MAYOR YOUNG CRONY TO RIG MAYORAL DEBATE AS PAYBACK FOR RECEIVING NO BID CONTRACT

Derrickson Lawrence "The Crime Stopper"

Mayor Young has proven that he is the king of conflicts of interests and corruption and that no law or person is going to stop him in his quest to line his pockets with taxpayer dollars.  Mayor Young must be thrown out office.  Returning former Mayor Ernest Davis to office isn’t the solution either.  

On Thursday, August 18^th, 2011, a forum was held at St. Peter’s and Paul Church sponsored by The Fleetwood Neighborhood Association and The Mount Vernon Chamber of Commerce.  The one sided debate was moderated by staunch supporters of Mayor Clinton Young.  It was clear that the questions were loaded by the organizations that sponsored the event.  The forum was moderated by Frank Fraley, a convicted felon and President of the Mount Vernon Chamber of Commerce and Susan Granata, President of the Fleetwood Neighborhood Association.   Several board members of the Fleetwood Neighborhood Association are also district leaders in the Mount Vernon Democratic City Committee that voted in support of Mayor Young at nominating convention held in May.  How’s that for a conflict of interest?

Now we fast forward to the next Mayoral debate to be held on August 24, 2011 at the Wartburg.   The forum is being sponsored by another crony of Mayor Clinton Young, Derrickson Lawrence.   Derrickson Lawrence is also a district leader in the Mount Vernon Democratic City Committee that voted for Mayor Young at the nominating convention held in May.  Mr. Lawrence has been paving the way to begin his political career for quite some time now.  Mr. Lawrence ran for Mayor against Ernie Davis and was handily defeated.   As a loyal minion of Mayor Young, Mr. Lawrence was rewarded some favors.  

Derrick Lawrence "No Bid Contract"

Mr. Lawrence is the Chairman of the Westchester County Homeowners Coalition, Chairman of the Westchester County Crime stoppers, and was recently appointed by Westchester County Legislator Lyndon Williams to the Westchester County Charter Revision Committee.  Mr. Lawrence is also the CEO, of Marketview, a company that was just awarded a no-bid contract to install an online complaints system through the Department of Public Works.  Mayor Young sure knows how to take care of his buddies. 

If Mr. Lawrence was truly committed to reducing crime, perhaps he should focus on his position as Chairman of the Westchester County Crime stoppers.  He need not look any further than city hall, if he was genuinely interested in catching criminals.  But then again Mr. Lawrence is part of the same no-bid contract awarding systems that has seen millions of dollars fly out of the windows of city hall into the pockets of political hacks and thieves.   Mr. Lawrence has been awfully silent on the recent crime wave in the City of Mount Vernon.  Where are the crime stoppers?

Mount Vernon Exposed caught up with Mr. Lawrence at the Mayoral debate on Thursday, August 18^th, 2011 to ask him about the no-bid contract.  When asked about the contract he received, Mr. Lawrence appeared puzzled and dazed as to why we were inquiring about his contract with the City of Mount Vernon.  We then asked him the dollar amount of the contract and Mr. Lawrence told one of our reporters that the amount of the contract was “confidential”.  We then informed Mr. Lawrence that any expenditure of public monies is not confidential and that we could easily obtain the information we were seeking though a Freedom of Information Law request.  Mr. Lawrence then quickly told the reporter that he was paid $1500.00 to install the software by the City of Mount Vernon.  

So voters beware, the Mayoral debate scheduled for Wednesday, August 24, 2011 will be rigged with loaded questions by Derrickson Lawrence.  All candidates for Mayor should boycott this biased event.  Any forum for public office should be held by non-partisan groups such as The League of Woman voters where members of the audience will be able to ask the candidates questions.