Five weeks ago, the New York Post broke a story that millions of tax dollars were officially earmarked by the City Council to nonexistent accounts so that they could be allocated later to legitimate nonprofit organizations. The idea was that since all funding is required to be made at the beginning of a fiscal year, and many groups don’t know how much they’ll need six, eight, or ten months in advance, some system needed to be created to make that money available.

There’s not much new. Different kinds of phony allocations have been used for decades for the same purpose. It is becoming clear that there was never any intent to deceive, or to send money to groups that don’t meet whatever set of official criteria is in place for such “member items.”

Of course, the widening investigation has turned up a number of these earmarks that have at least the appearance of favoritism or conflict of interest, and two City Council staffers have been arrested for stealing some of this money. But that’s not the real problem, and until we identify and fully address the real problem, what we’re seeing now will reappear again and again.

The real problem is

The three police officers on trial for killing Sean Bell were acquitted today.

As someone who had inside information during the trial of four police officers in the Amadou Diallo case, I was unsurprised by that acquittal eight years ago. I lack the inside information this time, but having followed the case in the papers I am again not surprised by the acquittal.

The problem here is that we have a built-in racism in our society. It does not help that the vast majority of so-called "progressive" organizations are all, or nearly all, white. It does not help that the few groups that consist primarily of people of color (oh, screw being PC -- make it "consist primarily of blacks or Hispanics") are portrayed in the media as violent or potentially violent.

It does not help that those relatively few cases when violence erupts are

Today in Sunnyside, Queens, representatives of Western Queens Power for the People were joined by Assemblymember Richard Brodsky to announce a settlement with Con Edison stemming from the nine-day blackout in western Queens. Under the terms of the settlement, residents who were affected by the blackout will receive a $100 rebate in their August or September bill, along with a written apology from Con Ed. Businesses will receive slightly more.

The settlement is unprecedented. Never before has a public utility given out a rebate without the recipients being required to fill out a form, and never before has the rebate gone directly on to the bill. This rebate also comes with no strings attached -- any resident or business owner who feels he or she should get more can still sue Con Ed.

Some more details of the settlement:

Despite receiving the endorsement from Democracy for America, Jimmy Dahroug still doesn't seem to resonate with the state's Democratic Party leaders.

We've been through this before. A couple of months ago, a NY Times article listed Republican-turned-Democrat Christopher Bodkin as Caesar Trunzo's main Democratic opponent, and didn't even mention Dahroug. After seemingly solving that potential fiasco, it appears the state Dems are at it again. This time, they're back to looking at Brookhaven Supervisor Brian Foley.

Why? The answer is the usual answer to that question: Money. Foley has a lot in reserve, while Dahroug, despite raising a lot more than he ever has before, is still lagging behind Trunzo.

Of course, if the so-called "leaders" would stop looking like idiots and

With the resignation of Councilmember Dennis Gallagher after pleading guilty in a sexual assault case, a special election for the 30th District seat (Ridgewood, Maspeth, Middle Village, Glendale, Richmond Hill) will be held on June 3. In a special election for city offices there are no primaries and no nominations, and all candidates are on the ballot as themselves alone, with no official party affiliation.

But...

Both parties have made it clear whom they are supporting. Of the three Republicans in the race, the party is supporting Anthony Como, a Board of Elections commissioner and aide to state Senator Serphin Maltese. Former Councilmember Tom Ognibene is running for his old seat (he was term-limited out in 2001). Also in the race is Joseph Suraci, who is pissed off at the party for passing over him for a Civil Court judgeship five years ago.

Read on for where it gets ugly...

Join Three Parks Democratic Club, Stonewall Democratic Club, Village Reform Democrats and Democracy for NYC in a forum to hear from candidates for the 13th Congressional District, a seat currently held by Vito Fossella. Both Stephen Harrison and Domenic Recchia have been invited.

The forum will be on Tuesday, April 15 (tax day), at 6:30 p.m., at the Lafayette Grill and Bar, 54 Franklin Street in Manhattan (nowhere near the district, I know).

Details are available on the DFNYC website.

Ken Diamondstone has announced that he will not run against Marty Connor this year.

In his press release, Diamondstone said, "I'm not going to engage in a three-way primary that divides the progressive vote. The needs of my fellow constituents are simply too important. Instead, I will be seeking other opportunities to work on behalf of progressive reform for the benefit of all New Yorkers."

A couple of dozen groups (including my own group, Democracy for NYC) are cosponsoring this year's "Reform NY Day" on Tuesday, April 29. Buses will be leaving NYC from 6th Ave. & Spring Street, and from Grand Central Terminal, early that morning for Albany, where we'll be meeting with and lobbying various legislators.

We have a solid lineup of topics, and what may prove to be the best training and activity plan of any of these annual events. To sign up for the free trip, go to the Common Cause signup page and click on the "Register Now" link.

See you on the bus,
Dan

David Pollak resigned Friday as co-chair of the NY State Democratic Party. According to the Albany Times Union, he will serve instead as "director of new voter outreach."

In the absence of hard facts, the speculation on why Dave resigned could get very interesting. We all cheered when he was named co-chair, seeing his appointment as a confirmation that the grass roots progressive movement had "arrived." While I feel that Dave is perfectly suited to his new role, I view his stepping down from the co-chair position (which certainly wasn't entirely voluntary) as a slap in the face to the grass roots.

I won't speculate on the behind-the-scenes machinations that led to Dave's resignation until I have some verifiable facts. Feel free, however, to post any hard information here.

A NY Post article, printed two days ago, exposed the fact millions of our tax dollars have been set aside in phony accounts for later, quiet if not private, use. Since then, Speaker Christine Quinn has been on something of a hot seat.

We still don't know all the facts. What we appear to know so far is the following:

1. The law requires the City Council to allocate all funds at the beginning of the fiscal year.

2. Often, expenditures must be made during the fiscal year that were unanticipated at the beginning of that year.

3. Since at least 1988, the Council has set aside some money to provide for unanticipated costs. Recently, at least, that money was officially allocated to phony accounts.

4. The Speaker claims that she ordered this practice stopped and didn't know until very recently that her order was ignored.

It appears that no laws were broken. But the Speaker has been

MSNBC has just assigned the 9 remaining delegates from Texas that were still up in the air. Seven went to Obama and two to Clinton. Plus, they reassigned one Mississippi delegate from Clinton to Obama.

Their current total of pledged delegates is 1,416-1,252. With 567 pledged delegates left to choose, that means Clinton now needs:

366, or 64.6%, to pass Obama,
341, or 60.1%, to get within 50,
316, or 55.7%, to get within 100.

The odds are she won't get even 316. Here's why:

Let's say she actually gets 58% of Pennsylvania's delegates. It's unlikely, since her recent 16% seems to be fading, and also the areas where Obama is strongest are the more "Democratic" areas and will count for more delegates, but let's give it to her anyway. That's 92-66 for Clinton. New total: 1,482-1,344. And that's just the start.

It is illegal to take a drug that is manufactured here in the United States across the border to Canada and then back into the U.S. and sell it. But making drugs in China and then selling them here is just fine.

This example of incredible insanity has led to the Heparin scandal. Heparin is a blood thinner, and much of it is manufactured in China. Unfortunately, we don't have full control over that manufacture, so when an imitation drug came across the Pacific marked as the real thing, it killed 19 Americans.

You would think that these deaths would cause Congress to wake up. But no, they're still asleep on the job. According to the NY Times, "Congressional Democrats are talking about authorizing more money so the F.D.A. can do more overseas inspections, particularly in China, where more and more drug ingredients are made."

Back in 1993, Jose E. Medellin was part of a Houston, TX, gang that raped, tormented and killed two teenaged girls. He was arrested and, after being Mirandized, confessed. But Medellin is Mexican, and under the terms of the Vienna Convention he was entitled to contact Mexican diplomats as well. He wasn't informed of that right.

Medellin was sentenced to death.

In 2004, the International Court of Justice ("ICJ," also known as the "World Court") ruled that Medellin's rights were violated by Texas authorities -- and Bush ordered the state of Texas to reopen the case. That's right, he actually went along with a ICJ decision!

Unfortunately, the Supreme Court has now ruled that Bush had no power

A federal appeals court has decided that when you fly you have no rights to fresh air, water, food and bathrooms.

Following several incidents where planes were delayed for many hours, and passengers were stuck on these planes, sitting on the tarmac, without all the amenities listed above, Assembly Member Michael Gianaris sponsored a bill that would require all flights leaving airports in New York to provide these things if the flight is delayed long enough. Governor Spitzer signed the bill into law last August.

Now the law has been struck down, based on the airlines' claim that the "interstate commerce clause" of the U.S. Constitution gives the federal government, and only the federal government, the power to regulate the airline industry. They also used a 1978 law, the "Airline Deregulation Act," to bolster their argument.

The fight over control of interstate commerce goes back to 1824, when

Just a reminder to mark your calendar for tomorrow (Tuesday, March 25) at noon for a City Hall press conference on Clean Money, Clean Elections campaign finance reform.

After last week's crane collapse, it was revealed that there were 13 building code violations -- and news reports called that "normal." Meanwhile, self-certification of buildings by the builders continues. And how did they get that? They paid for it, with campaign contributions!

This "reform that makes all other reform possible" is vital to our safety as New Yorkers. Come out and support Clean Money, Clean Elections.