Obama's Sleazy Urban Czar Finally Pays His Debts

Normally a guy with this much baggage would have long ago been jettisoned, but hey, we're dealing with the most transparent and honest administration ever, so let's all cut the deadbeat some slack and pretend nobody cares about corrupt hacks in high places.

White House aide Adolfo Carrion has finally paid the architect who designed his home renovation, a transaction that's part of an expanding city probe.

Carrion, the former Bronx borough president who became director of White House urban affairs, wrote out the $4,200 check this week - two years after the renovation was complete and a month after the Daily News exposed it.

The check was written to Hugo Subotovsky, architect of a major Bronx development called Boricua Village, which is at the crux of a Department of Investigation probe. DOI raided the project developer's office Thursday in a bribery and corruption probe.

The firm, Atlantic Development Group, got Carrion's approval for the Subotovsky-designed Boricua Village while Subotovsky was designing Carrion's home renovation.

More here on Thursday's raid.

Investigators Thursday raided the Manhattan office of a major developer who funneled thousands in campaign cash to local politicians, including White House aide Adolfo Carrión.

City Department of Investigation agents spent hours gathering documents from the 155 Sixth Ave. offices of Atlantic Development Group.

Armed with a search warrant from the Manhattan district attorney's office, agents and cops removed dozens of boxes of records.

DOI spokeswoman Diane Struzzi confirmed the raid but declined further comment.

A spokesman for Atlantic, Lee Silberstein, said only: "There's an ongoing investigation, and Atlantic is cooperating with authorities."

One target of the probe is a major Bronx project, Boricua Village, that's at the heart of a Daily News investigation into Carrión, the director of White House urban policy who, until last year, was Bronx borough president.

One would think Obama would be bright enough to tell Carrion to go work out his problems and appoint someone qualified for the job. Would probably save a few headaches if Carrion ultimately faces indictment.

I might add outside the Daily News there seems to be little attention paid this story. Why is that?

Era of Fiscal Responsibility: Obama Urban Czar Drops $26K On a Party For Himself

Another fine appointment who slipped through the vaunted vetting process.

Former Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion spent more than $50,000 in campaign contributions on a party for supporters and to enrich the Bronx Democratic Party soon after he was named President Obama's urban-affairs chief six weeks ago, according to filings at the Campaign Finance Board.

Records show that Carrion's campaign dropped $26,525 in February at Bayard's, a restaurant in the Financial District, for what was described as a "thank-you reception" for more than 500 people who backed his run for city comptroller.

Not long afterward, on March 5, Carrion wrote a $25,000 check to the Bronx Democratic Party, which forms the base of his political support.

Carrion spent the last three years raising $2.3 million for a citywide run, only to drop out on Feb. 19 when he was named to the White House post.

He had $1.1 million left in his war chest as of March 11, the last filing.

When The Post first inquired if Carrion would return his contributors' cash, officials said no one had asked.

Last week, however, the campaign acknowledged that "less than 10" people wanted their money back.

Carrion also had contractors perform renovations on his home after lining his pockets with campaign donations, but apparently nobody cares about that.

Change!

Surprise! Another Conflict of Interest for Obama's 'Urban Czar'

We noted last week how Barack Obama's new 'urban czar' has lined his pockets with campaign donations from city developers, a story that was greeted with stifled yawns by most of the media, who were too busy obsessing on a radio talk show host to notice yet another corrupt Obama official.

Well, Mr. Carrion is back in the news today. Let's see if any of the Washington press corps notices.

President Obama's new urban czar renovated his Bronx home with help from the architect on a major development that needed his approval, a Daily News investigation has found.

Adolfo Carrión, who last week left his job as Bronx borough president to be director of the White House Office on Urban Policy, hired the architect to design a renovation of his Victorian two-family on City Island.

Weeks after the architect's work on Carrión's house was complete, Carrión approved the architect's project.

Carrión would not say how much he paid the architect, if anything. He also refused to provide copies of checks for the work.

"I hired an architect on an arm's-length commercial basis to draw up plans for a renovation, as required by city law," he said. "That was completely unrelated to my professional activities and entirely proper."

The White House declined to comment.

The possible conflict of interest surfaced Nov. 13, 2006, when, records show, Hugo Subotovsky was listed as architect of record overseeing the addition of a porch and installation of a second-floor balcony. Total job cost was estimated at $32,000.

At the time, records show, Carrión had at least $15,000 in credit card debt, was paying off two mortgages worth more than $500,000 and had $5,000 in revolving credit from Chase bank.

I guess Obama's vaunted vetting team missed all this.

I distinctly recall a former governor of Connecticut who had contractors do some renovations done at his cottage. He wound up forced from office and in prison.

Why is there a double standard when it comes to corrupt Democrats?

White House Rushes to Defend Latest Corrupt Appointee: 'We Have No Comment'

Of course they have no comment. They've yet to formulate their spin after letting another corrupt appointee slip through the vaunted vetting process.

I'm sure they'll figure out some way to defend this guy, but for now, they're clamming up.

The White House stayed silent Sunday night on a Daily News investigation into developers' big-money donations to Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrión, who is President Obama's new urban policy pointman.

The News' probe of Carrión's cozy ties to developers with major Bronx construction projects provoked outrage from the politician's critics, but didn't stir a peep from the White House.

"We have no comment," White House spokesman Nick Shapiro said.

Carrión resigned Sunday as borough president to become the director of the White House Office on Urban Policy on Monday.

Richard Lipsky, a city planner in the Bronx, said The News exposed Carrión's modus operandi of putting his political coffers before the good of the communBarack Obamaity.

"Carrión's acted in such a perverse manner to really go out of his way to thwart community and small-business concerns," Lipsky charged.

The News revealed a string of construction projects pitched by developers who had donated to Carrión's campaign war chest just weeks before he approved their plans.

Hey, maybe Rush Limbaugh will mention it today and that'll be enough to tell us what a great guy he is. More likely we'll hear the "well, everyone does it" defense.

Former west Bronx Councilman and state Sen. Israel Ruiz defended Carrión as an "honest young man."

"This is nothing new. All the way from the governor on down, everybody deals with these developers to get reelected," Ruiz said. "That's the nature of the beast, unfortunately."

Just an honest mistake, of course.

Obama's New 'Urban Czar' Lined His Pockets With Payoffs

Shocking, isn't it?

The man who is President Obama's newly minted urban czar pocketed thousands of dollars in campaign cash from city developers whose projects he approved or funded with taxpayers' money, a Daily News probe found.

Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion often received contributions just before or after he sponsored money for projects or approved important zoning changes, records show.

Most donations were organized and well-timed.

Sounds like his community is well-organized.

In one case, a developer became a Carrion fund-raiser two months before the borough president signed off on his project, raising more than $6,000 in campaign cash.

In another, eight Boricua College officials came up with $8,000 on the same day for Carrion three weeks before the school filed plans to build a new tower. Carrion ultimately approved the project and sponsored millions in taxpayer funds for it.

Carrion resigned as borough president effective Sunday and begins his new job as director of the White House Office on Urban Policy Monday.

Saturday Carrion declined to answer written questions about his receipt of timely campaign contributions. Instead, he issued a terse statement:

"Thousands of people who share the Borough President's vision for building a stronger Bronx and a stronger city have contributed to Carrion NYC. Teachers, parents, police officers, firefighters, members of the business community and concerned citizens have all contributed to the borough president's efforts to strengthen the Bronx and stimulate the local economy and he is proud to have such wide-ranging support."

In other words, don't bother me now, I'm off to DC to help line my pockets further.

Read the rest. A series of apparent shakedowns that would make Charlie Rangel blush. Of course, nothing will come of this. Carrion will just cry racism and the media will run for cover.

Another fine job of vetting by Team Obama.