October 14th. The big chill was early, even for Albany. A press conference was being held in the park across from the New York Court of Appeals. The highest court in the state was set to hear Goldstein et al v. New York State Urban Development Corporation. The press...
As anybody who spends time muckraking can tell you, pursuing stories about political corruption can take you to some passing strange places. Particularly in New Jersey... In July the FBI bagged a passel of Jersey pols on corruption charges. Jersey City Deputy Mayor Leona...
Ahoy President Obama, I hear you want folks to send you any fishy emails they receive about your health care reform plan. So I'm enclosing the ones I've received. I've stripped senders' addresses because I know you have no interest in collecting that kind of info, you just...
Last night I dreamed I went to Jersey City again... I lived in Jersey City, New Jersey for sizable chunks of time during the 70s, 80s, and 90s. The experience made a deep impression on me. Which is why I still write about JC when events resonate. In June an auction of...
New Yorkers can thank their lucky SARs that X Governor Eliot Spitzer had a thing for hookers. Or more accurately-- for pricey hookers run by international criminals who laundered payments through shell companies. If Spitzer had been doing cheap cash and carry on the streets...
created by cvhoffmannstahl | 1 year ago | updated 1 year ago 433 views | 0 recommendations | 0 comments
A raw March morning in Albany. The wind whistled round the Empire State Asylum for the Politically Insane. Dr. Edwards, the new chief of staff, was making his first tour of the facility. Dr. Murchison, his predecessor, was acting as guide. First up, the day room....
created by cvhoffmannstahl | 1 year ago | updated 1 year ago 284 views | 0 recommendations | 0 comments
Enough with the sack stuff. The real eye opener about Eliot Spitzer isn't his compulsion to heave ho, but his willingness to disguise payments via an international criminal enterprise that specialized in money laundering. To make matters worse, Governor Spitzer had...
created by cvhoffmannstahl | 1 year ago | updated 1 year ago 762 views | 0 recommendations | 0 comments
Jeez. The Clinton Obama show is killing comedy. Great jokes are getting lost in the sauce. Did you hear the one about Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke? Ben walks into a bar. A pair of antlers on his head. “Been cuckolded, mister?” asks a chippy, trying for a...
Once upon a time, economic whiz bangs said subprime distress would pass through the financial system like you-know-what through a goose. Subprime was only a relatively small part of the mortgage market and not all borrowers were defaulting. Sure, a few mortgage lenders might...
Albany. The capital of New York. The heart of state government. Can't you feel the rhythm of the beat? Lub dub lub dub. Pols who make it there, don't need to go anywhere-- they can stay in Albany forever and ever and ever. The governor's mansion is akin to the hotel in “The...
Hot damn. The government is going to stimulate the economy. Not with a lap dance or lubricated love glove, but with taxpayer dollars. Come summer, Mister and Miz America will get a rebate from Uncle Sam. What a man! Some people will get more than a thou of their own money...
created by cvhoffmannstahl | 1 year ago | updated 1 year ago 962 views | 0 recommendations | 0 comments
As 2008 opened wide, predictions were made by seers of all stripes. Britney and Hillary would triumph/implode. Pakistan would stabilize/explode. The housing market would rebound/erode. Predictions re the latter tended to focus on nuts, bolts, and bailouts. As in-- Bernanke...
created by cvhoffmannstahl | 1 year ago | updated 1 year ago 3516 views | 14 recommendations | 3 comments
A cold deep Christmas Eve in Albany, New York. The downtown of the state capital lies dreaming. A few hardy souls stagger twixt trendy bars with names like “Malice” and “Ptomaine”. A couple of muggers skulk in a bus shelter and an ancient taxi shoots up Broadway,...
created by cvhoffmannstahl | 1 year ago | updated 1 year ago 723 views | 10 recommendations | 1 comment
Cast your mind back to Susette Kelo. She and her neighbors in the waterfront neighborhood of Fort Trumbull in New London, Connecticut, had their homes and investment properties taken from them by local government and the quasi-public New London Development Corporation. Poodle...
Say hey. Philadelphia has a new day. On November 6th, reform candidate Michael Nutter was elected mayor by the largest margin in the history of Philly mayoral elections. A gut reaction against the corruption and crime that flourished during the two terms of Mayor John Street....
created by cvhoffmannstahl | 2 years ago | updated 2 years ago 1089 views | 2 recommendations | 1 comment