http://www.lohud.com/article/20100516/NEWS02/5160404/1018/Mt.-V... http://www.lohud.com/fdcp/?

1274007753187

Party Chairwoman Serapher Conn-Halevi, who had

Mt. Vernon Dems sidestep supported Davis, resigned the following spring and
money freeze was replaced by Cannick.

MOUNT VERNON — The Mount Vernon Democratic

City Committee continued raising money and paying
expenses after the state Board of Elections froze its
finances in December 2008, including the past 10
months when the party had no treasurer.
The exact amount collected and spent since
treasurer Jennie Perez-Diaz resigned in July was
unknown, because the committee has failed to file
any financial disclosure reports with the state or
county since then. State filings have not been made
since 2008.
The state wrote to the committee and the Bank of
New York ordering its account frozen after the
resignation of longtime treasurer Ralph Tedesco in
2008. The committee had appointed Perez-Diaz, but
the state was never informed.
Inexplicably, only the letter to the bank warns that
the committee "must avoid engaging in any financial
activity" until a new treasurer was registered.
Chairman Deveraux Cannick said he never saw the
letter and emphasized the committee wasn't using
the Bank of New York at that point. That's another
complaint state election officials have, because the
party never reported changing depositories.
"They had a treasurer we didn't know about," said
John Conklin, spokesman for the state board. "They
changed bank accounts. We need to know that
information."
The committee's finances had come under scrutiny,
as Tedesco reported just $197 in the account in
January 2008.
Shortly after Cannick took over, the committee was
subpoenaed by federal authorities looking for
payments to Naomi Halevi, Conn-Halevi's daughter,
who was treasurer of the Chairwoman's Trust, a
separate committee.
Cannick said then he was sure the party was not
under scrutiny. But he acknowledged changing bank
accounts and ordering an audit to address
concerns.
Last year, the committee's City Council candidates
faced opponents within the party. But there wasn't a
primary because the slate failed to indicate one was
running for a shorter term. They ran in the general
election but lost.
Perez-Diaz spent only a short time as treasurer and
did not take the course for new treasurers at the
county Board of Elections.
She filed the committee's financial disclosures for
January and July 2009 with the county. But she did
not file with the state as required. Perez-Diaz said
she resigned after growing disenchanted by party
infighting.
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The board has 142 political committees on hold

because they don't have treasurers, out of more than
11,000 statewide.

The state does not follow up in such cases — but

Conklin said the agency would start reminding
those committees that they can't raise and spend
money without a treasurer. He said the board
focuses its enforcement on individuals, issuing
fines against treasurers and candidates for
campaign-finance violations.

The Democratic Party dominates politics in Mount

Vernon. In 2007, Clinton Young Jr. won a bitter
fight for mayor against incumbent Ernest Davis.

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The committee has since raised at least $38,000,

based on state records for other committees'
spending. That includes $14,200 from Friends of
Mayor Clinton Young and $10,000 from the
Committee to Elect Judge Helen Blackwood for her
share of primary costs.

It does not include thousands of dollars from a

fundraiser in February at a New Rochelle country
club.

"They're not supposed to be having fundraisers,"

Conklin said. "They're not supposed to be making
deposits. They can't write checks. They can't make
withdrawals."

Cannick said he thought the treasurers complied

with the financial requirements. He would not say
whether he knew financial activity should have
ceased without a treasurer. He said a new treasurer
would take the county course next week and file the
late reports. "The matter's being rectified," he said.

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