POL BENEFIT$ FROM STATE-AIDED GROUP

A powerful Brooklyn lawmaker who has delivered millions of dollars in state aid to his district is also on the payroll of one of the community groups he has funded - but won't say what he's paid to do.
Assemblyman Vito Lopez (D-Bushwick) has been a consultant to a not-for-profit housing group since 1998, earning as much as $57,600 a year, according to tax records and check stubs obtained by The Post.
Lopez's consulting fees come on top of the $92,000 annual salary he earns as a state lawmaker and committee chairman.
When asked about his role as a consultant and any possible conflict with his position as chairman of the Assembly's Housing Committee, Lopez erupted in a bizarre tirade.
"On Tuesday we're feeding 2,000 senior citizens, what are you doing?" he snapped.
"How much do you get paid?" Lopez continued. "Unless you tell me how much you get paid and what you're doing on Christmas, I won't answer your questions."
Yet even when that information was provided, Lopez still refused to discuss his consulting work or explain what the housing-management group does in his district.
Lopez even suggested The Post's questions be posed to one of his daughters. He later tried to say he was joking with that suggestion.
Lopez is among Gov. Pataki's strongest supporters in the city. He has boasted of the tens of millions of dollars that he has brought to his district annually for housing and other programs.
Groups he has founded depend heavily on state largess. His Bushwick-Ridgewood Senior Citizens Center, an umbrella group for many of the district's not-for-profits, receives $7 million a year in public funds.
Community Property Management Inc. operates housing built or rehabilitated by groups affiliated with the Bushwick-Ridgewood Senior Citizens Center. Officials at the management group did not return calls for comment.
In filings with the state's Legislative Ethics Committee, Lopez, as required by law, declared his consulting work for Community Property Management during 1998, 1999 and 2000.
In those filings, Lopez described the work as providing technical assistance for program development, but was not required to state his income.

Source Citation: "POL BENEFIT$ FROM STATE-AIDED GROUP.(News)." New York Post (New York, NY) (Dec 23, 2001): 16. New York Times and New York Post (2000-present). Thomson Gale. New York Public Library. 20 Jan. 2007
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Brooklyn Democrats’ Judicial Nominating Convention Proceeds Without a Hitch

by Elizabeth Stull (court@brooklyneagle.net), published online 09-26-2007

REMSEN STREET — The Brooklyn Democratic Party began its annual judicial nominating convention yesterday afternoon with an unconventional tribute to a longtime executive committee member, Bernard C. (Bernie) Catcher, Esq.
“Keep on doing what you’re doing — You’re truly a hero,” Brooklyn party Chairman Vito Lopez told Catcher, an active Brooklyn Democrat for more than 30 years. Catcher, who was diagnosed with cancer and has undergone aggressive chemotherapy and radiation, expressed his gratitude to Lopez and the Thomas Jefferson Democratic Club.

“I discovered I had the biggest family in the world,” Catcher said in a hoarse voice. “They’ve been like brothers to me. The Vito that’s in the newspaper — they don’t know the Vito that I know.”

Assemblyman Joseph Lentol was recognized as chairman of the convention with the roll call. Attorney Carl Landicino estimated that 125 judicial delegates out of a total of 150 to 160 were present in Founders Hall at St. Francis College.

In New York, local Civil Court judges and Surrogate’s Court judges are nominated in open primary elections, while candidates for the state Supreme Court are nominated in judicial conventions and appellate judges are appointed.

Almost two dozen contenders had been found qualified for the bench by the Brooklyn Democratic Party’s judicial screening panel. In heavily Democratic Kings County, a spot on the Democratic ticket virtually guarantees a victory in November.

Incumbent state Supreme Court Justices L. Priscilla Hall, Larry Martin and Albert Tomei were nominated for re-election to the Brooklyn bench and Robert J. Miller was nominated to fill the position left open by Justice Theodore Jones, who resigned early last spring after being appointed to the state Court of Appeals.

Following the official nominations process yesterday, there was an awkward moment when Lentol, a veteran convention chairman, apparently forgot to bring in the nominees, who were waiting in the hallway behind the auditorium. Many delegates had risen to leave when Lentol invited the judicial candidates to say a few words. Each of them stepped forward to express his or her gratitude to the party leaders and delegates.

“There is a renaissance in Brooklyn right now,” Justice Tomei said. “We’re on the map, and we’re one of the most visited places in the world.” Tomei, who is 68, said this is his last election because of New York’s mandatory retirement rule.

Justice Hall said she enjoys the campaign process because “it gives me a chance to run all around Brooklyn and find out what’s going on with each of you. It’s good to hear about what’s going on in Brooklyn.”

“The process of running for office is a very humbling one, and I think that’s very important because judges, with all of the power that we exercise on a daily basis, can use a dose of humiliation,” Justice Martin said. Martin said this will also be his last term on the bench, because of mandatory retirement. Miller, an attorney and the only candidate who has never served on the bench, said he was honored to be nominated.

“I guess I’m the virgin here,” Miller said. Miller, a graduate of Georgetown Law School, has been involved in politics for many years but has never been elected to office. Party Chairman “Vito Lopez personifies what this party is about,” he said.

“They call us the ‘Excedrin borough’” Miller continued, alluding to a recent newspaper article about Brooklyn politics. Lopez has been under fire because the party’s candidate for surrogate judge lost the primary election.

“He’s [Vito Lopez’s] trying to bring us all together, and some people don’t want to be brought together … Let’s stay focused on what our values are, which is helping working people every single day,” Miller said.

The nominating convention was scheduled for 3 p.m. and began about 30 minutes late, perhaps because it followed a press conference about swastikas that had been drawn on two Remsen Street synagogues the night before. The convention was over by 4:30 p.m.

Judicial nominating conventions have been challenged by critics who say they exclude voters and deny candidates access to the ballot. Last year, a federal judge in Brooklyn ruled that the process is unconstitutional and must be changed. An appeal in that lawsuit, Lopez-Torres v. New York State Board of Elections, will be heard next Wednesday by the U.S. Supreme Court.

One delegate-alternate at yesterday’s convention said she had met the candidates at political club meetings in Coney Island. A delegate from another district, Lester Culpepper, said he had met one of the candidates because he works in Downtown Brooklyn. “It’s democratic here,” he said, “We all have an equal vote.”

“Some of the folks who think that politics and conventions are evil ought to have been here today to see this,” Lentol said yesterday. He said the nomination process had been “rigorous and fair.” Lentol also applauded Lopez for his work during a difficult time for the party in Brooklyn, saying, “Vito, I believe you were born to be the leader of the Brooklyn Democratic Party … The best is yet to be.”

— Elizabeth Stull
Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Judge’s Loss Looms Large for Party Chief

Vito J. Lopez, the Democratic Party leader in Brooklyn, faced a setback Tuesday when a candidate he backed lost her race.

By JONATHAN P. HICKS, Published: September 20, 2007
Since he became the Brooklyn Democratic Party leader two years ago, Assemblyman Vito J. Lopez has sought to develop a sense of unity among its disparate and competitive political players.

Go to City Room » And while there have been some notable successes, there have been setbacks. The most high-profile stumble came on Tuesday, when the candidate Mr. Lopez supported for a Surrogate’s Court judgeship in Brooklyn was handily defeated by one endorsed by reform-oriented groups and a wide array of politicians.

Normally, a surrogate race in a sleepy September primary is seen as a sure thing for a Democratic county leader. But ShawnDya L. Simpson, a Civil Court judge whom Mr. Lopez supported for the surrogate seat, lost decisively with about 40 percent of the vote.

Diana A. Johnson, a State Supreme Court justice, won the nomination with 60 percent of the vote. And in doing so, she proved that the coalition behind her could be a more effective force than the party organization. Although both candidates are black, the race had strong racial overtones. Most black elected officials had urged Mr. Lopez to support Justice Johnson, who had their overwhelming support, and felt slighted when he did not.

The surrogate position is vacant because Judge Frank R. Seddio resigned in May.

In an interview yesterday, Mr. Lopez said the defeat should be seen in a larger context. The party organization’s record of successes in races for judgeships has been unmatched by his predecessors, he said.

“Since 2005, when I got this position, there have been 10 contested races for judges,” Mr. Lopez said. “And, altogether, we’ve won 9 of the 10. That’s unheard of prior to my being the county leader. And I’m proud of that record and of the work we’ve been doing.”

He also said that the Democratic Party in Brooklyn, the largest Democratic organization in the state, had been more inclusive in its endorsements than in the past — supporting an ethnically diverse field and an openly gay candidate — and that it was on far more solid financial footing than it used to be. Under his stewardship, he said, the party has gone from being in debt to having money to expand its staff.

Mr. Lopez said that the surrogate candidates were well qualified and that he would do everything he could to support Justice Johnson. She faces Theodore Alatsas, a lawyer running on the Republican and Conservative Party tickets, in November.

“It was a race, it’s over; I congratulate Diana Johnson and her campaign,” he said. “The important thing is now for us to move forward and to determine how we can become a solidly unified Democratic borough.”

Still, many politicians suggest that the loss of a surrogate race is a blemish that exposes weaknesses in the party’s leadership. Tuesday’s race was unlike other judicial races in the borough in the last two years. It was a high-profile contest that brought together a number of political clubs and labor unions — most notably the Transport Workers Union — and many politicians, including the Rev. Al Sharpton, to work against the organization.

“When I was growing up in Brooklyn, a surrogate race was considered a sure win for the organization,” Mr. Sharpton, the best-known supporter of Justice Johnson, said yesterday. “But clearly the election results show that the organization can be taken on and defeated. It showed that when the playing field is level, the organization can come up short.”

Gary Tilzer, Justice Johnson’s campaign manager, put it more bluntly, saying of Mr. Lopez: “He’s a county leader who can’t deliver votes. And if you can’t win a surrogate race in an off-year election, what muscle do you have with candidates running for mayor or other offices?”

Political analysts suggest that while Mr. Lopez’s candidate lost, some defeats are expected for a leader of a party as large as Brooklyn’s. Also, the party is still reeling from a scandal that culminated in February with the conviction of Clarence Norman Jr., the former Brooklyn Democratic leader, for extorting money from judicial candidates.

Mr. Lopez might well be encouraged because the forces opposing the party organization are not particularly unified. In fact, those coalitions tend to form on a contest-by-contest basis, with the characters changing from one race to the other.

“With everything that’s happened in the judiciary in Brooklyn, Vito’s loss shows that being the county leader in Brooklyn is a work in progress,” said Evan Stavisky, a political consultant who works primarily with Democratic candidates.

“Let’s face it,” Mr. Stavisky said. “The Brooklyn Democratic Party, though it’s the largest, hasn’t been a strong unified machine since the days of Meade Esposito,” who led the Brooklyn Democratic Party for a quarter century until he retired in 1983.

He added: “Being the county leader of any borough has headaches; being county leader of Brooklyn is an Excedrin headache.”

Judge’s Loss Looms Large for Party Chief

Vito J. Lopez, the Democratic Party leader in Brooklyn, faced a setback Tuesday when a candidate he backed lost her race.

JONATHAN P. HICKS, September 20, 2007,New York Times

Since he became the Brooklyn Democratic Party leader two years ago, Assemblyman Vito J. Lopez has sought to develop a sense of unity among its disparate and competitive political players.

Go to City Room » And while there have been some notable successes, there have been setbacks. The most high-profile stumble came on Tuesday, when the candidate Mr. Lopez supported for a Surrogate’s Court judgeship in Brooklyn was handily defeated by one endorsed by reform-oriented groups and a wide array of politicians.

Normally, a surrogate race in a sleepy September primary is seen as a sure thing for a Democratic county leader. But ShawnDya L. Simpson, a Civil Court judge whom Mr. Lopez supported for the surrogate seat, lost decisively with about 40 percent of the vote.

Diana A. Johnson, a State Supreme Court justice, won the nomination with 60 percent of the vote. And in doing so, she proved that the coalition behind her could be a more effective force than the party organization. Although both candidates are black, the race had strong racial overtones. Most black elected officials had urged Mr. Lopez to support Justice Johnson, who had their overwhelming support, and felt slighted when he did not.

The surrogate position is vacant because Judge Frank R. Seddio resigned in May.

In an interview yesterday, Mr. Lopez said the defeat should be seen in a larger context. The party organization’s record of successes in races for judgeships has been unmatched by his predecessors, he said.

“Since 2005, when I got this position, there have been 10 contested races for judges,” Mr. Lopez said. “And, altogether, we’ve won 9 of the 10. That’s unheard of prior to my being the county leader. And I’m proud of that record and of the work we’ve been doing.”

He also said that the Democratic Party in Brooklyn, the largest Democratic organization in the state, had been more inclusive in its endorsements than in the past — supporting an ethnically diverse field and an openly gay candidate — and that it was on far more solid financial footing than it used to be. Under his stewardship, he said, the party has gone from being in debt to having money to expand its staff.

Mr. Lopez said that the surrogate candidates were well qualified and that he would do everything he could to support Justice Johnson. She faces Theodore Alatsas, a lawyer running on the Republican and Conservative Party tickets, in November.

“It was a race, it’s over; I congratulate Diana Johnson and her campaign,” he said. “The important thing is now for us to move forward and to determine how we can become a solidly unified Democratic borough.”

Still, many politicians suggest that the loss of a surrogate race is a blemish that exposes weaknesses in the party’s leadership. Tuesday’s race was unlike other judicial races in the borough in the last two years. It was a high-profile contest that brought together a number of political clubs and labor unions — most notably the Transport Workers Union — and many politicians, including the Rev. Al Sharpton, to work against the organization.

“When I was growing up in Brooklyn, a surrogate race was considered a sure win for the organization,” Mr. Sharpton, the best-known supporter of Justice Johnson, said yesterday. “But clearly the election results show that the organization can be taken on and defeated. It showed that when the playing field is level, the organization can come up short.”

Gary Tilzer, Justice Johnson’s campaign manager, put it more bluntly, saying of Mr. Lopez: “He’s a county leader who can’t deliver votes. And if you can’t win a surrogate race in an off-year election, what muscle do you have with candidates running for mayor or other offices?”

Political analysts suggest that while Mr. Lopez’s candidate lost, some defeats are expected for a leader of a party as large as Brooklyn’s. Also, the party is still reeling from a scandal that culminated in February with the conviction of Clarence Norman Jr., the former Brooklyn Democratic leader, for extorting money from judicial candidates.

Mr. Lopez might well be encouraged because the forces opposing the party organization are not particularly unified. In fact, those coalitions tend to form on a contest-by-contest basis, with the characters changing from one race to the other.

“With everything that’s happened in the judiciary in Brooklyn, Vito’s loss shows that being the county leader in Brooklyn is a work in progress,” said Evan Stavisky, a political consultant who works primarily with Democratic candidates.

“Let’s face it,” Mr. Stavisky said. “The Brooklyn Democratic Party, though it’s the largest, hasn’t been a strong unified machine since the days of Meade Esposito,” who led the Brooklyn Democratic Party for a quarter century until he retired in 1983.

He added: “Being the county leader of any borough has headaches; being county leader of Brooklyn is an Excedrin headache.”

In his Own Words Vito Lopez Sponsors and Votes for Legislation to Push the Poor and Middle Class (His Own Supporters) Out

I do not need you anymore

"There's a renaissance occurring in Williamsburg," says Assembly Housing Committee Chairman Vito Lopez (D-Brooklyn), a Williamsburg native who likens its gentrification to that of Park Slope. But as neighborhoods improve, he warns, poorer ethnic groups often get pushed out. " The whites and yuppies moving in have the ability to pay more for rent," Lopez says. "The Latino population could be gone in two to three years." - New York Daily News 4/20/97

Ten Years later, on the last day of the 2007 New York State Legislative Session Vito Lopez introduced legislation to increase the poor and middle class removal from New York City.

A threat to N.Y. nabes
At the eleventh hour, with virtually no public discussion, the Assembly and Senate agreed on a bill that will stop production of middle-class housing in neighborhoods across all five boroughs. Gov. Spitzer must veto the destructive, ill-conceived measure. . . Responsibility for this disaster belongs to Vito Lopez (photo), chairman of the Assembly Housing Committee who also serves as Brooklyn Democratic boss, with an assist from the Real Estate Board of New York. . . It's a wonderful idea, but it's economically impossible. Nonetheless, Lopez muscled the bill through the Democratic-controlled Assembly, and the Republican-dominated state Senate went along as a favor to the Real Estate Board, whose Manhattan-centric members wanted to delay when the law takes effect. . . Among those who recognize the travesty is Council Speaker Christine Quinn. She called Lopez's legislative whim "an outrage," adding, "I think the bill should be vetoed." And she's right. . . New York Daily News, 6/24/07

Taking Care of the Family

Ironically, it was the actions of ex-Assemblyman and Brooklyn Democratic leader Clarence Norman, until his felony conviction in fall 2005, and Assemblyman Vito Lopez, his successor, that began the chain of circumstances that led to this decision. When Margarita Lopez-Torres was elected to a county-wide Civil Court in Brooklyn in 1993 on the recommendation of Vito Lopez, she rejected every job applicant sent to her by the county organization, including Mr. Lopez' daughter who sought employment as a law secretary. The payback for this defiance was the county's refusal to designate her for re-election when her term expired in 2003. She ran anyway, winning re-nomination in a sharply contested Democratic primary. - New York Civic

The lengthy lead story in the Real Estate section [of the NY Times] credited Lopez with sparking a massive rebuilding effort in Bushwick, way back when he was a graduate student in 1971, and then carrying it through. The story also mentioned that Angela Battaglia's agency is the developer for a $20 million component of the rebuilding effort. It even pictured Lopez and Battaglia standing together in front of new housing construction. But the story omitted that Battaglia is Lopez's girlfriend. Does that connection at least deserve mention? Might the article have explained why there was or wasn't a conflict of interest present? Was it a coincidence that Lopez's girlfriend's outfit was put in charge of the $20 million deal? Inquiring minds would like to know. - Daily Gothic, 2/21/2006

ALBANY - Gov. Pataki plans to nominate the daughter of Assemblyman Vito Lopez, the Brooklyn Democratic chairman who has been cozy with Republican leaders, to a lucrative, long-tenured post on the state Court of Claims, The Post has learned.
Pataki, a lame-duck Republican who has been rushing to fill hundreds of positions before he leaves office at the end of the year, will nominate Gina Marie Lopez-Summa to the prestigious $137,000-a-year post, as payback for Assemblyman Lopez's repeated willingness to break party ranks and back the governor for reelection, said a high-level state official.
"Vito has been more loyal to Pataki than he has been to the Democratic Party," the official said.
A source close to Pataki confirmed Lopez-Summa was in line for appointment to the Court of Claims, which hears cases filed against the state. Assemblyman Lopez did not return a call seeking comment.Source Citation: "PATAKI WILL BOOST KIN OF DEM ALLY.(News)." New York Post (New York, NY) (Sept 18, 2006): 06

Making Non Profits into a Politicial Power Base

"In 1976, Vito Lopez founded the Ridgewood Bushwick Senior Citizens Council, a Brooklyn-based elder care organization that has grown to employ 1,800 people. This social and political powerhouse helped Mr. Lopez, an assemblyman, win his first election in 1984.
Mr. Lopez has guided the two failed campaigns of Pam Fisher, who directs a senior citizens program at Ridgewood Bushwick. Another employee of the center, Angela Battaglia, ran unsuccessfully for the City Council. Ms. Fisher bristles at any suggestion that she is a puppet of Mr. Lopez. But her aims are virtually identical. #T"As an advocate you have only so much input,'' she says. ''As an elected official, you have access and the power to get things done.''

Anna Gonzalez, director of a city-funded senior center in Bushwick, works the inside. She is an active campaigner for council member Victor Robles and also for Assemb. Vito Lopez, who had supported Franco in an unsuccessful bid for Congress. She says she could have been a Democratic district leader if she wanted. - New York Times, May 13, 1996

Where Does Vito Lopez Live and did he Live in One Room?
Instead, say the activists, Lopez for years has shacked up in a Queens condo owned by his girlfriend, Planning Commissioner Angela Battaglia, who also happens to be executive director of a housing nonprofit Lopez founded. A spokesman confirmed that the district attorney had received the complaint, dated Oct. 24, but declined to say if an investigation has begun.
Falsifying a voter-registration address is a felone. Property records show that the address where Lopez is registered to vote in Williamsburg, is owned by a woman named Tillie Tarantino.
Tarantino is executive director of the Swinging 60s Senior Center in Greenpoint, which is funded by a Lopez-backed nonprofit. - New York Post, 11/25/2005

But advocates for the elderly saw the decision to go to a for-profit company as a shot across the bow of how social services are delivered. Assemb. Vito Lopez (D-Brooklyn), who is both benefactor and beneficiary of the Ridgewood-Bushwick Senior Citizens Council, said he will press in Albany for legislation directing future contracts to not-for-profit agencies.