New York's Abuse of Incarcerated Youth Exposed

The US Justice Department issued a report this month stating that "[s]taff at [New York's Juvenile Detention Facilities] routinely used uncontrolled, unsafe applications of force, departing from generally accepted standards" when dealing with incarcerated youth. Now, the attention turns to Governor Paterson and whether his efforts to fix these problems will be bold enough and quick enough to prevent the abuse from harming more of our children.

Horrifying Abuses

The level of abuse suffered by our children in the four juvenile detention facilities of New York State is beyond anything that we should accept in a modern society, and the abuse reflects the lack of oversight in the system as well as the lack of respect for the rights of those who are incarcerated.

There was one year in one facility (a facility that housed only 50 youth) in which 698 individual "takedowns" (throwing children to the ground and holding them down in a face-down position) of youth occurred, and 123 injuries were sustained by those youth. These facilities house children ages 16 and under and are the wrong places for staff who enjoy inflicting pain on others.

One 15 year old boy from the Bronx was killed in a takedown in 2006, and while his death was ruled a homicide, a grand jury chose not to indict those that killed the boy.

Reasons given by the staff for the takedowns were as flimsy as the taking of an extra cookie during a meal, glaring at a detention facility guard, laughing, and placing sugar in one's own orange juice. The takedown that resulted from the glaring incident caused a broken collar bone.

Suggested Response from the New York Daily News

The New York Daily News offered very specific suggestions with regard to how our State should respond to the new awareness of just how poorly our juvenile detention center. At Manhattan Viewpoint, we hope that Governor Paterson and the State Legislature in Albany will follow the sentiments of the New York Daily News and begin to address the shocking abuses occurring regularly in our juvenile facilities. As the New York Daily News stated on August 28:

The abuses administered routinely in the state's youth lockups are beyond shocking. They are shamefully entrenched and demand an immediate fix. Before one more inmate has his or her teeth knocked out, before one more mentally ill teen is left in his or her own wastes:

Family Court judges must refuse to send additional teenagers into these snakepits.
Governor Paterson must transfer the facilities' 250 residents into secure, therapeutic custody elsewhere.
Gladys Carrion, the well-meaning commissioner of the Office of Children and Family Services, must make sweeping reforms - or get out.
The Legislature must empower Carrion or her successor to upgrade and train personnel and to fire those who use excessive force on residents.

Derek Jeter on MVP Pace in 2009

After last night's superb performance, it is clear that part-time Manhattan resident, Derek Jeter, deserves serious consideration for the 2009 Most Valuable Player Award in the American League.

In suggesting that the Yankee captain be the 2009 MVP, we mean no disrespect to the tremendous performance of Mark Teixeira in 2009 or to any other 2009 performance. But, we do believe that Derek Jeter is on a pace that should be recognized as the 2009 MVP performance by the Baseball Writers Association of America when they cast their votes in October of this year.

2006 Award

In 2006, Derek Jeter lost the MVP vote in one of the closest votes in history. His numbers were astronomical. He batted .343 and had a .417 on-base percentage. He had 14 home runs and 97 RBIs. Minnesota Twins slugger Justin Morneau won the 2006 award with a .321 batting average, 34 home runs and 130 RBIs. Both the Yankees and the Twins made the playoffs, and the fact that the Twins came from far behind in their division at the end of the season while Morneau rasied his batting average by nearly 100 points seemed to influence some of the voters. Both performances were worthy of an MVP award, but Morneau was chosen.

2008 Award

In 2008, Dustin Pedroia won the AL MVP award. He batted .326 and had a .376 on-base percentage. He had 17 home runs and 83 RBIs. While Pedroia's 2008 performance was quite clearly inferior to Derek Jeter's 2006 performance, Pedroia was a deserving MVP. He was a leader on a team that made the playoffs, and he was the offensive spark of that team. Interestingly, Pedroia was a middle-infielder when he won the award in 2008, and his offensive numbers reflected his position at the top of the batting order where RBIs don't come as easily as they do to those who hit in the middle of the line up.

2009 - Yankee Captain Deserving of Consideration

This year, after leading off last night's game with a home run off of Boston Red Sox ace Josh Beckett and collecting a second key hit later in the game, Derek Jeter is hitting .332 with an on-base percentage of .394. He already has 16 home runs with just slightly less than a quarter of the season to play, and he has 57 RBIs as a leadoff hitter. At this pace, the home runs could end up being greater than 20 and the RBIs could surpass Pedroia's 2008 mark of 83. In essence, Derek Jeter is surpassing Pedroia's 2008 performance, even if he is failing to equal his nearly unimaginable 2006 performance.

The most likely competition for the award comes, ironically, from Derek Jeter's own teammate Mark Teixiera, the 2006 MVP award winner Justin Morneau, and Morneau's teammate, catcher Joe Mauer. Two Yankees and two Twins. In politics, one might often be able to pick a running mate or run as a slate. Such arrangements are not available to these players, and often two players from the same team cost each other votes in the process. Mauer was the only player who had a better batting average than Derek Jeter in 2006, and Morneau was the only player with more MVP votes. However, there is reason to believe that the 2009 voting with disfavor Mauer and Morneau.

Team Success a Factor?

With rare exceptions, MVPs are chosen from teams that make the playoffs. There is a theory that is not shared by all but which is quite powerful and suggests that a player cannot be ultra valuable if his efforts fail to put his team in the playoffs. The old Ralph Kiner story about being told by the owner of his team that though Kiner's season had been spectacular, as a last place team, they could not have finished in a worse position if Kiner had played for another team. "We'll finish last without you." If the regular season is actually a competition for the right to play in the post-season, teams that don't make the post-season can be viewed as failures and their best performers ineligible to be the most valuable players in the entire league, given their apparent lack of value to their own teams.

Individual performances have, on occasion, been so much better than all other performances in the league for a given year that even a player on a last place team has won the MVP award. Alex Rodriguez did it in 2003, and Andre Dawson accomplished the same feat in 1987. These two last-place MVPs had performances that were so outstanding that the lack of success of their teams was overlooked by the Baseball Writers Association of America. But, most writers and most followers of Major League baseball believe that the most outstanding performance of a player on a team that earns a spot in the playoffs is the best definition of the MVP in the absence of a truly unimaginably outstanding performance by a non-playoff bound player, such as the 2003 and 1987 experiences. We should note that ever since 1995, four teams have made the playoffs in each league, and MVPs have almost uniformly come from those four teams. In previous eras, as few as one team from each league would enter the post season, and often, writers would pick the MVP from that one team. In 1934, Yankee Lou Gehrig won the Triple Crown and lost the MVP vote to a player from the team that won the pennant. In 1942 and 1947, the same thing happened to Ted Williams. In 1985, Don Mattingly won the American League MVP when the Yankees missed winning their division by just 2 games.

So, a more refined theory of MVP eligibility might be that 1) any player who far surpasses the performance of all other players is appropriate to consider for MVP; 2) in the absence of one dominant candidate, players whose teams either made the playoffs or came very close to making the playoffs should have an advantage in the MVP balloting.

In 2009, Morneau and Mauer are playing for a team that seems highly unlikely to make the playoffs. The Minnesota Twins have a losing record, and they are in third place in the weakest division in the league. While the Twins may experience a resurgence that changes their status, their current trajectory would leave them out of the playoffs and likely leave both Morneau and Mauer out of the MVP race.

Jeter for MVP

Of the teams that are likely to make the playoffs, the Yankees have the only legitimate MVP candidates. Teixiera and Jeter. Jeter has 21 stolen bases and plays the most difficult defensive position on the baseball field. We know that Derek himself would say that he cares little for individual awards and is focused only on winning a 27th championship for the New York Yankees. He is correct to have that attitude, but the Baseball Writers Association of America should take note: If the season ended today - just one day after Yankee captain Derek Jeter hit the first pitch of the game over the right field fence at Fenway Park in a huge game for the New York Yankees - the sometimes Manhattan resident Derek Jeter would have to be the most deserving. That is the easiest endorsement decision we've ever had at Manhattan Viewpoint.

Bill Thompson's Momentum in NYC Mayor's Race

After cutting Mayor Bloomberg's lead in half in late July polls versus late June polls, Bill Thompson got more good news last week when our city's most prominent and largest municipal union, DC 37, endorsed him for Mayor.

Thompson's July Surge

In June, polls showed Bloomberg with a 22 point lead over New York City Comptroller Bill Thompson in the Mayor's race. The gap of 54% to 32% was thought by many to be more likely to widen than to shrink as Mayor Bloomberg's limitless financial resources would drown out any efforts by Thompson to cut into the Bloomberg lead.

But, in July, the polls showed a shift. Suddenly, the Bloomberg lead was only 10 points, and the support for the two candidates stood at 47 to 37 - a race worth watching. Separately, another poll showed that while nearly three quarters of New York City residents believe that Mayor Bloomberg will win re-election to a third term, a majority of New York City residents would like to see a new mayor in City Hall in 2010.

There is some evidence that Bloomberg's enormous campaign spending is hurting his campaign rather than helping it. While Bloomberg has spent approximately $40 million running for re-election, Thompson has spent less than $2 million challenging him. That is a 20 to 1 advantage. In fact, Bloomberg is spending at a pace that is nearly double the record-setting pace he established when he was elected in 2005. Yet, the polls show that Bloomberg's spending is driving down his own popularity and boosting the support of his opponent, Bill Thompson.

At Manhattan Viewpoint, we called on Mayor Bloomberg to limit his own spending. We have also criticized Mayor Bloomberg's racialized policing and his record setting pace of stop and frisks of people of color in New York City, his shifting of gifted and talented public school locations from communities of color to white communities, as well as his underhanded and dishonest (though successful) effort to change the City Charter to allow him to run for a third term, and his love affair with regressive taxation. Perhaps, New York City voters are starting to see what we at Manhattan Viewpoint have been seeing from our headquarters in Upper Manhattan.

DC 37 Endorsement of Thompson Suggests Thompson Can Win in November

DC 37, New York City's largest municipal union, endorsed Bill Thompson for Mayor last week. We then witnessed Bloomberg launch into attacks on the union as irresponsible, while he also accused Bill Thompson of making irresponsible promises to the union. One of the union presidents had an explanation for why Bloomberg failed to get the support of DC 37.

"He's arrogant, too arrogant."

Arrogant, regressive, racially discriminatory, and declining in the polls - a naked emperor who is hoping that his beautiful robes can carry him through the November election.

Cy Vance for Manhattan DA and Gillibrand Unrivaled

We support the sentiments expressed in the New York Daily News in its endorsement of Cy Vance in the race for the Democratic Party nomintion for Manhattan District Attorney, and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand benefitted from the departure from the Senate race of the last remaining potential challenger for the Democratic nomination in the special election in 2010 for the seat Senator Gillibrand now holds.

Cy Vance for Manhattan DA

The New York Daily News endorsed Cy Vance for Manhattan DA yesterday, and Manhattan Viewpoint takes this opportunity to echo that endorsement.

In addition to the views and praise expressed with regard to Cy Vance in the New York Daily News, Manhattan Viewpoint acknowledges Cy Vance's expressed interest in developing a stronger and more impactful presence for the Manhattan District Attorney's office in Upper Manhattan. Cy Vance's views on the death penalty, his commitment to extending the District Attorney's office to help improve lives in Upper Manhattan, his support from the retiring Manhattan District Attorney, Robert Morgenthau, and his record as a prosecutor make him the candidate that Manhattan Viewpoint hopes that you will support in the September 15 primary.

Vance stands well above his rivals in fitness to extend the excellence the city has come to take for granted during Morgenthau's 35 years at the helm. . . Vance built a distinguished career, both as a Morgenthau assistant and as a nationally known big-case defense lawyer. His experience ranges from homicide to white-collar crime to complex corporate litigation. Thanks to the depth of his background, Vance shows a greater understanding than do his two challengers of the missions of the Manhattan district attorney, as they have been elevated by Morgenthau. Those start with prosecution of violent crime and extend to policing Wall Street, busting corrupt politicians, even to stopping the illicit flow of money and weapons technology to regimes like Iran. Vance would build on strengths and address weaknesses. Among them, he would beef up quality-of-life enforcement by fixing a dysfunctional Criminal Court, maintain the DA's gold-standard rackets bureau and create a program to head off recidivism by newly released inmates.

Rivals . . . can't match Vance.

Gillibrand Unrivaled

US Representative Carolyn Maloney, who represents Manhattan's Upper East Side in the US House of Representatives, decided last week not to challenge Senator Kirsten Gillibrand for the Democratic nomination for the Senate seat that Gillibrand now holds.

At Manhattan Viewpoint, we are relieved. A race between these two great women would have drained them both and left Manhattan less well represented on Capitol Hill, whichever woman had emerged victorious. Maloney's decision to drop out of the race gives us the possibility of having both of these superb public servants representing us for many years to come. Because Carolyn Maloney was the last potential Democratic challenger to Senator Gillibrand, we are now able to use all of our resources on 2010 to defeat Republicans rather than for Democrats to battle against each other.

Our association with Kirsten Gillibrand goes back more than a decade, and we are pleased to see her pathway cleared of potential Democratic challengers. We also acknowledge that Carolyn Maloney is more than qualified to be a US Senator and that we are fortunate to have her in the Manhattan delegation to the US House. Representative Maloney's decision last week to exit the Senate race strengthens the Democratic Party, strengthens Manhattan, and makes us even more proud of the high quality of Manhattan's elected representatives in Washington, DC.

Bloomberg Burned In Fire Department Scandals

Two Fire Department scandals ignited recently and threaten to undermine the ability of Mayor Bloomberg to continue to lead New York City.

Deutsche Bank Building Deaths

Two FDNY firefighters died two years ago in a fire at the vacant Deutsche Bank Building, and we now know that the Bloomberg Administration was the proximate cause of the deaths of these civil servants. What we don't know is whether the Bloomberg Administration will truly be held accountable for these deaths.

There was a "15-day rule" in place at the time of the tragedy. All construction sites must be inspected every 15 days by the FDNY, but the Deutsche Bank building was not inspected for six months prior to the tragedy. Yet, none of the senior leadership of the FDNY have been disciplined or terminated. Mayor Bloomberg has supported the cover-up strategy that places the blame on FDNY personnel who were simply following the policies set for them by their superiors. Bloomberg's team adopted a policy of ignoring the 15-day rule, and that policy killed two heroes. Bloomberg's team seems to have no interest in taking any responsibility for their role in the tragedy.

At Manhattan Viewpoint, we hope that the Mayor is held accountable for his role in these deaths. Of all possible scandals, the death of these firefighters that resulted from the Mayor's failed leadership is exactly the type that should cause New Yorkers to wonder whether he is as indispensable as Mayor as he claims that he is.

"Our billionaire mayor will never be tarnished by the traditional pay-to-play and influence-peddling schemes that compromise politicians with ordinary bank accounts. Instead, his defining debacle is a failure of leadership, accountability, and transparency, revealed in one law enforcement report or news story after another, ever since Beddia and Graffagnino succumbed to smoke on the 14th floor of the city's most toxic building, just 118 feet from where 343 of their brothers perished six years earlier."

Racial Discrimination at the FDNY That Even George W. Bush Would Not Tolerate

When a city discriminates against people of color so horribly that George W. Bush takes legal action against the city, those that led the discrimination should be forced resign their official posts.

In New York City, where more than 93% of Fire Department personnel are white (the FDNY is 2.6% Black) but where white residents are a minority of residents, the Mayor led an effort to prevent persons of color from becoming members of the Fire Department of New York. Then, he defended it when it came under attack from the George W. Bush Justice Department.

For all of Bloomberg's defense of his discrimination against people of color, the Judge in the law suit that resulted from that discrimination was very clear how unacceptable Bloomberg's approach had been.

"From 1999 to 2007, the New York City Fire Department used written examinations with discriminatory effects and little relationship to the job of a firefighter. These examinations unfairly excluded hundreds of qualified people of color from the opportunity to serve as New York City firefighters. . . I recognize that it is natural to assume that the best performers on an employment test must be the best people for the job, but the significance of these principles is undermined when an examination is not fair . . . the city did not take sufficient measures to ensure that better performers on its examinations would actually be better firefighters."

Errol Lewis of the Daily News made the key point in a recent column. Bloomberg invested heavily in defending the racial discrimination that made the FDNY a more than 93% white institution. Now, we need to see if he'll be held accountable for that focus on defending discrimination rather than eliminating it. As Errol Lewis wrote:

"Many credible institutions tried, with zero success, to convince Bloomberg and Scoppetta that the fire exam needed a reworking. The city's own Equal Employment Practices Commission, an independent watchdog, presented City Hall with a long account of nearly a decade's worth of complaints about the fire test and a plea to re-examine it. They were ignored. The federal Justice Department under the Bush administration sued the city after issuing strong warnings about the need to desegregate the FDNY. Bloomberg fought the feds in court. Why Bloomberg's high-profile Black and Latino supporters don't call him on the carpet and demand an end to the spin and denial, I have no idea."

New York Daily News Fails Gates Arrest Test

The New York Daily News took an unacceptable and dangerous position in its editorial two days ago regarding the arrest of Harvard Professor Gates in Cambridge. By suggesting that the arrest might have been appropriate, the Daily News reinforced Mayor Bloomberg's race-based policing philosophy and contributed to the abuse that people of color are facing at the hands of the NYPD.

Daily News Fails Crucial Test

Saturday's New York Daily News editorial contained the worst possible interpretation of the arrest of Professor Gates in Cambridge and added to the problems we face in New York City.

The New York Daily News described the arrest of Professor Gates by an officer named Crowley with words that are consistent with everything that has been reported elsewhere.

To recap, Gates and his driver arrived at Gates' house near Harvard after a trip. The door lock had been jimmied and the door was stuck. Gates and the driver forced it open. A neighbor reported two men attempting to break in. Crowley responded. On the porch, he asked Gates to step outside. Gates refused. Crowley asked for identification and followed Gates into his kitchen, where Gates produced ID. All that appears to have been standard procedure for a police officer investigating a potential home invasion. But Gates objected to this treatment, reading the cop as hostile. What happened next is in dispute. Gates said he asked Crowley, firmly but not belligerently, for his name and badge number to file a complaint and wound up arrested. Crowley reported that Gates became highly agitated, warranting a disorderly conduct arrest.

The problem is how the New York Daily News addresses the arrest.

That the arrest of Gates, a 58-year-old who walks with a cane, appears to have been unnecessary, as Obama still believes, does not translate into "acted stupidly." Or into Gates' description of Crowley as a "rogue." Or into a charge that Gates had been arrested merely for being in his house while black." Or into Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick's description of the event as "every black man's nightmare." Then and now, Gates says he believes Crowley assumed him to be a criminal out of racial bias. He described in a radio interview what transpired after he showed Crowley identification: "I watched his face. He's trying to unpack a narrative that he has. This is where racial profiling came in. He was so sure that he had a catch. And all of a sudden he had to unwrite that story." Pardon us, but who was profiling whom? If anyone was.

1. If the arrest of Gates in his own home for "disorderly conduct" is not "stupid", nothing will qualify, and being arrested in your own home for no good reason is indeed a recurring nightmare that black men face. But, the New York Daily News seems to have reviewed the nightmares of all of America's black men and comes to a different view than Manhattan Viewpoint.
2. Professor Gates is under no obligation to avoid profiling a police officer who is challenging him in his own home. Professor Gates is a private citizen, with no gun, no governmental authority, and no power to arrest citizens. The officer had the gun and the power, and he chose to use that power to arrest a Harvard Professor for being "disorderly" in his own home.
3. The only thing a police officer should be doing after realizing that he is challenging a citizen in the citizen's home is apologizing; he should not be looking for excuses to arrest the citizen. The obligation is on the officer (an not on the citizen) to ensure that the citizen's confidence in law enforcement is restored and that the mistake that the officer has already made doesn't create additional problems. Officer Crowley used his mistake to injure Professor Gates.
4. The President was far too polite in his "acted stupidly" comment. Officer Crowley has refused to apologize. The President would be correct to ask how Black residents in Cambridge can feel safe with an unapologetic Crowley on the force. He is not a remorseful officer who claims that his misconduct was not racially motivated. He is proud of his arrest of a Black Harvard professor in the professor's home, and he needs to be taken off the streets before something much worse happens to another innocent resident of Cambridge.
5. The New York Daily News is a New York City newspaper. In NYC, the current Mayor is seeking re-election, and that Mayor is on a pace to set a record for police stops of innocent people of color, despite the fact that stops of white New Yorkers are twice as likely to result in the recovery of illegal guns or drugs. In NYC each year, 2% of the innocent white residents are stopped by police, but 21% of innocent Black New Yorkers are stopped by police. Despite all of this, the New York Daily News fails to connect the police misconduct in the Gates arrest with the daily abuse of innocent New Yorkers of color by the Bloomberg NYPD. By suggesting that the Gates arrest might have been appropriate, the New York Daily News endorses the race-based police misconduct directed by Mayor Bloomberg every day, and the Bloomberg police misconduct is too dangerous, too de-humanizing, too unconstitutional, too racist, and too prevalent to be tolerated in our great city.

NAACP Demonstrates Leadership

The NAACP announced its position regarding the Gates arrest last week. The NAACP observed that "even after Professor Gates turned over his IDs, and told the officer that he was the owner of the residence, he was arrested on the front porch of his own home, allegedly after exhibiting 'tumultuous' behavior. It is an experience familiar to millions of black Americans who are subjected to racial profiling, arrested, and jailed nationwide each year. Many of them are incarcerated for much longer than the four hours and fifteen minutes that Professor Gates was held."

The NAACP called for the following immediate changes with regard to law enforcement in Cambridge.

• A comprehensive anti-racial profiling training program for law enforcement personnel in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
• Race and gender sensitivity and diversity training for law enforcement personnel.
• The immediate formation of a Police Accountability Citizen Complaint Review Board. This board should be invested with the resources, subpoena power, and independence to investigate reports of misconduct, abuse, and racial profiling by city law enforcement officers; and with the ability to make recommendations for the resolution of complaints.

These NAACP suggestions represent solid leadership and constructive efforts to make the best of a bad situation. The President and the New York Daily News should learn some lessons from the NAACP about the appropriate approach to the abuse of Professor Gates by the Cambridge Police Department.

How Would a Fish Know What "Wet" Is?

If fish live only in water, how can they understand that they are wet. Similarly, white Americans typically struggle to understand "white privilege" because white privilege surrounds their lives the way that water surrounds fish. Non-white are often helpful in explaining white privilege to white Americans, but a white scholar's discussion of white privilege is probably a great place to start. Peggy McIntosh of Wellesley College wrote "White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack" in 1988.

Of the 50 examples of white privilege offered by Professor McIntosh, three stand out as relevant to the Gates arrest discussion. Speaking in the first person as a white person, Professor McIntosh offers:

4. I can be pretty sure that my neighbors in such a location will be neutral or pleasant to me.
15. I do not have to educate my children to be aware of systemic racism for their own daily physical protection.
25. If a traffic cop pulls me over or if the IRS audits my tax return, I can be sure I haven't been singled out because of my race.
30. If I declare there is a racial issue at hand, or there isn't a racial issue at hand, my race will lend me more credibility for either position than a person of color will have.
32. My culture gives me little fear about ignoring the perspectives and powers of people of other races.
34. I can worry about racism without being seen as self-interested or self-seeking.

In a week in which yet another study demonstrated that people of color get lower quality medical treatment in the United States, even when the people of color have greater wealth and income than their white counterparts, we must look at policing as suffering from the same racial discrimination. While skin color trumps all other factors in determining the quality of medical care that people of color receive, doctors and hospitals are not proud of this reality. That may be the most frustrating white privilege, the white privilege to be healed when sick.

In NYC, the Mayor is proud of his record of record on stops and frisks of people of color, and the New York Daily News is too surrounded by water to notice that it is wet.

City Council Slush Fund Scandal Grows

One New York City Council member has resigned as a result of the slush fund scandal, but as we vote in the September primaries, we won't know whether more elected officials will be forced to plead guilty. The scandal has at least one redeeming quality; the resignation of City Council member Miguel Martinez makes room for New York City's Immigration Commissioner, Guillermo Linares to regain his former seat representing Upper Manhattan in the City Council.

Slush Fund Scandal

In April 2008, the New York City Council was embarrassed by a scandal that apparently goes back for decades. City Council members had been allocating New York City budget dollars to non-existent non-profit organizations. Sometimes, the dollars were later directed to legitimate organizations, and often the funds remained with phony organizations.

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn has claimed that she is a whistle-blower rather than a culprit in this scandal, despite the fact that she has been the speaker since 1996 and has led the City Council through two budget cycles that resulted in funds being allocated to phony groups. Quinn has also acknowledged that she was aware of the "slush fund" that benefited her office and gave her leverage in winning votes for her preferred initiatives. She claims that she had not supported the allocation of the slush fund to organizations that did not exist (a reasonable position, but one that she seems to have been developed only after her first two budgets as Speaker).

Despite the fact that millions of dollars have apparently been allocated to non-existent organizations for the last 20 years, we have almost no insight into how much unethical and illegal activity has occurred or whom we should hold responsible for that activity. Two City Council staff members plead guilty in connection with the slush fund in 2008, and Miguel Martinez plead guilty last week. Martinez had only been in office for one term, and we have no way to analyze whether we should expect additional guilty pleas and resignations.

At Manhattan Viewpoint, we hope that prosecutors will give New Yorkers an update soon (in advance of the September Primaries) that will allow us to enter the voting booth with confidence that we are not voting for candidates who are in the process of negotiating plea deals.

Commissioner Linares Seeks His Former Seat

Because of the resignation of Miguel Martinez, former City Council member Guillermo Linares has begun a campaign to regain his former seat. While he starts without a campaign organization or campaign funds, Linares begins the campaign with a reputation and a track record of which he can be very proud.

Guillermo Linares grew up poor in the Dominican Republic and went on to become the first Dominican elected to public office in the United States. He entered the United States at age 15 without any knowledge of English and drove a taxi to pay for college. He went on to receive a bachelors degree and a masters degree from City College and a doctorate from Columbia. He served his Upper Manhattan constituents well and is ready to serve again.

So, this scandal already has a silver lining.