Will The AG Let The Puerto Rican Day Parade Board Get Away With Playing Politics Again?

The 57th annual Puerto Rican Day Parade is over and done with. In spite of the legitimate concerns of many—including this columnist—as to whether the inexperienced and newly state-anointed board of directors would have enough time to pull it off, they did it.

But I'm not reviewing the parade here. Our reporting has to do instead with the excessively politically partisan nature of this event, which appears to have violated its own rules as a nonprofit.

Clearly stated in the response to question 12 of the Frequently Asked Questions section of the National Puerto Rican Day Parade’s website, the current parade board of directors explains the role of elected officials in the parade:

“12) CAN ELECTED OFFICIALS PARTICIPATE IN THE PARADE? POLITICAL CANDIDATES?

YES, elected officials and political candidates can participate in the parade. However, in order to preserve our 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status, we must comply with all rules and policies in relation to partisan political activity."

The clearly worded response further states: "An important distinction is that an incumbent may participate in the Parade in their capacity as an office holder but cannot participate in the parade with the intent to distribute campaign literature and other political propaganda. For example, ‘Congressman John Smith’ can march in the parade with a banner that reads ‘Congressman John Smith supports the Puerto Rican Community.’ Conversely, if Congressman John Smith is running for Governor and wants the banner to read ‘Puerto Ricans support John Smith for Governor of Hawaii.’ The latter would be considered a direct violation of political campaigning and will result in immediate ejection."

We can point to at least three instances on the day of the 2014 Parade where New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman should or will have to investigate what are clear violations of NPRDP nonprofit status.

The first thing we noticed as the event’s VIPs started to assemble at 43rd and 44th Streets and Fifth Avenue, was the presence of a fully equipped truck with enlarged photo images of New York City Council Speaker Melissa Mark Viverito. "We're here to support our leader as Grand Marshall," said John Ruiz, who is a district leader and heads The Democratic Club of El Barrio/East Harlem, co-founded by the Council Speaker. In my three decades of covering this annual event, I have never seen an elected official do this.

We also found a similar campaign vehicle for New York State Sen. Adriano Espaillat at approximately the same time and area as that of Mark-Viverito's political club. The candidate challenging Rep. Charles B. Rangel for the 13th Congressional District nomination and his team were clearly violating the rule, putting in jeopardy the NPRDP's tax-exempt status.

Of particular significance is that state Sen. Espaillat's campaigning was visible to all the parade board members as they were assembling themselves to lead the parade. Only one of the members of the board expressed concern to me about this violation of their rules, even though it is clearly stated that a person violating the rule would be ejected from the parade. Espaillat was not admonished.

The other person in violation of the nonpartisan rules governing the event was gubernatorial candidate Rob Astorino. The Republican, who was not part of the front of the parade or anywhere near the marching members of the parade board, was also in clear violation of the parade’s rule against campaigning. And his team was clearly in campaign mode.

As far as we have been able to ascertain, neither Espaillat nor Astorino were told they were in violation of this rule.

The attorney general is expected to receive a full audited financial statement from the NPRDP board that will render an accounting of the revenues and expenses for the June 8, 2014 event. What remains to be seen is if Schneiderman will also address the violations he witnessed as he too marched in the parade.

Will the AG look the other way since the violation of the tax-exempt status involves Mark-Viverito, his close ally in taking down the tainted previous parade board, and Espaillat, Schneiderman’s long-time political ally, who has declared the AG an "honorary Dominican" and who has cross endorsed him in various campaigns? I assume he will have no problems citing Astorino.

And will the attorney general hold accountable the very reconstituted parade leadership he had to vet and have final approval over to end its control by corrupt characters? Or is the new board of this major cultural event doomed once more to be controlled by new rulers who will use it for their personal political advantage and partisan gain?