Tom Doherty John Haggerty

Three former members of the Pataki administration created a legal defense fund for John Haggerty, the Queens political operative convicted of stealing nearly $1 million from Mayor Michael Bloomberg through an elaborate money-funneling operation through the Independence Party, Celeste Katz reported. Tom Doherty, one of the former government officials, who is not a political consultant, serves as the trustee for the legal defense fund.

John Haggerty Motions Ruling

Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Ronald Zweibel's decision on John Haggerty's motion to dismiss charges.

Decision on Haggerty motions

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Michael Bloomberg John Haggerty Transcripts

Flashback Rewind : Trial testimony provided by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg in the Mayor's shady 2009 campaign finance crimes trial involving GOP operative John Haggerty.

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Haggerty Lawyers Accuse Bloomberg of Suppressing Vote

Defense Lawyers for John F. Haggerty, Jr., attack Mayor Michael Bloomberg over Campaign Finance Scandal.

In shocking opening statements by John Haggerty's defense attorney, Raymond R. Castello, it was said that Mayor Michael Bloomberg hired Mr. Hatterty to conduct a voter suppression campaign, in order to ensure that Mayor Bloomberg would win a previously illegal third term in office.

Mr. Haggerty, a GOP operative, is accused of stealing over $1 million of secret campaign-related payments made by Mayor Bloomberg from one of his private banking accounts. By making the campaign-related payments from his private, personal monies, Mayor Bloomberg was able to funnel the payments to Mr. Haggerty via the Independence Party, thereby circumventing and violating the spirit of campaign finance disclosure requirements. For his part, Mr. Haggerty used a majority of the secret campaign-related payments to buy out his brother's interest in a house.

“The story here is not about theft,” Mr. Castello said. “There was none. This case is about winning at all costs. That’s what Michael Bloomberg is all about, and that certainly is what he was all about in 2009.”

Mayor Bloomberg -- this is all according to The New York Times' article about the opening day of Haggerty Trial -- is expected to testify against Mr. Haggerty.

Meanwhile, even though Mayor Bloomberg has accused Mr. Haggerty of saying anything to avoid prison, Mr. Haggerty has nonetheless found prominent political consultancy work after the accusations of the Bloomberg campaign finance scandal, including serving as an advisor to failed 2010 GOP gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino. Stay tuned.

Mr. Haggerty, right, escorts 2010 GOP gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino during the Columbus Day Parade in New York City on October 11, 2010. Photo by Anonymous.

Allison Jaffin-Haggerty Scam Witness

05 Oct 2011 Update : Fiona Reid has been identified as the double-dipping mayoral aide, who carried out an affair with Mr. Haggerty.

Mayor Bloomberg pays Allison Jaffin two salaries, even though she works for New York City. Ms. Jaffin is now a key witness in the criminal trial about the secret campaign money funneled to Mr. Haggerty in the 2009 New York City Mayoral Campaign.

When it comes to getting paid, Allison Jaffin likes to ''double dip'' -- she gets her first paycheck from the City of New York and a second one from Mayor Michael Bloomberg's private checkbook.

Ms. Jaffin has been identified as a key witness in the criminal investigation and trial against John Haggerty, a Queens Republican political operative, who stands accused of misusing over $1 million in undisclosed campaign payments paid in 2009 -- not by the Committee to Reëlect the Mayor (CREEM), but by (again) Mayor Bloomberg's private checkbook. Ms. Jaffin is alleged to have helped arrange the large yet unreported campaign cash transaction between Mayor Bloomberg and Mr. Haggerty.

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Separately, it has recently come to light that Mr. Haggerty has been accused to have been having an affair with an unnamed mayoral aide, who was also linked with CREEM, according to desperate and lascivious rumours mysteriously leaked to The New York Daily News.

For his part, Mayor Bloomberg asserts that there's nothing wrong for one of his female aids to make money on the side. ''Mr. Bloomberg said he saw nothing wrong with his paying government employees for private work,'' reported The Wall Street Journal.

Ms. Jaffin, The Journal reported, is on the city payroll, gets paid a second time from the mayor's ''private payroll,'' and, in 2009, she volunteered for CREEM. Separately, The New York Daily News has reported that Ms. Jaffin has also worked for the Bloomberg Family Foundation. It's not yet known who was the double-dipping mayoral aide, with whom Mr. Haggerty carried his torrid, extramarital affair. But artist and political commentator Suzannah B. Troy believes that the salacious rumours leaked to The Daily News was an underhanded way to bully Mr. Haggerty into keeping his mouth shut.

John Haggerty Update - Is the Report of Mr. Haggerty's Alleged Affair Part of a Distraction Strategy ?

The New York Daily News tries to shame John Haggerty by publicising an alleged extra marital affair Mr. Haggerty had in the time before Mayor Michael Bloomberg's 2009 reëlection. Artist and political commentator Suzannah B. Troy gives us her analysis of this latest tangential distraction from Mayor Bloomberg's campaign finance scandal. Does the fact that Mr. Haggerty had or did not have an affair have any bearing on the fact that Mayor Bloomberg used undeclared private funds for campaign-related activities ? Listen to Ms. Troy and decide for yourself.

Bloomberg Testified Against Haggerty

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg provided secret grand jury testimony in the case against his own reëlection campaign worker, John Haggerty, Jr.

Mr. Haggerty, right, escorts 2010 GOP gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino during the Columbus Day Parade in New York City on October 11, 2010. Photo by Anonymous.

During public proceedings in the criminal trial against John Haggerty, Jr., Assistant District Attorney Eric Seidel, one of the prosecutors in the case, told Judge Ronald A. Zweibel that Mayor Bloomberg had testified before a grand jury, and that the grand jury evidence supported the state's case against Mr. Haggerty.

In June 2010, Mr. Haggerty was indicted for allegedly stealing $1.1 million in campaign related payments funneled by Mayor Bloomberg through his private banking accounts to the Independence Party of New York State.

In 2009, Mayor Bloomberg was on pace to spend over $100 million dollars in declared campaign expenses through his committee to reëlect the mayor (CREEM). Because there was a backlash at Mayor Bloomberg's outrageous reëlection campaign spending, there must have been some sensitivity within CREEM to substantially exceed $100 million in declared reëlection campaign expenses, ergo the use of millions of undeclared campaign-related expenses from Mayor Bloomberg's personal and private banking accounts.

In 2008, Mayor Bloomberg made private donations to the Independence Party of New York State totaling $1.2 million. Around this time, the New York City Council changed the term limits law without a voter referendum. Then, in 2009, Mayor Bloomberg was endorsed by the Independence Party of New York City.

Ostensibly, Mr. Haggerty was to provide ballot security operations, which is a reëlection campaign activity, for Mayor Bloomberg. Which campaign laws did Mr. Haggerty break, if CREEM knowingly used Mayor Bloomberg's private banking accounts to ''wash in'' money in order to funnel the Independence Party donations to Mr. Haggerty ? What is more, the reporter Aram Roston from PolitickerNY has raised questions about Mayor Bloomberg's pattern in using private donations for campaign-related activities.

Halt To Inquiry Into Bloomberg Campaign Finance Violations Raises Questions

The New York City Campaign Finance Board is suspending its investigation into whether the committee to reëlect Mayor Michael Bloomberg violated disclosure rules ; the suspension is coming on the orders of the Manhattan District Attorney's Office, sources have told The New York Post.

Presumably because oral arguments in the District Attorney's criminal case against John Haggerty are being heard tomorrow, Manhattan DA Cy Vance's office has asked the Campaign Finance Board to hold off its review of Mayor Bloomberg's financial disclosures in connection with his 2009 reëlection campaign.

Mr. Haggerty is accused of misusing approximately $1.1 million in undisclosed money from Mayor Bloomberg's personal-private accounts, which had been paid to the Independence Party ; it has been reported that Mr. Haggerty bought a house with most of the proceeds of Mayor Bloomberg's political donation.

Meanwhile, one questions why Mr. Haggerty is being charged with misusing a political client's money, if he can continue to be hired for his political and campaign services. If Mr. Haggerty was, indeed, a thief, then he would not have been hired to work for 2010 GOP gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino.

If the intention for Mr. Bloomberg's off-committee donation to the Independence Party was always meant to be a way to funnel money to Mr. Haggerty, then it was Mr. Bloomberg, who failed to disclose the campaign payment, not Mr. Haggerty, who misused the proceeds.

That Mr. Vance has asked for the suspension of the Campaign Finance Board's investigation makes one question his motive. As The Post reported, ''If the CFB decides the mayor was trying to hide spending that benefited him directly, he could face a significant fine.''

Mayor Michael Bloomberg Made More Secret Campaign Donations

Mayor Bloomberg has a track record of spending money for his political campaigns out of his private accounts, in addition to his official campaign committee accounts.

Thanks to Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the Republican Party is expected to once again take control over the New York State Senate.

The New York Daily News reported that Republicans regained control by a very slim margin of votes (one race was won by less than 500 votes). In this kind of competition, money undoubtedly could have played a big factor. And when it comes to parlaying money into power, no one person can use his money to buy influence the way that can Mayor Bloomberg.

''Bloomberg secretly gave $900,000 to a barely regulated 'housekeeping' account for the Senate Republican campaign, two sources confirm,'' reported Adam Lisberg.

Mr. Lisberg added that the Republican Party account, which received Mayor Bloomberg's donations, ''doesn't have to report its finances for another month,'' but unnamed sources confirmed to The Daily News that Mayor Bloomberg funneled his donations in two sizeable payments -- ''an initial donation of $650,000, then $250,000 more to help push the GOP over the edge.''

These donations, made in the 2010 election cycle, follow a pattern of secret payments made by Mayor Bloomberg in past election cycles. Much like President Richard Nixon, whose political campaigns had carried out a long set of activities to attack and disrupt the Democrats way before the Watergate Hotel break-in, Mayor Bloomberg's political campaigns of 2005 and 2009 engaging in funneling secret payments out of the mayor's personal accounts to political parties for use in campaign activitis.

Haggerty, Sheekey planned to hide campaign payments

''Indicted campaign aide John Haggerty points finger at Mayor Bloomberg's former deputy mayor,'' reports The New York Daily News.

In motion papers filed yesterday, lawyers for indicted campaign worker John F. Haggerty, Jr., asserted that Mayor Michael Bloomberg's 2009 reëlection campaign had structured ''donation'' payments from the mayor's private bank accounts to the Independence Party, with the participation of Deputy Mayor Kevin Sheekey.

"Bloomberg's money went into the party's 'housekeeping account,' which is supposed to support only general party activities," reported Adam Lisberg from The Daily News.

"...Deputy Mayor Kevin Sheekey convinced Bloomberg to hire the state Independence Party to do the monitoring - instead of using his own campaign team," The Daily News reported.

But how could it come to be that Deputy Mayor Sheeky was planning the mayor's reëlection campaign strategy in respect of monitoring activities ? Whatismore, was it Sheekey who proposed the use of private monies to pay for the campaign activities, or was it Mayor Bloomberg, who told Sheekey to use the mayor's personal accounts -- instead of the mayor's campaign committee accounts -- to funnel money through the Independence Party, in order to pay for Haggerty's election day operations ?

Besides the millions that Mayor Bloomberg spent from his campaign committee account, he also has spent unknown millions from his personal (private) bank accounts, as well as having made millions of dollars in ''donations'' to charitable organisations in exchange for their political support in overturning the term limits law.

The journalist Aram Roston has reported that in Mayor Michael Bloomberg's campaigns in each of 2005 and 2009, the mayor paid money out of his private accounts that were ultimately funneled to the political operative John Haggerty.

Much like President Richard Nixon, whose political campaigns had carried out a long set of activities to attack and disrupt the Democrats way before the Watergate Hotel break-in, here we have Mayor Bloomberg's political campaigns of 2005 and 2009 engaging in funneling secret payments out of the mayor's personal accounts to political parties for use in campaign activitis.

The mayor has a track record of spending money for his political campaigns out of his private accounts, in addition to his official campaign committee accounts. Therefore, the amounts that the mayor has reported and certified as being his campaign finances cannot be neither true, accurate, nor complete.

Add to that the fact that it has been alleged that Mayor Bloomberg has paid millions to charitable organisations in exchange for their political support, and you begin to realise that we really don't know how much money he has spent on campaigning or electioneering to be mayor.

Here we begin to see clear evidence of a three-tiered campaign funding operation, where only one tier was ever meant to be disclosed or reported.

Haggerty Obstruction of Justice ?

Photo Credit : http://truenewsfromchangenyc.blogspot.com/2010/09/steve-rattner-pension-rat-rats-on-white.html

Mayor Bloomberg is trying to thwart the corruption investigation of John Haggerty, Jr.
In the criminal corruption investigation of the possible misuse of $750,000 by campaign worker John Haggerty, Jr., the office of Mayor Michael Bloomberg refuses to release additional e-mails on the grounds of "personal privacy," so reported The New York Post.

''The skimpy exchanges that were provided with Haggerty indicate he was close as could be to top mayoral aides,'' reported David Seifman, the reporter from The New York Post. Mr. Haggerty is charged with stealing $750,000 from payments that were made from Mayor Bloomberg's personal bank accounts, money that was meant for the Independence Party's Election Day poll-watching operations.

2 sets of campaign books

The New York Observer finds a pattern to Mayor Michael Bloomberg's secret campaign payments.

The journalist Aram Roston has reported that in Mayor Michael Bloomberg's campaigns in each of 2005 and 2009, the mayor paid money out of his private accounts that were ultimately funneled to the political operative John Haggerty.

If we are to accept that the mayor has a track record of spending money for his political campaigns out of his private accounts, in addition to his official campaign committee accounts, then the amounts that the mayor has reported and certified as being his campaign finances cannot be either true, accurate, or complete.

Add to that the fact that it has been alleged that Mayor Bloomberg has paid millions to charitable organisations in exchange for their political support, and you begin to realise that we really don't know how much money he has spent on campaigning or electioneering to be mayor.

We can only guess that the reason the mayor has used his private accounts to pay intermediaries for campaign-related services like ''ballot security'' was to evade the reporting and disclosure requirements of the campaign accounts. Meanwhile, for his part in the money funneling operation, Mr. Haggerty is facing criminal charges for how he spent the campaign payments.

Dissing gay voters now seen as routine

It is no longer news when a New York politician dismisses gay pride, nor when he is called homophobic by one of New York City's most influential bloggers.

When he was mayor of Indianapolis, Stephen Goldsmith, a Republican, ended the practise of signing an annual proclamation declaring a gay pride day for the city. Now that he is deputy mayor of New York City, Mr. Goldsmith doesn't recall this significant mayoral action.

Above is the video I made, which is the Deputy Mayor’s response to questions about why he ended the practice of issuing gay pride proclamations while he was mayor of Indianapolis, and what his thoughts were on the subject of same-sex marriage.

By the time I started my hand-held camera, I missed the questions, and they were not included in this video. But there were 2 credentialed reporters, Michael Scotto and Erik Engquist, who served as the press panel, who asked the deputy mayor questions on the day of this speech, and this speech was also witnessed by the artist and blogger-activist Suzannah B. Troy.

On July 20, 2010, Deputy Mayor Goldsmith was the featured guest at a networking-breakfast meeting, where the new deputy mayor of New York City gave a speech and answered questions about his vision for New York City.

Following the deputy mayor's remarks, Ms. Troy made the conclusion that the way that the Deputy Mayor kept making non-answers, avoided his record, and would not answer what his thoughts were on gay marriage meant that he was anti-gay, and as well as anti-gay marriage.

Look at his record : while he was mayor of Indianapolis, he didn’t want to recognize or acknowledge a gay pride day. In response to press questions, the Deputy Mayor said he could not ''recollect'' his anti-gay record, and he would not answer questions regarding marriage equality.

In 2009, when a very slim majority of New Yorkers voted for the ''Independent'' Michael Bloomberg to take a th3rd t3rm as mayor, did anybody expect that Mayor Bloomberg would recruit an anti-gay deputy for his administration ?

Even if it was not anticipated, its revelation leaves New Yorkers surprised and confused -- like, surely we wouldn't allow an intolerant, hateful conservative Republican to oversee and impress his worldview over the operations of New York City. Make no mistake, this video shows that Deputy Mayor Goldsmith not only avoids diversity, but he negates it, too. And so we find ourselves in this ill-fat3d, karmically-doom3d th3rd t3rm, watching the happening of intolerance and hate, and it leaves one to wonder when did we all agree to play the game of pretending like it couldn't happen here.

Fast Cash Shuffle Stunt

John Haggerty, a Queens Republican Party operative, is in hiding after news broke that he cannot fully explain how he spent an approximate campaign finance payment of $750,000, which was channeled by Mayor Michael Bloomberg's ill-fated th3rd t3rm re-election campaign through a $1.2 million payment to the Independence Party of New York state.