Discretion Is The Better Part Of Valor

Just try to read this without feeling any sarcasm or bitterness. It’s impossible. But really, who cares anymore? It’s all a game anyway:

Over the past fiscal year, which ends June 30, the Council spent $48.5 million on discretionary Council spending, according to spokeswoman Maria Alvarado.

But the city had a $5 billion budget surplus during that fiscal year, compared with a $5 billion revenue shortfall this time around.

The funds are disbursed by Council members to several thousand nonprofit and charitable groups that defenders say will help a wide variety of needy constituency groups.

But it also lets Council members — most of whom are running for third terms because they and Mayor Bloomberg lifted the prior two-term limit — boast they’ve brought home the bacon.

Then there’s this:

Following the discovery last year of a City Council slush fund that stashed dough for fake groups to later spend on pet projects, a rigorous review process was put in place. As a result, Bloomberg’s office yanked $10,000 slated for the Davidson center earlier this year, citing “poor performance on past contracts.”

But that didn’t stop Councilmembers Maria Baez and Joel Rivera. Both of the Bronx Democrats earmarked a combined $85,000 for the group in the budget, according to the lengthy list of grants.

Pay To Play

Sly transition of the day:

Sampson said he’d like to look at his bill and the Assembly’s bill to see if there could be any compromises. When asked if there’s still time before law expires on June 30 he said that’s up to Republican Senator Dean Skelos, who insists he’s still in charge of the Senate. Albany observers believed Republicans won’t let the law sunset because they don’t want to alienate Bloomberg, who’s a generous donor. For WNYC I’m Beth Fertig.

Wow, Kevin Sheekey Is Everywhere!

Right, the bike lane, of course:

The rabbi at the center of an investigation into a bar mitzvah that was held at a New York City jail last year had three scheduled meetings in the last four months of 2008 with Deputy Mayor Kevin Sheekey, the man in charge of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s political operation, records show.

Official calendars for Mr. Sheekey show that he met with the rabbi, Leib Glanz, for a half-hour on Sept. 4, an hour on Oct. 27 and an hour on Dec. 15. The reasons for the meetings are not spelled out on the schedules, and no one else is listed as being present. But in one meeting, Mr. Sheekey appears to have traveled to Rabbi Glanz’s neighborhood in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, meeting at 2 p.m. at a catering hall.

The city’s Department of Investigation is trying to determine whether Rabbi Glanz misused his position as a chaplain with the Department of Correction to arrange a bar mitzvah celebration for an Orthodox Jewish inmate in December. Rabbi Glanz is a prominent figure in the Satmar Hasidic community who has broad ties to law enforcement and state and city political figures, and has, according to one senior city official, sometimes billed himself as having great political influence, even extending into the mayor’s office.

Stu Loeser, the mayor’s chief spokesman, said that the rabbi’s meetings with Mr. Sheekey focused on community issues like housing and traffic. One topic, for instance, was the Bloomberg administration’s creation of bicycle lanes on the Brooklyn waterfront.

Shaky Budget: Can’t Truss It

You can pull the library card, succeed and make everyone happy, but there’s a skepticism hanging over the city; where’s the trust?

Random City Council Embezzlement Allegation Of The Day

The details don’t even matter anymore. All that counts is the City’s antiquated method of discretionary spending.