Responding to the article that appeared in the Times Union this morning, "Hudson mayor refuses to reveal rent for home owned by Galvan," Joe Ferris, who is challenging Mayor Kamal Johnson in the Democratic primary on Tuesday, released the following statement on Facebook and on Instagram.
AHOD: Allocating Handouts, Obeying Developers
ReplyDeleteIt is curious....
ReplyDeleteColumbia County District Attorney Chris Liberati-Conant seems to be doing a good job with very little resources and his predecessor (more GOP leaning) did not take action on this for 4 years.
So either they investigated and found nothing, in which case it would be good to know, and Kamal can just show the receipts of payments. But an exonerating investigation would have come up in the Times Union story, and Kamal would have mentioned it. (At the debate he alluded to other parties looking into this issue but not the DA or the OAG.)
But all parties interested in the case of Kamal's missing receipts... might appreciate the case of Sandy Annabi of Yonkers, where Kamal was born.
She is basically a GOP caucasian Yonkers version of Kamal and Tom DePietro. Sandy Annabi was betrayed by Zehy Jereis, her secret (jilted) lover and political ally in City Hall.
She took in-kind gifts and cash to vote for public housing and tax breaks for the Yonkers version of Galvan and Kearney Realty.
But Annabi then rejected a marriage proposal from Jereis, even after he supporter her financially and emotionally. He was not amused and it got ugly...
The key events bear a striking similarity to the Kamal / Galvan / "Hudson Housing Hustle".
But in that case the prosecutor was Preet (he is fierce, check out his podcast) and the accused... not exactly card carrying Hudson Catskill Housing Coalition members who use Signal to talk to BLM leaders. (Funniest and most revealing comment in a City Hall meeting in Q2? That QC!))
All that needs to happen now for this to really be history repeating itself is for Kamal to cheat on Michelle, the Housing Justice Director, or break off an engagement (again?) and then for her or a related party to spill the beans on pay-to-play.
If there are beans?
How would we know... Kamal does not answer questions and in response to community members asking about this today he said:
"When the hate don't work they start telling lies... get out and vote!"
Kamal, please point out the lies. There is no hate, just hypocrisy, unexplained housing deals, handshakes instead of hearings, and loyalty instead of ledgers.
As a journalist Roger Hannigan Gilson would have to retract any false statements and issue an apology. And I would love nothing more than to be wrong about your various (Appearance) of Conflict of Interests.
Reference:
https://archives.fbi.gov/archives/newyork/press-releases/2012/former-yonkers-city-councilwoman-sandy-annabi-and-former-republican-chairman-zehy-jereis-sentenced-to-six-and-four-years-in-prison-for-corruption-crimes
I got several text messages and requests to break this down in simpler terms:
ReplyDelete- Sandy Annabi took $200,000 in bribes to flip votes on housing projects that netted developers tens of millions in tax breaks and approvals/profit.
- The total fraud amounted to ~$1 million, including fraud on forms for mortgages and other housing benefits (jumping the line, intentional miss representation to financial entities, similar to what New York State Attorney General Letitia James brought against Trump).
Sandy Annabi was sentenced to 6 years in prison (and I think just released)
The scale could (does?) mirror recent Hudson deals, where in-kind housing perks and PILOT tax relief reach similar figures.
The only definitive way to verify it is for the district attorney to investigate, or for Kamal or Galvan to produce a lease and corresponding bank statements showing payments consistent with the lease agreement.
Has anyone made a simple one pager showing the exact amount of Galvan PILOT tax breaks, Galvan donations to the City, Kamal's potential housing savings from Galvan?
Also doesn't the 1st Ward supervisor candidate Randall Martin and the Bliss tower / HHA executive Director Dodson also live in Galvan housing? Do they pay what non-politicians would pay for the same housing?
Maybe Galvan and Kamal are perfectly innocent, and in fact Galvan has invested an incredible amount in the community over so many years, and just has a PR problem?
The truth would set everyone free. The public trust has clearly suffered.
Whose job is it to establish trust in the local government?
If only there was someone we paid with our taxes and gave extreme investigative powers to, and then (re)elected every four years, to look into this sort of thing so that we don't have to, so that neighbors don't distrust neighbors.
Alas, I guess we will just have to wait and speculate... while Galvan gets another tax break after the election, and the Mill Street housing development floods Habitat for Humanity homes.
Don’t forget Galvan’s tax assessments for all their properties, many reduced by either assessor stipulation or settled lawsuits, some properties are tax exempt under what some may consider dubious standards.
DeleteIt goes way deeper than just one PILOT vote that the mayor likes to remind everyone that he abstained from—and even with that particular project (Depot Lofts) he did not recuse himself from the deliberations, and certainly advocated for it in front of the council and the public/media.