The Story of the Great Brooklyn Voter Purge Keeps Getting Weirder

[pantsonfire]

Some 120,000 people couldn't vote. What happened?
http://m.motherjones.com/politics/2016/04/new-york-primary-voter-purge

The first head has rolled after more than 100,000 voters were mistakenly purged from the Brooklyn voter rolls ahead of this week's New York primary, which handed Hillary Clinton a much-needed win over Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. Diane Haslett-Rudiano, the chief clerk of the New York Board of Elections, was suspended...

Anonymous city elections officials said Haslett-Rudiano, who was in charge of the city's Republican voter rolls, had been "scapegoated," according to the New York Post. "It sounds like they cut a deal to make the Republican the scapegoat and protect Betty Ann," an anonymous Democratic elected official from Brooklyn told the Post, referring to Betty Ann Canizio, who was in charge of the Democratic voter rolls.

According to the Daily News, a building she owned on the Upper West Side of Manhattan was the subject of more than 20 Department of Buildings violations over the years after she'd let it fall into disrepair. The building, which she reportedly bought for $5,000 in 1976, was sold in 2014 for $6.6 million.

"If that had not happened, would that have changed the outcome of the election?" she asked. "It may have. And so long as that's out there as a question, I think we're looking at some deep fundamental questions about how we conduct our elections systematically, and what it is that we need to do to ensure that we're not left with so severe a level of doubt in that process."

Additionally, "Bombshell report accuses Mayor Bill de Blasio of coordinating possible illegal fundraising scheme"
http://abc7ny.com/politics/bombshell-report-accuses-mayor-bill-de-blasio-of-coordinating-possible-illegal-fundraising-scheme/1306163/

In a damning eight page memo obtained by the Daily News, and posted in full on the newspaper's website, the lead investigator said, 'the review revealed a pattern consistent with coordinated fundraising and expenditure of funds to evade contribution limits, for purpose of funneling contributions that exceeded contribution limits."

According to the Daily News, the memo was delivered to the Elections Board in January, and recommended the Manhattan DA investigate City Hall for 'willful and flagrant violations' of state election law.

[That Guy 888]

1. Someone got their money's worth for the increased pay in 2015

Too bad it wasn't the voting public.

City Board of Elections commissioners approve big raises, jacking up managers' pay at cost of nearly $202G a year
BY Celeste Katz
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Thursday, June 25, 2015, 1:09 AM


...The highest-percentage hike went to Betty Ann Canizio-Aqil, the Democratic deputy chief clerk of the Brooklyn office. Her pay leaped 16.8%, from $102,755 to $120,000, records show.

... But City Councilman Ben Kallos (D-Manhattan), who has waged a campaign to clean up a board that built a bad rep as a nest of patronage and blundering, had plenty to say.

“The Board of Elections waited until just after the (city) budget agreement was announced to sneak in a raise for top managers, who are already overpaid,” fumed Kallos, who helps oversee the agency as head of the Council’s Governmental Operations Committee.

Kallos said the raise money would have been better spent preparing and running elections to cut down on long lines and head off problems for voters.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/board-elections-managers-huge-pay-raises-article-1.2270469

Seems as though Kallos had the right idea.

[bbgrunt]

2. I'm not understanding the

role of her ownership of the building by Betty Ann Canizio, who was in charge of the Democratic voter rolls.

"According to the Daily News, a building she owned on the Upper West Side of Manhattan was the subject of more than 20 Department of Buildings violations over the years after she'd let it fall into disrepair. The building, which she reportedly bought for $5,000 in 1976, was sold in 2014 for $6.6 million."

Is there some implication of corruption in this statement?

If she was in charge of the D voter rolls, then she should be held accountable--not the other woman.

You're right. It just gets weirder and weirder.

[bbgrunt]

3. Oh, it was the one in charge of the republican rolls that owned the building and

it was mentioned in the original article only as an example of how she had been the subject of news reports before. The truncated article as presented here left that bit out.