A deeply flawed candidate

From The Forum:

Let’s start with that old adage “Tell me who your friends are and I will tell you who you are.” If you buy that then we can make our case very simply.

Platta’s buddy, and campaign consultant, is none other than former City Councilman Dennis Gallagher. You remember him: In the middle of his second term he was forced out of office because in a drunken rage he sexually assaulted a woman he had coaxed into his district office after which he burned her body with a cigarette.

But okay, let’s say it’s not fair to judge Platta on the basis of who his good buddy is.

In May 2017, Platta was arrested and charged with aggravated harassment after a female doctor threatened to expose his marital infidelity.

“If you tell anyone about my cheating, I will kill you and your family and ruin your life; I will send a patient to your practice to make false reports against you and ruin your career.”

That’s a direct quote from Platta straight from an official court document: The People of the State of New York, Plaintiff, v. Platta, Slawomir, Defendant.

In order to get on the ballot for the upcoming primary, Platta circulated a petition for a third party line called the No Homeless Shelter Party at a homeless shelter rally. The problem is that Platta told unsuspecting rally attendees that they were signing a petition to speak out about stopping Mayor de Blasio from creating any more homeless shelters.

When one such signer, Scott Jordan, realized he had been duped, he decided to become an objector to the petition at the NYC Board of Elections because the signatures were obtained through fraud and misrepresentation. Platta’s answer to that was to put out a media hit piece against an innocent constituent of the district and muddy his good name by circulating it through the district and on social media.

By the way, did we mention that Platta was collecting signatures personally, yet when the volume was submitted to the BOE, none of the sheets he carried were witnessed by him—a fatal flaw in the petition process.

These revelations are the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Mr. Platta, who was kicked off his bogus "No Homeless Shelter" party line by the BOE yesterday. Naturally, he was endorsed by the Queens Ledge.

Petition: Crowley, resign as Chairman of the Queens Democrat Party

Friend --

To stand up for Queens, we need to ask for integrity within the Queens County Democratic Party. That can’t happen when Joseph Crowley, as chair of the Queens Democratic Party, is in charge of his own endorsement and appoints friends and family to key positions throughout the borough. Plus, the chair of the Queens Democratic Party should actually reside in Queens—not live full-time in Virginia, as Crowley does. Asking Crowley to step down as Chairman of the Queens Democratic Party isn’t personal—it’s fair.

The move will help rebuild trust in a machine long seen as corrupt. Crowley must open up the Chairmanship to impartial leaders who will guarantee a free and fair election—and who actually live in the borough. We will not allow Crowley to distort the vote in Queens. Ocasio2018 will be there to challenge him in the New York primary, and put a stop to the establishment’s iron grip on Queens politics.

Can you help us re-establish trust and fairness in the Queens County Democratic Party?
Sign the petition to ask Crowley to step down as Chair.
When I first called for Crowley’s resignation, it created quite a stir in the New York political machine. Within hours, the announcement was shared over 50 times in NY political groups and reached over 14,000 people. The people of New York are riled up and ready to fight for a fair, open, and representative system.

As Chairman of the Queens Democratic Party, Joe Crowley pulls the strings of political power in the city and hand-picks party endorsements and appointments. This has led to serious questions over profiting off of constituent foreclosures and cherry-picking candidates to reinforce his power in the district. But here’s the kicker… the man who decides the fate of politics in Queens doesn’t even live here! Crowley plays Democratic party boss all while living in Arlington, Virginia to be closer to lobbyists, high-ticket fundraisers, and beltway politics. Crowley’s choice to live outside our district should disqualify him from local party leadership. Joseph Crowley serving as party boss isn’t just a matter of location—it’s a question of ethics.

It is unethical for candidates to have power over their own endorsements and the endorsements of their friends. Someone with such obvious bias should not be given the chance to tilt the Democratic primary in his favor.

Join Ocasio2018 to demand a fair primary.

Ask Out-of-Town Crowley to give up his Chairmanship.

As a powerful political boss who doesn't even live in the community, Crowley reinforces the influence of big donors and undercuts the concerns of local residents. Instead of fighting for working class needs, dignified healthcare, free education, and a $15 minimum wage, Crowley spends his time fighting for real estate deregulation to help his big-money donors. The time has come for real, unbiased leadership that lives in the district and cares about the issues of the community.

Sign the petition, demand that Crowley Step Down as Party Boss.

In solidarity,
Alexandria Ocasio

They're all connected

More from Progress Queens:

In Queens, faith in Government institutions was revealed to be severely lacking after New York City Council candidate Paul Graziano filed a civil petition in New York State Supreme Court for Queens County, alleging criminality, such as fraud and forgery, in the ballot petitioning process carried out by incumbent Councilmember Paul Vallone (D-Bayside). On the Queens Crap blog, which attracts some of Queens most formidable civic-minded activists, some of the comments posted by readers to news of the court filing expressed concern that the justices of the Queens County court system would not be able to independently oversee the Court case. To some Government reform activists in Queens, the Graziano Court petition served as a symbolic Rorschach test, providing insight into the public's lack of faith in the Queens County court system. Many comments on the Queens Crap post raised questions about the "allegiance" that justices in the Queens County court system owed to leaders of the Queens Democratic County Committee, expressed concern that Mr. Graziano would not be able to receive a "fair hearing," and invoked the resignation that the "the [Queens] Machine will work to stop this at all costs."

Concerns about possible interference by the Queens Democratic County Committee were rooted in the fact that the County committee supports the reelection of incumbents as a way to earn political allegiance and to create a lockstep on power and authority over local elected officials. The role of money in politics is also a factor, because the County committee can marshal resources to support the reelection of incumbents, leaving primary challengers at a distinct financial disadvantage. Indeed, as reported by Progress Queens, Mr. Graziano ultimately discontinued his Court petition due to the high anticipated costs of having to litigate his case, reaffirming the belief to some Government reform activists that the role of money in politics even extends to being able to successfully petition the Government for a redress of grievances. The allegations made by the Graziano campaign against the Vallone campaign heightened new fears about the integrity of the voting process in Queens. In the 2016 election cycle, it was revealed that the New York City Board of Elections purged large numbers of voters without cause, triggering the filing of a Federal civil rights complaint in Brooklyn Federal Court that was later joined by both the U.S. Attorney's Office, headed at that time then by Mr. Capers, and by the office of the State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman (D-New York). To some Government reform activists, it has appeared that Queens voters have been disenfranchised for two years in a row, first, in 2016, when some voters were purged from the rolls, and, second, this year, when Federal prosecutors did nothing to investigate the allegations of criminality in the Graziano petition against the Vallone campaign, thereby allowing voters to cast their ballots for an incumbent, who may later be investigated for wrong-doing, although there is no indication that Federal prosecutors are presently conducting any such investigation. The press office of the U.S. Attorney's Office in Brooklyn did not answer advance questions submitted by Progress Queens for this report.

Sordid petition fraud story comes to its conclusion

I like how Grace Meng is involved in this! Amazingly sloppy.

Vallone used Young Dem who's not a Dem to collect signatures

Case for petition fraud getting much stronger

Patrick Jordan - Vallone Field Director and Serial Fraudster - Part 1 by Paul Graziano on Scribd

Vallone petition forensic report is getting really interesting

Forgery - Garden Variety and the Real Deal - Part 3 by Paul Graziano on Scribd

More about those Vallone petitions...

Forgery - Garden Variety and the Real Deal - Part 2 by Paul Graziano on Scribd

Details released about Vallone petitions

Forgery - Garden Variety and the Real Deal - Part 1 by Paul Graziano on Scribd

WOW, and this is only part 1!

Good times.

Graziano details allegations against Vallone

From the Queens Chronicle:

“Faced with arguing his absurd case in front of a Judge, Graziano instead chose to withdraw the complaint, tacitly admitting that this was nothing more than a cheap, meritless publicity stunt that wasted everyone’s time and our taxpayers’ hard earned money,” a Vallone campaign press release said.

Graziano has not quite admitted that the suit was “meritless,” though. Although the Democratic challenger dropped the litigation, he said he is still wholly convinced that the Vallone campaign committed forgery and fraud to collect the signatures needed to run.

And here we go...

If you have about 1/2 hour to sit and watch this, I assure you, it's quite interesting!


"Dear Friends:

As many of you know, due to financial issues I was unable to continue my court action against my opponent, Paul Vallone, which focused on massive fraud, forgery and illegal activities in the gathering of petition signatures in order to get on to the Democratic Party ballot line.

On Monday afternoon, I began to release my findings to the press and the public. Above is the full video of the press conference, which was well-attended by the local and city-wide press.

As stated at the press conference, I will be releasing new information twice a week for the foreseeable future; rather than overwhelm the press with an incredibly complex story all at once, each release will be a chapter in the larger story of what I uncovered.

Scans of the original petitions are here: www.scribd.com/lists/21552586/Vallone-petitions

If you have any questions or comments, please don't hesitate to reach out to me at any time."

​Best,
Paul Graziano


These videos show what appears to be an underage teenager (high school sophomore) procuring and witnessing signatures on petitions for Paul Vallone. In the background can be seen a number of other underage teenagers doing the same thing.

Queens Machine wants to have its cake and eat it too

Great article from Progress Queens:

The reelection campaigns of two incumbent members of the New York City Council from the Queens delegation have been beset with questions about their ballot petition signatures. Candidates wishing to appear on the ballots for political parties are required to collect ballot petition signatures from voters registered for those political parties, and the petition signatures must be verified, according to regulations.

Councilmember Paul Vallone (D-Bayside) has been taken to Court by his Democratic Party primary challenger, Paul Graziano. Mr. Graziano has alleged in a legal filing that the reëlection campaign of Councilmember Vallone collected invalid petition signatures. The civil proceeding, before New York State Supreme Court for Queens County, seeks a determination that would restrain the New York City Board of Elections from printing Councilmember Vallone's name on the Democratic Party primary ballot, amongst other relief being sought. A hearing is scheduled for Tuesday, 8 August at Queens County Civil Courthouse in Jamaica, Queens.

The office of Councilmember Vallone did not answer a request for an interview for this report.

A reporter making an attempt on Wednesday afternoon to inspect at the Queens Borough Office of the Board of Elections the ballot petition signatures collected by Councilmember Vallone's relection committee was turned away and was, instead, referred to an Agency spokesperson. Valerie Vazquez, a spokesperson for the Board of Elections, said that the Agency was reviewing Councilmember Vallone's signatures and would, upon the making of advance request for an appointment, arrange for a reporter to be able to inspect Councilmember's ballot petition signatures. When asked if the Board of Elections could await the outcome of Mr. Graziano's Court proceeding with about six weeks before the date of the Democratic Party primary election, Ms. Vazquez postulated that the Board of Elections could accommodate a Court decision rendered with just one week left before the Democratic Party primary election.

Other advance questions submitted in writing by Progress Queens to the general e-mail account of the Board of Elections were not answered for this report.

Mr. Graziano, who initiated the legal proceedings against the Councilmember Vallone, said that it was important that the public have confidence in campaign committees complying with election system regulations. "We have to make sure that justice is served," Mr. Graziano said.

Mr. Graziano's legal challenge of Councilmember Vallone's ballot petition signatures follows word that the majority of the ballot petition signatures collected for the Independence Party by the reelection committee of another incumbent, Councilmember Elizabeth Crowley (D-Ridgewood), have been invalidated by the Board of Elections, meaning that Councilmember Crowley will not appear on the Independence Party line in the November general election. News of the Board of Elections' determination against Councilmember Crowley was revealed on a Facebook post by Councilmember Crowley's Democratic Party primary challenger, Robert Holden. The office of Councilmember Crowley did not answer a press inquiry for an interview for this report.

Speaking generally of the allegations of misconduct in the ballot petition signature collections of various reëlection campaign committees, Mr. Graziano said, "I see this as a systemic issue. It's not just this candidate," he said, referring to Councilember Vallone.

According to information obtained by Progress Queens, there have been allegations that various campaign committees, including that of Councilmember Vallone, may have engaged in violations of regulations governing ballot petition signature collection four years ago. The allegations of violations have extended to the current election cycle, according to a source.

__________________________________________________

This stupid process of collecting signatures could be changed by the powers that be, but it was set up to discourage non-Machine candidates from running. Therefore, it is the people's duty to hold the Machine's feet to the fire when they fail to abide by the system they set up.

Graziano Files Court Case Against Vallone; Claims Petitions are Permeated with Fraud

Graziano v. Vallone Papers by Paul Graziano on Scribd

On Tuesday, July 25th, 2017, Democratic New York City Council Candidate Paul Graziano filed suit against his opponent, the incumbent Paul Vallone, in order to remove him from the Democratic Party ballot line in the 19th District due to massive fraud and forgery in his petitions.

"The Supreme Court in Queens County has received our papers and we look forward to presenting our case," said Graziano.

32 allegations of fraud? Holy crap!

LIC residents want park, not another tower

From LIC Post:

A local development company filed plans to build a new 18-story residential and commercial tower in Long Island City yesterday, but a community group is looking to fight the project.

Rockrose Development, a company with several projects in Long Island City, filed plans yesterday to build an 18-story, 123-unit residential tower, with retail space on the first floor at 43-12 Hunter Street. The site is known by residents as ‘The Lot.’

According to the plans filed with the Department of Buildings, the project would have an outdoor terrace and amenity room for residents on the tenth floor, and another terrace and lounge on the 18th floor, as well as an exercise room. There would also be a lobby, laundry room, and mailroom on the bottom floors.

The new building would be 228 feet tall and would have 4,054 square feet of retail space. It would also have 86,562 square feet of residential space, meaning each apartment would average just over 700 square feet.

The Court Square Civic Association is attempting to fight back against the development, as the site has long been used as a public gathering space, despite the fact that it is privately owned.

The group has launched an online petition today calling for elected officials to work with Rockrose to save the property as open space and to generally create more open space and public parks in the area.

Stavisky ballot signatures deemed valid

Times Ledger

From the Times Ledger:

A hearing at the Manhattan office of the city Board of Elections Tuesday found objections to state Sen. Toby Stavisky’s (D-Flushing) campaign petitions to be insufficient to knock the incumbent off the ballot for the upcoming election.

The challenges raised by her Democratic opponent, S.J. Jung, and other residents within the district, claimed the signatures to qualify her for re-election were illegible or had addresses outside of the district, leaving only 13 out of 3,519 valid. Commissioners from the BOE, however, determined there were 2,243 valid signatures, which met the minimum of 1,000 required for Stavisky to make it on the ballot.

So she submitted 1,276 bogus signatures, and that's okay?

LIC Elks Club in danger

From DNA Info:

Local residents are pushing to landmark the former Elks Lodge building on 44th Drive, citing the property as one of the few remaining vestiges of Long Island City's history in the rapidly developing neighborhood.

Supporters fear the century-old building, located at 21-42 44th Dr., will soon be torn down or turned into luxury housing after a partial demolition permit was filed for the site in December, Department of Buildings records show.

At the time of the filing, Adam Westreich of the development group Alwest Equities told local news site LIC Post that the company was working with Planet Partners to demolish the lodge and construct an eight-story condo building there and on the lot next door.

Westreich declined to comment on those plans when reached Friday, but City records show the building was sold in February to a company called 44th Drive Owner LLC; attempts to reach this entity for comment were not immediately successful.

While plans for the site remain murky, local groups are hoping to garner support to preserve the three-story site, which sports an ornately detailed facade — including an Elk's head carved into its exterior molding.

Here is the petition.

Judicial races are likely all that you'll vote for this year

From the Times Ledger:

Three county Supreme Court justice seats and three Civil Court justice seats are up for grabs on Election Day next Tuesday, with Queens District Attorney Richard Brown also seeking re-election to what would be his sixth-consecutive full term.

All registered Queens voters will be eligible to vote in any three of the races, but most of the votes will likely be cast in eastern and southeast Queens, where off-year Assembly and City Council races are going to get the greatest turnout.

Should you care enough about the judicial races to go out and vote tomorrow, the Ledger has a decent rundown of who's in each race.

What better time to start a petition drive to reform the elections process?

Giant affordable housing project planned for Sunnyside Gardens

From Sunnyside Post:

The developer that plans to construct a 10-story, 220-unit residential building on Barnett Avenue (near 52nd Street) is about to face some heavy resistance from Sunnyside residents who are dead-set against the project.

Phipps Houses, which announced its plan to develop the site at Community Board 2’s Land Use meeting in June, said that it would be seeking a zoning change in order to build the apartment complex on the site, which is currently zoned for manufacturing.

The site, which is next to the Phipps Garden Apartments, is currently used as a parking lot by local businesses and residents, and has about 225 spaces.

All 220-units would be classified as “affordable.” More than half would be two or three bedrooms. Only 5% of the units would be studio apartments.

Since the Land Use meeting, many residents have come together and joined forces with the Sunnyside Gardens Preservation Alliance, a group dedicated to the preservation of the district, in opposition to the developer’s plan.

They have put together a petition calling on Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer and Community Board 2 to block the plan. The group has already gathered about 500 signatures on paper—going door-to-door– and has launched an online campaign via change.org, which in two days has generated 130 signatures. (click for petition)

Fake candidate invites himself to debate

From the Times Ledger:

The candidate debate for the City Council seat vacated by Mark Weprin was going to be a regular debate session organized by different Queens Village community organizations until Michael Foubister, a new candidate for District 23, showed up Tuesday night.

The 54-year-old Foubister was wandering around the basement room at the Bellerose Jewish Center, where the debate was about to begin, and walked up to the candidates table. “I am a candidate,” he said, waving his city Campaign Finance Board list of contenders.

Most of the candidates for District 23, which covers the neighborhoods of Hollis Hills, Queens Village, Little Neck, Douglaston, Bellerose, Floral Park, Glen Oaks, Hollis, Holliswood, Fresh Meadows and Oakland Gardens, had no idea who the latecomer was and a couple even laughed.

One of the candidates, Bob Friedrich, shook his head and said anyone can list themselves on the Campaign Finance Board.

“He is not a candidate,” Friedrich said. “You have to file a petition with the Board of Elections.”

Most of the candidates had similar answers on issues but the serious debate took a momentary comical turn after Foubister’s arrival.

Petition against new Flushing high school

Just wanted to make you aware of this petition against building a school in Flushing:

A new 481 seat High School is being planned for 30-48 Linden Place. This is where the Board of Education building now stands. The Mitchell-Linden Civic Association has already notified our legislators that this location is absolutely unacceptable for the following reasons: Directly across the street is a car wash, and two hotels. It is adjacent to the Whitestone Bowling Alley and only ½ block from an early child hood school. Within one to three blocks are two Nursery schools, two Senior Centers, and P.S. 214. This is the most congested and grid locked location in our entire community. It is also the pathway to the Pathmark Shopping Center.

I'm still trying to figure out why, since the birth rate has been low for quite some time, do we need a school built on every other block?

Petition to create park at Whitestone CYO site

As you know, the remaining 6 acres of the former CYO/Whitestone pool site is coming up for auction. This will most likely lead to some sort of development. At our last meeting, We love Whitestone adopted the following resolution by a unanimous vote of 100%. stating : "We Love Whitestone, will NOT support any development on the old CYO/Whitestone pool site, nor the Former Grace/Waters Edge Superfund site, other that what it is currently zoned for AS IT STANDS TODAY."

However, the petition linked below is a better alternative in my humble opinion. Please take a moment to sign it. I encourage you to share it on your pages and ask your friends and family to sign and share as well.

https://www.change.org/p/elected-officials-of-the-city-of-new-york-whitestone-cyo-property-development

Alfredo Centola
Founding Member
We Love Whitestone