Jan 30, 2024 NYC Council Member Lies about Police Stop, Hasn't Register Auto in NY, and Has Illegally Tinted Windows
New York City Councilman Yusef Salaam is facing calls to step down as head of the council’s influential public safety committee after a controversial traffic stop revealed he was motoring around the Big Apple with out-of-state license plates and alleged illegally tinted windows. Salaam is also taking heat over claims he embellished his Friday night encounter with an NYPD cop in Harlem, during which the officer pulled him over for the tinted windows but cut him a break when the lawmaker identified himself.
“This is damning,” City Councilman Robert Holden (D-Queens) said in a post on X. “An elected official with illegal tints and out-of-state plates, not legally registered, using his official title to evade the law. “Worse, he lied about the exchange until NYPD set the record straight,” Holden wrote. “CM Salaam should resign as Public Safety Chair.” The officer walked away after Yusef Salaam immediately identified himself as a city councilman on Friday night. AP
Salaam, one of the exonerated “Central Park Five,” has not responded to repeated requests for comment from The Post recently. However, Salaam’s office did confirm that he had Georgia license plates on his car until just this week — despite living in New York and holding office here for two years. According to Board of Elections records, Salaam registered to vote in the state on July 27, 2022, and had 30 days after that to transfer his Georgia vehicle registration to New York under the law. The lawmaker had those Peach State plates on his car on Friday when he was pulled over. According to police, Salaam was pulled over shortly before 6:30 p.m. while driving a blue sedan with his family inside — with the entire encounter captured on bodycam video. “As the video shows, throughout this interaction, the officer conducted himself professionally and respectfully,” the NYPD said in a statement over the weekend. “He followed all proper procedures, including procedures that were put in place after Detective Russell Timoshenko was shot and killed through tinted windows in 2007.” The bodycam footage shows the cop walking up to Salaam’s car, asking him to lower the tinted rear window, and then approaching him behind the wheel. Salaam immediately identifies himself as a city councilman, prompting the cop to wish him a good night and walk away, the footage shows.
But the councilman later griped in a statement that the officer told him, “We’re done here” and walked away — never telling him why he had been pulled over in the first place. According to the NYPD Patrol Guide and the city Administrative Code, police officers are not required to say why someone is being stopped on a low-level potential infraction like a tinted-window violation. “The stop was not illegal,” Councilwoman Joann Ariola (R-Queens) said on X. “The stop was done by the book. What is illegal is the percentage of tinting on his windows, using your Council Member title to get out of a ticket, and lying about the interaction. “How can we expect him to be impartial as chair of the Public Safety [Committee]?” Councilmember Inna Vernikov (R-Brooklyn) also slammed Salaam and called for a public apology. “What this experience amplifies is how you lied, are potentially committing insurance fraud, using the race card, as well as using your status as Councilmember to evade the law,” she railed, adding, “The officer did everything by the book, and was nothing but extra nice to you.
https://nypost.com/2024/01/29/metro/nyc-councilman-yusef-salaam-facing-calls-to-resign-safety-committee-chairmanship-after-he-lied-about-nypd-traffic-stop/
Jan. 22, 2024 -- Probation Dept Commissioner Drives Luxury SUV
New York City’s Probation Department has cut programs and city government is in a budget crunch — but Probation Commissioner Juanita Holmes has a new, luxurious city-funded car. Holmes has a $86,590 Ford Expedition Platinum, purchased in October from a dealership in Rockland County, city records show. The Ford’s standard features include heated leather-trimmed “multi-contour” seats that vibrate with “Active Motion massage,” a high-end Bang & Olufsen stereo system with 22 speakers and a “panoramic” sun roof, the car maker say. After the city bought the car, it was sent to Valley Van, a company in Valley Stream, L.I., for installation of a lights-and- siren package worth roughly $17,000, said sources. That purchase was outside the purview of the comptroller’s office, and city officials declined to confirm it.
The department bought the Expedition because the agency’s existing Mitsubishi Outlanders were considered “too small” by Holmes, according to probation insiders with direct knowledge of the discussions. Outlanders retail for about $30,000. “The Department of Probation is eliminating critical programs for at-risk young adults, but can somehow afford a luxury SUV vehicle for the commissioner,” said City Councilman Lincoln Restler. “The Department of Probation has the wrong priorities, and this sale should be immediately reversed.” In an emailed statement, a Probation Department spokesperson said, “Upon the commissioner’s appointment in Spring 2023, the vehicle was requested and approved, prior to the City’s budget cuts. Like all Commissioners, Commissioner Holmes needs a vehicle to ensure she can conduct City business outside of the office.” Holmes took office on March 9. The earliest date recorded for purchase of the Expedition Platinum in Comptroller’s office records is Oct. 5.
The probation spokesperson, who did not provide their name, did not specify the date the vehicle was “requested” or “approved.” Nor did the spokesperson identify who approved the purchase. The contract of sale was signed Oct. 25 by the Probation Department’s Interim Agency Chief Contracting Officer Richard Tibbetts, records show. Holmes, appointed as probation commissioner in March, has been criticized for canceling the funding of two mentoring programs, Next Steps and Impact, and slashing $1 million a year from a third program called Arches.
Anessa Hodgson, a spokeswoman for the city Department of Citywide Administrative Services, which usually handles vehicle purchases, said The New York Daily News’ information about the purchase was “incorrect.” However, Hodgson and her colleague Dan Kastanis repeatedly refused to specify what was “incorrect.” Holmes’ driver will likely be William “Red” Manderson, an NYPD detective first grade, who made close to $200,000 in 2023 as Holmes’ personal aide. (https://www.yahoo.com/news/nyc-taxpayers-buy-87-000-181900172.html)
Nov. 9, 2023 --Former Baltimore State Attorney Convicted of Perjury
Former Baltimore City State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby has been convicted on two counts of perjury by a federal jury.
The federal jury reached the verdict Thursday, finding Mosby guilty of perjury after she falsely claimed financial hardship during the COVID-19 pandemic in order to withdraw money from the city's retirement fund, prosecutors announced. osby received her full salary of $247,955.58 in 2020, which is the year she claimed financial hardship and withdrew the money from her retirement accounts, according to federal prosecutors.
https://www.foxnews.com/us/former-baltimore-prosecutor-marilyn-mosby-found-guilty-two-counts-perjury
Nov. 5, 2023 -- Felony Dismissing Orleans DA Carjacked
There can be only concern and outrage and the DA and his mother being carjacked. But it must be recognized that these crimes are occurring because the perpetrators know there will be no consequences.
Soros-backed Orleans Parish District Attorney Jason Williams and his 78-year-old mother were carjacked at gunpoint late last month. Williams was helping his mother into her car when armed masked men held them up at gunpoint and took off with the elderly woman’s belongings. Williams said in an interview that having a gun pointed directly at him was “horrific” and it made him think of crime victims. Williams was carjacked at gunpoint after he campaigned on social justice reform and dismissed more than 66% of the city’s violent felony cases during his first few months in office
Oct 27 --Video Released After Plea Deal Clarifies that Rep Bowman Pulled Alarm with Intent
- The footage of "Squad" Democrat Rep. Jamaal Bowman of New York pulling a fire alarm in a House office building was released Thursday after he accepted a plea deal on misdemeanor charges for the incident. Bowman attempted to open two doors in the Cannon House Office Building. Bowman appears to approach the doors and try the right door, taking a red alarm sign with him from the entryway.
- The congressman then appeared to try to open the left door while knocking over the second alarm sign. Bowman then turned and pulled the fire alarm before walking off camera still holding the alarm sign from the first door. Bowman said that he did not mean to pull the fire alarm and that he had done so while in a rush to go vote. The House at the time was debating and voting on a stopgap bill to fund the government temporarily and avert a sutdown.
- The "Squad" Democrat told reporters outside the D.C. Superior Court on Thursday that "Hell no" he didn't mean to pull the alarm. What I did was against D.C. law," Bowman said. "As I said from the very beginning, I was not trying to disrupt any congressional proceedings, I'm glad the investigation yielded that." Bowman pulled the fire alarm ahead of a crucial vote as the GOP pushed a critical stopgap funding bill to avoid a government shutdown. However, the newly released footage seems to throw water on his argument, and his actions appear to indicate what lawyers would call intent. The question is why is the footage coming to light now after he received his plea deal.
Oct 20 - 23
The leader of the D.C.-based General Services Administration worked remotely from Missouri most of the time in the year after the agency's "full re-entry" plan called employees back to their offices, according to a GSA letter to Congress obtained by Axios.
Why it matters: The calendar records of GSA Administrator Robin Carnahan, cited in the letter, are the latest example of how remote work has continued after the pandemic for many federal workers — even at top levels of the Biden administration — despite the president's 17-month push for more in-office work.
- Carnahan, whose agency manages about 1,500 federally owned buildings, is scheduled to testify to the House Oversight Committee soon; a hearing on Thursday was postponed.
The intrigue: Oversight chair James Comer (R-Ky.) began investigating Carnahan's remote work arrangement in January. In a letter to her then, Comer said his panel had "received whistleblower reports you have spent most of your time working in a location other than Washington, D.C., during your tenure as GSA administrator."
By the numbers: From March 2022 to March 2023, Carnahan worked 121 weekdays in Missouri and 64 weekdays at her office in Washington, GSA Associate Administrator Gianelle E. Rivera wrote to Comer on March 31.
- Carnahan also spent 34 weekdays on official travel, Rivera wrote.
- Carnahan is a co-chair of the Safer Federal Workforce Task Force, which President Biden created to provide ongoing guidance to federal agencies on workplace measures related to Covid-19 — including hybrid models of remote work.
- The GSA, which is essentially the federal government's property manager, had some of the emptiest workplaces among federal agencies with just 9% of its office space being used, according to a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report in July.
- The GAO also concluded that "17 of the 24 federal agencies used, on average, an estimated 25% or less of the capacity of their headquarters buildings."
Oct 23 -- Illinois State Comptroller Attorney Fired for Anti-Semitic Remarks
An attorney who works for the Illinois State Comptroller’s office was fired for anti-Semitic rants on social media. The attorney, Sarah Chowdhury sent private messages to an Instagram account named “Big Law Boiz.” This account was run by a Jewish lawyer who posts memes. She had written some very cruel statements including: “Hitler should have eradicated all of you.” Another statement: ” “Hopefully someone sends you anthrax or poison and you die a slow terrible death.”
Comptroller Susana Mendoza was informed of the incident on Thursday and contacted Chowdbury the same day. After she admitted to writing those statements, she was fired from her position. The South Asian Law Association also terminated her position which she was the president of the group.
Hateful views but we cannot control what others think. Somewhat surprising that a lawyer would post these views.
Oct 20 -- NJ Council Member and Son (Both Teachers) Arrested for Child Phonography
A New Jersey councilman and his son — both teachers — were released from jail less than a week after they were busted for allegedly possessing thousands of images of child pornography in the home they share. Despite living just 530 feet from an elementary school, Jeffrey, 65, and Steven Grossman, 24, were awarded house arrest Wednesday as they await their separate trials on charges of second-degree possession of child pornography.
The father-son duo were arrested and charged Oct. 12
with second-degree possession of child pornography after investigators found
thousands of nude and sexually explicit images of children in their Tenafly
home, the Bergen County Prosecutor’s
Office alleges. Over 1,000
depictions of child sexual abuse of boys generally between 10 and 13 were found
in a Dropbox used by Steven, while over 17,500 depictions of younger
prepubescent girls were found on Jeffrey Grossman’s devices, Assistant
Prosecutor Gary Donatello said during a detention hearing, according to North Jersey.com. The elder Grossman was in the midst of his
11th year as a social studies teacher at a Rochelle Park middle school, but
also spent time working in high schools and elementary schools, his educator biography states.
Jeffrey Grossman is a middle school
social studies teacher and serves as the Tenafly Borough Council president. Jeffrey,
who currently serves as the Tenafly Borough Council president, also has a
history of working as a defense lawyer for the City of New York. His son works as a social worker by trade and
frequently serves as a substitute teacher for the same K-8 district as his
father. Both were booted from their
posts the same day they were arrested.
Steven Grossman is a social worker and substitute teacher at the same K-8 district his father works at. “The Board has immediately suspended both employees and directed them that they are prohibited from coming to the school for any reason and are prohibited from contacting any student or staff,” Superintendent Sue DeNobile told parents in a letter. The father is now facing mounting calls to resign from his borough council position and to abandon his re-election bid for next month.
Judge David Labib ruled that the Grossmans could remain under house arrest, but restricted their access to their front yard and backyard from 8 to 9:30 a.m. and 2 to 3:30 p.m., the times when students at the nearby Smith Elementary School would be arriving and dismissed from the building.
July 27, 2023 Lying by a Former Federal Prosecutor and Mayor of NYC
Rudy Giuliani concedes he made defamatory statements about Georgia election workers Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss. The late-night Tuesday filing from Giuliani says he doesn’t contest Moss and Freeman’s accusations that he smeared them after the 2020 election. Yet the filing says he still wants to be able to argue that his statements about voter fraud in Georgia in the 2020 election were protected speech.
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