Scandal from NYC to Kingston

The New York State Board of Elections referred a potential criminal matter to the Manhattan District Attorney's Office allegedly involving NYC Mayor DeBlasio and 3 Democratic County Committees including Ulster County.

The allegations are basically that Mayor DeBlasio and his supporters funneled $1.2 million to 3 different Democrat County Committees with the express intent of bypassing individual donor limits for 3 State Senate races.

The limits for donations to a County Committee are much higher than for an individual candidate.  While the amounts donated were within the law, the portion that violates the law is if/when the donation was a sham and was actually directly intended for a particular candidate.

In Ulster County, the candidate was Cecelia Tkaczyk.  One of the most damning pieces of evidence is an email from Matthew Lerch, the Treasurer for Tkaczyk's campaign.  The email was sent to Hayes Clement, the treasurer for the Ulster County Democratic Committee.  The email said, "Has the check for 60K cleared?  Below is our banking info, we need the 60 transferred over ASAP please."

Why is this so damning?  Well, $60,000 is over 5 times the legal limit for a donation for the race.  Moreover, the email shows that the Tkaczyk campaign knew about the donation and knew that the donation was actually intended for them.

The interesting thing will be to see if what if any deals are made with people to build a case against DBlasio and his people.  Hayes Clement and Matthew Lerch are likely small fish and the Manhattan District Attorney's Office is looking to land a whale.

Waiting on NY

Primary results will be known in a few hours.  Should be interesting on both sides.

I cannot help this nagging feeling that an upset could be in the realm of possibility on the Dem side.

Results later.

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UPDATE

Sanders destroyed Clinton in Ulster County, but lost the State.

On the Republican side, Trump won big.  Moreover, thanks to the fool Kasich staying in the race, Trump cleared 90 delegates.

Brad Will Resigns

Officially, Brad Will resigned over concerns over possible conflicts of interest with his career.

I find this odd.  I have seen Aldermen recuse themselves on votes.  I did so.  Bob Senor did so.  Others did so.  Why can't Will simply abstain??

Rumors abound about possible "real" reasons for the resignation.