Posted on 02/07/2010 12:30:16 PM PST by jazusamo
The contoversy over Meeks’ group, called New Direction Local Development Corporation, is fuel for the firestorm of surrounding the awarding by New York Governor David Paterson of a lucrative gambling franchise to Aqueduct Entertainment Group (AEG) in which former Rep. Floyd Flake is an “investor.” Days later, Paterson met with Flake to discuss his support for Paterson’s re-election campaign. According to the Post:
Floyd Flake is extremely valuable to AEG because of his political clout in both Queens and New York state," said Ken Boehm, chairman of National Legal and Policy Center, a government watchdog group. "Now he appears to be dangling his support for the governor until AEG's bid is fully approved.
Flake’s protégés include Meeks and state Senator Malcolm Smith, another principal in New Directions. Smith’s former partner, a contractor name Darryl Green, is also involved in the AEG bid. Greene is a convicted felon who embezzled $500,000 from New York City. His wife was a founding director of New Direction.
The Post actually has three articles today on this corrupt political network. There is no good news for any of the participants. Flake, who is also a Protestant minister, makes over a $1 million per year between himself and his wife from his church and “charitable” work. Darryl Green, who was disbarred during the nineties, is affiliated with companies that owe New York state almost $1 million in back taxes. Greene and his wife also personally owe New York state $10,681 in back taxes, according to the Post.
So it appears they may have embezzled all that money raised for Katrina?
NY POST The web of partnership and influence surrounding a shady Queens charity and a shaky bid for a lucrative gambling contract at the Aqueduct “racino.”
AQUEDUCT ENTERTAINMENT GROUP
A consortium of companies, including The Darman Group and Empowerment Development Corp., with the winning bid to bring video slot machines to Aqueduct Racetrack.
STATE SEN. MALCOLM SMITH
* Temporary president of the Senate.
* Lobbied for AEG to win Aqueduct bid from Paterson.
* Worked as a congressional aide to Flake before running for senator.
* Former business partner with Greene.
* His wife, Michele, is a founding board member of New Direction LDC, the charity he set up with Meeks.
FLOYD FLAKE
* Principal, Empowerment Development Corp.
* Pastor, Greater Allen AME Cathedral in Queens.
* Former congressman and mentor to Meeks and Smith.
* Rev. Edwin Reed, treasurer of Empowerment Ministries, Flake’s charity, is listed as the treasurer of New Direction Local Development Corp., the charity of Meeks and Smith.
DARRYL GREENE
* Principal, The Darman Group.
* Pleaded guilty in 1999 to defrauding city agencies; he and his companies owe $940,000 in taxes. Former business partner of Smith.
* Founder of Peninsula Preparatory Academy Charter School in Queens, for which The Darman Group was awarded the building contract. Both Smith and Meeks served on school’s board.
* Greene’s wife, Cathy, was founding board member of New Direction LDC.
GOV. PATERSON
* Selected AEG group Feb. 5 over four other bidders.
* Met with Flake three days later and discussed politics.
REP. GREGORY MEEKS
* Former protégé of Flake. Meeks succeeded Flake as representative for the 6th Congressional District in Queens in 1998.
* Partnered with Smith to raise funds for Hurricane Katrina families.
* Worked as a lawyer with Greene’s law firm, Greene & Flowers Associates.
* Member of Flake’s church.
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/queens/slots_big_tax_deadbeat_qCJ4C8BqjKM7wGCRUlAlbO
When is the primary?
(Do I really need a tag here?)
CA....
can we charge a government office with the RICO act
Looks like a pretty sure bet. I’d bet they figured with the hundreds of millions raised by different people no one would miss some of it.
Thanks for your post, Liz.
3,2,1,race card!!
Rep. Gregory Meeks’ Charity Looks More Like Slush Fund
01/31/2010
Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY), already under scrutiny for his relationship with Ponzi billionaire Allen Stanford, is deeply involved with a nonprofit group in Queens, New York called New Direction Local Development Corporation. Our review of IRS tax returns, New York state budget records, and other documents suggests that New Direction does little development. Instead, it appears to operate to the benefit of Meeks and a state Senator named Malcolm Smith, and much of the money it has raised is simply unaccounted for.
New Direction has received at least $56,500 in New York state taxpayer funds since 2001, at the direction of Smith in the form of “member items,” the state equivalent of an earmark. The group’s largest donation of $250,000 came in 2004 from a company called International Airport Centers, which successfully sought permission to build an airport cargo facility near JFK airport in their districts. New Direction also collected thousands of dollars for Hurricane Katrina victims.
Queens pols stiffed Katrina victims
It’s the Big Sleazy.
Devastated Hurricane Katrina survivors from New Orleans were left high and dry by a charity set up to help them by state Sen. Malcolm Smith and Rep. Gregory Meeks of Queens.
Only $1,392 of at least $31,000 raised to help Katrina families was paid, tax records show, and just about everybody involved with the charity — including the two Democratic pols — claim ignorance as to where the rest of the money went.
Meeks said in a statement that “the funds were utilized to help sustain displaced evacuees,” but refused to provide further detail. He said money was administered by an unidentified director and that “a committee of community representatives functioned as advisers to the fund.”
But three of those advisers said they had no idea whether cash was given out by the group, New Yorkers Organized to Assist Hurricane Families, or NOAH-F.
“I had nothing to do with any disbursement of any funds,” said the Rev. Edward Davis, pastor of the Presbyterian Church of St. Albans in Queens. “I can’t tell you. I don’t know.”
Another advisory board member, Candace Sandy, said she volunteered to help Katrina refugees living temporarily at a hotel near Kennedy Airport, but did not distribute money.
Sandy, who works for Meeks, said another advisory board member, Claude Stuart, was in charge of the money. Stuart did not return phone calls for comment.
Pamela Moore, chief-of-staff to Assemblywoman Barbara Clark, was listed as a member of the advisory board but said that it was a position in name only.
“I never attended any board meetings,” she said, adding that she did not know if board meetings were even held.
Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/soaked_by_pols_CcsQDkxyhdcOomYdJ68giM#ixzz0et1QViJZ
The New Direction Web site says the mission of NOAH-F was to raise $270,000 for hurricane evacuees. Donations were directed to the offices of Meeks, Smith or Clark, whose photos still appeared on the site last week.
“NOAH-F plans to provide up to 30 families with full rent and utility payments for six months,” it says.
The organization raised at least $31,000 and perhaps more.
The money included a $10,000 donation from the Hindu Temple Society in Queens and $5,000 from the Rent Stabilization Association of New York. The rent group made the donation after its director received a letter from Smith asking to help displaced families.
Meeks’ congressional campaign gave NOAH-F two $5,000 donations in 2005, but canceled one of those contributions the next year.
The only accounting of any money spent on Katrina is a $1,392 grant paid in 2006 for “hurricane victim expense,” according to New Direction’s tax return.
Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/soaked_by_pols_CcsQDkxyhdcOomYdJ68giM#ixzz0et1em8Sr
LOL! Sounds like a committee Rangel or Sharpton could be on.
Floyd Flake’s friends
It’s bad enough that Senate President Malcolm Smith, Rep. Gregory Meeks and assorted pals are running what looks to be a tax-subsidized slush fund gussied up as a legitimate charity.
But it just boggles the mind that Gov. Paterson last week handed the same cast of characters a $300 million contract to run a gambling operation in Southeast Queens.
The governor on Friday selected a group cobbled together by the Rev. Floyd Flake to install video-lottery machines at Aqueduct racetrack.
Flake is a former congressman and a patron of both Smith and Meeks, who represent the area. The two aren’t officially part of the consortium, but that doesn’t mean there is no cause for concern.
As The Post’s Isabel Vincent and Melissa Klein reported Sunday, a nonprofit corporation founded by the two Queens Democrats — New Direction Local Development Corp. — can account for only a fraction of the cash it’s received over the years.
To wit:
* In 2001, its first year in operation, the charity spent nearly 70 percent of its income (including $17,000 in legislative pork from Smith) on “consultants.”
* Of a $250,000 corporate donation Smith and Meeks arranged in 2004, New Direction reported spending barely $100,000 on programs.
* And Smith and Meeks may have had a hand in shortchanging Hurricane Katrina victims: Of the $15,000 the charity raised for Katrina relief in 2005 with the pair’s help, only $1,392 was ever reported spent.
Meanwhile, the list of folks involved with Flake’s Aqueduct Entertainment Group reads like a New Direction class reunion.
There’s Darryl Greene, a minor partner in the venture and a former business partner of Smith’s. His wife was a founding board member of the charity, along with Smith’s wife.
Greene also was convicted in 1999 of stealing $500,000 in city and corporate cash through a minority-hiring scam.
The New Direction Local Development Corporation, a charity started through the initiatives of state Sen. Malcolm Smith (D-St. Albans) and Congressman Gregory Meeks (D-Jamaica), has come under scrutiny by an ethics watchdog group after a review of public documents revealed that large amounts of taxpayer money have gone unaccounted for.
“It raised so many red flags that you don’t normally see with nonprofits and that bears looking into,” said Ken Boehm, chairman of the National Legal and Policy Center, the organization that conducted the research. “A public office is a public trust, and even though officials are subjected to a fair amount of transparency, all too often they do not get the scrutiny that they deserve.”
Smith acknowledges founding NDLDC, but denies any further involvement, while Meeks rebuffs any and all ties to the group.
In an interview with the Queens Chronicle on Tuesday, Meeks said he has never donated money to NDLDC and has no knowledge of the information contained in its tax return filings.
“It is not my charity,” he said. “I didn’t hire anyone and I didn’t get involved with the day to day operations of the group.” Meeks called reports regarding the matter, which first appeared in the New York Post on Jan. 31 a “misrepresentation” and a “hit job without the facts.”
In 2001 the charity spent $38,700 out of the $57,050 it earned on consultants. In 2007 NDLDC spent $11,793 on meals and entertainment and $9,004 in federal tax penalties. Moreover, the 2007 document only lists a handful of charitable donations including community outreach services, a family day, senior appreciation day and Toys for Tots.
In 2008, NDLDC spent $810 on professional fees and other payments to independent contractors. Although it had $55,254 in net assets for that year, it lists no charitable donations or expenses other than a $10 bank service charge, so it is unclear if and how the rest of the money was spent. Calls to several of the group’s board members were not returned.
Boehm, a former prosecutor, along with a team of trained investigators and retired attorneys, spent more than 100 hours reviewing IRS tax returns, state budget records and other documents. They concluded that NDLDC does more to benefit Meeks and Smith than to create development.
Jeez, I don’t understand we sent it to NO through Acorn and SEIU? You know they were founded there. We will check this out completely.
OFF CAMERA
Tell those Acorn Bastar** to rev up those shredders again.
Thanks for your posts. Looks like these NY pols can give the Chicago pols a run for their money.
NEW DIRECTION LOCAL DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION
219-10 S CONDUIT AVE
SPRINGFIELD GARDENS, NY
11413-3462
A
In Care Of Name
(the officer, director, etc. to whose attention any correspondence should be directed)
CLAUDE STUART
Urban, Community Economic Development
Organization which receives a substantial part of its support from a governmental unit or the general public
Tax Period
(the date of the latest return filed) 12/2008
******
New Direction Local Development Corporation
219-10 South Conduit Ave.
Springfield Gardens, NY 11413
Phone: (718)-949-0069
e-mail office@ndldc.org
http://ndldc.org/site_files/about.html
Founded February, 2001 by the initiatives of congressman Gregory Meeks and
senator Malcolm Smith, New Direction Local Development Corporation, (” NDLDC”) is incorporated in New York State as a not for profit corporation. It applied for and received not for profit recognition under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.
The corporation was formed to improve the quality of life of the residents of the of South East Queens and Rockaway areas. The improvement contemplated is both economic and social. These geographic areas have been historically under developed and have suffered both socially and economically as a result of this neglect.
NEW DIRECTION LOCAL DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
BOARD MEMBER
ADDRESS/TEL
EMAIL/FAX
Mortimer Lawrence, Esq. (Chairman)
Hopkins, Lawrence & Bailey
186-17 Merrick Blvd
Springfield Grdns, 11413
718-949-9792
mlawrence@hlblawyers.com
718-949-1352
William Briggs (Vice Chairman)
*Roy Wilkins Center 177th St & Baisley Blvd
Jamaica, NY 11434
Attn: Bill Briggs, Youth & Tennis, Inc.
youthandtennis@msn.com
718-969-0455
Edwin Reed (Treasurer)
* Allen Cathedral
110-31 Merrick Blvd
Jamaica, NY 11432
718-206-4600 x3031
edwinr@allencathedraI.org
718-206-1205
Joan Flowers, Esq. (Attorney)
Joan Flowers & Assoc.
219-10 So Conduit Ave
Springfield Grdns, NY 11413
jflowesq@aol.com
718-949-8280
Cheree Buggs, Esq..
208-07 111 Avenue
Queens Village, NY 11429
718-217-1517
cabug@earthlink.net
718-217-6258
Donald Clarke
*Exxon Mobil
375 Park Avenue
New York, NY
Howard Dabney
H. R. Dabney
Enterprises, Inc
624 Macon Street, Ste 3
Brooklyn, NY 11233
646-522-2836
primallc@aol.com
973-614-1673
http://ndldc.org/site_files/board_members.html
I think we all have them. They just haven’t been caught yet.
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