Saturday, July 26, 2008

Efrain Gonzalez: The 'Hardest Worker'

Story by: phillip anderson

Mon Feb 18, 2008 at 07:33:51 AM EST

From the "You've got to be kidding me" file comes the news that state Senator Efrain Gonzalez billed taxpayers over $34,000, more than any other senator, (Assemblywoman Earlene Hooper takes the overall prize at over $ 36,000) for travel expenses and per diem payments last year. You remember Gonzalez, right? He's the Bronx senator who was indicted by the feds for fraud and theft of taxpayer funds in August of 2006, money he apparently spent on Yankees tickets (Why a Bronx Senator needs to spend a dime on Yankees tickets is beyond me), clothes and a house in the Dominican Republic. He then won re-election with 97% of the vote and was promptly indicted again, this time for allegedly stealing over $400,000 in member items that he steered to a Bronx charity but ended up spending, at least in part, to prop up his cigar business. If convicted of all 9 counts of the second indictment, he could do 100 years in prison. His trial was was supposed to have started last November. He's a real piece of work and now he's billing you 35 large.
Assemblywoman Earlene Hooper and Senator Efrain González Jr. recorded more travel expenditures last year than any other lawmakers in their respective houses, according to records obtained from the state comptroller's office.

Ms. Hooper, a Long Island Democrat and the deputy majority leader, billed the state $36,452 in 2007, more than any of the other 211 legislators. Only four lawmakers billed more than $30,000 in per diem payments, mileage, train tickets and taxi fare; totals in the $15,000-to-$25,000 range were typical.

Ms. Hooper charged the state the per diem for working in Albany on dozens of Saturdays and Sundays. She charged the full per diem for 18 consecutive days in February and, after the session ended, for 12 consecutive days in July, according to her travel vouchers, which were obtained through a Freedom of Information request.
...

Mr. González, a Bronx Democrat, filed the highest travel expenses in the Senate, billing $34,268.

Don't worry though. Gonzalez can explain. He's the "hardest worker." No, really. He said that.

"That makes me the hardest worker," he said in an interview, adding that he frequently traveled to Albany, even in the legislative off-season, to meet with state officials in different agencies.

"The real stuff is done here," said Mr. González, whose expenditures also included reimbursement for working on many weekend days. "It changes the dynamic if you do things personally and build working relationships. That's the way real life is."

Well, OK then. If you say so. The problem is, there isn't all that much going on in Albany on the weekends.

Barbara Bartoletti, the legislative director of the League of Women Voters of New York State, expressed shock at Ms. Hooper's billing.

"Is outrageous too strong a word?" she said. "Very little goes on in Albany on the weekends. Nothing's open. It's not plausible that she's working here on the weekends, because the state government isn't open. That's extraordinarily troubling."

Want to know what else is troubling? It troubles me that a man who is facing a CENTURY in federal prison for literally robbing the public blind is in a position to be billing the public for anything.

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Efrain Gonzalez: The 'Hardest Worker' | 2 comments
The Trial (0.00 / 0)
is now scheduled to occur not earlier than late April of this year, but could well be postponed yet again.

Let's hope that it finally takes place in time for Gonzalez to be ousted or dragged away from his seat, as it's clear he will never vacate it voluntarily.

I've been a constituent of Mr. Gonzalez and it's hard to imagine a (4.00 / 1)
more inert representative than he was. On the issue of public school funding, for example, about which I often spoke to his staff and occasionally to him, Senator Gonzalez never had a clue.

That said, this is an odd holiday weekend to sneer at weekend travel to Albany. This is caucus weekend when black and Hispanic legislators meet, plan and are courted by lobbyists and other elected officials.

My own favorite group, Domestic Workers United, a proto-union direct action and lobbying group on behalf of NYS's 200,000 domestic workers, was honored there this weekend. The caucus may make the Domestic Workers Bill of Rights a legislative priority for the coming session.

Efrain Gonzalez: The 'Hardest Worker' | 2 comments


http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/nys/pressreleases/December06/gonzalezs2indictmentpr.pdf
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