Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz has been engaging in the unethical, if not illegal, practice of funneling city contracts to a non-profit that he controls. Today’s Daily News has the story of how nearly $700,000 in city contracts has gone to Best of Brooklyn Inc., a non-profit he controls. Many of the contracts were written specifically to avoid public scrutiny. Per the Daily News:
From 2004 through June 2008, Markowitz doled out $680,496 in taxpayer dollars to his organization, Best of Brooklyn Inc., without competitive bidding or approval from other city agencies or boards. Among the 18 no-bid contracts were four issued for exactly $24,999 on the same day in 2005. At the time, city law required contracts worth $25,000 or more to be filed and reviewed by the city controller while smaller contracts got largely no scrutiny. That threshold was dropped to $5,000 this year in the wake of a City Council spending scandal. Mr. Markowitz tells the Daily News it would take too much time to put the contracts out for competitive bidding.
6 responses so far ↓
1 Gari N. Corp // Sep 16, 2008 at 10:08 am
As the mayor of London once said about the US ambassador, “what a chiseling little crook”.
2 Red Hook // Sep 16, 2008 at 10:42 am
Worst of Brooklyn.
3 Mare // Sep 16, 2008 at 12:00 pm
Red Hook,
Wow, I didn’t know the “mad at the world” artsy fartsy trust funders read the DN. How refreshing! I thought you folks only read Wallpaper* or the RISD alumi newsletter.
4 Eliot // Sep 16, 2008 at 5:47 pm
Marty’s jumped the shark.
5 ff // Sep 16, 2008 at 11:34 pm
Marty’s 4 contracts for $24,999 each = $99,996.
But the DN says the reporting threshold is being dropped from $25,000 to $5,000.
So, what times $4,999 equals $99,996?
6 Capt_Nemo // Sep 17, 2008 at 1:16 am
What wasnt written here is where the money went. Read it before you think he is lining his pockets with the money. The money went to things like sending kids to camps.