Larry Seabrook

Marcus Johnson's City Council race was over before it started.

“It just seemed like it was going to be a big open race, which would have been fun,” said the normally ebullient 24-year old. “I don’t think a race against an eight-year incumbent is gonna be fun.”  read more »

Among the funding requests cut by the Council from its budget was one for the Bronx African American Chamber of Commerce, which was slated to get $10,000 at the request of City Councilman Larry Seabrook. The organization earned some attention when it came out that they never accounted for the ultimate destination of $994,488 they received last year.

After voting in favor of the budget, Seabrook told me, “I didn’t put it in -- that was a mistake on their end,” referring to the Council staff.

A spokesman for the City Council explained the mistake, saying that Seabrook had initially asked for the money but later recsinded the request.  read more »

In her clearest remarks to date about the slush fund scandal at the City Council, Christine Quinn told reporters today, “I am not a target of the investigation.”

The remark came during a Q&A with reporters following her announcement that legislation would be passed later today in order to rezone Harlem and create a permanent office of long-term sustainability.  read more »

Congestion pricing just passed the City Council Committee on State and Federal Legislation, 6-4. Members who voted in favor included Maria Baez, Melissa Viverito, Larry Seabrook, Joel Rivera, Mike McMahon and Hiram Monserrate. Those opposed included Lew Fidler, Joe Addabbo and Erik Dilan.

It goes to the full council tonight.

On March 8, The New York Times published a survey of where some of the City Council's 51 members stood on congestion pricing. At the time, 20 were against, 12 were for, and 19 were either undecided or did not respond to the survey.  read more »

Christine Quinn and two City Council members just issued a statement applauding a ruling that they say will prevent undercounting the audience for minority radio stations.

Quinn--whose likely mayoral bid would probably pit her against Bill Thompson--was joined by Larry Seabrook and Inez Dickens last September to express concern over the proposed methods for media monitoring by Arbitron.  read more »

So, how is Christine Quinn—a major supporter of the mayor's congestion pricing—going to get the (so far nonexistent) bill for the plan through the City Council, which has at least 20 members who have signaled they’re only lukewarm to it?  read more »

I saw City Councilman Larry Seabrook running into City Hall just now, and asked him his predictions on tonight’s primary vote in New Hampshire.

“Predictions? That’s over man. That’s Obama!" said Seabrook, who hasn't endorsed a presidential candidate yet.

A few minutes later Dan Doctoroff strolled in (without a tie!). His predictions?

“I don’t know any more than I read in the newspapers,” he said.

After I posted Larry Seabrook's "lazy asses" comments earlier, a reader brought to my attention the following fact about the desk Seabrook purchased with his campaign funds:

It was bought from Tri County Office Furniture in Mt. Vernon, costing more than $1,200. (There are two invoices from Tri County -- one for $1,108, and the other for $150.)

I just called Tri County's Mt. Vernon office and asked if they had desks in the $1,100-$1,200 price range. "We have furniture in all price ranges," I was told.

Could I get, say, a custom-made desk for that price?

"Custom-made and laminated," the guy said.

I spotted Larry Seabrook on his way into a meeting in Christine Quinn’s office with Deputy Mayor Dennis Walcott and some education officals just now.

Before he went in, I asked him about that fine he received from the Campaign Finance Board for allegedly buying furniture the day before the election with matching funds from the city.

Here’s what he told me:

“We didn’t buy campaign furniture the day before the election. That didn’t happen. That’s not true. That was done before that.”

He added:

"It wasn’t furniture. It was a computer desk to put the computer on. It wasn’t chairs and couches, it wasn’t that. It was a computer table. See, they gave you the impression that I was buying couches and that I was buying easy chairs. It was a computer table to put the computer on that we were doing the robo calls. See nobody--if they got off their fat asses and went there, they would have saw that it was a computer table to put a computer on. And it wasn’t furniture. It wasn’t a couch. It wasn’t an easy chair. It wasn’t a LZ Boy like them lazy asses. But that’s what happened."

UPDATE: A spokesman for the CFB, Eric Friedman, responded by saying, “The Board takes both the timing and enduring value--as well as the purpose--of each spending item into account when deciding whether it is an allowable campaign expense.”
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That’s what it looked like when the executive director of the city Campaign Finance Board testified to the City Council about the proposed changes that would boost matching funds, increase reporting requirements and restrict who can give to city candidates.

Inez Dickens asked if any of the people from the CFB had run for office, been a campaign treasurer, or had raised funds for one. No, they all said, giving Dickens the “you’ve never walked in our shoes” kind of leverage.

But the mayor, City Council Speaker, and a large number of Council members are already backing the proposed changes, making the browbeating during the hearing more of a way to vent than to derail the proposal.

And in case you’re wondering, Larry Seabrook, whose adventures with matching funds I’m a little obsessed with, did stop in to hear a few minutes of testimony.

Here's a clip from yesterday's press conference, where Christine Quinn
and Michael Bloomberg declared that public matching funds for campaigns shouldn't
go to candidates that don't have competitive elections.

Despite the fact that he has always been a self-financed candidate, it's an issue with which Bloomberg is familiar.

Two years ago, he was dragged into a City Council race in the Bronx when eventual winner Larry Seabrook asked for matching funds based on Bloomberg's alleged support for a opponent.

The rest is history: Seabrook got his matching funds. His opponent, George Rubin, raised $0.

Here, for the sake of posterity, is Seabrook's explanation.

Shortly after he was singled out for having one of the lowest attendance rates in the City Council, I happened to catch Larry Seabrook on his way to the National Action Network dinner at the Sheraton last night.

In the video after the jump, he's joined by Jose Rivera, the Bronx County leader. (Or, as he described himself, Seabrook's "street lawyer.")  read more »

A mere four days after Election Day, Eliot Spitzer will be headed to Puerto Rico to take part in a post-election getaway hosted by the New York State Assembly Puerto Rican/Hispanic Task Force.

At the conference - which takes place from November 9 to 14 at the Intercontinental San Juan Resort and Casino - Spitzer is expected to talk about higher education.

The itinerary is here.

Another highlight should be a panel about economic development -- moderated by indicted state Senator Efrain Gonzalez and Council member Larry Seabrook, who had an interesting way of getting money from the city's Campaign Finance Board.

Gonzalez was invited to moderate "way before anything happened," explained the chairman of the group, Assemblyman Peter Rivera. He also pointed out that Gonzalez has "moderated it for years."

-- Azi Paybarah

After a number of stories last year (here, here, and here) pointing to a common scam perpetrated by candidates running against token opposition, the city's Campaign Finance Board finally issued a report this week on the 2005 elections addressing a little problem with the way they give away money.

Under current rules, candidates may file a Statement of Need with the CFB, allowing them to collect matching funds for their campaigns even if their challengers haven't raised a single dollar. It's a way of ducking a measure built in to the system to limit money given to candidates who don't need it.

Take the example of Bronx Councilman Larry Seabrook last year.

Seabrook essentially pumped up his opponent's credentials, saying that the challenger "has the backing of Mayor Bloomberg's high-spending mayoral re-election campaign."

After sending that letter, which allowed him to collect more than $70,000, Seabrook promptly endorsed Bloomberg.

-- Azi Paybarah CORRECTION: The original post said that Seabrook used most of the matching funds he receieved to pay his own brother for working on the campaign.

What this filing actually shows is that Seabrook's brother is owed (Schedule N) tens of thousands of dollars, but was paid only a fraction of that (Schedule F). Furthermore, as a lawyer for Seabrook called to point out, his brother was paid with private contributions, not the matching funds.  read more »

Additional fundraisers will be held to pay him the rest, the lawyer said.

Azi, a few weeks ago, remarked on one of the odder uses of taxpayer money: bolstering incumbents with token challengers.

The Campaign Finance Board gave out $352,735 to five such incumbents yesterday.

Before Charles Barron, Andy Lanza, Mike Nelson, Jimmy Oddo and Larry Seabrook could get their money, however, each filed a statement of need. Below, in their own words, are some of their reasons.

Seabrook: "My general election opponent is...the nominee of both the Republican and Conservative parties and has the backing of Mayor Bloomberg's high-spending mayoral re-election campaign."

That opponent, George Rubin, hasn't gotten a single dollar from Bloomberg or any other contributor. Seabrook raised $38,817 and got $66,405 yesterday. Maybe it'll go to his consultant, Oliver Seabrook?  read more »

Lanza: "I seek election in a district where the voter registration is divided nearly evenly between Republicans and Democrats. It is important, as one of only three Republican n the City Council, that I am able to get my message out to voters." Lanza got $78,577 yesterday in addition to the $46,582 he raised, all in to ward off Neil Schlanger, who banked $2,600. Oddo: My opponent [in the previous race - corrected] "failed to qualify for matching fund[s] by falling one contributor shy of the required amount. It strikes me as odd that his family, friends and party...would have allowed this to take place. If there was a genuine intention to qualify, surely one person among these groups would have contributed the necessary nominal amount." Oddo raised $65,975 and got $71,003 yesterday. His opponent, David Ceder, has $7,445.