Following Pressure By Rep. Weiner, Justice Clarence Thomas Admits Spouse Earned Up To $150,000 More From Anti-Healthcare Group

Virginia Thomas’ Salary From Anti-Health Care Firm Only Adds to Clear Conflict of Interest, Need for Recusal

  

Today, after months of pressure from Rep. Anthony Weiner (D – Queens and Brooklyn), Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas publically released his financial disclosure forms, which reveal that he has an even greater conflict of interest in cases related to health care reform than was originally speculated, with his wife having received salary from Liberty Central, an organization that actively supports the repeal of health care reform. This latest filing casts even further doubt on Justice Thomas’ impartiality.

See Thomas’ filing HERE

“We knew that Justice Thomas’s family had a financial stake in opposing health care reform.  Now we know even more,” Weiner said. “It’s pretty clear the Justice has one option here: recusal.”

Earlier this year, Rep. Weiner and 90 of his colleagues sent a letter to Justice Thomas calling on him to recuse himself from deliberations on health care reform due to the appearance of a conflict of interest related to income his spouse, Virginia Thomas, has received from groups that oppose health care reform. In addition, hundreds of thousands of Americans have signed petitions calling for Justice Thomas to recuse himself.

What Was Known:

•  Justice Thomas failed to cite his wife’s income on financial disclosure forms for 20 years.
• Recently, he was forced to amend earlier financial disclosure forms after he failed to list $685,000 in salary his wife received from the Heritage Foundation, an organization that actively opposes health care reform
• Separate IRS documents released by Liberty Central, seen HERE, reveal that Ms. Thomas may have received upwards of $150,000 from the organization in 2010, and was slated to receive as much as $165,000 in 2011 and $180,000 in 2012, if she had continued to work there beyond 2010.

What Was Learned Today:

• Financial disclosure forms finally made public by Justice Thomas this afternoon confirm for the first time that his wife was also being paid salary and benefits by Liberty Central, another right-wing organization that is currently working to overturn health care reform
• If Thomas was in fact paid up to$150,000 by Liberty Central in 2010, that would mean she’s received a total of nearly $850,000 from anti-health care organizations, including the previously disclosed $685,000 from the Heritage Foundation – all the more reason Justice Thomas needs to recuse himself.
• Justice Thomas for the first time also filed a value of $15,000 or less in gross value for Liberty Consulting, Inc, the new anti-health care lobbying firm recently founded by his wife in late 2010.

Republicans Are Playing "Russian Roulette" With Vote on Debt Limit Extension -Rep Anthony Weiner

Today, with the House GOP leadership bringing a vote on extending the debt limit to the floor under rules requiring a 2/3 majority vote in a deliberate plan to have the vote fail, Rep. Anthony Weiner (D – Queens and Brooklyn) released the following statement:

“Republicans are playing with fire by voting against an extension of the debt limit today. I hope that the markets understand a political stunt when they see one.”

“Because, to much of the world, putting the full faith and credit of our nation at risk understandably seems like playing Russian roulette.”

NYC Public Advocate Bill de Blasio Mobilizes Parents Citywide Against Teacher Layoffs

PARENTS HIT THE STREETS TO DEMAND MAYOR BLOOMBERG KEEP TEACHERS IN THE CLASSROOM

Public Advocate Bill de Blasio today mobilized over 100 parent volunteers at 30 locations across the city for the Public Advocate’s “Parent Day of Action” against teacher layoffs. Parents and organizers urged New Yorkers to record audio and videos testimonials which are being uploaded to www.parentsforteachers.com in real time.

In just two hours on Thursday morning the Public Advocate’s parent volunteers and organizers collected over 1000 petition signatures and dozens of audio and video testimonials that have been posted online.

Public Advocate Bill de Blasio said, “Today, New York City parents hit the streets to take action against a budget that jeopardizes their children’s future. As a public school parent, I will not let us get shut out of the budget process, especially when Mayor’s Bloomberg’s proposed teacher layoffs would send class sizes through the roof.  

My office will continue to organize parents across New York until City Hall finally hears our voices.”

Councilmember Margaret Chin said, “The teacher layoffs threatened by Mayor Bloomberg are unacceptable. There are billions of dollars in the DOE budget this year for outside contracts, IT consultants, and even teacher recruitment. How can we legitimately threaten to lay off thousands of teachers while we are spending that kind of money hiring additional central staff, at the cost of increased class sizes? I applaud Public Advocate de Blasio and education advocates for their efforts today in highlighting the impact of these cuts. I and my colleagues in the City Council will be working hard with our Speaker, Christine Quinn, to push back on the Mayor’s proposed education cuts and to find alternative ways to fund the most important item in the DOE budget, our teachers.”

Councilmember Debi Rose said, “Laying-off teachers and cutting day care is unnecessary and wrong! There’s no way that we could lose 4,000 or more teachers and it not have a devastating impact on our youth and our communities. The future of our city depends on a well-educated work force. Less teachers in our schools means more students will be squeezed into classrooms that are already bulging at the seams. This will certainly have a negative effect on the quality of education in our schools. We must tell Mayor Bloomberg that we demand that our teachers and students come first in the budget-making decision.”

State Senator Shirley L. Huntley said, “Education is the key to success and can unlock unlimited doors of opportunity. Yet, to ensure our children attain a proper and sound education and can achieve success, we need teachers to help them along the way. Due to the regressive economic climate the New York City Department of Education is threatening to lay off 4,100 teachers. That is 4,100 less teachers that are children will have to educate them, 4,100 less teachers our children can go to for help and guidance, and 4,100 less teachers to make our schools tolerant, safe, and productive. Parents and community advocates all across the five boroughs must take a stand against any action that threatens our children’s education.”

State Senator Adriano Espaillat said, “We need our teachers in the classroom, not the unemployment line. New York's fiscal challenges should be addressed through common-sense progressive measures like the ‘millionaire's tax’ instead of teacher layoffs that place our children's education in jeopardy.”

Earlier this month, Public Advocate Bill de Blasio launched a series of online forums for parents where they can voice their objections to Mayor Bloomberg’s proposed cuts and also submit written and video testimonials in support of their child’s teachers. The websitewww.parentsforteachers.com contains testimonials from parents in all five boroughs, including dozens of messages from parents recorded today. Video testimonials are designed to be viewed, embedded and distributed online.

NYS Comptroller Tom DiNapoli Audit Recommends Strengthening Enforcement of Veteran Housing Preferences

New DHCR Commissioner Towns Supports Recommendations

Mitchell-Lama housing companies in New York City failed to provide disabled war veterans with priority consideration for housing as required by state law, according to an audit released by New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli at a news conference today. DiNapoli was joined by Darryl Towns, Commissioner of New York State Homes and Community Renewal (NYSHCR).


“By law, disabled veterans are supposed to be given a preference to Mitchell-Lama housing,” DiNapoli said. “What has happened is just unacceptable. These vets have made unimaginable sacrifices for our nation; they should get every benefit they’re entitled to when they come home.


“So many New Yorkers are serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. NYSHCR has to make and enforce immediate changes to ensure these men and women – and their families – aren’t turned away from the housing that they deserve and the law says they should have. Commissioner Towns has only been on the job a short while, but he’s already stepping up to implement our recommendations and protect veterans’ rights.”


Commissioner Towns said: “NYS Homes and Community Renewal is dedicated to increasing transparency and accountability in our programs and procedures. The audit released today indicated that practices that occurred in this agency under previous administrations did not adequately relay information about housing preferences to some disabled veterans on housing waiting lists. Actions that our administration has already initiated, and steps that we have since developed with the Comptroller’s office, will fix this problem.”


According to the law sponsored by Towns, a former assemblyman, housing companies must provide disabled veterans with a preference in admission to Mitchell-Lama housing developments. In advance of that law’s enactment, NYSHCR issued a memorandum in 2007 instructing housing companies on how they should implement the law. Since then, NYSHCR has required housing companies to revise their tenant selection procedures, marketing advertisements, outreach letters, and apartment applications to give disabled veterans, and their families, priority consideration for available housing.


In addition, the housing companies were to notify existing waiting list applicants of this new priority.


The audit covered the period November 2007 to September 2010. The law was subsequently expanded to include all wartime veterans and their spouses.


Auditors examined 18 housing facilities in the New York City area. Among the findings:

• Of eight developments required to have a tenant selection plan, three had not updated their plans to include a veteran preference.
• Of six that had placed advertisements for vacancies, five did not mention the veteran preference, even though NYSHCR approved the ads.
• Eight of the 17 developments that had open waiting lists had not updated their applications to include the veteran preference.
• NYSHCR reviewed tenant selection plans and prepared reports on 14 of the developments. These reports failed to mention deficiencies at 13 of those developments that DiNapoli’s auditors later discovered.

DiNapoli recommended that NYSHCR:

• Train Housing Management Representatives to properly review housing company compliance with applicable laws and division guidance; and
• Increase monitoring of housing company compliance with applicable laws and division guidance.

DHCR generally agreed with DiNapoli’s findings and indicated they would take corrective action.


The full audit can be read at: http://www.osc.state.ny.us/audits/allaudits/093011/10s42.pdf.

Currently, there are 175 DHCR-supervised Mitchell-Lama developments in New York State, with approximately 73,000 units. There are approximately 695,000 wartime veterans who are residents of New York State, according to the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs.

Following Pressure By Rep. Weiner, Justice Clarence Thomas Admits Spouse Earned Up To $150,000 More From Anti-Healthcare Group

Following Pressure By Rep. Weiner,

Justice Clarence Thomas Admits Spouse Earned Up To $150,000 More From Anti-Healthcare Group

Virginia Thomas’ Salary From Anti-Health Care Firm Only Adds to Clear Conflict of Interest, Need for Recusal

Today, after months of pressure from Rep. Anthony Weiner (D – Queens and Brooklyn), Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas publically released his financial disclosure forms, which reveal that he has an even greater conflict of interest in cases related to health care reform than was originally speculated, with his wife having received salary from Liberty Central, an organization that actively supports the repeal of health care reform. This latest filing casts even further doubt on Justice Thomas’ impartiality.

See Thomas’ filing HERE

“We knew that Justice Thomas’s family had a financial stake in opposing health care reform. Now we know even more,” Weiner said. “It’s pretty clear the Justice has one option here: recusal.”

Earlier this year, Rep. Weiner and 90 of his colleagues sent a letter to Justice Thomas calling on him to recuse himself from deliberations on health care reform due to the appearance of a conflict of interest related to income his spouse, Virginia Thomas, has received from groups that oppose health care reform. In addition, hundreds of thousands of Americans have signed petitions calling for Justice Thomas to recuse himself.

What Was Known:

• Justice Thomas failed to cite his wife’s income on financial disclosure forms for 20 years.
• Recently, he was forced to amend earlier financial disclosure forms after he failed to list $685,000 in salary his wife received from the Heritage Foundation, an organization that actively opposes health care reform
• Separate IRS documents released by Liberty Central, seen HERE, reveal that Ms. Thomas may have received upwards of $150,000 from the organization in 2010, and was slated to receive as much as $165,000 in 2011 and $180,000 in 2012, if she had continued to work there beyond 2010.

What Was Learned Today:

• Financial disclosure forms finally made public by Justice Thomas this afternoon confirm for the first time that his wife was also being paid salary and benefits by Liberty Central, another right-wing organization that is currently working to overturn health care reform
• If Thomas was in fact paid up to$150,000 by Liberty Central in 2010, that would mean she’s received a total of nearly $850,000 from anti-health care organizations, including the previously disclosed $685,000 from the Heritage Foundation – all the more reason Justice Thomas needs to recuse himself.
• Justice Thomas for the first time also filed a value of $15,000 or less in gross value for Liberty Consulting, Inc, the new anti-health care lobbying firm recently founded by his wife in late 2010.

What Is a Living Wage? - Center for American Progress

A video from CAP Action's American Worker Project explores what a living wage is and how it helps families, businesses, and the economy

NYC Comptroller John Liu: Dangerous Delays in Women’s Health Care at Some City Hospitals

Audit Finds Women Wait Months for a Mammogram at Some Health and Hospitals Corporation (HHC) Facilities

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City Comptroller John C. Liu uncovered dangerously long waits for women in need of mammograms at some City hospitals, according to an audit released today.

The audit examined the ability of nine HHC hospitals to provide two types of mammograms: screening and diagnostic. Screening mammograms are initial checks for cancer, usually for women age 40 and older. Diagnostic mammograms however are more urgent and are scheduled when a lump or other potential sign of cancer is found.

At some City hospitals women had to wait more than three weeks for the next available diagnostic mammogram appointment. At Elmhurst Hospital in Queens, patients faced a wait of 50 working days.

“For years, City policy has emphasized the need for women to get mammograms. Unfortunately, significant shortfalls and lapses at City hospitals have undercut that intent and worse yet placed women in jeopardy,” Comptroller Liu said. “The HHC has performed admirably in the wake of private hospital closures, and shrinking budgets and reimbursements. This audit nonetheless uncovers problems that require attention and resources so that women’s lives and health are not put at risk.”

LONGEST WAITS FOR A DIAGNOSTIC MAMMOGRAM
50 working days	Elmhurst Hospital	Queens
28 working days	Woodhull Hospital	Brooklyn
21 working days	Kings County Hospital	Brooklyn
20 working days	Gouverneur Hospital	Manhattan
17 working days	Bellevue Hospital	Manhattan

“For a woman who is worried she might have breast cancer, a 50-day wait for a diagnostic mammogram can be agonizing and could delay urgently-needed treatment,” said Lois Uttley, co-founder of Raising Women’s Voices for the Health Care We Need, a national initiative based in Manhattan. “Many of the women who depend on HHC facilities are uninsured and cannot afford to go somewhere else for a mammogram.”

“The real danger and focus of greatest urgency needs to be on women who present with a suspicious finding and don't receive a diagnostic mammogram immediately. This is where lives can potentially be saved,” said Alice Yaker, Executive Director, of SHARE: Self-help for Women with Breast or Ovarian Cancer, a survivor-led 35-year-old breast and ovarian cancer organization. “While controversies about efficacy surround the screening of healthy women, there is no controversy about the need for a diagnostic mammogram in a woman who presents with a lump in her breast, for example. This requires our urgent attention, budget cuts and hospital closings notwithstanding."

The HHC currently has no guideline on how quickly a woman with potential breast cancer symptoms should receive a diagnostic mammogram appointment. It does have a guideline of 14 days for a screening mammogram. Nevertheless, patients at three HHC facilities had to wait more than one month for a screening mammogram appointment.

LONGEST WAITS FOR A SCREENING MAMMOGRAM
148 calendar days	Elmhurst Hospital	Queens
49 calendar days	Queens Hospital	Queens
41 calendar days	Woodhull Hospital	Brooklyn

Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death after lung cancer and in 94% of cases is diagnosed in women ages 40 years and older, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Early detection through breast cancer screening saves lives, reducing the risk of death by 17 to 30 percent the CDC has determined.

Long waits for a mammogram carry an added patient risk because the longer the wait, the higher the odds they will miss their appointment, according to the National Institutes for Health. Auditors noted a high number of missed mammogram appointments at Elmhurst Hospital, where the waits were the longest.

Officials at Queens Hospital and Elmhurst Hospital said that several hospital closures in recent years and budget cuts have left them overwhelmed and unable to meet the HHC’s 14-day guideline. In addition to having the longest waits, Elmhurst Hospital also conducted the most mammograms: 11,425. Queens Hospital performed 10,544 mammograms, the second highest of HHC facilities.

The remainder of the nine HHC hospitals in the audit did offer prompt mammogram appointments during Fiscal Year 2009. The audit also determined that HHC radiologists read and interpreted mammogram exam results in a timely manner.

Audit Recommendations:

§ Create a guideline for the number of days in which women will receive diagnostic mammogram appointments

§ Ensure all facilities provide screening mammogram appointments within 14 days

§ Ensure all facilities send patients reminders of scheduled appointments

HHC Response:

§ HHC is reviewing the creation of a performance standard for offering diagnostic mammograms appointments with a target date of September 2011

§ HHC is currently reviewing its 14-day performance standard for offering screening mammogram appointments and seeking to improve the wait time where it is able

§ HHC facilities are individually reviewing their ability to place appointment reminder calls to patients with a target date of June 2011

Comptroller Liu credited Deputy Comptroller for Audit H. Tina Kim and the Audit Bureau for presenting the findings. The full report is available at http://comptroller.nyc.gov/audits.

Letter to the Editor: Queens Center Mall Should Pay Living Wage by David M. Quintana - Leader-Observer

Read original...

Dear Editor:

On Saturday May 21^st, I attended a Town Hall meeting at St. Paul the Apostle Church in Corona with hundreds of others to demand that the owner of the highly profitable Queens Center Mall, the Macerich Company, give back to the community by transforming the publicly subsidized mall from a poverty wage center into a responsible development for workers of Queens.

Among those participating in the event were elected officials: NY State Senator Jose Peralta, NY Assembly Member Francisco Moya, NY Assembly Member Jeffrion Aubrey, and New York City Council Members Julissa Ferreras and Daniel Dromm.

The meeting was hosted by Make the Road New York (MRNY), Queens Congregations United for Action (QCUA), the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) and the Retail Action Project (RAP)

In exchange for the more than $100 million in tax breaks Macerich receives, a growing community, labor, clergy coalition is pushing to hold the Queens Center Mall owner accountable to the public by requiring retailers to pay a living wage with benefits, respect workers' rights to organize a union without threats or intimidation, and provide space for community services

The owners of the mall receive tens of millions of dollars in subsidies from our tax dollars and what does the community receive in return? Absolutely nothing.

Retail is one of the areas where the largest number of jobs are being created, and it is past time for retail workers to receive a living wage and be able to unionize without being threatened by their employers. It shouldn’t even be a question for the Queens Center Mall, one of the most profitable malls in the country (profits of $876 per sq foot) to become a living wage center and not a poverty wage one,

Many people who work at the mall barely make the minimum wage. As everyone knows, it’s not possible to live on such a low salary here in Queens, much less support a family.

I feel it's important that when we talk about economic development in our community, we should be talking about jobs that provide economic stability, jobs that can support a family and not part-time jobs with poverty wages and no benefits. Macerich should be made to require union neutrality from its retailers, so employees can decide whether or not to organize a union without fear of threats or retaliation.

A living wage bill is being debated in the NYC Council which would require businesses that receive tax breaks or City subsidies to pay their workers a living wage of $11.50 an hour without benefits or $10 an hour with benefits.

I would urge anyone reading this letter to contact their City Council member and tell them that they should vote to pass a living wage law in New York City. I believe it is a moral imperative that if someone works full-time they should be able to support their family and feed their children. Thank you.

Sincerely,

David M. Quintana

Ozone Park, NY

Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY) Strikes The Last Word

Today, House Republicans brought another bill (HR 1216) to the House floor that does not address jobs and wastes time in a futile attempt to repeal part of the Affordable Care Act. House Democrats are staging a "mini-filibuster" by "striking the last word" allowing them five minutes of time to discuss their strong opposition to the Republican-passed budget which ends Medicare as we know it and forces seniors to pay over $6,000 more a year.

Weiner: I move to strike the last word Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, you may recall I was standing here approximately two hours ago waiting to speak with several other members on the efforts of my Republican friends to eliminate Medicare as we know it and for reasons that are known only to the Chair, I was denied the ability to do that. Well, I’m back. And just to review the bidding, here’s where it was before that order was made. We had the Chairman of the Republican Congressional Campaign Committee, a good man, a guy I like, stand down in the well and say, ‘Oh, no’ (and this by the way is someone who is elected by the Republican members to represent them in races all around the country) saying that the Ryan plan wasn’t a plan it was and I’m quoting here, “a construct to develop a plan” and he said the proposal is not a voucher program and then he said it was a one size fits all, that Medicare was draining our economy is what he said.

Well, ladies and gentlemen, that might be the rationale for our Republican friends wanting to eliminate Medicare, but none of those things are true. It is not a ‘construct to develop a plan’ it is the proposal of the Republican party of the United States of America to eliminate Medicare as a guaranteed entitlement. If you don’t believe me, go get the book that they wrote, go get the budget that they wrote, go get the bill that they wrote.

NYC Comptroller John C. Liu's Remarks on City Time Scandal

Below are remarks by New York City Comptroller John C. Liu at a news conference on Wednesday, May 25, 4:30 p.m. regarding the CityTime project:

“Earlier this afternoon, my office was provided with a letter written to the Executive Director of the Financial Information Services Agency (FISA) by Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), the prime contractor on the CityTime project. We were informed that SAIC had terminated their senior project manager who led the CityTime project.

“The name of that employee is Gerard Denault.

“SAIC has determined that Mr. Denault violated SAIC’s policies and standards with respect to timekeeping practices while working on CityTime. He routinely billed hours to the CityTime project that he did not in fact work.

“By their own admission, this latest development now implicates, for the first time in this scandal, SAIC. The very company entrusted by our City to build a timekeeping system for NYC employees has grossly mismanaged their own time keeping, and in the process over charged the city for sums of money – still to be determined.

“SAIC now says they will now refund $2,470,522 to the city coffers for the time Mr. Denault billed to hard working NYC taxpayers.

“A few moments ago I sent a letter to the Mayor because I believe we need to work together.

“I am asking him to join me in calling on the Department of Investigation along with all other relevant authorities to conduct a comprehensive review of other possible violations by SAIC, and I am proposing that the City withhold any future payments to SAIC pending the outcome of the investigations.

“This is a sad day for the New York City taxpayer.

“With the proposed budget cuts looming, we at least need to tightly manage expensive outside consultants.

“The public’s trust in government must be bolstered, and I am committed to working with the Mayor to do just that.”

Below is the full text of the letter sent to Mayor Bloomberg on May 25, 2011.

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May 25, 2011

Honorable Michael R. Bloomberg

Mayor

City Hall

New York, NY 10007

Re: Science Application International Corporation (SAIC)

Dear Mayor Bloomberg:

Today, we were informed by SAIC that they have terminated their project manager for CityTime. SAIC cited the project manager’s violation of SAIC’s policies and standards, specifically with regard to his time billed to the City of New York. Because SAIC cannot accurately calculate the amount that should have been billed to the City, SAIC will reimburse the City for this individual’s billed services. This repayment amounts to $2,470,522.

To date, the alleged fraud relating to CityTime has only involved subcontractors. This latest development now implicates the prime contractor and compels a comprehensive review of SAIC’s billings to the City, in particular, SAIC employees whose time was billed to the CityTime project.

I am directing my representative on the OPA board to introduce a resolution on the points below, and ask that your representative support the resolution:

• The Department of Investigation, along with all other relevant authorities, conduct a comprehensive review of other possible timekeeping violations; and
• The City withholds any outstanding payments to SAIC pending the outcome of the investigations.

I believe the above actions are necessary and as always, I am available to discuss any of these issues with you. Thank you.

Sincerely,

John C. Liu

View letter from SAIC to FISA: http://www.comptroller.nyc.gov/press/pdfs/SAIC-FISA-5-2011.pdf