On Wednesday, the New York City Housing Authority released a consulting report done by the Boston Consulting Group that painted an ugly picture of what goes on in the largest public housing agency in the country. It was your typical bureaucratic clusterfuck - backlogs, overcharged items, the whole nine yards. For what the NYCHA oversees, it made the agency look like an amateur in comparison to other cities' housing agencies. 
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When running any sort of political campaign, a fundraiser can be your best friend or your worst enemy (in this sense, we mean 'fundraiser' in the actual person sense, not a fundraising event). They can provide bankrolls or bad publicity; the latter remains as every candidate's nightmare. And, as of this morning, we can weave a grand ol' tale of that happing in our own backyard.
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If you sell alcohol to a minor, you can get arrested.

And if you do not sell alcohol to a minor, you can apparently also get arrested.

No, really.

The Daily News tells the story of Ismael Duran, a father of three who immigrated to the U.S. from the Dominican Republic three years ago. Duran works at the Giselle Mini Mart in Brownsville. When 18-year-old undercover cop Anthony Harriott tried to buy Smirnoff Ice, Duran checked his I.D. and refused, as Harriott is a minor.

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The Post reports this morning on William Bratton, a former NYPD commissioner who apparently has a permit that lets him park anywhere in the city. For free!

So what's up? Bratton was spotted Wednesday parking his Lexus SUV in a "no standing zone" for an hour, and is said to have had a permit "for official use only...emblazoned with two NYPD shields and expires Feb. 1, 2013." Government officials have since told the paper these placards are only supposed to be "for official use" which would disqualify someone like Bratton, who no longer works for the City. Some NYPD top brass counter that "former police commissioners are entitled to placards."

Runnin' Scared reached out to the NYPD for clarification. The tabloid, true to Post form, has already called Bratton both a "fishy commishy" and a "perk jerk." Of course, the Post's arsenal of jeux de mots is never ending. Some predictions for the paper's follow-up?

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www.gullypost.com

Wendell Walters

​Wendell Walters, a former assistant commissioner for the New York City Department of Housing Preservation, is expected to plead guilty to corruption charges this afternoon for a scam that cost the NYCDHP hundreds of thousands of dollars -- and lined the pockets of Walters and his cronies.

Walters, 49, and six others were indicted in October and hit with charges including racketeering, bribery, extortion, and money laundering for accepting bribes from private contractors in exchange for HPD contracts.

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Money can't buy happiness -- but it might buy you time behind the steering wheel if you're a felon who has been kicked out of the U.S.

The Manhattan District Attorney says that Clarence Jenkins, a 56-year-old DMV clerk, sold three fraudulent drivers licenses to New Yorkers -- including "at least one deported felon who illegally returned to the country."

The D.A., which announced Jenkins's indictment today, said that the ruse worked like this: Jenkins would process fake IDs from Puerto Rico -- which he knew were bogus -- and use them to issue valid New York drivers licenses.

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Ever wonder why Congress seems so willing to help bail out the financial industry? Well, a 60 Minutes report on Sunday says that lawmakers purchased stock in companies while involved in debates on Capitol Hill about bills that would affect those companies.

Conflict of interest? Just a teensy-weensy little one. But it's apparently completely legal.

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A jury has found former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich guilty on 17 counts in his second trial for corruption, the Chicago Tribune reports. The jury delivered no verdict for two counts and one not guilty decision. Last August, he was found guilty of lying to the FBI, but the jury hung on all 24 other counts. This go-around he faced charges of "wire fraud, attempted extortion, bribery, extortion conspiracy and bribery conspiracy," according to the New York Times. Throughout the entire circus Blago has maintained his innocence, and even testified for seven days; he did not testify during the first trial. This probably hurts as much as getting fired on Celebrity Apprentice. After the verdict was read, Blago turned to his wife Patti and whispered, "I love you." [Chicago Tribune]

​So who isn't investigating The Great Snow Clean-Up Fuck-Up of 2010? After nearly a week of nonstop bitching, public agencies are finally cracking down on what went wrong with the city's blizzard response last week (or at least angling for some good publicity). The feds have reportedly launched a fraud investigation to see whether sanitation workers sabotaged the plowing efforts, and the city's own Department of Investigation says it's launched its own probe.More »

Pedro Espada Jr., 57, the outgoing Bronx state senator, Democrat, sushi-lover, has been indicted along with his son, Pedro Gautier Espada, on federal charges of embezzling more than $500,000 from their nonprofit, the Soundview HealthCare Network, reports the New York Times City Room blog.

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