VOTE "NO" TO SCHOOL BOND

Vote No To The School Bond

CORRUPT BUSINESS ADMINISTRATOR
KEN SILVER

If you want to know how past school bonds were stolen, you need to look no further than how the current proposed school bond is being put together. District Business Manager, Ken Silver is setting the people of Mt Vernon up for a $108 million disaster. It is irresponsible to ask the people of Mt Vernon to pass a $104 million bond, especially since previous bonds were misused. A good portion of the proposed bond, is to fix problems caused by poor work performed with previous bond money. Silver and his cronies have drawn the line in the sand, and want controversial Architects, Fuller and D’Angelo to have full control of this obscene bond amount. No oversight will be allowed. Previous misused bonds, resulted in a tripling of school taxes. Mt Vernon Exposed has been informed, that previous board member Lenny Sarver, and former Business Manager, Tim Costello are controlling their hand picked Business Manager, Ken Silver.  Sarver, and Rev. Franklyn Richardson have a very close relationship with Fuller and D’Angelo, and want their Architect firm to have full control of the bond. In the past 15 years, over $200 million in bond monies were misused by crooked Architects. It appears the citizens of Mt Vernon are being taken down the same dark alley. Sources inside Grace Baptist Church say that board member Omar McDowell has been anointed the point man to make sure no one is watching how this bond is spent. McDowell is vigorously pushing Fuller and D’Angelo to receive a $10 million no bid contract. The Architect firm will then be able to hand pick contractors, and will decide the amount they receive. This is a disaster waiting to happen. McDowell appears to be no stranger to illegal activity.  Sources report that he illegally registered his vehicle out of state, to save on insurance cost. This is against NY State law. McDowell has a cozy relationship with Richardson and his sidekick, Rev Mizell.

Longfellow and Grimes schools were poorly built 11 years ago, and are falling apart. Who is responsible for this, and why isn’t the school district going after people who misused our bond money? What are they trying to hide?

This bond request is outrageous, and money to fix construction problems should come from the people who improperly built Longfellow and Grimes, not taxpayers. We need oversight on bond money. Ten million dollar no bid contracts are insane. Would Silver try to pull this stunt in Scarsdale or Eastchester? This is why children in poor districts suffer so much. Officials in those districts care more about contracts than children.

We can only guess that Silver’s plan is to try to scare the people of Mt Vernon, by suggesting property taxes will rise if the bond is not approved. He will say or do anything, but he has not presented a fair bond proposal to the citizens of Mt Vernon, with a proper bidding process, and adequate oversight. If a bond is not passed, Ken Silver should take full responsibility for his actions.

People of Mt Vernon Beware. We believe the fix is in, and the people of Mt Vernon are being set up. We hope our board members will protect us by opening an investigation on past bonds. If the bond proposal ever gets in front of the voters with a price tag of $104 million, we will vote it down. Also, we will not trust the budget proposal in May, which will be presented by the same, Ken Silver. Just like it was in the past, educating children is not the priority.

CORRUPTION ALIVE AND FLOURISHING IN MOUNT VERNON CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT

CORRUPT BUSINESS ADMINISTRATOR
KEN SILVER

Corruption Alive And Flourishing In Mount Vernon City School 

Mount Vernon Exposed had great hopes for Mount Vernon School District Business Manager Ken Silver, who replaced embattled Business Manager Tim Costello. However, sources have informed us that Silver is being controlled by ex board member, Lenny Sarver, and Ex Business Manager, Tim Costello. We were informed that at the urging of Sarver and Costello, Silver wants a $150 million bond, which needs approval, by Mount Vernon’s taxpayers. Both Sarver and Costello handpicked Silver as Costello’s replacement, and sources say, they are running the show. Sarver who is a crony of Ernie Davis, and Costello who is beholden to Mount Vernon’s meddling churches, appear to be in control of the School District’s financial agenda. Sarver successfully pushed for Architects, Fuller and D’Angelo to continue to have complete control of the Architect business in the Mount Vernon City School District. Sources say that Sarver is on Fuller and D’ Angelo’s payroll. Sarver had such a close relationship with these Architects when he was a board member, that he recused himself on votes regarding the firm. Sources explain that behind the scenes, Sarver is steering the entire District’s Architect business to Fuller and D’Angelo, which is costing taxpayers millions. Sarver also secured a job for former school employee John Zambelli, with Fuller and D’Angelo. With the help of Sarver, Zambelli, who retired from the district in 2013, tried to receive a consulting contract with the district, but the resolution was voted down. Many workers in the district accused Zambelli of stealing millions of dollars of the school district’s equipment. Zambelli is back in the district with the help of Sarver and Silver.

Sources say that Rev. Franklyn Richardson of Grace Baptist, and Ernie Davis want their hands on any upcoming bond. All bonds in the past 20 years were mismanaged or outright stolen. Costello refused to open up investigations of past bond thefts, and we can be certain that Silver will follow suit. Rev. Richardson, who also has a personal relationship with Fuller and D’Angelo, is the main culprit in the decline of Mt Vernon’s school District.

Rev. Richardson spearheaded the takeover of the Mount Vernon school board in 1997. Richardson rescued Mt Vernon’s blue ribbon school district from the Italian Civic Association “ICA”. In the next 19 years, Mt Vernon’s school district has imploded, and gone from Blue Ribbon status, to one of the worse school districts in the state.

               

Richardson’s group, C.E.P.A.A. or The Coalition for the Empowerment of People of African Ancestry has been resurrected in the City of Mount Vernon.  This time C.E.P.A.A. is going under a different name. The Mount Vernon Board Campaign Action Committee, Inc. was organized by former School Board Trustee Elias Gootzeit, and spearheaded by Rev Mizell of Grace Baptist and Delia Farquharson. Ms. Farquharson was strongly supported by Tim Costello in her failed bid for a seat on the City Council.

Bond Theft

PREVIOUS BOND RESOLUTION

CEPAA and Mayor Ernie Davis were determined to provide jobs for their friends and family members. However, their main goal was to make themselves rich. Educating children was not going to be a priority of the CEPAA controlled board. A golden opportunity to “cash in” came when Mount Vernon Voters approved a $100 million bond. This bond was to be used to build Longfellow Middle School and Grimes elementary school.

Prior to 2002, Mount Vernon Schools were immaculately maintained. They had a very good buildings and grounds department, headed by Buildings and Grounds Superintendent Robin Cole, and Maintenance Foreman, Steven Lewis. These two gentlemen performed their jobs effectively. They were extremely knowledgeable. It is difficult to steal money earmarked for the construction and repair of school buildings, with an honest Buildings and Grounds management in place. Crooked churches and our crooked Mayor wanted Cole and Lewis out of the picture.

 Civil Service law prevented the firing of the Superintendent of Buildings and Grounds, and Maintenance Foreman, so on June 30, 2002; the last day of the school year the board could vote, they terminated the entire Buildings and Grounds department positions. The resolutions were 02-406, and 02-405. The board members who terminated these positions were, Francis Wynn, Carol Ben Rubin, Gerald Coleman, Diane Munro, Marlene Dandridge, Lynn McBride, and Gloria Colman.

The elimination of a buildings and Grounds Department is unprecedented, especially when major construction was to begin. However, stealing public bond money can only take place by eliminating oversight. It was imperative that they get rid of knowledgeable district workers who could witness corruption. The firings opened the way for crooks to get their hands on the $100,000,000 bond earmarked for the repair of the aging school infrastructure, and to build Longfellow and Grimes. Longfellow and Grimes were erected with poor material and poor labor. Our tax money went out the back door.

So much money went missing, that additional bonds totaling $28 million were obtained at the expense of taxpayers to finish projects. Crooks lined their pockets with taxpayer money, and now Longfellow and Grimes need millions of dollars of additional taxpayer monies to fix problems associated with the ill fated bonds. A company named Mount Vernon Architect was the Architects for the 2002 projects. Mount Vernon Architect did not exist prior to the bond and quickly disbanded after our money was stolen.

Groups are now circling the proposed “Bond” wagon, waiting for money to fall off. Architects were the main culprits in past bond thefts in the City of Mt Vernon.

 Former board member, Francis Wynn who continues to meddle in district affairs, needs to explain to the public, why she voted to eliminate the buildings and grounds department in 2002. Her actions opened the way for illegal acts to be waged against the people of Mt Vernon. The biggest decline in Mt Vernon’s school district came under Wynn’s watch as School Board Trustee. Her votes helped ruin our district.

The district needs to investigate the mishandling of previous bonds. The district also needs to reject any meddling from religious institutions, former employees, former trustees, and elected officials. Sources say that Rev Richardson has Trustee Omar McDowell fighting to keep out oversight, and to handpick Fuller and D’Angelo as Architects.

Corruption is alive and flourishing in the school district and Mount Vernon Exposed calls for the board to investigate any connection Ken Silver has to Sarver, Costello, Ernie Davis, and Rev Richardson.  No bond will ever be approved by the voters in Mount Vernon if outside forces are calling the shots.

Lenny Sarver needs to “get out” of the district’s business. He ran his Father’s electrical company into the ground, and now appears to be making his money through back door deals in illegal school contracts. Sarver has cost the taxpayers money in the past. He lobbied votes for Richard Tomko during the 2014 Superintendent search. Tomko, a failed Elmwood Park NJ, Superintendent, walked away with $200,000 of taxpayer’s money, by suing our poor district. Tomko’s hiring was rejected, and we can only guess that Sarver secretly signed his contract before the board approved his appointment. The taxpayers became liable.

It appears that Ken Silver is letting outside people control him, and this cannot happen. Mount Vernon is a poor community that has suffered from years of corruption. Mount Vernon Exposed calls for a Federal investigation of the Business office at Mt Vernon’s School District. Mount Vernon Exposed also urges the Citizens of Mount Vernon to reject any bond put in front of them while people who were ousted from the district continue to control it.

MAYOR ELECT RICHARD THOMAS' CAMPAIGN FILINGS LATE AND LACKING

 Jonathan Bandler, jbandler@lohud.com

New mayor Richard Thomas filed pre-campaign reports after the election and included errors, and possible contribution violations.

Mount Vernon’s mayor-elect promised transparency if voted into office.

If Richard Thomas’ campaign finances are any indication, he has work to do.

The 33-year-old city councilman’s final three pre-election campaign reports were filed with the state Board of Elections on Friday – three days after the election.\

His fourth to last report, filed three weeks late on Oct. 20, was riddled with errors. It repeated several contributions from the previous filing and included a $12,578 campaign expense listed only as “unitemized”.

Thomas has blamed the delays on his campaign treasurer's serious illness and strict rules on how finance reports must be filed. In the campaign’s final weeks, he said he would provide details of its finances. He did not.

Two of the filings were logged in late Monday night and the other on Thursday night, but none were formally filed until Friday morning when they appeared on the Board of Elections' website. The total amount raised and spent could not be determined because the error-filled filing was not corrected.

The missed filings left voters with no idea how much the campaign raised and spent, who contributed and who the campaign paid in the final month before the primary and throughout the general election campaign.

In the crowded primary field, Thomas defeated four other Democrats - incumbent Mayor Ernest Davis, state Sen. Ruth Hassell-Thompson, City Comptroller Maureen Walker and former Mayor Clinton Young. In Tuesday’s election, he easily defeated Thompson and Councilwoman Debra Reynolds, who were on the ballot, and Davis, whose supporters pushed in a write-in campaign.

Thomas used his city council campaign committee, Friends of Richard Thomas, for the mayoral campaign. The campaign filings show he raised more than $185,000 and spent $132,000. But those figures are not complete because there is no full record of what was raised or spent during a two-week period in August.

Hassell-Thompson also missed four filing deadlines. Her campaign, Friends of Ruth Hassell-Thompson, filed all five of her reports, from July through the primary, on Oct. 26, just a week before the election. She raised $51,000 and spent nothing through early October, according to the filings.

Reynolds filed only in July and a month before the primary, missing the final three deadlines.

The next campaign finance report, covering the final week before the election and three weeks after it, is due Nov. 30.

Thomas said he is working on compliance.

"We have taken action to ensure compliance, as well as having been in regular consultation with officials at the state Board of Elections throughout this process," Thomas said in a statement.

Thomas called his campaign treasurer, Maria Circello, a dear family friend.

“The circumstances have been extraordinary,” Thomas said. “Her being in this state is rough on her and it’s been rough on me.”

Because of her illness, Circello submitted her resignation in July. But the Board of Elections never accepted it because the campaign did not file a letter of indebtedness, required when there are outstanding loans, according to John Conklin, a spokesman for the board. When running for the city council in 2011, Thomas loaned his campaign $1,850. The campaign never repaid him and he never forgave the loan.

Without a new treasurer, and with Circello in failing health, completing the campaign finance reports was difficult, Thomas said.

Thomas said the letter of indebtedness had been submitted but Conklin said it had not been received as of Friday.

It was unclear why Thomas could not have provided that in July if the loans were his own or why he has not repaid the loan. One campaign expense in early October was a $6,400 payment to Thomas. It was listed as a reimbursement but there was no explanation for how he had spent the money.

The filings also showed that several of Thomas' donors may have exceeded contribution limits.

One campaign event a month after the primary, the Win the Future Fundraiser, on Oct. 7 at Leewood Golf Club in Eastchester called for donors to contribute $2,500. Seven people gave that amount. But according to the Westchester County Board of Elections, the limit for total individual contributions by a non-relative in the general election was $1,801.

Anthony DeBellis, a former city assessor who was among the hosts of the fundraiser, said he had believed the contribution limit was $2,800.

"If it wasn't, if (Thomas) got too much, as other politicians have done, he'll return it," DeBellis said.

The combined limit for the Democratic primary and general election in Mount Vernon was $3,153. Conklin said candidates can't utilize the primary limit for post-primary contributions.

One contributor, Francesco Pontrandolfo of Yonkers, gave $5,000 two days before the primary. The campaign’s explanation on the filing report was that $1,250 was for each of the four ballot lines Thomas was on in the general election. But the only primary Thomas competed in was for the Democratic line. State and county elections officials said candidates are not allowed to increase their contribution limits just because they are on more than one line in the general election.

Another contributor, Carl Demers, gave the campaign $3,250 - $1,250 in May and $2,000 in early August, according to the filings.

Demers, who works at JVD Industries, a Mount Vernon company that also gave Thomas $2,500, said he was unaware he may have exceeded the limit. He said he contributed because he “believed in the youth and the change” offered by Thomas’ candidacy.

FEDS PROBING MAYOR-ELECT RICHARD THOMAS' CAMPAIGN DONORS AND FINANCES

MAYOR-ELECT
RICHARD THOMAS

Controversy is mounting in the Mount Vernon community after a political insider told Mount Vernon Exposed a complaint was filed with federal authorities asking them to probe the campaign finances and donors of Mayor-elect Richard Thomas. 

According to the New York State Board of Elections, campaign finance reports were not filed by the Thomas campaign for the past two filing periods.  In a campaign where Thomas heavily outspent his opponents, the public has the right to know who is trying to and who has brought influence into City Hall. 

A fundraiser held on Wednesday, October 7, 2015 at the Leewood Golf Club in Eastchester violated New York State election.  The funds raised were illegal and in excess of campaign contribution limits set by law. 

According to New York State election law, the following formula is applied to how much money a candidate can receive that is running for public office:

The Non-Family Limit for the Primary and the General election is Total number of enrolled voters in the candidate's party in the district, excluding voters in inactive status, multiplied by $0.05, but at least $1,000, and no more than $50,000.

The Family Limit for the Primary and General Election is Total number of enrolled voters in the candidate's party in the district, excluding voters in inactive status, multiplied by $0.25, but at least $1,250, and no more than $100,000.

These limits are for the entire election cycle. Generally, the Election Cycle is either two or four years. Where the limit exceeds $5,000, a corporation is still restricted to its limit of $5,000 in a calendar year. But, it may give during each year of the election up to the lesser of its or the candidate's limit. The person making a contribution, as well as the person receiving it, is responsible to ensure that the limits are not exceeded.

There are 27,224 registered Democrats in the City of Mount Vernon.  If the Non-Family limit formula was applied, the maximum allowed under law is $1,361.20.   If the Family-Limit formula was applied, the maximum allowed under law is $6,806.00.

The contribution limit for family members is an aggregate limit from all the candidate's family members (defined as a child, parent, grandparent, brother and sister and the spouse's of those persons.)

The illegal fundraiser held by Thomas on October 7, 2015 called for donors to shell out a hefty $2,500.00 per person.  This fundraiser was for the elite contractors and developers that do business and that are looking to do business with the City of Mount Vernon.  In other words, the fundraiser is a fancy way of saying one must pay to play in the City of Mount Vernon. 

ILLEGAL RICHARD THOMAS FUNDRAISER FLIER

The political insider told Mount Vernon Exposed that Thomas was previously questioned about the $2,500 per person fundraiser and that Thomas had the following explanation.  Thomas said that since he was running on four lines (Democratic, Republican, Independence, and Reform) he was allowed to raise the legal amount times four.  For example, Thomas said that instead of the $1,361.20 maximum allowed by law, he could collect $5,444.80 from each person.  Thomas, a young upstart, is sadly mistaken. 

It is disturbing that voters have entrusted 33 year old Mayor-elect Thomas with a $100M budget while Thomas seems to have difficulty getting his own campaign finances in order. Mayor-elect Thomas ran on a campaign of transparency and promised to put an end to the "clubhouse politics", however by Thomas failing to disclose how he paid for his elaborate campaign full of glitz and glamour, a cloud of suspicion will remain over City Hall. Sources say Thomas' Primary Night election bill was over $40K alone for just that one night.  Mayor-elect Thomas must file his campaign financial disclosures at once.