July 24, 2013 Staff Report
Filed from The New York Post (please see below):
Christine Quinn funneled more than $130,000 in City Council discretionary funds to a private park in Queens — a practice that has become an attack point for one of her chief rivals in the mayoral race.
Through a $50 million pot of “member items” Quinn controls as council speaker, she allocated $25,000 this year to Friends of Sunnyside Gardens Park, a nonprofit that runs a 3 1/2-acre playground and recreation space that is open only to members.
Since 2007, Quinn has given the group more than $130,000.
A strategist for Democratic rival Bill Thompson, who has repeatedly criticized Quinn for what he calls abuse of member items, slammed her for giving public money to a private space.
“Chris Quinn has led a slush-fund-driven City Council for eight years, [with] phantom member items and shell groups, doling out taxpayer dollars to members so they could buy influence and pamper themselves with fancy clothes and food,” said Thompson campaign strategist Jonathan Prince. “The continued lack of accountability over public money by Speaker Quinn is disgraceful.”
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