By Luke Rosiak | Investigative Reporter |
Daily Caller
Photo: (L-R) NY Democrat Lawmakers Gary Pretlow, Latrice Walker, Leroy Comrie
The caucus of black New York state lawmakers runs a
charity whose stated mission is to empower “African American and Latino
youth through education and leadership initiatives” by “providing opportunity
to higher education” — but it hasn’t given a single scholarship to needy youth
in two years, according to a New York Post investigation.
The group collects money from companies like AT&T, the
Real Estate Board of New York, Time Warner Cable and CableVision, telling them
in promotional materials that they are “changing lives, one scholarship at a
time.”
The group — called the Association of Black and Puerto
Rican Legislators, Inc. — instead spent $500,000 in the 2015 – 2016 fiscal year
on items like food, limousines and rap music, the Post found.
The politicians refused to divulge the charity’s 2017 tax
filing to the Post despite federal requirements that charities do so upon
request.
Its main activity is holding and selling tickets to an
elaborate party each year intended to raise money for its stated mission of
providing scholarships for youth.
But year after year, essentially all the
money simply seems to go to festivities.
Its chairman, Assemblywoman Latrice Walker of Brooklyn,
claimed to have no knowledge of the charity’s failure to fulfill its mission.
She told the Post through a spokesman that she “does not have any knowledge of
the matter.” Walker is running to be the public advocatefor New York City, its second-highest
elected position and one tasked with investigating complaints.
Photo: Latrice Walker (Left)
Walker did not return The Daily Caller News Foundation’s
request for comment, which included a request that she share the charity’s
latest tax filing.
The charity’s treasurer, Assemblyman Gary Pretlow of
Westchester, expressed no knowledge of the charity’s activities.
“I just sign the checks they give me,” he said.
State. Sen. Leroy Comrie of Queens, the group’s number
two, refused to come out when Post reporter Isabel Vincent stopped by his
office. All of the politicians mentioned are Democrats.
“The real purpose (of the charity) is to bring people to get
over their apathy and out to Albany and get motivated,” the charity’s
former chairman, Assemblyman Nick Perry of Brooklyn, previously said.
There has been no money used for scholarships in the past
two years, the Post reported, citing sources. That’s even after the Albany Times-Union called out the charity in January
2017 for meager spending in prior years.
The charity gave $35,745 of its $564,677 in revenue to scholarships
in the 2014 to 2015 fiscal year, according to the Post. That year, it spent
$85,000 on a concert with Eric Benet and Regina Belle, and $157,000 on
food, according to the Times-Union’s analysis of its tax filings.
The group said that year it planned to double the number
of scholarships it gave, but it didn’t happen.
Its 2017 annual event featured the rap artist Big Daddy
Kane.
