Bronx News (Bxnews.net): Cleaner politics II

Bronx News (Bxnews.net): Cleaner politics II: Wakefield Area News By Mary V. Lauro BRONX, NEW YORK, April 11- It's an old story. The innocent always suffer for the guilty. But ...

Cleaner politics II

Wakefield Area News

By Mary V. Lauro

BRONX, NEW YORK, April 11- It's an old story. The innocent always suffer for the guilty. But if we don't say it, who will? No! We are not going to conclude that all longtime political figures are crooks, but we are going to suggest that most political crooks are longtime political figures. It seems that sleaze, bribery, political malfeasance and sex are more commonly associated with having been elected too often.

But the fault is not only that of the political entrepreneur. It is part of a laziness which envelops us all. Yes! Yes! We make all sorts of noises regarding our veneration of freedom and liberty but the truth is we'd rather be left alone.

Most residents in Wakefield, and we dare say in other communities as well, have not the foggiest notion of whom their elected officials are. Part of that reason is because the district lines are changed every 10 years after the Census. They are not changed to benefit us. They are changed to benefit politicians.

It is a sad fact that in our diverse society, just as they cluster in neighborhoods, citizens tend to vote their own backgrounds. Thus Italians tend to vote for Italians, Jews for Jews, Hispanics for Hispanics and African Americans for African Americans. When district lines are redrawn the political entrepreneurs tend to draw their own lines. Keep in mind that in New York political entrepreneurs swore to Mayor Koch that they would not do so in 2010.

Of course, even with district lines drawn in their favor, a strong favored incumbent can win over a strong opponent, but that is rarely the case. But that is rarely the case. The incumbent is re-elected even though he may be suspected of malfeasance. This is not to say that all elected officials having been elected three or four times are unworthy of their positions. Many are honest capable, caring and effective.

Does that mean that no one else can do their job or that no one else is capable of doing their job? That great and far-sighted American, George Washington, our first president thought two four year terms were enough for a president. Except for Franklin D. Roosevelt, every other president followed that precept. In it is now ingrained in our Constitution.

The political sleaze that was uncovered last week raises once again the price of leaving the number of terms unlimited for an incumbent. Term limits will not got rid of sleaze. It will control it.

That great and far-sighted American our first President, George Washington, thought two, four-year terms were enough for one man. Other than Franklin Delano Roosevelt, no other President has served as long. If two, four-year terms are good enough for our Presidents, why are they not good enough for lesser political entrepreneurs?

Bronx News (Bxnews.net): News Censored Here!

Bronx News (Bxnews.net): News Censored Here!: DA Opens Case on Violation of First Amendment Management Accused of Dumping Newspapers because They don’t Like Being Criticized By Mic...

News Censored Here!

DA Opens Case on Violation of First Amendment

Management Accused of Dumping Newspapers because They don’t Like Being Criticized

By Michael Horowitz

BRONX, NEW YORK, April 11- District Attorney Robert Johnson, after being called by Co-op City News, has opened up an investigation into allegations that management officials have, over the last two weeks, directed Co-op City's porters to throw away copies of the community's independent weekly newspaper because they do not like the publication's stories and commentaries.

Christopher Hagedorn, publisher of City News, (the print edition of Co-op City News) said he called Johnson's office to report a seeming violation of state law, punishable by fines of up to $1,000, after a second informed source told the independent newspaper, this week, that management officials had conspired to throw away copies of the newspaper.

Hagedorn, stressed, this week, “The survival of our newspaper is at stake. We are convinced that the people at Riverbay have broken a state law that aims to safeguard our right to publish --- a right that is guaranteed in the First Amendment of the U. S. Constitution. We won't be cowed into submission by a management that has no regard for Co-op City or its shareholders.”

The case against the Riverbay Corporation and Luis Salazar, Co-op City's director of janitorial services has been assigned to Bronx Assistant District Attorney Robert Carney.

Two informed sources, who wished to remain unidentified, have told the News, over the last two weeks, that Salazar gave the order for Co-op City's porter to throw away copies of the independent weekly because he did not like the newspaper's contents.

Salazar, contacted over the phone last week, denied the charge that he had ordered porters to discard copies of City News even though two Co-op City employees, one of whom works as a porter in Section 5, pointed to the director of janitorial services as the man who directed that the newspapers be thrown away.

The Section 5 porter said, last week, that he and a number of other porters refused to discard copies of City News because they considered Salazar's order to do so to be “illegal.”

A second Co-op City employee, who refused to disclose the department in which he worked, said, this week, that he knew that the order had been given for porters to throw away copies of this week's City News.

Contacted late last week, Riverbay board member Al Shapiro, saying that he strongly opposed many of the positions that City News has taken in recent issues, stressed that he, nevertheless, opposed efforts to censor the independent weekly newspaper.

“I will make some calls to try to get to the bottom of this,” Shapiro stressed, in a telephone interview last Friday.

Interestingly, newspapers that were thrown away in a number of buildings last Friday reappeared in the vicinity of elevators in a number of buildings the next day, last Saturday, a number of shareholders told City News this week.

“This whole situation is clearly suspicious,” said Hagedorn, in comments this week. “The long and the short of it is, from our perspective, is that management officials don't like what we've been saying about their incompetence and their clear waste of Co-op City's corporate assets. We plan to do what we have to do to assure our unfettered right to publish our newspaper in Co-op City and disseminate copies of it throughout the community.”

Hagedorn emphasized, “The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution is a key cornerstone of our nation's democracy. We are committed to the notion that Co-op City needs the no-holds-barred presentation of the news that shareholders, in phone calls to us this week, have told us that they like most about our newspaper. The long and the short of it is that everyone, especially the power that be at the Riverbay Corporation, needs to be scrutinized in an open marketplace of ideas.”

Bronx News (Bxnews.net): Pol Indicted on Perjury

Bronx News (Bxnews.net): Pol Indicted on Perjury: Latest to Fall in Scandals Plaguing Boro BRONX, NEW YORK, April 10- District Attorney Robert T. Johnson announced the unsealing of an...

Pol Indicted on Perjury

Latest to Fall in Scandals Plaguing Boro

BRONX, NEW YORK, April 10- District Attorney Robert T. Johnson announced the unsealing of an indictment in which former New York State Assemblyman Nelson Castro has been charged with multiple counts of perjury.

The grand jury charged Castro with three counts of perjury in the first degree stemming from the defendant’s sworn testimony on August 7, 2008 at a hearing before the New York City Board of Elections, in Bronx County Supreme Court, Civil Division.  Perjury in the first degree is a Class D felony offense punishable by a maximum sentence of up to 2 1/3 to 7 year’s imprisonment.

The grand jury alleges that Castro had lied under oath in his response to three separate questions during a civil proceeding concerning his eligibility for placement on the ballot in a primary election for the 86^th Assembly District. In such civil proceeding he was asked whether or not he knew two individuals, and he answered “No,” when in fact he did know these individuals and they were assisting him in his campaign.  In an additional question, he was asked whether or not an individual was a member of the Bronx Committee to Fill Vacancies and he answered that he did not know, when in fact he had personal knowledge that that individual was on said committee. 

Castro, whose resignation as a state lawmaker was effective on Monday, April 8, 2013, was arraigned before Acting State Supreme Court Justice Steven Barrett who released the defendant on his own recognizance.

The case, which is being prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Elizabeth Brandler of the Rackets Bureau, was adjourned to September 18, 2013 in Part H60.

Bronx News (Bxnews.net): Five Injured as Car Jumps Curb in the Hub

Bronx News (Bxnews.net): Five Injured as Car Jumps Curb in the Hub: By David Greene BRONX, NEW YORK, April 10- What began as a beautiful spring day quickly turned into confusion and mayhem-- as an out-of...