He had first talked about a mayoral candidacy in the late '90s, an idea that failed to gain traction. But the notion gained new life after new mayor Michael Bloomberg hiked property taxes, evoking anger among middle-class families. In early 2003, polls showed any Democrat could beat Bloomberg nearly 2-1.
McLaughlin huddled with his political advisers, his former chief of staff, Evan Stavisky, and union lobbyist Bob Ungar, and asked top gurus like Hank Sheinkopf for advice. He hired a full-time fundraising consultant, a young woman named Jackie Rovine, parked her in an office upstairs from the labor council on West 15th Street, and began trying to raise as much campaign cash as he could. – Village Voice, December 12, 2006
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
Tuesday, February 21, 2006
Influence Peddlers: Trade secrets of the city's fastest-growing lobbying firm
by Tom Robbins Village Voice, February 21st, 2006
Talk about a bad news day. On February 8, a major city bank learned that it was going to be slammed that very afternoon at a City Hall press conference for lending money to slumlords. A group called Housing Here and Now was accusing New York Community Bank of hiking the misery index in poor neighborhoods by funneling mortgages to bad landlords. Worse, the new City Council Speaker, Christine Quinn, was due to participate as well. What to do? The bankers picked up the phone and dialed the lobbying equivalent of 9-
The call went to William Driscoll, a grizzled veteran of Queens politics and partner in a government-relations practice called the Parkside Group. The appropriately named Parkside Group can see City Hall Park from the windows of its spacious Nassau Street offices, and it immediately dispatched troops across the street to see what was up. When the aides arrived and began taking notes, a puzzled member of Quinn's staff asked what they were doing. "We just got hired," came the response.
Chalk up one more client for New York's fastest-growing lobbying firm. Launched in late 2000 by a trio of Queens political figures, Parkside has prospered mightily, thanks in no small part to its ties to the Queens Democratic organization and the council's leaders. City and state disclosure forms show that Parkside took in a whopping $2.2 million last year in fees from 52 clients, a figure that could make it the city's top earner in the lobbying business once those totals are officially compiled by the city clerk. Whatever its ranking, Parkside's revenues have risen faster than the price of oil, up from the $490,000 it earned in 2002.
And that's just the lobbying end of things. The firm has also helped elect many of the same political officials it lobbies. Fifteen members of the current council have used Parkside as a campaign consultant. In last year's elections, city candidates spent more than $550,000 for campaign assistance from the firm. Among them was former Council Speaker Gifford Miller, who became so close to Parkside after it helped him win his post that he asked one of its partners to help him hire a chief of staff. In 2004, Miller launched his ill-fated drive to become mayor right from Parkside's offices.
But for all of the firm's vaunted influence and access, the bank called at a lousy time. That's because there's been a growing buzz about how lobbyists have become the new permanent government for a council that, thanks to term limits, faces constant turnover in members and staff. And Quinn, while owing her own position to many of the same political patrons allied with Parkside, was already looking for a way to place some distance between herself and the influence peddlers.
One council insider said that Parkside's abrupt appearance at the press conference helped galvanize Quinn's decision to unveil a set of reforms right away. "What pissed her off was the assumption that this was the way to reach her," said the source.
On February 16, Quinn stood with Mayor Bloomberg to announce new proposals that would limit lobbyists' access, compel greater disclosure, and double fines for violations. The city's two top officials said they didn't want to wait for scandals like those in Washington and Albany to happen here. What was needed, said Quinn, was a drive to "reduce the influence of special interests in city government."
It's unclear just how these new measures will be enforced, as the legislation has not been submitted. But major issues remain unaddressed. One is the convenient distinction drawn by some firms that visits to city officials are "legal work"—which doesn't require disclosure—not lobbying. Also unresolved is how to cope with firms like Parkside that lobby the people they help to elect (a city hearing last month heard strong testimony that to bar such representation would violate First Amendment protections).
Still, the reforms are a good beginning, said ethics watchdog Megan Quattlebaum of Common Cause/NY, though she added, "The devil will be in the details."
Sitting in their new offices recently, two of Parkside's partners said they could live with any new rules. "From a public policy viewpoint, we think stating who is lobbying whom, and for what duration, is fine. It's a great thing," said Harry Giannoulis, a jovial former Democratic gubernatorial aide who serves as a member of the city's Taxi and Limousine Commission. "As someone smarter than me said, 'Sunshine is the best disinfectant,' " added partner Evan Stavisky, the wonkish son of a pair of state legislators.
Parkside gets high marks from those clients willing to talk about it. "They are terrifically skilled lobbyists," said a representative of the city's Central Labor Council, which pays $5,000 a month for the firm's advice.
But the city's laissez-faire attitude about lobbying rules is highlighted by Parkside's disclosure reports to the city clerk, which shroud its work in mystery. Question 6(A) asks for the "Individual and Entity lobbied." For all of its clients, the firm affixes the same adhesive sticker on its filings: "NYC Legislative & Executive; NYS Legislative & Executive." Another question asks the specific subject matter. Parkside slaps on another all-embracing sticker: "Public Policy and Legislation."
That's its response for Entergy, a giant utility that paid Parkside $78,000 last year to help make sure a pesky council resolution calling for the shutdown of the Indian Point nuclear plant wasn't resurrected. And that's also the response for each of the 30 not-for-profit organizations (most of them Queens-based) that pay Parkside $4,000 to $6,000 per month for very different assistance—to help win council funding grants (the firm has a near perfect batting average).
"You want to have as broad a category as possible so that you are not leaving anyone out. It is consciously broad," explained Giannoulis. "You don't want to be uninclusive," added Stavisky.
Pressed as to whether the stickers complied with even the clerk's minimal rules, Giannoulis later acknowledged he had somehow missed the instructions calling for specific answers that are posted on the city's website. "We may have some refiling to do," he said.
But the lobbyists still remain the soul of discretion when asked exactly what they do for their customers. What about Fresh Direct, the fast-growing (and non-union) home grocery delivery company whose trucks now crowd city streets, and which paid Parkside $48,000 last year? "I don't think for the purposes of this interview we are going to discuss what we do for individual clients," said Stavisky.
On the other hand, they're happy to describe the method behind their fast rise to the top: "We are very good and we work really hard," said Giannoulis. "It is a lot of work. It is hard work. You start from morning and you go to night, and you work weekends."
Connections also help. Driscoll, the eldest of the trio, declined to be interviewed about his own work habits, but he has labored for decades for various Queens pols, including serving as chief of staff to former congressman Tom Manton, who has ruled the Queens Democratic Party organization since shortly after its 1980s scandals.
The job brought its perks. Between 1995 and 2001, Driscoll, an attorney, pulled in more than $320,000 in fees from guardianship appointments he received from judges installed by Manton. Even after 1998, when he became part-time counsel to the Queens County clerk, he kept getting the appointments—though he should have been banned from further guardianships, as a 2000 Newsday article noted. How had that issue been resolved?
"As our business was growing he stopped doing the things in question, so it became kind of moot," said Stavisky.
Yet Manton's shadow looms over much of the firm's success. Parkside has run winning campaigns for many candidates backed by the Queens Democratic machine. "We have been proud to be on the right side of some of Tom Manton's right choices," said Giannoulis, citing the firm's campaign work for the city's first Asian American elected official (Councilman John Liu), as well as the borough's first Latino (Assemblyman José Peralta).
But the firm isn't about to buck Manton's choices.
Parkside initially backed a Democratic organization candidate against Queens councilman James Gennaro in the 2001 election. It was Gennaro, chair of the council's environmental committee, who introduced the anti-nuke resolution that Parkside has vigorously opposed on behalf of its utility client. The resolution died, opposed by an overwhelming majority, and has not been reintroduced. When Gennaro ran for re-election last year, this time with Democratic organization support, Parkside ran his campaign. A Gennaro spokesman said the two events were unrelated, as did Giannoulis.
"This is the complete opposite of a problem," said the lobbyist. "This shows that a political client of ours can have a different position than our lobbying client."
Giannoulis himself has enjoyed his own patronage perks. In 1998, he was appointed by former council leader Peter Vallone to the city's taxi commission. The following year, Giannoulis was listed as the intermediary for some $10,000 worth of contributions from taxi industry figures to Vallone's failed mayoral campaign. Giannoulis acknowledged that such solicitations would be improper but insisted the filings were a mistake, one he had tried to correct: "I was there, but I never raised money. They were supposed to have clarified that a long time ago." Vallone's campaign treasurer, however, said the filings were accurate and that he had no recollection of Giannoulis complaining about it.
Talk about a bad news day. On February 8, a major city bank learned that it was going to be slammed that very afternoon at a City Hall press conference for lending money to slumlords. A group called Housing Here and Now was accusing New York Community Bank of hiking the misery index in poor neighborhoods by funneling mortgages to bad landlords. Worse, the new City Council Speaker, Christine Quinn, was due to participate as well. What to do? The bankers picked up the phone and dialed the lobbying equivalent of 9-
The call went to William Driscoll, a grizzled veteran of Queens politics and partner in a government-relations practice called the Parkside Group. The appropriately named Parkside Group can see City Hall Park from the windows of its spacious Nassau Street offices, and it immediately dispatched troops across the street to see what was up. When the aides arrived and began taking notes, a puzzled member of Quinn's staff asked what they were doing. "We just got hired," came the response.
Chalk up one more client for New York's fastest-growing lobbying firm. Launched in late 2000 by a trio of Queens political figures, Parkside has prospered mightily, thanks in no small part to its ties to the Queens Democratic organization and the council's leaders. City and state disclosure forms show that Parkside took in a whopping $2.2 million last year in fees from 52 clients, a figure that could make it the city's top earner in the lobbying business once those totals are officially compiled by the city clerk. Whatever its ranking, Parkside's revenues have risen faster than the price of oil, up from the $490,000 it earned in 2002.
And that's just the lobbying end of things. The firm has also helped elect many of the same political officials it lobbies. Fifteen members of the current council have used Parkside as a campaign consultant. In last year's elections, city candidates spent more than $550,000 for campaign assistance from the firm. Among them was former Council Speaker Gifford Miller, who became so close to Parkside after it helped him win his post that he asked one of its partners to help him hire a chief of staff. In 2004, Miller launched his ill-fated drive to become mayor right from Parkside's offices.
But for all of the firm's vaunted influence and access, the bank called at a lousy time. That's because there's been a growing buzz about how lobbyists have become the new permanent government for a council that, thanks to term limits, faces constant turnover in members and staff. And Quinn, while owing her own position to many of the same political patrons allied with Parkside, was already looking for a way to place some distance between herself and the influence peddlers.
One council insider said that Parkside's abrupt appearance at the press conference helped galvanize Quinn's decision to unveil a set of reforms right away. "What pissed her off was the assumption that this was the way to reach her," said the source.
On February 16, Quinn stood with Mayor Bloomberg to announce new proposals that would limit lobbyists' access, compel greater disclosure, and double fines for violations. The city's two top officials said they didn't want to wait for scandals like those in Washington and Albany to happen here. What was needed, said Quinn, was a drive to "reduce the influence of special interests in city government."
It's unclear just how these new measures will be enforced, as the legislation has not been submitted. But major issues remain unaddressed. One is the convenient distinction drawn by some firms that visits to city officials are "legal work"—which doesn't require disclosure—not lobbying. Also unresolved is how to cope with firms like Parkside that lobby the people they help to elect (a city hearing last month heard strong testimony that to bar such representation would violate First Amendment protections).
Still, the reforms are a good beginning, said ethics watchdog Megan Quattlebaum of Common Cause/NY, though she added, "The devil will be in the details."
Sitting in their new offices recently, two of Parkside's partners said they could live with any new rules. "From a public policy viewpoint, we think stating who is lobbying whom, and for what duration, is fine. It's a great thing," said Harry Giannoulis, a jovial former Democratic gubernatorial aide who serves as a member of the city's Taxi and Limousine Commission. "As someone smarter than me said, 'Sunshine is the best disinfectant,' " added partner Evan Stavisky, the wonkish son of a pair of state legislators.
Parkside gets high marks from those clients willing to talk about it. "They are terrifically skilled lobbyists," said a representative of the city's Central Labor Council, which pays $5,000 a month for the firm's advice.
But the city's laissez-faire attitude about lobbying rules is highlighted by Parkside's disclosure reports to the city clerk, which shroud its work in mystery. Question 6(A) asks for the "Individual and Entity lobbied." For all of its clients, the firm affixes the same adhesive sticker on its filings: "NYC Legislative & Executive; NYS Legislative & Executive." Another question asks the specific subject matter. Parkside slaps on another all-embracing sticker: "Public Policy and Legislation."
That's its response for Entergy, a giant utility that paid Parkside $78,000 last year to help make sure a pesky council resolution calling for the shutdown of the Indian Point nuclear plant wasn't resurrected. And that's also the response for each of the 30 not-for-profit organizations (most of them Queens-based) that pay Parkside $4,000 to $6,000 per month for very different assistance—to help win council funding grants (the firm has a near perfect batting average).
"You want to have as broad a category as possible so that you are not leaving anyone out. It is consciously broad," explained Giannoulis. "You don't want to be uninclusive," added Stavisky.
Pressed as to whether the stickers complied with even the clerk's minimal rules, Giannoulis later acknowledged he had somehow missed the instructions calling for specific answers that are posted on the city's website. "We may have some refiling to do," he said.
But the lobbyists still remain the soul of discretion when asked exactly what they do for their customers. What about Fresh Direct, the fast-growing (and non-union) home grocery delivery company whose trucks now crowd city streets, and which paid Parkside $48,000 last year? "I don't think for the purposes of this interview we are going to discuss what we do for individual clients," said Stavisky.
On the other hand, they're happy to describe the method behind their fast rise to the top: "We are very good and we work really hard," said Giannoulis. "It is a lot of work. It is hard work. You start from morning and you go to night, and you work weekends."
Connections also help. Driscoll, the eldest of the trio, declined to be interviewed about his own work habits, but he has labored for decades for various Queens pols, including serving as chief of staff to former congressman Tom Manton, who has ruled the Queens Democratic Party organization since shortly after its 1980s scandals.
The job brought its perks. Between 1995 and 2001, Driscoll, an attorney, pulled in more than $320,000 in fees from guardianship appointments he received from judges installed by Manton. Even after 1998, when he became part-time counsel to the Queens County clerk, he kept getting the appointments—though he should have been banned from further guardianships, as a 2000 Newsday article noted. How had that issue been resolved?
"As our business was growing he stopped doing the things in question, so it became kind of moot," said Stavisky.
Yet Manton's shadow looms over much of the firm's success. Parkside has run winning campaigns for many candidates backed by the Queens Democratic machine. "We have been proud to be on the right side of some of Tom Manton's right choices," said Giannoulis, citing the firm's campaign work for the city's first Asian American elected official (Councilman John Liu), as well as the borough's first Latino (Assemblyman José Peralta).
But the firm isn't about to buck Manton's choices.
Parkside initially backed a Democratic organization candidate against Queens councilman James Gennaro in the 2001 election. It was Gennaro, chair of the council's environmental committee, who introduced the anti-nuke resolution that Parkside has vigorously opposed on behalf of its utility client. The resolution died, opposed by an overwhelming majority, and has not been reintroduced. When Gennaro ran for re-election last year, this time with Democratic organization support, Parkside ran his campaign. A Gennaro spokesman said the two events were unrelated, as did Giannoulis.
"This is the complete opposite of a problem," said the lobbyist. "This shows that a political client of ours can have a different position than our lobbying client."
Giannoulis himself has enjoyed his own patronage perks. In 1998, he was appointed by former council leader Peter Vallone to the city's taxi commission. The following year, Giannoulis was listed as the intermediary for some $10,000 worth of contributions from taxi industry figures to Vallone's failed mayoral campaign. Giannoulis acknowledged that such solicitations would be improper but insisted the filings were a mistake, one he had tried to correct: "I was there, but I never raised money. They were supposed to have clarified that a long time ago." Vallone's campaign treasurer, however, said the filings were accurate and that he had no recollection of Giannoulis complaining about it.
Friday, February 3, 2006
More Political Consultants Are Lobbyists, Too
By MIKE McINTIRE - The New York Times - February 3, 2006
More political consultants in New York have taken on the second role of lobbyists over the last five years, prompting good-government advocates to press the city's ethics board to revive attempts to regulate the practice.
An analysis by Citizens Union, a nonprofit policy group, shows that half of the top 10 consultant-lobbyists last year earned no money from lobbying in 2001, but gradually adopted the practice, sometimes lobbying the same public officials they helped elect. Altogether, those 10 firms earned $32 million from lobbying and consulting from 2002 to 2005, according to the analysis, which the group intends to present today to the Conflicts of Interest Board.
Dick Dadey, executive director of Citizens Union, said the growing trend underscored the need for the city to strengthen its lobbying laws. He said elected officials who pay consultant-lobbyists for their advice, and then encounter them in their role as lobbyists, face potential ethical dilemmas.
"When a consultant recommends to the candidate that the candidate take a position on a particular issue, how impartial is that advice?" said Mr. Dadey. "When a campaign consultant invoices his candidate, but is also working for a lobbying client, will the consultant discount the bill because the consultant knows there may be greater access in the future to the candidate if elected?"
The board has scheduled a public hearing on the issue at 9 a.m. today at New York Law School. It held an earlier hearing on the same topic last Friday.
The hearings are the board's latest attempt to wrestle with the issue of consultant-lobbyists. Last year, it issued a memo saying consultants hired by public officials "may not lobby or in any other way communicate" with those officials on behalf of private clients.
The board quickly rescinded the memo after some of the firms threatened to file a lawsuit, saying the prohibition infringed on their constitutional right to free speech. Now, the board is collecting opinions from all sides on whether it should try again.
At last week's hearing, E. Joshua Rosenkranz, a lawyer for a group of lobbyist-consultants, said "the sort of regulation the board is considering is beyond the limited power that the City Charter bestows on the board," and that even if it did have the power, any such regulation would be unconstitutional.
More political consultants in New York have taken on the second role of lobbyists over the last five years, prompting good-government advocates to press the city's ethics board to revive attempts to regulate the practice.
An analysis by Citizens Union, a nonprofit policy group, shows that half of the top 10 consultant-lobbyists last year earned no money from lobbying in 2001, but gradually adopted the practice, sometimes lobbying the same public officials they helped elect. Altogether, those 10 firms earned $32 million from lobbying and consulting from 2002 to 2005, according to the analysis, which the group intends to present today to the Conflicts of Interest Board.
Dick Dadey, executive director of Citizens Union, said the growing trend underscored the need for the city to strengthen its lobbying laws. He said elected officials who pay consultant-lobbyists for their advice, and then encounter them in their role as lobbyists, face potential ethical dilemmas.
"When a consultant recommends to the candidate that the candidate take a position on a particular issue, how impartial is that advice?" said Mr. Dadey. "When a campaign consultant invoices his candidate, but is also working for a lobbying client, will the consultant discount the bill because the consultant knows there may be greater access in the future to the candidate if elected?"
The board has scheduled a public hearing on the issue at 9 a.m. today at New York Law School. It held an earlier hearing on the same topic last Friday.
The hearings are the board's latest attempt to wrestle with the issue of consultant-lobbyists. Last year, it issued a memo saying consultants hired by public officials "may not lobby or in any other way communicate" with those officials on behalf of private clients.
The board quickly rescinded the memo after some of the firms threatened to file a lawsuit, saying the prohibition infringed on their constitutional right to free speech. Now, the board is collecting opinions from all sides on whether it should try again.
At last week's hearing, E. Joshua Rosenkranz, a lawyer for a group of lobbyist-consultants, said "the sort of regulation the board is considering is beyond the limited power that the City Charter bestows on the board," and that even if it did have the power, any such regulation would be unconstitutional.
LOBBY LIST REVEALS THE HIGH PRICE OF INFLUENCE
New York Post, Feb 3, 2006
As the city examines the power that lobbyists exert on municipal government, new figures show the top influence-peddlers are hauling in big bucks.
According to a list compiled by the Citizens Union and obtained by The Post, the Parkside Group is the city's top-billing lobbying or consulting group, having earned $7.5 million in fees since 2001.
Among the group's high-powered clients is former City Council Speaker Gifford Miller. It has also lobbied Miller on behalf of several clients.
Kasirer Consulting was next on the list, with $6.5 million. Its clients have included City Comptroller William Thompson.
Mirram Global, which guided Fernando Ferrer's failed mayoral bid and was co-founded by former Bronx Democratic boss Robert Ramirez, has taken in $5.2 million since 2001.
Hank Sheinkopf, who represents Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum, earned $4.7 million.
The list was disclosed as the city's Conflict of Interest Board winds up its public hearings today on whether to push a rule barring lobbyists from doubling as political consultants.
But the Citizens Union is arguing that that the further regulation of lobbyists should be addressed by the mayor and the City Council, not the board.
As the city examines the power that lobbyists exert on municipal government, new figures show the top influence-peddlers are hauling in big bucks.
According to a list compiled by the Citizens Union and obtained by The Post, the Parkside Group is the city's top-billing lobbying or consulting group, having earned $7.5 million in fees since 2001.
Among the group's high-powered clients is former City Council Speaker Gifford Miller. It has also lobbied Miller on behalf of several clients.
Kasirer Consulting was next on the list, with $6.5 million. Its clients have included City Comptroller William Thompson.
Mirram Global, which guided Fernando Ferrer's failed mayoral bid and was co-founded by former Bronx Democratic boss Robert Ramirez, has taken in $5.2 million since 2001.
Hank Sheinkopf, who represents Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum, earned $4.7 million.
The list was disclosed as the city's Conflict of Interest Board winds up its public hearings today on whether to push a rule barring lobbyists from doubling as political consultants.
But the Citizens Union is arguing that that the further regulation of lobbyists should be addressed by the mayor and the City Council, not the board.
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