Dan Halloran, at a happier time, announcing a congressional bid last year.

Embattled Councilman Dan Halloran, whom federal prosecutors have charged with quarterbacking a bribery scheme to rig the mayor's race, is having trouble holding staff members.

First, Mr. Halloran's legislative director, John Mulvey, bailed, followed by his chief of staff, Chrissy Voskerichian. And today, Kevin Ryan, Mr. Halloran's spokesman, just did the same.

"It has been a great privilege to serve as the Director of Communications in the Office of Council Member Dan Halloran," Mr. Ryan said in a statement. "I have greatly enjoyed working for the City Council, especially in the unique 19th District. I am grateful to the Council Member, my co-workers (especially my Communications colleague, Victor Mimoni), the fine journalists I’ve had the pleasure of working with, and the District 19 residents for making it such an exciting opportunity."

Mr. Ryan isn't leaving public service, however--he's moving over to clerk at the Board of Elections.

"I am enthusiastic about continuing to serve voters at the NYC Board of Elections, where I look forward to becoming a better public servant by learning more about the electoral process," he added. "I remain active in the GOP and in the Northeast Queens Republican Club. I think this election cycle will be fun."

Mr. Halloran, who has maintained his innocence, is not seeking re-election.

Loretta Lynch speaking last night.

As indictments of minority elected officials continue to pile up, some leaders have openly suggested, while offering scant evidence, that a conspiracy exists to remove blacks and Latinos from power. But U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch, one of two federal prosecutors responsible for bringing many of the recent corruption charges, outright rejected any conspiracy theories last night. 

"There certainly is no conspiracy to look at any particular group," Ms. Lynch told reporters after speaking in front of a civic group in Marine Park, Brooklyn. "[Pedro] Espada was from the Bronx. You have other politicians from this area who have been prosecuted here, politicians from my district have been prosecuted in Manhattan as well, because it depends upon what evidence develops and where the case takes you. You really can't predict that, to be honest with you."

Ms. Lynch is black and her fellow U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara is Indian-American. Together, within the last two months, they have brought corruption charges against a slew of lawmakers, including State Senators Shirley Huntley, Malcolm Smith and John Sampson, as well as Assemblyman Eric Stevenson and Councilman Dan Halloran.

For her part, Ms. Lynch tried to rationalize why someone like State Senator James Sanders--the recent host of a debate dubbed "Attack on Black Leaders: Corruption or Conspiracy?"--openly wonder whether there is a conspiracy at work.

"No matter what type of case we prosecute, people who may feel targeted are concerned and make all kinds of statements about it," Ms. Lynch said. "It's part of the problem of public corruption that it really almost makes everyone look as if they're involved, even if they're not. And so you have people get very paranoid and very nervous and feel as if they're under a microscope ... We don't go around targeting people other than those that we strongly have evidence [against], but I think what happens is, the atmosphere is very toxic, for lack of a better word, and it does affect people and that's a byproduct of these cases," she said.

Councilman Jumaane Williams, who also attended last night's event, said the question of whether there is a conspiracy against minorities in power is not being framed the right way. The fact that he was even being asked about it, he said, was part of the problem.

"I've never heard anybody ask how it affects the white community," Mr. Williams said of the corruption scandals. "I think people look at elected officials of more color twice as hard and the blame is three times as much. So I think they have some kind of issue there, the fact that the question is asked for one group and not the other again shows how much of the problem there is."

When Politicker asked who the "people" were and whether they included federal prosecutors, Mr. Williams said it was "everybody."

"That's how, since I've been growing up, I've understood the world to be," he said. "It's unfortunate because I've tried real hard to change that but that's the way the world works."

Chrissy Voskerichian. (Photo: electchrissy.com)

Councilman Dan Halloran's former chief of staff, running in the race to replace him after he was arrested on corruption charges, has raised about $11,000 in less than two weeks.

Chrissy Voskerichian abruptly left her post when Mr. Halloran, a Republican, was charged last month for allegedly quarterbacking a bribery scheme for a mayoral candidate. She filed a campaign committee to run in the Democratic primary in Mr. Halloran's northeast Queens district, even before he said he would not seek re-election.

Ms. Voskerichian's filing shows that other former Halloran staffers are boosting her campaign. John Mulvey, a constituent services staffer who resigned with Ms. Voskerichian, along with a family member, gave a total of $250. Amy Tam, a liaison to the Chinese community in Mr. Halloran's office, donated $10. Paige Waranis, once Mr. Halloran's staffer handling land use issues, donated with family members a total of $120. Mario Cappuccia, another staffer, donated $25.

But some doubt the money will amount to much.

"She has a civic following because she is the president of Station Road Civic Association, the 109th precinct council--there are some conservative Democrats in the district that could vote for her," said a Queens Democratic insider. "But I think she's tapped. It's an impressive fund-raising number but her chances of winning are still minimal."

A former director of sales for a telecommunications firm, Ms. Voskerichian is running against Democrats Austin Shafran, Paul Vallone, Paul Graziano and John Duane. Dennis Saffran, backed by the scuffling Queens GOP, is running in the Republican primary.

Ms. Voskerichian did not respond to a request for comment.

Dan Halloran (Photo: Facebook)

Councilman Dan Halloran, who has been charged with helping quarterback a bribery scheme to rig the mayoral race, will not seek another term in office, he announced this afternoon.

"Regrettably, I must now focus my attention on clearing my name and restoring my reputation, while I continue to discharge my sworn duties as a member of the New York City Council," he said in a statement. "After much thought, I have concluded that it is impossible for me to properly do these things and take on the enormous demands of a political campaign, so I will not to pursue another term in the Council."

Of course, Mr. Halloran, a colorful Republican who occupies a swing district in northeastern Queens, faced a perilous re-lection battle with a corruption trial hanging over his head. The borough's Republican Party already dumped the incumbent in favor of Dennis Saffran. Rudy S. Giuliani, the chief of staff to neighboring Councilman Eric Ulrich and second cousin to the former mayor of the same name, has been placing his own feelers out.

For his part, Mr. Halloran mostly reflected on his record while maintaining his own innocence of all wrongdoing.

"For these last four years, our community has been fortunate to have had my incredible Council District 19 staff working hard to resolve issues between the citizenry and their City government," he said. "We owe them a great debt. They continue work diligently in the people’s interest, and it saddens me that these dedicated public servants have suffered along with me."

"Our Nation enshrines the presumption of innocence for a reason, and I look forward to having my day in court, where I am confident that I will ultimately be vindicated. Now is the time I must work to that end," he added. "I thank all those who have supported me. Your encouragement has been a comfort and I am forever grateful.”

Dan Halloran. (Photo: Facebook)

A name familiar to millions of New Yorkers could enter a volatile Queens City Council race.

Rudy S. Giuliani, chief of staff to Republican Councilman Eric Ulrich and second cousin to the former mayor of the same name, is mulling a run for indicted GOP Councilman Dan Halloran's seat, multiple sources told Politicker.

"If there's a special election, it'd be hard to pass up," one Queens Republican insider said. "That's how he's framed it to me."

Mr. Giuliani is perhaps the only candidate who could keep the seat in their party's possession, two GOP sources argued, since Mr. Halloran was arrested two weeks ago for participating in an alleged bribery scheme and the Republican Party lacks a deep bench in the northeastern Queens district. The sources said Mr. Ulrich is encouraging Mr. Giuliani to run for the seat if Mr. Halloran does not seek re-election.

A special election, which would automatically occur if Mr. Halloran resigned or is convicted of a felony, could present a unique opportunity for a Republican candidate. A crowded field Democrats are already vying for the competitive seat, and as councilmanic special elections are non-partisan, a unified Republican front would be hard to defeat.

For his part, Mr. Giuliani denied interest in the race when Politicker reached out yesterday evening.

"Listen, as far as I'm concerned, there's still a sitting councilman. Anything else is premature right now," he said. "There's still a councilman."

Dennis Saffran, a Republican who ran against Mr. Halloran's predecessor, Democrat Tony Avella, in 2001, may also be weighing another run for the seat. Last year, Mr. Giuliani passed on his own bid against Mr. Avella, who's now in the State Senate.

Mr. Halloran has denied all wrongdoing.

Republican Councilman Dan Halloran.

Councilman Dan Halloran, charged last week in a wide-reaching bribery scheme, often says his office has been consistently ranked number one citywide in constituent services, but it's not completely clear where his number comes from.

Indeed, after Mr. Halloran's chief of staff resigned yesterday, his spokesman repeated the assertion that their office was "the most responsive to constituents in the Council, closing over 8,000 cases." At his re-election kick-off in February, Mr. Halloran himself touted their "No. 1 ranking in constituent services in the Council." The claim was again presented by his spokesman last October and their office produced a press release celebrating the achievement in January.

According to sources in the Speaker's office, however, the City Council does not disclose these numbers for individual members' offices to compare or even require them to use CouncilStat, the program that documents and tracks specific constituent inquiries to district offices. The only way for Mr. Halloran to know of his ranking, one source said, is to poll the other 50 members of the City Council.

"We do not classify constituent cases in terms of which member is ranked," said another source familiar with the CouncilStat system. "We don't rank members."

In Mr. Halloran's home borough of Queens, a majority of council members use CouncilStat but several do not, with one spokesman arguing that it's "not very user-friendly." Multiple council offices confirmed that Mr. Halloran had never reached out to them to conduct his own poll of how many constituent cases they have handled. Furthermore, one said they were nearing 9,000 constituent cases closed since 2010, which would appear to challenge Mr. Halloran's claimed ranking.

At an unrelated press conference last month, Politicker asked Mr. Halloran about the number. The councilman replied that he wasn't familiar with the methodology but expressed confidence in the soundness of the result.

"You got to talk to policy people, I couldn't give you how the Speaker's offices gives us our numbers or what percentage it is of the overall number in the Council," Mr. Halloran said. "It's a backwards I.T. thing, I couldn't tell you how it was actually calculated."

Andrew Cuomo. (Photo: Getty)

Governor Andrew Cuomo is not happy about the barrage of corruption charges hitting various New York lawmakers throughout the week, including State Senator Malcolm Smith, City Councilman Dan Halloran and Assemblyman Eric Stevenson. Accordingly, Mr. Cuomo released a statement this afternoon detailing his disgust.

“The allegations of public corruption by City and State officials revealed this week are appalling," the governor declared. "New Yorkers deserve a government that is as good as the people it serves and the events of the last few days fail this and every standard of public service .... Those of us committed to the public and honored to hold its trust have zero tolerance for the actions brought to light this week, and will continue to use our power to fight to ensure integrity and trust to government in New York.”

Mr. Cuomo, the state's former attorney general, went on to tout his own record of prosecuting officials accused for abusing their offices.

"As Attorney General I prosecuted numerous public corruption cases, including putting former Senator Espada and Comptroller Hevesi behind bars, and believe firmly that anytime the public’s trust is violated, we must act quickly and aggressively to hold the guilty parties accountable," he continued. "I commend US Attorney Preet Bharara, District Attorney Robert Johnson and their partners in law enforcement on their dedication to prosecuting corruption at every level."

(Photo: assembly.state.ny.us)

Moments ago, U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara's office announced yet another New York State elected official, Bronx Assemblyman Eric Stevenson, has been arrested and accused of taking bribes. Earlier this week, New York's political world was rocked when corruption charges were leveled against State Senator Malcolm Smith and Councilman Dan Halloran. Mr. Stevenson's charges will be formally unsealed at noon today.

"Stevenson is accused of taking bribes in exchange for official acts, which included drafting, proposing, and agreeing to enact legislation that would benefit the co-defendants' businesses," the release announcing the press conference declared. "Two of the other defendants are also charged in connection with their payment of a bribe to another Assemblyman, who was actually cooperating with the Government at the time. The charges include conspiracy to deprive New York State and its citizens of Eric Stevenson’s honest services, federal programs and Travel Act bribery conspiracy, federal programs bribery, and Travel Act bribery conspiracy."

But the State Legislature's woes don't stop with Mr. Stevenson. The other assemblyman, currently unnamed, cooperated with the investigation and will have to resign from office now that the allegations against Mr. Stevenson are revealed.

"ASSEMBLYMAN-1 has been cooperating in this investigation since prior to January 2012. In exchange for that cooperation," the complaint reads. "ASSEMBLYMAN 1 has agreed, among other things, to continue to cooperate with the USAO and the Bronx County District Attorney's Office and to resign his office with the New York State Assembly following the arrests of the defendants in this complaint."

Few identifying details are provided, but the unnamed assemblyman is said to represent an adult day care center on Jerome Avenue, which is mostly represented by female legislators. Assemblyman Nelson Castro represents a district that could match the complaint, so we reached out to his office. Mr. Castro's chief of staff said they would have an announcement "by the end of the day" but declined to elaborate.

Update (1:25 p.m.): The New York Daily News confirmed Mr. Castro is the unnamed assemblyman.

View the complaint below:

Preet Bharara explaining the alleged bribery plot. (Photo: Getty)

"That's politics in New York," the New York Post's cover blared in stark black-and-white ink this morning. "It's all about the f--king money."

The quote, allegedly made from Councilman Dan Halloran to a cooperating witness, was revealed yesterday as U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara unsealed charges not only against Mr. Halloran, but State Sen. Malcolm Smith and a small slew of other political figures in what Mr. Bharara called "a corridor of corruption stretching from Queens and the Bronx to Rockland County and all the way up to Albany itself."

Specifically, Mr. Halloran is accused of "essentially quarterbacking" a scheme to secure Republican establishment support for Mr. Smith's mayoral bid. Mr. Smith, a Democrat, would need the blessing of three of the five county Republican organizations to run on the GOP line, and he allegedly arranged for cash bribes in his attempt to do so. But, looking more broadly, the strange scandal also shines light on these county organizations and their few remaining powers in city politics.

"County organizations, like political parties overall, are dinosaurs, left over from an age where they once ruled earth," said one Queens Republican operative. "These days, when the party says this is our candidate, the average voters says, 'What the fuck are you talking about?'"

Eliot Spitzer, a former state governor and attorney general, argued that because New York City is overwhelmingly Democratic, corruption is even more prevalent in local Republican organizations struggling to make an electoral impact with relatively little amounts of money and influence.

"I don't want to say this the wrong way," he said on Inside City Hall last night. "The Republican Party in this the city, because it's so weak, has been left with virtually nothing other than a series of wealthy benefactors who show up with money and therefore make the system in corrupt in virtually every way. Every party has this problem, but when you have a party with so little, money can buy the nomination."

Furthermore, the two Republican county organizations that have been engulfed in the scandal, Queens and the Bronx, are--according to multiple insiders--dysfunctional and verging on irrelevancy. The Bronx, for example, doesn't have a single Republican elected official, and the local party apparatus is mostly relegated to appointing patronage positions at the Board of Election and a vote to let non-Republicans run on their party's line--the sort of vote that is at the heart of the Smith scandal. "That's the biggest thing for them," a veteran Bronx politico explained. "Otherwise, they aren't really relevant."

The Queens GOP, when it isn't beset by infighting, has a less-than-sterling reputation itself, one highly-placed source with detailed knowledge of the county parties, told Politicker.

"Bronx Republican Chairman Joseph Savino and Queens GOP Vice Chairman Vincent Tabone are bitter enemies," the source claimed, naming two of the officials charged with accepting Mr. Smith's bribes. Mr. Tabone has since resigned. "They hate each other ...  [Mr. Tabone] and Phil Ragusa (Queens GOP Chair) are known as 'Super Mario Brothers' -- even the other Italians call them Mario and Luigi and wouldn't trust them to leave the tip at a diner."

The source additionally said that Mr. Smith's odds of getting into the Republican primary were "zero" because the Wilson Pakula authorization--the letter needed for a candidate to run on another party's line--involves more than simply bribing three top Republicans.

"See, the thing is, the Wilson Pakula letter is portrayed in the complaint as some document that 3 guys have to sign (3 of the 5 chairmen)," he continued. "The reality is, it's way harder to get that. ... So even if these guys were taking bribes for PROMISING to get Smith a WP letter, the reality is they had nearly no chance of actually delivering that letter."

In what may be the most bizarre aspect to this controversy, no one we spoke to thought Mr. Smith had a chance even if he somehow managed to bribe his way into the Republican fold. In addition to Mr. Smith's already badly-damaged brand thanks to a reported federal government probe into a nonprofit he funded with taxpayer dollars, the Republican mayoral field already contains several heavyweight contenders like former M.T.A. Chairman Joe Lhota and billionaire businessman John Catsimatidis.

"Total stupidity, the whole thing! I mean, it's ridiculous!" former Senator Al D'Amato, a Republican, raged last night--on the same program as Mr. Spitzer. "They get players who are involved in government to be playing this almost childish, ridiculous game ... Bizarre beyond words. If Malcolm Smith could--first of all, he couldn't get the nomination, ... [but] what do you think he'd get? 3, 4, 5, 6 percent of the of the Republican primary voters to vote for him? I've never heard anything so stupid! And then this jackass who's a councilman ... to be involved in this thing, and for party leaders to be involved? Just one more stupid than the other."

In an AM 970 radio interview this morning, GOP Councilman Eric Ulrich--an outspoken rival of Mr. Ragusa's and Mr. Tabone's--largely concurred with this line of thinking.

"The whole thing is like something out of a movie or The Twilight Zone," he mused. “I mean, let's assume their plan had worked, does anyone think that with Joe Lhota and John Catsimatidis also in the race, that Malcolm Smith had any shot of winning a Republican primary? How stupid! The whole thing is stupid."

Although Mr. Smith's electoral plans could have simply been a fantasy in his own mind, some officials and good-government groups claim that the key takeaway from the allegations is the need to reform New York State's campaign finance system. Current Mayor Michael Bloomberg donated over $3 million to various state and county GOP organizations over the past decade, even after he left the Republican Party to run as an independent in 2009. He received their Wilson Pakula blessing in order to do so. And Mr. Catsimatidis, who used to employ Mr. Tabone in both his campaign and his company, has been plowing plenty of his own dollars into the various county parties himself.

"Our wild-west campaign finance laws have nurtured a culture of corruption in this state," Democratic Senator Liz Krueger told Politicker in a statement. "It has become accepted wisdom to too many people in New York politics that enough four- or five-figure checks, distributed to enough elected officials, can change anything and fix anything. At the same time, incumbents raise enormous amounts of money -- the lion's share of their money -- from the established interests that are lobbying them."

Reflecting on the multitude of political scandals that have rocked New York City in Albany in recent years, Ms. Krueger added, "The result is an environment where bribery schemes don't seem outlandish and wrong -- they seem pretty normal."

Malcolm Smith (Photo: Facebook)

Manhattan GOP Chair Dan Isaacs assured his supporters in an email today that he has nothing to do with the alleged political bribery scheme that has already led to six arrests across the state.

"Nonetheless, if anyone harbors concern that there is 'another shoe to drop' here in Manhattan, I want to take this opportunity to reassure you that there is not," Mr. Isaacs wrote. "Anyone who knows me and has worked with me during my involvement with the Republican Party knows that I value personal integrity over all else."

The Bronx Republican Party chair and Queens Republican Party executive vice chair were arrested yesterday, along with State Sen. Malcolm Smith and Councilman Dan Halloran, for allegedly taking part in a bribery scheme to try to land Mr. Smith, a Democrat, in the Republican primary. Jay Savino, the Bronx chair, allegedly received $15,000 and Mr. Tabone, the executive vice chair who resigned today, allegedly received $25,000 in bribe money.

Mr. Isaacs is not named in the criminal complaint, though there is a "County Chairman #1" and "County Chairman #2" in the complaint who are not accused of wrongdoing.

View his full letter below:

Dear Manhattan Republican:

I want to take this opportunity to reach out to you following yesterday's shocking and disturbing arrests of four elected officials and two political leaders that has garnered media attention nationwide.

The alleged actions of those arrested are an outrage and a complete betrayal of the public trust. With three Democrats and three Republicans arrested, it also shows that corruption is not limited to an exclusive partisan provenance.

As you can imagine, I received numerous media inquiries following yesterday's arrests. My response was simple: I believe that it is inappropriate to comment on an ongoing investigation, especially one where the allegations are so serious, until the appropriate authorities have been given the opportunity to completely and thoroughly conduct their investigation. I hope and expect that they will do so as quickly as possible and that justice will be served to anyone who has broken the law. No one is above the law.

Nonetheless, if anyone harbors concern that there is "another shoe to drop" here in Manhattan, I want to take this opportunity to reassure you that there is not. Anyone who knows me and has worked with me during my involvement with the Republican Party knows that I value personal integrity over all else. I demand it as much from myself as from those with whom I deal. There is an expectation and covenant that I have with those who have given me the responsibility to lead our local Republican organization which I simply will not betray.

Notwithstanding our collective disgust at yesterday's revelations, we still have a tremendous amount of work to do. The two frontrunners to be the Republican candidate for Mayor of the City of New York are clearly head-and-shoulders above all other candidates for that office. It is absolutely essential that we elect our party's candidate in November to ensure the future of our great city.

As you know, we are having our Spring Fling event tonight - an annual informal celebration designed to gather Republicans throughout Manhattan as we look forward to the coming campaign season. Tonight's event will be a good opportunity to begin to restore trust in the concept of an honest and participatory political process and I sincerely hope that you will join us. For more information, please visit the events calendar on our web site at www.nycrepublican.org/calendar.htm.

Thank you again for all you do on behalf of our local Republican organization.

Yours in a common cause,

Daniel W. Isaacs
Chairman
New York Republican County Committee