employees of Nassau OTB who are residents of the City of New York which no longer has an OTB.
de Blasio picks up the telephone to the Suffolk County Ethics Board and/or tells his minions that Republican Suffolk County Legislator Kevin McCaffrey cannot represent New York City residents who work for Nassau OTB while he works for Suffolk County. We will not now discuss the business of the Teamsters representing the NYC Health and Hospitals Corporation Employees (a large number) at the same time as they collect from the small number of Suffolk OTB employees who have follwed there NYC brethren by working for a public benefit corporation that has filed for Chapter 9 Bankruptcy.
Taking Office, de Blasio Vows to Fix Inequity
Chang W. Lee/The New York Times
Bill de Blasio, right, with
his wife and children, was sworn into office at City Hall on Wednesday
by former President Bill Clinton. More Photos »
By MICHAEL M. GRYNBAUM
Published: January 1, 2014
Bill de Blasio, whose fiery populism propelled his rise from obscure
neighborhood official to the 109th mayor of New York, was sworn into
office on Wednesday, pledging that his ambition for a more humane and
equal metropolis would remain undimmed.
Multimedia
Related
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Gotham: Plenty of Reminders of Populism’s Limits (January 2, 2014)
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Text of Bill de Blasio’s Inauguration Speech (January 2, 2014)
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With Clintons in His Corner, de Blasio Bolsters Ties to His Party’s ‘Gold Standard’ (January 2, 2014)
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At Inauguration, Seeing Another Sign of Change in What the First Family Wore (January 2, 2014)
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Reporter’s Notebook: An Inaugural Pageantry, With Verse, Song and Surprise Meetings (January 2, 2014)
Chang W. Lee/The New York Times
Letitia James was sworn in on Wednesday as New York
City’s public advocate. Dasani Coates held the Bible.
More Photos »
In his inaugural address, Mayor de Blasio described social inequality as
a “quiet crisis” on a par with the other urban cataclysms of the city’s
last half-century, from fiscal collapse to crime waves to terrorist
attacks, and said income disparity was a struggle no less urgent to
confront.
“We are called to put an end to economic and social inequalities that
threaten to unravel the city we love,” he said to about 5,000 people at
the ceremony, many beneath blankets on a numbingly cold day.
Mr. de Blasio, 52, the first liberal to lead City Hall in two decades,
delivered his critiques as his predecessor, Michael R. Bloomberg, whose
Wall Street pedigree and business-first approach to governance seemed to
embody the city’s current gilded era, sat unsmiling a few feet away.
It was only one of many potent symbols of change that dominated a ceremony unlike many before it.
Gone was the more solemn air of inaugurations past, replaced by the
booming strains of disco, soul, and dance music by the Commodores,
Marvin Gaye and Daft Punk, spun by a local D.J. stationed high above the
audience. (Even Hillary Rodham Clinton, seated onstage, swayed with the
music.)
Several of the nation’s pre-eminent Democrats — including Gov. Andrew M.
Cuomo and former President Bill Clinton, who administered the oath of
office over a Bible once owned by Franklin D. Roosevelt — appeared with
Mr. de Blasio on the dais, celebrating the elevation of a party stalwart
with whom they had close ties.
The ceremony was filled with an unusually open airing of the city’s
racial and class tensions, including a poem bristling with frustration
about “brownstones and brown skin playing tug-of-war,” a pastor’s words
about “the plantation called New York,” and fierce denunciations of
luxury condominiums and trickle-down economics.
Mr. de Blasio, a careful custodian of his image, took pains to
choreograph the appearance of a newly approachable and inclusive City
Hall, arriving with his family on the subway and walking onstage to
doo-wop tunes. Even the placement of cameras seemed to ensure that only
the dignitaries on stage and ordinary New Yorkers arrayed behind them
would be shown — and not the many lobbyists and political operatives in
the crowd.
And although he warned that his administration’s work “won’t be easy,”
Mr. de Blasio made only passing reference to the myriad and daunting
challenges — fiscal, political and structural — that he will face in
enacting his ambitious policy agenda.
Several of his proposals, including his signature plan to pay for
prekindergarten classes by raising taxes on the wealthy, are at the
mercy of the governor and state legislators in Albany. Other elements of
his platform are expected to be opposed by powerful interests in the
city’s corporate classes.
But in his first hours as mayor, Mr. de Blasio opted to focus more on
his aspirations for the office, and fulfilling a campaign promise to
change the tone of city government on Day 1.
The mayor’s transition team held a ticket lottery so that ordinary New
Yorkers could attend the inaugural ceremony, and the City Hall plaza was
quickly filled with a diverse crowd that punctuated speeches with
impromptu cheers, lending the feel of a jamboree to an event typically
more formal than festive.
From her seat in a back row, Justina Taylor, 16, of the Bronx, started
singing along with a Jay-Z song. “This is my kind of inauguration,” she
said.
Light moments abounded. The young children of Scott M. Stringer, who was
being sworn in as the city comptroller, squealed as their father sought
to recite the oath of office and drowned out his words. Mr. Stringer
laughed: “He’s not quite ready for a television commercial,” he quipped —
a sly reference to the celebrity that Mr. de Blasio’s 16-year-old son,
Dante, attained after starring in his father’s campaign ads.
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http://libn.com
Long Island Business News
Suffolk, Nassau OTB probe ethics conflict
by David Winzelberg
Published: November 24th, 2013
At least one employee of Nassau County Off-Track Betting is questioning whether the head of his employee union, a member-elect of the Suffolk County Legislature, should have a say in Suffolk OTB business.
Teamsters Local 707 President
Kevin McCaffery, whose union represents about 200 Nassau OTB workers,
was elected earlier this month to serve as a Suffolk legislator
representing
the 14th District. In a letter last week, Nassau OTB cashier Jackson
Leeds alerted the Suffolk County Ethics Board to McCaffery’s possible
conflict of interest.
“As a Suffolk County legislator, his duties are to the people of Suffolk
County,” Leeds wrote. “He cannot simultaneously represent the interests
of employees of Nassau OTB, a Nassau County public benefit
corporation.”
McCaffery told LIBN he doesn’t think the two counties’ OTBs are in
competition with each other and he doesn’t see his role as union leader
for Nassau OTB workers as a conflict with issues surrounding Suffolk
OTB.
“If anything, I have the background of dealing with Nassau OTB, which
gives me more insight on the subject than any other legislator out
there,” McCaffery said.
When asked if the legislator-elect’s union job appeared to be a conflict
of interest, Nassau OTB chief Joseph Cairo said, “If you really want to
stretch it. But I don’t see anything that’s apparent to me.”
Cairo added that he’ll instruct the Nassau agency’s counsel to review the situation.
Leeds, a 10-year veteran of Nassau OTB, complained that both union
officials and county OTB management have been too focused on the 1,000
video lottery terminals planned for each county’s OTB and they’re not
paying enough attention to current operations.
“They never worked behind a window,” Leeds told LIBN. “They’re out of touch with the bettors of Nassau County.”
Internet wagering and dwindling handles – the overall money being
wagered – have prompted a consolidation in Nassau OTB’s operations in
recent years; there were 15 betting offices in Nassau in 2003, and now
there are eight. Suffolk OTB, which has seven branch
offices, filed for bankruptcy last year.
These days, according to some analysts, OTB offices exist largely for
political patronage – another reason, according to Leeds, that the
Nassau union chief shouldn’t mix one business with the other.
“Union leaders should not be politicians,” he said. “OTBs are run by
politicians. Being political and doing public good aren’t always
incompatible, but they often are.”
This isn’t the first time a Long Island legislator’s OTB ties have become an issue.
In May 2000, Gregory Peterson, then-president of the Nassau OTB, sued to
prevent Nassau County Leg. Roger Corbin from voting on appointments to
the Nassau OTB’s board of directors. Because Corbin was employed as a
branch manager for New York City OTB and a
member of Teamsters Local 858, which then represented all employees of
Nassau OTB, Peterson alleged Corbin’s legislative role posed a conflict
of interest.
A New York Supreme Court judge issued an injunction preventing Corbin
from voting on OTB appointments, but Corbin appealed and the lower
court’s decision was reversed. The Nassau County Board of Ethics also
chimed in, determining by a 3-2 vote that voting on
OTB appointments didn’t create a conflict because Corbin didn’t
influence policy or engage in labor negotiations.
With McCaffery, some observers say it’s best to proceed with caution.
Anthony Figliola, vice president of Uniondale-based government relations firm Empire Government Strategies, said the legislator-elect may want to recuse himself
from any votes concerning Suffolk OTB until the Suffolk County Ethics Board offers an opinion.
“OTB is a political football,” Figliola said. “It’s better to stay out
of it, especially if you want to get things done in the Legislature.”
David Winzelberg
Reporter
631.913.4247
917.796.1801
