors George Ryan and Rod Blagojevich. The previous two governors of Illinois are currently in prison on charges of extortion, racketeering and fraud.

While still in office, Jesse Jackson Jr spent several months at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota undergoing treatment for what he claimed was 'exhaustion' starting in June 2012. Despite not being in office for several months, Jackson handily won re-election in his south Chicago Congressional district. Critics note that Jackson's 'mental health' problems weren't documented until a federal investigation into misappropriation of campaign funds began.

In late February, Jackson and his wife- Chicago alderwoman Sandra Stevens Jackson- pleaded guilty to mail fraud, wire fraud and making false statements. Sandra Jackson resigned from her office in late January. Prosecutors have accused the two of using nearly $750,000 in embezzled campaign funds for a number of personal purchases and home renovations. Items purchased included furs, a $43,000 Rolex as well as Bruce Lee, Jimi Hendrix and Michael Jackson memorabilia and plane tickets for Jackson's mistress, Giovana Huidboro.

Blue State Graft Watch Update- Kwame We Hardly Knew Ye; Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick Convicted of Racketeering

Once dubbed America's First "Hip-Hop Mayor", former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick was found guilty of racketeering at the federal courthouse in Detroit on Monday. Kwame, along with his father bernard Kilpatrick and contractor Bobby Ferguson were convicted of 24 out of 30 charges of racketeering, fraud, extortion, bribery and tax evasion after a months-long trail.

Although sentencing is still a few weeks off, US District Judge Nancy Edmonds deemed Kilpatrick a flight risk and ordered immediate incarceration of the ex-mayor while awaiting sentencing.

Attorneys for Kilpatrick and Ferguson argued they men should remain free on bond pending their sentencing and said they weren’t a flight.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Bullotta argued Kilpatrick should be detained because he has a history of disobeying court orders. He also said Kilpatrick has access to money, as does Ferguson. Bullotta said Kilpatrick lied after his convictions on obstruction of justice charges in the text message scandal that drove him out of office.

Kilpatrick had previously been incarcerated in 2010 after a Wayne County judge determined he was lying about hidden assets after a 2008 trial where he and former aide Christine Beatty faced charges of perjury, official misconduct and obstruction of justice from Wayne County prosecutors. As part of the 2008 plea deal, Kilpatrick resigned as mayor and was supposed to pay $1 million in restitution and serve 120 days in jail.

Kwame is the son of congresswoman Carolyn 'Cheeks' Kilpatrick, who represented Michigan's 13th congressional district from 1997 to 2011. Elected to the office in 2001, Kwame Kilpatrick became the Motor City's youngest mayor. Despite using his office to award lucrative contracts to friends and fire city officials investigating reports of misconduct from the mayor's office, Kilpatrick was re-elected in 2005.

Seemingly locked in a death spiral at the time of his first term as Mayor, Detroit's prospects have only gotten worse since his resignation. The city faces a budget defecit of $327 million and an estimated $14 billion in long-term debt thanks to unfunded pension and healtchcare obligations. Michigan governor Rick Snider initiated the process of bringing in an emergency manager to Detroit at the beginning of the month.

He told a crowd at the Maccabbees building in Midtown that views today as a sad but hopeful day.

“At one point, (Detroit) was recognized as the most prosperous city in the United States,” he said. “We went form the top to the bottom.”

He said the decision won’t eliminate the role of elected officials in the city, acknowledging steps the mayor and city council have taken toward restructuring Detroit’s troubled finances.

“They haven’t been enough to solve the problem,” he said. “So lets work together.”

He said he expects an emergency manager to remain in place for at least a year and a half.

There has been increasing opposition to the state's Emergency Manager option since it first came up last year, even though there are few other viable options for Detroit.

Blue State Graft Watch Update- Feds Lay Out Case Against Former Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr

Federal prosecutors detailed their charges against former Illinois Democrat Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr late last week as he was charged with conspiracy to commit false statements, mail fraud and wire fraud as he allegedly misappropriated more than $750,000 in campaign funds. The money was reportedly used to buy high-end merchandise for himself and his wife and renovations on their Chicago home.

The court filing was a clear signal that Jackson, who was first elected to the House of Representatives in the mid-1990s, intended to plead guilty to the charge, which has a maximum penalty of five years in prison. No court date has been set.

Jackson’s expected plea would be another mile marker in his slow political and personal collapse, which began shortly after President Obama’s 2008 election. That had seemed to open up possibilities for Jackson, considered a likely successor to Obama in the Senate.

Instead, FBI agents arrested then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D) and charged him with trying to sell the interim appointment to the Senate seat from Illinois to the highest bidder, and Jackson was implicated in the scandal. Though not charged, he would never recover politically.

According to the documents released Friday, Jackson used campaign funds to buy a $43,350 gold Rolex watch along with almost $10,000 in children’s furniture that he had delivered to his home in the District.

Among other allegations, prosecutors say Jackson made direct expenditures of about $57,793 from the campaign’s accounts for personal expenses. The documents say he and a co-conspirator used a campaign credit card to make $582,773 worth of purchases for their own use.

Jackson’s wife, former Chicago alderman Sandra Stevens Jackson, was not named or charged in that case, but the description makes clear that she was the co-conspirator.

Jackson’s wife was charged with filing false income-tax returns from 2006 through 2011, according to a separate criminal information in her case. That charge has a maximum sentence of three years in prison.

The criminal documents outline a series of illegal expenditures from the former congressman’s campaign account, including more than a dozen purchases of pop-culture artifacts that firmly establish him as someone who came of age in the 1970s and ’80s:

●$10,105 worth of Bruce Lee memorabilia, including four separate purchases of items associated with the late martial-arts film hero.

●$14,200 in random Michael Jackson memorabilia.

●$4,000 for a “Michael Jackson and Eddie Van Halen” guitar.

●$4,600 for a Michael Jackson fedora.

In mid-November, when he announced his resignation from the House, Jackson signaled that he was in plea negotiations.

“I have made my share of mistakes. I am aware of the ongoing federal investigation into my activities and I am doing my best to address the situation responsibly, cooperate with the investigators,” he wrote in his resignation letter.

In the Blagojevich case, Raghuveer Nayak, who worked as a fundraiser for [convicted former Illinois governor Rod] Blagojevich and Jackson, told investigators that Jackson instructed him to raise as much as $6 million for the governor’s campaign.

If found guilty, Jackson will also lose his federal pension. Observers also indicate that prison time would an increasingly likely outcome for the 10-term congressman [no word on whether or not it will be at that nearly vacant prison outside of Rock Island, IL that President Obama, Gov Quinn and Sen Durbin were so keen on using to house Al Qeada detainees- NANESB!]. Despite checking himself into the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota back in June, Jackson Jr won re-election by a 63% margin in November before announcing his resignation a few weeks later.

On Friday, Jackson Jr's wife- former Chicago alderman Sandi Jackson- pleaded guilty to one count of tax fraud as part of a plea deal with federal prosecutors.

Blue State Graft Watch- Feds Ordered to Delay Arrest of New Jersey Senator's Staffer Until After Election

Recently released documents obtained by the Associated Press show that federal agents investigating an unpaid intern working for Sen Robert Menendez (D-NJ) for being in the country illegally and aggravated sexual assault were under pressure to postpone any arrest until after the November 2012 elections.

[A]ccording to the internal agency documents, the agents were ordered by Washington to hold off after officials warned of "significant interest" from Congress and news organizations since the suspect was a volunteer intern for New Jersey Sen. Robert Menendez.

Luis Abrahan Sánchez Zavaleta was an immigrant from Peru who had overstayed a visitor visa that allowed him to enter the United States. He eventually was arrested at his home in New Jersey on Dec. 6. He has since been released from an immigration jail and is facing deportation.

When The Associated Press first disclosed the delayed arrest of last month, Sanchez, 18, the Homeland Security Department said AP's report was "categorically false."

According to those documents, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Newark had arranged to arrest Sanchez at the local prosecutor's office on Oct. 25. That was fewer than two weeks before the election.

Noting that Sanchez was a volunteer in Menendez's Senate office, ICE officials in New Jersey advised that the arrest "had the possibility of garnering significant congressional and media interest" and were "advised to postpone the arrest" until officials in Washington gave approval. The documents describe a conference call between officials Washington and New Jersey to "determine a way forward, given the potential sensitivities surrounding the case."

In a letter Monday, Assistant DHS Secretary Nelson Peacock said an allegation that the government delayed Sanchez's arrest "for political purposes" was categorically false. Neither the unnamed U.S. official cited in AP's original story or the senators in their letters to the department had specifically alleged that the arrest had been delayed for political purposes. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because this person was not authorized to discuss details of Sanchez's immigration case, told AP last month that the department had instructed federal agents not to arrest Sanchez until after Election Day.

The documents provided to Congress do not indicate why the arrest should have been delayed or whether anyone outside Immigration and Customs Enforcement — such as in the headquarters offices of the Homeland Security Department — was consulted.


According to police records, Sanchez was 15 when he was arrested on a charge of aggravated sexual assault in 2009. The records show he was accused of sexually assaulting an 8-year-old boy at least eight times and sentenced to two years' probation and required to register as a sex offender. The AP is not reporting the boy's relationship to Sanchez to avoid identifying the victim.

The agency documents show that Sanchez failed to update his sex offender registration, and local prosecutors considered arresting him for that. During the same time, immigration officials learned that Sanchez had applied for the Obama administration's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which would have allowed him to stay in the country and legally work for two years. He did not disclose his arrest or status as a sex offender on the application and was eventually denied, according to the documents.

Prior to the 2012 election, Sen Menendez was enmeshed in a sex scandal when two women from the Dominican Republic said that the Senator paid to have sex with them, reportedly short-changing one of the women.

A high-ranking Dominican official confirmed that both Sen Menendez and a donor identified as Dr Salomon Melgen were frequent visitors to the island nation and attended parties at Megen's villa where orgies were said to hake place.

Blue State Graft Watch: Anti Gun Illinois State Senator Caught Trying to Board Plane With Pistol, Live Ammunition at O'Hare

I'm not sure if I could call this graft or just plain stupidity- or a combination of the two.

The Noisy Cricket, resplendent in all its .25 cal glory

An Illinois State Senator is free on $25,000 bail after his arrest at Chicago's O'Hare airport for attempting to bring a pistol and live ammunition on board a plane on Wednesday.

Donne Trotter, a 62 year old Chicago Democrat, claimed it was an innocent mistake and that he forgot to unload he pistol and magazine with live rounds from a garment bag after reportedly finishing up a shift as a security guard.

Curiously, few people were even aware that Trotter worked a second job as a securty guard or owned a gun until this week's arrest.

It all started on Wednesday morning at O'Hare, when Transportation Security Administration officers say they spotted a gun in Trotter's carry-on bag. [Trotter] said he forgot it was in his bag from the night before, when he told authorities that he had worked a security guard shift for a South Side company.

According to state records, All Points Security and Detective Company currently has more than 50 employees licensed under it to work as armed guards, among them Donne Trotter.

Although many of the state licensees on this list appear to have law enforcement backgrounds, Trotter is not known for that. His bio and campaign disclosures do not list his employment as a security guard, and he has declined to answer any questions about the matter.

All Points has not responded to questions either and has offered no explanation, context or proof of Senator Trotter's actual employment.

Public records reveal the firm has had government contracts, including a $5 million deal to provide armed escorts for CTA cash collections.

The gun was identified as a .25 cal Beretta- a much more compact, small caliber pistol from the manufacturer of the military's M9 9mm sidearm [Just an observation on my part, but unless that was some sort of 'backup' piece, a .25 cal pistol is woefully underpowered for security or protective work of any kind- NANESB!]. During the bail hearing, prosecutors said that although Trotter had an Illinois state Firearms Owner Identification Card for the gun, the Beretta was not registered with the city of Chicago as required by municipal ordinance. The city of Chicago has among the strictest gun control laws in the nation for decades, but that has done nothing to stem the skyrocketing murder rate in the Windy City.

Trotter, who has been in office since 1988, voted against a measure that would allow Illinois residents to carry concealed weapons in 1995 and voted in favor of a ban on high capacity magazines in 2007.

At the end of November, Trotter joined a crowded field of candidates when he announced he would be running for Congress to replace Jesse Jackson Jr, who had announced his resignation amid a federal misconduct probe and after a months-long absence from Congress after checking himself into the Mayo clinic.

Blue State Graft Watch- Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr Resigns Over Misuse Of Campaign Funds

Illinois Democrat Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr has stepped down last week, reportedly as part of a plea arrangement stemming from a federal investigation over his misappropriation of campaign funds. Earlier this month, Jackson Jr handily won re-election in his south Chicago district despite being at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota since June- reportedly for treatment of 'exhaustion' and a previously undiagnosed bipolar disorder.

Federal investigators believe Jackson illegally siphoned off campaign funds to pay for renovations to his Chicago home, a $40,000 Rolex for a 'female friend' and plane tickets to fly Washington DC restaurant hostess Giovana Huidobro to Chicago at Jackson's request. There are also reports that Jackson was tipped off about the federal probe into his finances shortly before taking his leave of absence.

Jackson Jr's wife- Chicago Alerwoman Sandi Jackson- may also be facing jail time for her role in redirecting campaign funds. An estimated $20,000 went towards renovations on their Chicago home and many have speculated an increased willingness to cooperate with investigators on her part upon learning about the Rolex and plane tickets.

The son of increasingly irrelevant race baiting attention whore civil rights leader Jesse Jackson, Jackson Jr has been in congress for about 17 years and is no stranger to controversey. While still in law school, a Nigerian drug lord named Pius Ailemen was supposed to be the best man at his 1991 wedding [Aileman is currently serving a 24 year prison sentence for trafficking heroin- NANESB!]. More recently, Jackson Jr's name has come up repeatedly in the scandal surrounding former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich's attempt to sell off Barack Obama's vacant senate seat to the highest bidder after the freshman senator won the 2008 Presidential election.

There is also the possibility that Jackson Jr could retain his $45,000 a year Congressional pension unless he is convicted of one of several possibly public corruption felony charges.

Meanwhile, Illinois Gov Pat Quinn has tenatively set a special election date to fill Jackson's vacant seat for March 19, although he left open the possibility of moving it further back to April 9th so it would coincide with municipal elections. At least a dozen candidates including state representative Toi Hutchinson and Blagojevich's attorney Sam Adam Jr have announced their plans to run for the vacated seat in Illinois' almost exclusively Democrat 2nd congressional district.

Blue State Graft Watch- Feds Arrest Trenton, NJ Mayor on Corruption Charges

After July's FBI raids on City Hall and the Mayor's residence in Trenton, NJ, many observers figured it would be only a matter of time before the Feds pressed charges against Democrat Trenton mayor Tony Mack and arrested him.

And they would be correct.

On September 10th, Mack was arrested by federal agents at his home on corruption charges linked to a city development project. Also taken into custody were Mack's brother Ralphiel and a prominent Mack campaign donor, Joseph "JoJo" Giorgianni.

"The investigation revealed evidence of a conspiracy among the defendants and other to corrupt certain functions of Trenton City government in favor of a purported developer seeking to building a parking garage on City-owned property in exchange for cash payments totaling approximate $119,000, a total of $54,000 that the defendants actually accepted in one way or another and another $65,000 that they anticipated accepting," according to the criminal complaint filed today.

The complaint indicates the FBI had been investigating Mack since September 2010, just a few months after he took office. At least two cooperating witnesses are cited in the complaint and the FBI made extensive use of wire taps on the phones of Mack, Giorgianni and the cooperating witnesses.

An informant working with the FBI, identified in the complaint as "CW-1," first met with Giorgianni on Sept. 14, 2010 claiming to represent a developer who wanted to build a parking garage on East State Street in the city. The confidential witness asked for Mack's help in securing the property in exchange for cash and Giorgianni agreed to broker the deal, the complaint states.

That conversation, which occurred two months after Mack's election, was recorded by the witness, according to the complaint.

"We want this," Giorgianni said, according to the complaint. "What do you think we did all this for? I like to make money for my friends. I like to do it like the Boss Tweed way. You know Boss Tweed ran Tamany Hall?"


Numerous meetings and conversations followed regarding the parking garage, but the project discussions slowed last year when a citizen's group mounted an effort to recall Mayor Mack. The recall fell short of the signatures needed.

"On April 18, 2011 at JoJo's Steakhouse, Giorgianni stated that Tony F. Mack was interested in engaging in the corrupt transaction previously discussed 'once this July thing's over,' referring to the efforts by certain Trenton citizens to recall Tony F. Mack," the complaint states. "Giorgianni stated 'Once that's over, we're ready to roll."

The bribes started to flow on Oct. 27, 2011 when Giorgianni accepted two envelopes with $1,500 each from the cooperating witness "with the express understanding that Giorgianni would give one of the envelopes to Tony F. Mack in exchange for Tony F. Mack's support of the development of the East State Street lot."

The July raids on City Hall, the mayor's home and Giorgianni's steakhouse reportedly stemmed from a phantom parking garage which was actually a paid parking lot in downtown Trenton that was sold to the city for $1 in 2000. The informant at Giorgianni's steakhouse had reportedly offered cash to both Giorgiani and Mack to arrange a meeting and help expedite the permit process for converting the current lot into a garage.

So far, Tony Mack faces just the single corruption charge, but more charges could be pending depending on what subsequent searches of City Hall, Mack's residence and Griogriani's steakhouse turn up.

Since taking office in 2010, Mack has been accused of using the city payroll as how own personal piggybank as well as steering larded up city contracts to friends, hiring and promoting unqualified relatives into various municipal positions. Earlier this year, Mack's half-brother who was appointed supervisor of Trenton's water utility pleaded guilty to using city employees and city owned equipment to carry out private work at the city's expense. A Mercer County judge had decided to revoke Mack's half brother's bail at the end of August.

It should also be worth pointing out that Mack is also a member of New York mayor Michael Bloomberg's 'Mayors against illegal guns' coalition.

Trenton is New Jersey's state capitol and 10th largest city.

Blue Red State Graft Watch- Democrat Officials in Arkansas, Mississippi in Trouble Over Ballot Fraud

An Arkansas state representative along with three others have pleaded guilty to federal charges of Consipracy to commit voter fraud last week.

Democrat State Representative Hudson Hollum, his father Kent Hollum, W. Memphis city councilman Phillip Wayne Carter and W. Memphis police officer Sam Malone admitted to securing absentee ballots from voters in exchange for food, liquor, cigarettes or cash as well as destroying absentee ballots in unsealed envelopes where Hollum's opponent was chosen

West Memphis City Councilman Phillip Carter, West Memphis Police Officer Sam Malone, Hudson Hallum, and his father Kent Hallum all pleaded guilty in a conspiracy to bribe voters to influence absentee votes in the District 54 primary election runoff in 2011. Hudson Hallum beat his opponent by just 8 votes. Many came from absentee ballots, reviewed by Hallum before they were mailed to election headquarters.

“The runners of this organization, the Malones and the Carters if you will, would accumulate the absentee ballots and give them to Kent or Hudson Hallum for basically their review," said the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas, Jane Duke. “They wanted to make sure if the absentee ballots had been in fact cast for Hudson Hallum. If it had not been, in most circumstances if not all, the ballots were destroyed and were not mailed on to the clerk's office for count."

"I warned him,” said the police officer’s former friend and an attorney in Crittenden County, Hubert Bass. “He (Malone) would brag to me about how he was handling the absentee ballots, that he would go to people's mailboxes and get them out and I told him, Malone you can't do that, you're going to get in trouble.”

Hallum resigned as state representative for the 54th district on September 5th as the indictments were handed down. Arkansas's 54th district covers West Memphis as well as the towns of Marion, Earle, Turrell and other rural areas of Crittenden county.

Across the river and to the south, an NAACP official in Tunica county, Mississippi was sentenced in July on 10 counts of fradulently casting ballots in the 2008 Presidential campaign.

[...] a Tunica County, Miss., jury convicted NAACP official Lessadolla Sowers on 10 counts of fraudulently casting absentee ballots. Sowers is identified on an NAACP website as a member of the Tunica County NAACP Executive Committee.

Sowers received a five-year prison term for each of the 10 counts, but Circuit Court Judge Charles Webster permitted Sowers to serve those terms concurrently, according to the Tunica Times

Sowers was found guilty of voting in the names of Carrie Collins, Walter Howard, Sheena Shelton, Alberta Pickett, Draper Cotton and Eddie Davis. She was also convicted of voting in the names of four dead persons: James L. Young, Dora Price, Dorothy Harris, and David Ross.

In the trial, forensic scientist Bo Scales testified that Sowers’s DNA was found on the inner seals of five envelopes containing absentee ballots.

The Democrat Party has sought to minimize and ridicule allegations of ballot fraud- or even deny that it exists- in the face of voter ID laws being passed in a number of states.

Blue State Graft Watch- Audit Finds California State Parks Director Sitting on More than $50 Million in 'Hidden Assets'

Wildflowers in bloom at Anza Borrego state park, which straddles San Diego and Imperial counties in Southern California. Anza Borrego is one of 278 state parks in California that has recently been threatened with closure or drastically reduced services while the State Parks' Director was sitting on $54 million in undisclosed or underreported funds.

California State Parks Director Ruth Coleman stepped down and her second-in-command was fired after it was learned that the agency had been sitting on an unreported surplus of $54 million that had been accumulating over the last decade.

The funds were discovered shortly after the Sacramento Bee published an investigative report and internal audits from the California Department of Parks and Recreation regarding an unauthorized vacation buyout program among senior Parks officials that was thought to have cost the Golden State $271,000.

Much of the hidden money was discovered in a controversial Off Road Vehicle fund. Since late last year, off-roading advocates have accused the governor and state agencies of stacking the Parks and Recreation department with personnel hostile towards off-roaders.

The disclosure comes at a particularly awkward time for Gov. Jerry Brown, who has been campaigning for statewide ballot measures supporting tax increases that will be voted on in November. Earlier, Brown had said that as many as 70 California State Parks could be shuttered due to the agency running out of funds.

Officials tapped the department’s new deputy director of administrative services, Aaron Robertson, to examine agency finances. He is credited with finding the hidden funds.

State investigators have determined that nearly $20.4 million, or 39 percent of the money in the State Parks and Recreation Fund, was not disclosed to state budget officials. Nearly $33.5 million, or 20 percent, of the money in the parks’ Off Highway Vehicle Fund, was also not reported. Both accounts subsist on revenue from park visitor fees.

The finance department and the attorney general are reviewing whether criminal activity was involved in hiding the assets. Officials said preliminary findings suggest the reporting errors date back at least 12 years.

A number of donors who contributed to the state parks system before the hidden money was disclosed are now asking for their money back, claiming they were under the impression that their fundraising was the only thing keeping the parks open as the agency sat on more than $50 million in funds.

Earlier this year, it was learned that funds raised by the state of California to go to a September 11th memorial fund through the sale of special license plates was raided by both the Brown and Schwarzenegger administrations to plug shortfalls in the state's budget.

Blue State Graft Watch Update- FBI Raids Home of Trenton, NJ Mayor

Federal agents armed with a search warrant raided the home of the mayor of New Jersey's capital city as well as his brother, an address listed one of the mayor's top donors and City Hall in the early morning hours of Thursday last week.

The raid on Mack’s residence in the upscale Berkeley Square section of the city was augmented by FBI searches at the home of Mack’s brother Ralphiel, the head football coach at Trenton Central High School, and the Ewing residence of Joseph “JoJo” Giorgianni

Later that day, Trenton, NJ's Democrat mayor Tony Mack sent a letter to the city clerk designating Ternton's Business Administrator Sam Hutchinson as acting mayor; a pro-forma move that allows Mack to leave the city. In a message on his Facebook page dated Sunday night, Mack said that he would be out of town and wouldn't be returning until July 30th.

A spokeswoman from the FBI declined to state what agents were looking for when they carried out raids on Mack's residence and City Hall. Although Mack has yet to be formally charged, his time in office as mayor has been marked by accusations of cronyism, his appointees being convicted of misconduct or having to step down once their criminal backgrounds were discovered.

City Councilman George Muschal, a frequent critic of Mack's management of the city, said he was not surprised when he received a text message notifying him that the FBI was raiding City Hall this morning. He only asked one question:

“What took them so long to get there?” Muschal said when reached by phone this afternoon. "There is full blown corruption in the city of Trenton. We have to go to a rock bottom low before we can rebuild. This might be a rock bottom low.”

A number of employees have sued the administration, including a former recreation employee who alleged that a close Mack associate, acting public works director Harold Hall, acted to bypass public bidding requirements and hired unqualified friends and relatives.

The FBI has investigated a political action committee that funneled donations to Mack, but the mayor has not been known to be under investigation personally.

One of the homes raided was that of 'Jojo' Giorgianni, a local steakhouse owner who was convicted of molesting a 14 year old girl in his restaurant in 1978. Tipping the scales at more than 500 pounds, Giorgianni and his legal team pleaded that he would be unable to survive in prison due to his considerable girth- an argument the presiding judge ruled in favor of until a videotape of the newly-freed Giorgianni ringside at a boxing match in smoke-filled arena without his oxygen tank was shown. Giorgianni reportedly exceeded the legal campaign contribution limit when he donated to Mack's 2010 Mayoral campaign.

In January, Mack's half-brother who was a manager at the city's water utility pleaded guilty to two counts of official misconduct after investigators discovered he was using city employees and city-owned equipment to carry out private side jobs while billing the city.

Other highlights of Tony Mack's two years in office include his chief-of-staff assaulting a police officer while carrying heroin in his pocket just days after leaving the scene of an accident, disguising a $20,000 campaign contribution as a loan, awarding municipal contracts to campaign donors, disbanding the police department's anti-gang and anti-narcotic units for more foot patrols and circumventing the city council to appoint friends and family to jobs within different city agencies.

Separately, the Mercer County prosecutor's office announced that they had a number of ongoing investigations over corruption in Trenton. They had successfully prosecuted Mack's half brother in the Trenton Water Works investigation earlier this year.

Like convicted felons Kwame Kilpatrick, Rod Blagojevic and Eddie Perez, Tony Mack is also a member of the Mike Bloomberg-sponsored Mayors Against Illegal Guns coalition.

Blue State Graft Watch- FBI Arrests New Jersey Mayor and Son For Hacking Opposition Website

The Democrat mayor of West New York, NJ along with his son were arrested by the FBI on Wednesday on charges that they hacked a website calling for the mayor's recall and intimidated people who were associated with the page.

The FBI alleges that Joseph Roque, Mayor Felix Roque's 22 year old son, was able to successfully hack into an email account of one of the unnamed victims and then use the email account to cancel the registration of the domain name recallroque.com.

After RecallRoque.com was taken down, the criminal complaint says, Roque placed a telephone call to the proprietor of the website — “Victim 1,” a government official in Hudson County, N.J. — to say that the page had been taken down by “high government officials and that everyone would pay for getting involved against Mayor Roque.”

Roque also allegedly tried to intimidate those involved with the website, telling “Victim 1” that he had a friend on the CIA: “A friend of mine. he works in the — I can’t tell you — three letters — CIA. You know. That’s how I get information. So what I’m doing is not very kosher.”

The mayor of the city of 50,000 and his son are expected to appear in federal court on Thursday where they will face charges of gaining unauthorized access to computers in furtherance of causing damage to protected computers; causing damage to protected computers; and conspiracy to commit those crimes.

Roque himself attempted to gather signatures for a recall of then-incumbent mayor Silverio Vega in 2010, but half the signatures he gathered were deemed invalid.

Blue State Graft Watch- Former Kilpatrick Appointee Under Federal Indictment for Fraud, Extortion While Detroit City Pension Loses Millions

A Detroit city treasurer appointed by ousted former mayor and convicted felon Kwame Kilpatrick has been indicted by a Federal Grand Jury on charges of extortion and wire fraud and could face decades behind bars

Jefferey Beasley, a Kilpatrick appointeee who served as City Treasurer between 2005 and 2008 is accused of demanding charter cash, jet flights, Las Vegas concert tickets, limousine service, massages, golf clubs and other favors from companies that wanted to business with the city's pension system. Some deatils from the indictment include:

“’Company G’ was an investment manager for the Police and Fire Retirement System, managing over $150 million in properties owned by the System…” In addition to $50,000 in donations to the Kilpatrick Civic Fund (at the request of Beasley), “Beasley asked the principal of ‘Company G’ to include Kwame Kilpatrick, Beasley, and three other associates on a private jet flight that ‘Company G’ had chartered to Las Vegas over the weekend of April 13, 2007, for a golfing trip. The cost of the flight was approximately $43,000. In addition, ‘Company G’ paid for greens fees, lodging, meals, limousine service, concert tickets, and massages for Kwame Kilpatrick, Jeffrey Beasley, and the three other associates at a cost of approximately $23,000 which was not reimbursed. In July 2007, Jeffrey Beasley asked a principal of ‘Company G’ to charter a private plane for Kwame Kilpatrick to fly to Tallahassee, FL. At a cost of more than $24,000, ‘Company G’ then chartered the private plane so that Kilpatrick could go on a trip to Tallahassee over the weekend of July 20, 2007. One of the passengers on the flight to Tallahassee was the son of Jeffrey Beasley…”

On Friday, the City of Detroit's pension board fired Motor City-based Mayfield Gentry Realty Advisors- reportedly 'Company G' in the Federal Indictment. The firm had reportedly used $3.1 million of retiree's money on two strip malls in California without transferring the deed to the city's pension.

The Detroit Free Press reports that the pension fund's total losses since February 2008 exceeds $480 million. The firms and middlemen who brokered some of these money-losing deals on behalf of the pension fund have drawn scrutiny from the Securities and Exchange Comission.

In case you were wondering, the convicted parties or those who were appointed by the convicted parties are all Democrats.

[Hat tip- Russel Mead, Lonely Conservative]

Blue State Graft Watch Update- Mistrial Declared in Troy, NY Ballot Fraud Case

The judge presiding over a ballot fraud case in which Troy, NY city councilman Michael LoPorto and Rensselaer County Election Commissioner Edward McDonough has declared a mistrial after the jury was deadlocked.

According to one juror, who asked that her name not be published, the jury was ready to convene on Tuesday morning last week and up until then had seemed willing to find LoPorto and McDonough guilty of 8 felony counts. However, there was a holdout on the jury and the deliberations reportedly turned into a shouting match, before a note adressed to Acting state Supreme Court Justice George Pulverwas written asked that he meet privately with four of the jurors. The note was reportedly the basis for Pulverwas declaring the mistrial.

The juror said that jurors' relationships were friendly and cordial up until deliberations began in earnest.

"There were some pretty bad shouting matches," the juror said. "Things got really ugly and personal attacks started. It was terrible. There were a couple of us who would go out for smoke breaks together and after a while I was not welcome anymore."

A big problem for jurors was the 103 charges they had to go through and unanimously agree on.

"It was just too many charges and no one could keep track of them," the juror said. "If they do have another trial they may want to think about that."

Acting Supreme Court Judge George C Pulver ordered a new trial and Special Prosecutor Trey Smith filed a motion to have seperate trials for LoPorto and McDonough on Tuesday.

LoPorto and McDonough are accused of forging signatures and excuses on absentee ballots during the 2009 Working Families primary without the knowledge of the individual voters whose names appeared on the ballot.

Stemming from the same absentee ballot fraud investigation, Troy city councilman John Brown and former City Clerk William McInerney pleaded guilty to felony charges of forgery, falsifying business records and criminal posession of a forged insturment in December 2011.

Blue State Graft Watch: One-Time Breitbart Protege Releases Video Alleging Voter Fraud in Green Mountain State

State officials in Vermont are calling for a criminal inquiry after conservative activist and one-time Andrew Breitbart protege James O'Keefe released a video purporting to show people walking in to Vermont precincts and voting under the name of deceased or nonexistent voters. Not surprisingly, state officials have called for a criminal probe stemming from the video- not surprisingly, the Democrat Secretary of State and Attorney General want O'Keefe to be the focus of the probe instead the ease with which the video's participants were able to voter under somebody else's name.

State elections officials are sharply criticizing an undercover video that surfaced Tuesday and purportedly shows individuals using the names of dead or living people in order to obtain ballots for Vermont elections, including this year’s presidential primary.

The video, released via the Breitbart.com website by conservative activist James O’Keefe, shows a series of exchanges at voting precincts where an individual identifies himself as a person whose name is on the voter checklist. The individual, however, is not asked to show identification to prove who he is before being given a ballot.

“You said who you are,” one local voting official tells the individual when asked why no identification had to be shown. “Your name is on there.”

At least seven people, six described in the video as “living” and one as “dead,” are named in the video as the people whom the individual is impersonating as he goes through the process of obtaining a ballot. It’s unclear where all the incidents took place, but two polling sites, in Essex and Winooski, are recognizable.

Secretary of State James Condos, who learned about the video from the Burlington Free Press, said Tuesday afternoon that he hopes the Attorney General’s Office will investigate the video to see whether a crime had taken place.

“My next phone call is to Bill Sorrell’s office,” Condos said, referring to the state’s top prosecutor. The crime of voter fraud is punishable in Vermont by a fine of up to $100 and/or up to one year in jail.

Condos said Vermont and federal law do not require people to produce identification when they show up to vote, and efforts to mandate such identification recently have been rejected or struck down in several states.

“I denounce any type of voter fraud or any assault on the integrity of the voting system,” Condos said. “Voting is a constitutional right and the basis of our democracy. Real voter fraud is preventing people eligible to vote from being able to vote.”

Actually- if I may interject for a moment, Secretary of State Condos- REAL voter fraud is elected officials doing something like systematically something like forging other people's signature on absentee ballots.

The release of O'Keefe's video comes one day after Eric Holder's Justice Department struck down a recently-passed Texas voter ID law on Monday.

O'Keefe filmed a similar video in New Hampshire earlier this year, prompting the State Senate to pass a voter ID law that was heading to the State House last week.

Blue State Graft Watch Update- Former Massachusetts House Speaker Sal DiMasi Apprears Before Federal Grand Jury

Just a few months into his 8-year prison sentence, sentence former Massachusetts Speaker of the House Sal DiMasi was transferred from a Federal Prison in Kentucky to another prison in Brooklyn, NY earlier this week.

In September 2011, the Democrat and former state representative was sentenced to eight years in prison after being found guilty on corruption and extortion charges. DiMasi and lobbyist Richard McDonough had solicited payment from a Canadian software company in exchange for steering state contracts their way. The disgraced former speaker is believed to be on his way to Worcester, MA to testify before a federal grand jury this month. While the specific focus of the grand jury was not confirmed, the Boston Globe reports that sources close to US Attorney Carmen M Ortiz say they've been hearing evidence on rigged hiring and promotion practices within the commonwealth's Probation Department.

“People are in a state of shock that he’s coming back to testify," said one Beacon Hill lobbyist, who asked not to be named for fear of damaging business relationships. “There are a lot of nervous people around."

DiMasi was so important to John J. O’Brien, the former probation commissioner, that he kept a special spreadsheet of DiMasi’s preferred job candidates titled “DiMasi, Speaker Sal."

Grand juries, which are convened by prosecutors to collect evidence for potential criminal charges, conduct their work in secret. As a result, it is possible that DiMasi is to testify in another federal investigation.

Current and former elected officials were stunned by the news that DiMasi could testify and perhaps provide new firsthand details about the cozy relationship between the Legislature and the court system. Beacon Hill has been abuzz for months with rumors that the probation grand jury may soon indict a dozen or more people, including several current and former legislators.

DiMasi is the 3rd straight Massachusetts speaker of the house to resign while facing charges. The previous two- Charles Flaherty and Thomas Finneran- were eventually found guilty of charges ranging from obstruction of justice to tax evasion in seperate cases.

Blue State Graft Watch Update: Trial Underway In Troy, NY Absentee Ballot Fraud Case

New York State Troopers bringing former Troy, NY city councilman Michael LoPorto into Courtroom last year.

In an ongoing case that has received little attention outside the conservative blogosphere and upstate New York's Capital District, opening arguments got underway in the trial of a former Troy, NY City councilman and Renssalaer County Board of Elections Commissioner.

Michael LoPorto and Ed McDonough- both democrats- are accused of forging absentee ballots during the 2009 Working Families Party primary. McDonough faces 36 counts of possession of a forged instrument and 38 counts of second degree forgery.

The forgery charges were recently dropped against LoPorto, but he faces 26 counts of possession of a forged instrument.

Prsecutors allege that LoPorto, Mc Donough and six other Democrats forged signatures on absentee ballots during the 2009 primary elections, including writing in the excuses why the voters were unable to show up at the polling place on election day. This was all being done done without the consent or knowledge of the voter. LoPorto and others accused in the scheme defended their actions as 'normal political tactic' for the upstate New York city.

Numerous voters told Fox News that they were stunned that their signatures were faked on absentee ballot applications and ballots, which were cast as real votes in their names in the 2009 primary election.

Brian Suozzo's absentee ballot application claimed that he was "at home recovering from medical procedure," which he told us was not true.

"Someone took my signature and voted with it and I feel extremely violated," Suozzo said when Fox News first broke the story nationally in 2009. "The whole thing seems dirty to me."

Jessica Boomhower's absentee ballot application falsely claimed that she was in Boston.

"I can't believe they thought they would get away with this," she told Fox News. "I didn't get to cast my vote on my own. ... They're corrupt. I am sure this goes on a lot in politics, but it's very rare that they do get caught."

Two of the ballot applications claimed that the voters were unavailable, because they were supposedly on a "bus trip to casino."

Four of the six other Democrats accused in this case- including a former Troy City Councilman and a former Troy City Clerk- pleaded guilty to various counts of forgery, falsifying business records and possession of a forged instrument last month.

Two more accused participants- former City Council president Clem Campana and Former City Councilman Gary Glisuki- are will be tried together in a trial separate from McDounough and LoPorto's.

[Hat tip- Lonely Conservative; Albany Conservative]

Blue State Graft Watch- 'Mountain of Evidence' Available for Grand Jury in Troy, NY Voter Fraud Case

Even as Eric Holder's Justice Department moved to block recently passed voter ID legislation in South Carolina, prosecutors in Rensselaer County, NY say they have 'mountains' of incriminating papers implicating the Rensselaer County elections commissioner, a number of Troy city councilmen and the city clerk in a scheme to forge signatures and excuses on absentee ballots in September 2009- all of them democrats.

According to the indictment, between Sept. 9 and 15, 2009, Campana allegedly had a hand in soliciting absentee ballots from seven voters, entered forged voters' signatures or other information on 24 ballots, filled in the votes on four ballots and helped deliver 28 ballots to the Rensselaer County Board of Elections.

Former Troy City Clerk William McInerney allegedly solicited 16 ballots and forged 26, according to the indictment.

Democratic Rensselaer County Elections Commissioner Edward McDonough allegedly forged 32 ballots, delivered 29 and forged fictitious information in the "Where will you be on election day" box on 42 ballots. Absentee ballot holders are required to reveal what prevents them from voting in person, according to the indictment.

Councilman Michael LoPorto is accused of soliciting four ballots, forging one, voting on four and delivering 28.

Councilman John Brown allegedly solicited two ballots, forged six and voted on 27.

Former Troy Housing Authority clerk Anthony DeFiglio is accused of soliciting 18 ballots and Democratic operative and city council employee Anthony Renna was accused of forging five ballots.

Brown, DeFiglio and Renna pleaded guilty Tuesday to one felony count each and received various sentences. The most severe punishment was for Brown, who will be sentenced to six months in county jail and five years' probation.

In January, McDonough and LoPorto were arraigned on several felony counts. They face trial next month. McInerney pleaded guilty and will cooperate with the prosecution. His sentence has not been determined.

LoPorto and McDonough were charged in January of 2011. One has to wonder if they systematically forged signatures and reasons for not voting in persion on the local ballot, what exactly would stop them from committing electoral fraud of this scope during elections for either the office of governor or President.

Also earlier this year, a former county prosecutor penned a letter to the Justice Department asking to reexamine the probe into allegations that Rensselaer County Democrat Party chairman Thomas Wade pressured county employees to contribute to a campaign fund committee or face termination from their jobs.