New York public defender Tiffany Cabán offered hope for political reform. Had she been elected as Queens District Attorney, her win would have represented success for an electoral strategy toward Government reform. Her loss, however, deals a blow to long-needed prosecutorial and judicial reform. Cabán for Queens/Fair Use

In New York, movements for reform meet barriers of entrenched machine politics, and élites survive — for now

Machine politics determined each of the outcome of the Queens District Attorney’s race, the staff of U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and rulings by Court systems, giving New York élites power to withstand demands for reform by social and economic justice movements.

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Chief U.S. District Court Judge, who sits on the same Judicial Council overseeing at least one complaint filed against U.S District Court Judge John Koeltl that also permitted Mayranne Trump Barry to resign in lieu of facing possible disciplinary action over her alleged role in an alleged tax dodge scheme benefitting her brother President Donald Trump. Chief U.S. District Court Judge Colleen McMahon, left, in an incredited photograph. Donald Trump and Maryanne Trump Barry, right. Fair Use

Judicial Council member Colleen McMahon, who would have ruled on at least one Judge John Koeltl complaint, let First Sister Maryanne Trump Barry resign prior to potential disciplinary action

Chief U.S. District Court Judge Colleen McMahon, who remained silent to pleas for judicial intervention in a FOIA lawsuit seeking the release of speech records of Preet Bharara, sits on panel that quietly allowed President Donald Trump’s sister to resign to avoid possible disciplinary actions over alleged ethics violations.

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With no public input, Campos Plaza I in the East Village, was sold with other project-based, Section 8 buildings in 2014 by the de Blasio Administration to a consortium of private real estate developers. The lack of transparency in the sale of public housing assets is only getting worse. Source : File Photograph

With NYCHA undergoing so much change, Manhattan U.S. Attorney’s Office, once critical about lack of Government transparency, now working with no openness

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for New York’s southern district, which first revealed in 2016 information about the New York City Housing Authority’s lead poisoning crisis, now violates transparency by operating in the dark.

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Mayor Bill de Blasio, left, signed a settlement agreement with HUD that provides $1 billion less to the New York City Housing Authority, or NYCHA, than was previously required to be provided under a prior consent decree that was deemed inadequate ; the office of U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman, right, refuses to explain or account for the fewer settlement funds being provided to NYCHA. The U.S. Attorney's Office had been investigating NYCHA for violations of physical condition standards. The investigation was recently concluded, and it led to the ouster of interim NYCHA CEO Stanley Brezenoff. Left to Right : City of New York and U.S. Attorney's Office. Background : File Photograph. (Public Domain or Fair Use)

SDNY prosecutors refuse to explain why new HUD settlement with NYCHA calls for de Blasio and City of New York to contribute $1 billion less to public housing

Federal prosecutors won’t explain a $1 billion drop in the NYCHA settlement fund in face of speculation that Bart Schwartz will serve as the first outside, Federal monitor of the troubled public housing authority.

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The New York City Housing Authority was founded years before the Nation passed the U.S. Housing Act, a law that created a framework for local Governments to create public housing agencies. The New Deal promise that housing would be treated as a social good is now under threat of privatisation. Photo Illustration/Progress New York

Feds consulting with de Blasio, as he privatises NYCHA, despite past campaign finance controversies from real estate donors

Bill de Blasio, who faced accusations of undertaking official acts on behalf of his donors, is negotiating the sale of public housing to real estate developers. How the Feds tolerate the corruptive role of money in politics undermines the public good — including public housing.

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"I am not a biased judge," is what U.S. District Court Judge John Koeltl proverbially claimed during a Court Conference 19 October 2017, to nobody's belief. Photo Illustration/Fair Use (President Richard Nixon photo by Associated Press ; John Koeltl by NYU)

To restore public confidence in the U.S. District Court for S.D.N.Y., Judge John Koeltl must resign

EDITORIAL : No amount of reasoning, or judicial complaints, has compelled S.D.N.Y. Judge John Koeltl to introspectively examine the causes or sources of his bias and misconduct. As a result, he must resign.

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Former U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara was remarkable for making numerous speeches, only some of which were public addresses. An open records request seeking his speech records has been being undermined by the U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. Attorney's Office he formerly headed, and a Federal judge, John Koeltl. Photo Archive/Progress Queens

To undermine open records request for Preet Bharara’s speech records, DOJ relying on U.S. Attorney’s Office, Federal judge to thwart FOIA Request

The U.S. Department of Justice and a Federal judge are engaging in misconduct to thwart a FOIA Request for Preet Bharara’s speech records.

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