Leib Glanz
Member Items Still About Who You Know
Even in these days of increased transparency when it comes to the City Council's appropriation of member items, the process remains, unavoidably, one that rewards people who know people.
For example, the Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty, a non-profit group whose executive director, William Rapfogel, is married to the Assembly Speaker's chief of staff, Judy Rapfogel, got $556,250 in member items this year.
The Ridgewood Bushwick Senior Center, a group founded and closely associated with Vito Lopez, an Assemblyman and Brooklyn Democratic County Leader, got $658,089 in member items.
In the comments section of my original post on these member items, Mendy points out that Leib Glantz, a politically active Satmar rabbi, is a big winner because his group, UJCare, got a $200,000 member item to fund "a variety of services. read more »
A Well-Connected Nonprofit
Here's an invitation for an April 29th "political banquet" in support of Rep. Ed Towns, featuring appearances by Michael Bloomberg and City Comptroller Bill Thompson.
The event is being organized by Towns' finance chair, the Satmar rabbi Leib Glanz, and as a reader who forwarded it to me noted, the RSVP phone number listed on the invitation is for his non-profit group, the United Talmudical Academy.
UPDATE: Isac Weinberger called to say that Glanz's title as executive director of the non-profit group was listed for identification purposes, not as an indicator that the group was organizing the event.
As for the RSVP phone number... When I called, a man said it had been taken off the invitations and that it was added by mistake. He did not have the new number.
