NY Democrat Eliot Engel Running Illegal Apartment Building

I guess New York City laws are for the little people.

Rep. Eliot Engel and a business partner have repeatedly ignored city efforts to shut down an illegal apartment at a Bronx building they own, the Daily News has learned.

One city agency cited the owners of 1142 Metcalf Ave. in early 2009, and since then inspectors repeatedly tried to investigate complaints that the illegal unit never went away.

Again and again, Engel and his business partner ignored them, and the initial violation remains open, records show.

Six times since 2009, Buildings Department inspectors door-knocked the six-unit building owned by Engel, (D-Bronx/Westchester), and his partner, local businessman Harry Bajraktari.

Each time they couldn't get in, so each time they left notices instructing the owners to contact the agency to arrange an appointment - six notices in all since 2009. The latest visit took place last month.

Each time, city officials say, the owners ignored the request.

Engel's involvement with the Metcalf Ave. apartments began in mid-2008 when Bajraktari, his friend and benefactor, suggested over drinks that Engel become a 24% partner in a six-unit building he was thinking of buying.

Bajraktari, who manages more than two dozen properties in the city, says he's been friends with Engel for more than 20 years. Since 2005, Bajraktari, one of his other partners, and their families have contributed $72,200 to Engel's campaigns.

How generous. And it just so happened that Engel happened to be having drinks with this guy and got a nice 24% stake in an apartment building. One wonders how much Engel is profiting off this illegal property. He hasn't been in any hurry to disclose that information.

Though they bought into the property in December 2008, Engel did not reveal his ownership on either his 2008 or 2009 disclosure statements to Congress.

He revealed the arrangement for the first time in May on his 2010 statement, then amended the earlier filings last week, after The News asked about it.

He claimed he "neglected to list" the property earlier because he'd made no money off it. The forms require Congress members to report any business interests.

Um, so if he hasn't made any money, why amend earlier filings?

Dopey Democrat: GOP Could Threaten 2011 NFL Season

Good grief, are there any more straws left to grasp at? Do these clowns even stop and think before they speak?

Rep. Eliot Engel said cuts to labor board could leave the league without an effective mediator if the players strike.

The Republicans' plan to cut billions of dollars in federal spending could threaten the next season of the National Football League (NFL), a House Democrat charged Thursday.

Rep. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.) said steep cuts to the National Labor Relation Board (NLRB), as proposed by Republicans, could leave the league without an effective mediator if the players strike later this year, as they're threatening to do.

"If Republicans got their way, it is likely the NLRB would have insufficient resources to properly mediate a dispute between the owners and players," Engel said Thursday in a statement. "That would result in stadiums across the country being dark, and thousands of people who work in them out of work come September."

One wonders if Engel is even aware that the man representing the players is one of his own?

DeMaurice Smith is, hard to believe, a hard core cheerleader for Team Obama. Specifically, Smith gave $3,300 to Barack Obama's presidential campaign between 2007 and 2008. according to the Federal Elections Commission. When he wasn't busy giving money to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, the Democratic Party of Virginia, the re-election campaign of the District of Columbia's Democratic U.S. House non-voting delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, Indiana's Democratic Senator Evan Bayh and, in the way back, the presidential campaign of Democrat Senator John Kerry.

That would be seven contributions total, all to liberal or left-wing Democrats.

You think there might be just the teensiest bit of conflict of interest in Mr. Smith's straight-faced insistence that he is all about dealing in unity, cheering, transcending, overcoming division and hatred?

So if the union refuses to deal with the NFL, can we blame Democrats for no NFL season come next September?

When Chuckie Met Jammie

Silenced

So I had the occasion to attend the St. Patrick's parade in Pearl River, NY this afternoon, which is held annually the Sunday after St. Patrick's Day. It's one of the larger parades held in the area and thousands were on hand. Leading off the parade was Bronx Congressman Eliot Engel, who few recognized, although I did a shout out to Eliot and asked him how things were at his house in Maryland. He did not look pleased.

But the highlight of the afternoon, or lowlight depending on your perspective, was seeing the odious Chuckie Schumer come schlepping along, desperately seeking attention. Curiously enough he was being greeted mostly by indifference. As luck would have it, someone nearby mentioned AIG, and that's all Chuckie needed to begin hamming it up.

"Did you see me on TV, did you see me? I told them if you don't give back those bonuses we're going to tax 100 percent of it. One-hundred percent!"

Never one to miss an opportunity to sandbag an unctuous pol, especially when he's standing three feet away, preening for all, I said, quite loudly, "When are you going to return 100% of the money you took from Bernie Madoff?"

The blood drained from his face as he fell silent, possibly for the first time in his life. A moment of pure hilarity that I wish I had on camera to share. Finding myself among kindred spirits, a fellow to my right then chimed in with "Hey, how about telling Chris Dodd to give back the money he got from AIG!"

Talk about silence being golden. He quickly then moved on along the parade route, no doubt cursing my existence.

A moment I shall always treasure.

Sweet! Bronx Democrat Gets 'Rangel' Tax Break ... In Maryland

You've almost got to admire these corrupt Democrats for their sheer chutzpah. Here you have Congressman Eliot Engel, who supposedly lives in The Bronx, but he's getting a tax break for living in Maryland.

Maryland officials have yanked a tax credit from Bronx Rep. Eliot Engel, who has avoided thousands in taxes on his nearly $1 million home there by improperly claiming it as his primary residence.

The officials told Engel he doesn't qualify for the homestead exemption, a tax credit only state residents can apply for, because he and his wife Patricia's primary residence is in The Bronx.

Last year, The Post reported that Harlem Rep. Charles Rangel was getting the homestead exemption in DC from 1995 to 2000 - even though his primary residence was in New York, where he had four rent-controlled apartments.

Engel had enjoyed the tax credit since 2005, garnering a discount on his taxes in three consecutive years even as the value of his property in Potomac, one of DC's most affluent suburbs, nearly doubled.

Engel got the credit in 2005 after his wife applied for it, according to state tax officials.

When her application for the credit was initially rejected, Patricia Engel filed again, claiming Maryland as her primary residence by submitting a copy of her state tax return, which she filed individually, as evidence.

She then was approved - even though each Engel votes in New York and has an Empire State driver's license.

The names of both Engels appear on property records for the Maryland home.

Who knows, maybe he's getting tips from Robert Wexler.