“The most difficult times for many of us are the ones we give ourselves.” Pema Chodron, When Things Fall Apart
Thus seems the case, now that news organizations are poking around the improprieties allegedly committed by Assemblywoman Naomi Rivera.
The Post reports
The dating life of Assemblywoman Naomi Rivera has shed light on a web of Latino nonprofits in The Bronx — groups that benefit a close-knit network of political insiders as much as the community.
She installed a boyfriend, Vincent Pinela, as head of the Bronx Council for Economic Development, a taxpayer-funded nonprofit he admits being unqualified to run. He alleges she used the group to fund their dates and her campaign.
But the council is only one nonprofit of many organized under the Hispanic Federation, which has taken in $24 million in taxpayer money since 1998.
Read more: Twi$ted web of political nonprofits in Bx. – NYPOST.com.
The Post story details how MirRam, the political consulting firm founded by Luis Miranda and Roberto Ramirez, seems intertwined with The Hispanic Federation, an umbrella organization supporting many small Latino community organization and impoverished people. The Hispanic Federation is described as the “go-to” organization if one wants to influence Latino elected officials in the Bronx.
‘In the Heights’ Composer Began Career Working on Political Ads – NYTimes.com
The story gives the impression that the nonprofit Hispanic Federation supports the political projects of MirRam. The Federation is also said to retain MirRam for lobbying and other services.
It’ll be interesting to see where all this eventually leads.
