Did anyone see the story in the NY Post on June 22nd about Bronx Councilwoman Maria Baez' daughter?

I must congratulate DENISE BUFFA and LEONARD GREENE for uncovering yet another abuse of power by Bronx officials.

The rumor is that CARMEN BAEZ, the Councilwoman's daughter, is being prepared to run for her mother's seat in 2009 (remember, Maria Baez is term-limited).

Can you believe taht while most of us are out here living paycheck by paycheck (literally), MS. CARMEN BAEZ, at the age of 27, is making $90,000 a year as Deputy City Clerk in the Bronx? Can you believe that!

I wonder how Jose Rivera feels now? Hillary (and Obama and Edwards) ALL stood him up! Hillary did not make it due to a flight delay. What a coincidence!

Reading from News 12 The Bronx website, the forum speakers (who were they?) "did not discuss specific solutions"! So, what was the point of the forum? To say what Latinos are tired of hearing over and over again? That they need to be politically active, they need to vote and get an education? THIS IS OLD...EXTREMELY OLD...NEWS!

My guess is that Hillary's advisers have made sure she knows of all the corruption taking place in Bronx politics, including FBI investigations of Jose Rivera. Why would ANY Presidential Candidate want to be involve with this type of politicians? Maybe Ross Perot...MAYBE! I applaud Hillary on this. She has enough problems of her own to deal with. She knows also that Latinos in general are still in love with Bill Clinton and as his wife, she is also loved.

A few days ago, I ran into Haile Rivera, who I noticed is a regular Room 8 blogger. As I was walking on Fordham & Jerome, I was handed a yellow flyer with the heading " Free Food for the Community" (see attached) and it was signed by Haile Rivera. I asked for him and it turned out to be him who handed me the flyer.

I went on to say that I ahve heard of him via Room 8 and other blogs and wanted to know if he was running for the City Council in 2009. As usual, I was carrying my tape recorder and he was fine with me recording our conversation.

He excused himself from his group and began to answer my question. He was very frank and said that "I am not going to stand here and lie to you or to myself. Yes, I would like to run fo the 14th Council District in 2009. Right now, I'm giving it serious consideration."

Check out this nice invite from Joel Rivera's campaign for 2009.

Seems like the Yankees are starting to return the favor to teh Bronx Political Machine.

Let's see the Campaign Finance Disclosures and see how many Yankees exceutives appeared there as donors....

We'll probably be seeing Maria Baez, Maria del Carmen Arroyo, and Jose Rivera to name a few, hosting their fundraisers at Yankee Stadium....

Great way of selling out friends... way to go...!

Word on the streets, media circles and among community board members is that Councilwoman Maria Baez (who has little support among community boards in her district) is likely to be "implanted" for the Senate seat that, if convicted (which is highly likely) will be vacted by State Senator Efrain Gonzalez.

We all know that the evidence points to a guilty verdict. However, we should not be surprised if he (Efrain) gets a "slap on the wrist" for stealing money for his personal use, an act which must be pusnihed severely and without pity.

Now, Maria Baez occupying such seat is a further slap in the face to the constituency. Yes, she will run for office since the Bronx Democratic machine does not have the power to avoid elections (if they did, trust me, they would put everyone in office who they liked). I hope that a viable candidate comes up and runs against Maria Baez. This woman is there because of her direct connection to Jose Rivera, Bronx Party Dictator (oops, sorry.. Chairman). Did you know that she does not even appoint any community residents to serve on the Community Boards within her district? Yes, that's correct. She leaves that to Bronx Borough President. Clearly, this reflects that she has very little care for those in community boards and does not really care what they feel, do, say or think. To her, that's a waste of her time.... There has been several names in private talks to fill this position... They include Majority Leader and son of Jose Rivera, Joel Rivera. But there's only one problem: Joel is running for Bronx Borough President in 2009 (although he has not made any formal announcement). Maybe it's time for a NEW face in Bronx politics. I'm tired of seeing the same faqces or the son or daughter of Jose Rivera. I'm surprised his (Jose's) ex-wife is not running ...or could she?

Did you hear? NYS Assemblyman Ruben Diaz, Jr. (son of State Senator Ruben Diaz, Sr.) is given strong consideration and devoting hours to possibly running for Bronx Borough President in 2009. If he does - which I hope he does - it will put him up against Joel Rivera, the son of Bronx Democratic Party Chair and NYS Assemblymember as well, Jose Rivera (Joel is also Majority Leader of the NYC Council).

Looking at both of these young leaders' voting records and list of accomplishments, I found that Assemblyman Diaz has enough experience to take on the Presidency of the Bronx and make the Bronx a better place to live. He knows what it takes to get support from the State (he's been there for ten years now) and has proven to be an effective leader for his constituents.

I'm back....after an extended absence from Room 8, I am ecited to be back and join all my fellow bloggers.

As many of you know, I am a proud resident of teh Bronx and have been living here for nearly 15 years. I like to be involved in our local political process. I wanted to speak about a topic that came up a few nights ago at a local meeting I attended on cmmunity issues. It was in reference to the 2009 City Council elections in teh Bronx and the one that was what I consider a "hot topic" was teh one on District 14, which is represented by Councilwoman Maria Baez.

So a few names came out and it caught my attention since I live in Councilwoman Baez district.

Wow,

I just finished looking over the thousands of pages put out in the NYS Assembly's Legislative Reports and being form the Bronx, I found something very interesting, yet not surprising.

There's an organization called LATINOS MAKING A DIFFERENCE with address in 1734 Townsend Avenue in the Bronx who has an individual by the name of ROBERT BARNES as its contact person (maybe he's the President as well, not sure).

What I believe merits an investigation by our local newspapers is the following:

This organization received a total of $54,500 for the 06-07 year and has been funded in the previous years as well with a substantial funding.