Jia “Jenny” Hou

Liu aides’ guilt casts shadow on mayoral run

Posted by Joe Anuta in City Comptroller, City Council, City Offices, Mayor on May 10, 2013 | No Comments

The fraud convictions of two former campaign aides to city Comptroller John Liu has not helped his run for higher office, but the jury’s decision may influence whether the Queens Democratic Party will endorse the lawmaker’s mayoral bid, borough political observers said. Jia “Jenny” Hou, Liu’s former campaign treasurer, was found guilty of attempted wire [...]

Comptroller John Liu

Liu looms large at aide trial

Posted by Joe Anuta in City Comptroller, City Offices on May 3, 2013 | No Comments

Lawyers defending a pair of former campaign aides to city Comptroller John Liu contended in closing arguments Wednesday the two were accused of corruption and wire fraud only because the government could not get to the mayoral candidate himself. Jia “Jenny” Hou and Xing Wu “Oliver” Pan were charged in Manhattan federal court with conspiring [...]

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Kim, Rozic sworn in as Assembly members

Posted by Phil Corso in Assembly, City Comptroller, City Offices, Congress, District 22, District 25, District 5, U.S. House, U.S. Senate on February 1, 2013 | No Comments

The borough’s newest state Assembly members kicked off their historic journeys as Queens representatives this week with two star-studded swearing-in ceremonies. Over the weekend, state Assembly members Ron Kim (D-Flushing) and Nily Rozic (D-Fresh Meadows) held separate celebrations in the company of family, friends, community leaders and elected officials from all levels of government. In [...]

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Liu hopes tax reform will shrink income disparity

Posted by Joe Anuta in City Comptroller, City Council, City Offices, Mayor, Public Advocate on February 1, 2013 | No Comments

City Comptroller John Liu believes the city’s cavernous income gap can be tackled through tax reform and a minimum wage increase, he told TimesLedger Newspapers in a recent interview at its offices. Liu has not formally declared his intentions for Gracie Mansion, but has raised more than $3 million for the widely expected run. City [...]

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Weprin camp owes $350K for ’09 race

Posted by Phil Corso in Assembly, City Comptroller, City Offices, District 24 on December 13, 2012 | No Comments

State Assemblyman David Weprin (D-Little Neck) personally owes more than $28,000 in penalties while his former campaign committee must repay $325,561 in public funds after the city Campaign Finance Board reported several violations from his 2009 run for city comptroller. According to the CFB, Weprin was personally responsible for paying $28,184 in total penalties resulting [...]

Gim (l.) and Kim (r.) Photo (l.) by Joe Anuta and (r.) by Christina Santucci

Gim tallies show Flushing voters crossed party lines

Posted by Joe Anuta in Assembly, City Comptroller, City Council, City Offices, District 20, District 22 on November 21, 2012 | No Comments

Ron Kim handily won the Flushing state Assembly race this month, but some polling numbers suggest many voters struggled to choose between their ethnic communities and their political parties. Kim, a Korean-American Democrat, received a total of 12,099 votes, while his Chinese-American opponent, Republican Phil Gim, received 5,855 votes. The margin, about 70 percent to [...]