Thursday, December 31, 2009

Westchester Guardian Article/Ken Jenkins.

A New Year...
SAME OLD CORRUPTION!

Having Investigated And Arrested Wilson Soto, The DA’s Office Must Now Deal With Ken Jenkins, A Far Greater Menace To Westchester Public Integrity

We were pleased to publish a press release issued by the Westchester County District Attorney’s Office on Thursday, December 17th, advising that Attorney Wilson Soto (D.O.B. 6/26/66) of 8 Huron Road, Yonkers, had been arraigned on a “Felony Complaint charging him with:

• One count of Offering A False Instrument for Filing, a Class E Felony;

• One count of Illegal Voting in violation of New York State Election Law, a Class E Felony.”

The arrest and arraignment of Mr. Soto came approximately 90 days following the September 15th Democratic Primary election in which he voted unlawfully, having issued a fraudulent Affidavit Ballot in support of his clients Jose Alvarado, candidate for re-election to the Westchester County Legislature from the 17th so called “Opportunity District” in southwest Yonkers, and candidate Wilson Terrero, seeking a seat on the Yonkers City Council from the 2nd Council District essentially contained within the 17th Legislative District.

Alvarado was opposed by Yonkers City Councilwoman Sandy Annabi, who was termlimited, and Terrero was facing Virginia Perez and two other candidates for the council seat Annabi was vacating.

It was tragically ironic that Wilson Soto should have been arrested and arraigned on December 17, 2009, the second anniversary of the senseless, brutal assassination of Virginia’s younger brother, Martin Perez. Perez was gunned down in a stairwell at 47 Riverdale Avenue in a botched robbery attempt as he was attempting to earn extra Christmas money delivering food from the former Emerald Diner across from Yonkers City Hall.

We were pleased that District Attorney Janet DiFiore chose to go forward with an investigation of Soto’s Election Fraud, having been supplied with a 76-page memorandum assembled by attorney Sam Abady, working on behalf of Sandy Annabi and Virginia Perez, and drawing upon information gathered from the two aggrieved candidates as well as affidavits from aggrieved voters, and, information gathered by, and reported, in The Westchester Guardian.

However, attorney Soto is clearly not the only individual involved in his acts of Election Fraud. County Legislator Jose Alvarado is deeply implicated. On Feb. 25, 2009, Alvarado had his first fundraiser at Wilson Soto’s home at 8 Huron Road. In his campaign finance filing with the State Board of Elections, Alvarado acknowledged a $1,000 campaign contribution from Soto, indicating Soto’s 8 Huron Road address. Nevertheless, Soto proceeded to fraudulently file his Affidavit Ballot on September 15 at the 15 Hamilton Avenue polling place, claiming to be domiciled at 279 South Broadway and proceeding to fraudulently vote for Alvarado and Wilson Terrero.

On October 5th Alvarado attended a celebration at Soto’s Huron Road home in honor of the seating of United States Supreme Court Justice Sonya Sotomayor. Yet, when interviewed by News12 on October 19, following Sandy Annabi’s submission of the 76-page memorandum to the Public Integrity Unit of the Westchester DA’s Office, Legislator Alvarado declared, “Mr. Soto lives at 279 South Broadway and has lived there forever.”

The simple truth is, Mr. Alvarado, who maintains his district office in Soto’s law offices at 281 South Broadway, no doubt paid for with County taxpayers’ funds, was well aware of the fact that he was lying.

Soto and Alvarado are far from the only individuals deeply implicated in the rampant Election Fraud perpetrated in southwest Yonkers on Primary Election day, September 15th. As previously addressed in The Guardian, over the past three months, there were many players, so-called poll workers who engaged in various Election Fraud schemes designed to perpetuate Alvarado’s tenure, and to elect Terrero by giving them the Democratic Party designation. As it turned out, despite all of the unlawful activity intended to defeat Annabi and Perez, Sandy lost the Primary by fewer than five votes and Virginia by fewer than 10.

As reported by The Guardian, immediatelyfollowing the Primaryelection, Yonkers Democratic Committee City Chair Ken Jenkinswas well aware of the unlawful efforts being made onbehalf of Alvarado and Terrero by persons appointed by him,and clearly did nothing to preventthem. Jenkins, with respect to voter fraud, would not be any part of the solution, but, rather, a major player in the problem.

Moreover, Ken Jenkins, the County Legislator, was engaged in his own very personal Election Fraud, precisely the same as Wilson Soto who has been apprehended and arraigned by the Westchester District Attorney’s Office; only Jenkins’ ongoing felony fraud was perpetrated not for the benefit of Alvarado’s or Terrero’s candidacy, so much as for his own.

In point of fact, Ken Jenkins, who has been seated in the 16th Legislative District for the past two years, has been there unlawfully having knowingly and willfully Offered A False Document To The Westchester Board of Elections December 18, 2006 for filing, having several times voted under that false registration and, having twice unlawfully offered himself as the Democratic candidate for County Legislator from the 16th Legislative District, where he knows perfectly well he does not live.

Mr. Jenkins is guilty of several more counts of Election Fraud than Wilson Soto, having voted in several general and primary elections since fraudulently filing three years ago; two of those elections unlawfully placing him in the County Legislature and lining his pockets with more than $100,000 of taxpayers’ funds.

As importantly, Ken Jenkins, by his flagrant abuse of power and unlawful manipulation of the electoral system, has been an intolerable, corruptive influence not only in the Yonkers Democratic Committee which he chairs and controls for many years, but also, as importantly, in the Democratic-dominated County Legislature where every one of the 16 other legislators has been aware that he does not reside in the district he purports to represent, and nevertheless, the 13 Democratic members now designate him their candidate for Chairman.

Again, we are pleased that the Westchester DA’s Office has done the right thing in pursuing the arrest and prosecution of Attorney Wilson Soto for his Election Fraud. However, we now urge that Office to thoroughly investigate the felonious Election Fraud of Ken Jenkins, whose corruptive influence both in Yonkers politics and on the County Board of Legislators, has been far more pervasive and damaging than that of Mr. Soto, and whose continuing flagrant fraudulent activities pose an incalculable threat to the integrity of the electoral and governmental processes in the County of Westchester.

Thursday, December 24, 2009

Westchester Guardian Article/Ken Jenkins.

Shameless Democratic Legislators

Ken Jenkins Nominated Chairman, Does Anybody Need A Better Argument For Abolishing The County Legislature?

Last week the Democratic members of the Westchester County Board of Legislators erased any doubt in the minds of taxpayers and homeowners as to just how corrupt they truly are.

For weeks, there had been speculation regarding who would be the Board Chair come January in light of Bill Ryan’s squeak-by victory over first-time challenger Bob Hyland in the November election. Tom Abinanti, Marty Rogowski, and Ken Jenkins were all mentioned as possible successors.

Having been tipped off by sources at the Journal News that former Congressman Joe DioGuardi and Greenburgh Supervisor Paul Feiner would be holding a function at the County Center on Thursday, calling for the abolishment of the County Legislature, Chairman Ryan quickly put together an “initiative” dubbed Westchester Renewed. At a press conference in the Rotunda at the Legislature’s chambers on Wednesday, he surrounded himself with about 40 County employees, fellow legislators, and a few municipal officers including Mount Vernon Mayor Clinton Young.

Ken Jenkins was present, but tried to stay out of camera range ducking and dodging during the presentation. The Board had passed the much-debated County Budget by a 9-8 vote on Monday. Jenkins had cast the deciding vote, in favor. The Guardian had investigated rumors that Jenkins did not live in District 16 which he has represented for two years, and determined that he and his family, in fact, live in District 15, publishing its findings in the December 3rd issue.

We pointed out the fact that Jenkins actually resides on Bushey Avenue, and not Moultrie Avenue, providing photos of the dwellings in question. Additionally, we provided a copy of a December 4th, 2008 “Memorandum Of Legislation” on Mr. Jenkins’ Board letterhead, listing himself as sponsor of proposed legislation, the purpose of which he stated was: “Local Law to correct a boundary in Legislative Districts 15 and Legislate District 16 located in the City of Yonkers”; a virtual admission that he was not living inside District 16 and wanted the boundary line changed to accommodate him.



The Guardian also provided copies of his wife’s voter registration card, truthfully indicating the family residence on Bushey Avenue, dating all the way back to April 1988, as well as Jenkins’ re-registration card, filed December 18, 2006, falsely claiming that his domicile was at 28 Moultrie Avenue, a month after Andrea Stewart-Cousins was elected to the State Senate. We also provided the dialogue of a conversation with an actual resident of 28 Moultrie Ave., who made it clear that Ken Jenkins merely came to the dwelling to pick up his mail.

Given all of the above, and the fact that we had made certain that every member of the Board was aware of Jenkins’ “credentials problem”, and the fact that he was involved in the same kind of Election Fraud felony as Wilson Soto, we addressed Chairman Ryan at the press conference with the following: “Mr. Chairman, Richard Blassberg of the Westchester Guardian: While we think it is laudible that you have taken this initiative which will determine the nature of County Government in the future, we are concerned with how you will finance the current County Government?”

“It is our understanding that the County Executive’s Budget passed by just one vote, 9-8, and that, therefore, each vote cast in favor was a deciding vote, including the vote cast by Ken Jenkins, whose credentials have come under question, given the fact that he lives in District 15, and is representing District 16.”

“Mr. Chairman, we want to know how you intend to deal with the fact that, under the circumstances, with Mr. Jenkins not lawfully voting, any County taxpayer can now bring a likely successful suit to stop the passage of the budget because there was only an 8-8 tie vote.”

Bill Ryan responded that he would “only discuss questions directly related to his initiative.”

Wednesday evening, the 13 Democratic County Legislators, including Jenkins, meeting in caucus, decided that Ken Jenkins, a man each and every one of them knows does not live in the district he represents, and a man each and every one of them knows was deeply involved in the rampant election fraud in southwest Yonkers during the Democratic Primary election, was the best choice to be the next Chairman of the County Legislature.

Does anybody need a better argument for abolishing the County Legislature?

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Westchester Guardian Article/The Advocate/Richard Blassberg/Andy Spano.

Republican County Legislator George Oros Declares Spano’s Last-Minute Contracts “A Kick In The Teeth To County Taxpayers”

Last Monday afternoon, retiring Republican County Legislator, Minority Leader George Oros, held a press conference at his law office in White Plains to blast outgoing County Executive Andy Spano for what Oros called “A 2010 Budget filled with land mines and rewards for Spano’s campaign contributors, especially law firms.” He told reporters, “Republicans are calling for a moratorium.”

Oros commented paranthetically, “I’d love to see the budget that would be there if Spano had won.” He went on, “We must bring State, County and Municipal people together. We can achieve real economies of scale. People just can’t take it anymore.”

Oros stressed that, for years, he had called for “reform of the Board of Acquisition and Contract,” but that, on November 24, “the A&C Agenda included a handful of multimillion dollar, multi-year contracts.”

The so-called “11th Hour Contracts” include:

• $2.7 million to various law firms, all of which have been big contributors to Spano’s campaigns to perform of counsel legal services;

• $12 million for Westhab to operate homeless shelters;

• $4 million for security systems integration at the County Jail;

• $900,000 for a fence at Rye Playland.

The Board of Acquisition and Contract consists of three members, the County Executive, and his appointed Commissioner of Public Works, as well as the elected Chairman of the Board of Legislators. In effect, the County Executive, through his appointee, retains the power to pass any contract or long-term lease by his control of two out of three votes.

Oros told reporters, “The Spano Administration wants to tie Mr. Astorino’s hands and make it much harder to achieve the goals the overwhelming majority of voters chose him to accomplish.” He went further, stating, “This is not the way a county executive who has served 12 years should go out the door.”

Oros went on, “Voters spoke loud and clear in the last election that they were tired of business-as-usual in Westchester County government. It’s time for Mr. Spano to step aside and let a breath of fresh air come in.”

Asked if he was, in fact, still pushing for A&C reforms, Oros said he would “like to see the County Budget submitted before Election Day, as well as the use of zero-based budgeting.”

Under zero-based budgeting, every proposed expense, every purchase, every position in County Government, is re-evaluated in terms of developments since the prior budget to determine whether the position, the purchase, etc., is still justified and necessary going forward or, if, for whatever reason, that expense may need to be increased or possibly cut back, or eliminated altogether. Under such budgeting practices, the tendency to fund unneeded positions and expenses is greatly reduced, and duplication of services and acquisition of unnecessary materials and leased space are more easily identified and eliminated.

Oros went on to say, “Spano is frustrating the will and the sentiment of the taxpayers with $30-40 million of 11th hour expenses. We should put those items on hold and give the new administration a change. He owes it to the voters, but he really doesn’t care what they think.”

As if to confirm George Oros’ assertions, on Wednesday, just 24 hours after the press conference, the Guardian received a “Letter to the Editor” from a County Government employee (see page four, “Spanocrat Going to County Board of Elections.”)

We were gratified that the reader had adopted the title ‘Spanocrat’, coined by The Advocate several years ago to describe those party insiders whose attachment for financial selfenrichment, to Andy Spano and Company was much more compelling than their commitment to Democratic principles and practices.

Thursday, December 3, 2009

Westchester Guardian Article/Ken Jenkins.

Back on Sept. 15th, during, and immediately after, the Democratic Primary between incumbent 17th District County Legislator Jose Alvarado and challenger Sandy Annabi, and the Primary for City Council District 2, Democratic designation, involving Virginia Perez, Wilson Terrero, and two other candidates, we had expressed our disappointment with the behavior of Ken Jenkins. Responding to calls from poll watchers throughout southwest Yonkers, we came upon numerous instances of Election Fraud, at various polling places, intended to benefit Alvarado, Terrero, Janet DiFiore, and Tim Idoni, the Democratic Party designees. In some cases we arrived at polling places within a few minutes of Jenkins’ departure, as in the case of 15 Hamilton Avenue, a polling location in a senior housing complex.

At that site, we had observed an individual who other poll workers complained had steered voters to Alvarado and Terrero, as well as having voted numerous times for them herself, in addition to electioneering within the polling place and wrongfully interrogating supporters of Annabi and Perez as to whom they would be voting for before turning them away on one false ruse or another. We expressed disappointment with the fact that Jenkins, Yonkers City Democratic Chairman, had done absolutely nothing to report or stop the fraudulent activities.

Running without Republican or other opposition for reelection to the 16th District legislative seat, Jenkins would be Alvarado’s and Terrero’s running mate, and, wasn’t going to let a little thing like numerous instances of reported Election Fraud; the turning away of voters who were qualified to vote, the intentional jamming of opponents’ levers in the machine, electioneering right into the voting machine, reported unauthorized voting at different polling places, and the like, to get in the way. As chairman of the largest municipal Democratic Committee in the County, and likely the third largest in the State, exclusive of New York City, Ken Jenkins saw no reason to curtail the unlawful activity on Primary Election Day, nor any reason to investigate the many complaints raised by affidavit by decent, honest Democrats in Yonkers who had been “run over” by Alvarado and Terrero operatives and poll workers selected by Jenkins.

Jenkins had nothing to say when The Guardian exposed attorney Wilson Soto’s felony Election Fraud, his falsely swearing on an affidavit ballot that he lived at 279 South Broadway, Yonkers, when, in fact, he lives at 8 Huron Road, several miles away. Jenkins has no problem at all with politicians and political operatives claiming they live one place when, in fact, they live somewhere else.

After all, he lives at 108 Bushey Avenue with his wife and children, a single-family dwelling clearly in the 15th Legislative District, but claims he lives at 28 Moultrie Avenue, a multiple dwelling in District 16 where, incredibly, he is the legislator. Apparently little fibs like intentionally falsely swearing on voting affidavits don’t really matter much to Legislator/Party Chairman Ken Jenkins, even though doing so is a felony.

It isn’t as though Jenkins was ever unaware of the fraud he has been perpetrating ever since he decided he would be the one to replace former County Legislator Andrea Stewart-Cousins, when she moved into the State Senate after beating Nick Spano in November 2006 for a second time, having beaten him in 2004 by 355 votes, but getting screwed out of her victory by the combined efforts of such Democrats as Andy Spano, Larry Schwartz, Reggie LaFayette and, yes, Ken Jenkins, who never so much as spoke out on her behalf. He knew, as Yonkers City Chairman, he would get to replace her the next time she ran, and the Justice Department saw to it that Nick and his hoodlums, and Democratic co-conspirators, would do nothing to risk a stretch in federal prison.

No, it isn’t as though he hasn’t tried to gerrymander part of the district he actually lives in, District 15 into District 16 so that District 16 would include the street he has been living on for years with his family. In fact, almost a year ago, on December 4, 2008, he made a feeble, half-hearted attempt with a memo to his fellow legislators, “To correct a boundary in Legislative Districts [sic] 15 and Legislative District 16, located in the City of Yonkers.” Apparently, later he thought it was better not to bring attention to his ongoing fraud because the issue was never brought to the floor for action, as far as we can tell.

A visit to the Board of Elections last Monday, November 23, produced copies of Ken’s and Mrs. Jenkins’ voter registration cards. Deborah Hudson-Jenkins’ registration, that dates back to April of 1988, clearly indicates that she lives on Bushey Avenue in Yonkers. However, Kenneth W. Jenkins’ voter reregistration, filed on December 18, 2006, following the election of Stuart-Cousins, indicates that he had moved from 108 Bushey Avenue, and was now living at 28 Moultrie Avenue, inside Legislative District 16.

A visit to 28 Moultrie Avenue to photograph it on Saturday, Nov. 21 at 1pm, produced an interesting exchange with an actual resident of that apparent multiple dwelling. We photographed the building by getting out of our vehicle, walking up in front of it, and conspicuously shooting pictures.

Getting back into our car, we continued slowly north, up the street to its end and turned around. Approaching the house from the opposite direction we observed a tall, middle-aged man stepping out into the street, attempting to hail us down. We pulled up to speak with him.

He asked, “Why were you taking pictures of the house?” We told him that were with the Westchester Guardian newspaper and we were taking pictures of the houses where County officials live.

We asked, “Does Ken Jenkins live here?” The gentlemen replied, “Yes, he do; he gets his mail here.”

We asked, “Do you live here?” pointing to house number 28. He responded, “Yes.”

We then asked, “Does Kenny live here with his family?” He then said, “He comes here with his family.”

Ken Jenkins would appear to be carrying on a major scam with regard to his domicile address for political purposes for nearly three years now, having put himself, by virtue of his chairmanship of the Yonkers Democratic Committee, into the former County legislative seat of now-State Senator Andrea Stewart-Cousins. He apparently reasoned that nobody would be the wiser if, despite actually living for many years on Bushey Avenue in Legislative District 15, he simply filled out a new voter registration card indicating that was living at 28 Moultrie Avenue, in District 16, and arranged to have his mail delivered there where he might pick it up.

Of course, a year ago, when the scam was apparently becoming known to some he was concerned about, he produced the brief memo regarding the need to change the boundary line. In other words, boundary lines and rules are for other people, not for a powerful chairman of the Yonkers Democratic Committee.

Given his recent overtures with respect to the Chairman’s position on the Board of Legislators, we say, “Not so fast, Mr.Jenkins!” If 28 Moultrie Avenue in Yonkers is not your domicile address, the place where you actually live, then the voter registration card you filled out and signed on December 18, 2006 involved an act of fraud when you knowingly swore to, or affirmed, that false statement, and you have committed a felony for which, under statute, you should be “fined up to $5,000 and/or jailed for up to four years.” However, as importantly, you should be immediately stripped of your legislative post upon confirmation of your failure to meet the residence requirements in the 16th Legislative District and made to return all salary and stipends fraudulently gathered over the last, nearly, three years.
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