Seabrook convicted of abuses Quinn calls 'galling'
Larry Seabrook. Azi Paybarah
3:21 pm Jul. 26, 2012
That Councilman Larry Seabrook was convicted on nine federal counts of funneling taxpayer money to family and friends through a shady network of nonprofit organizations is hardly a surprise.
Seabrook, a former assemblyman, state senator and adjunct professor, had a lengthy history of misusing public and campaign funds, sometimes in ways that were technically legal but nevertheless ridiculous, as when he claimed public matching funds for a Council campaign in 2005 on the basis that his basically penniless Republican opponent might conceivably get funded by Michael Bloomberg. (The New York City Campaign Finance Board rewrote some if its rules about matching funds because of Seabrook's tactics that year.)
More famously, there's the $177 receipt for a bagel sandwich he tried passing off as legimate.
In response to the verdict, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn issued a brief statement, calling Seabrook's actions "a galling abuse of the trust" given to a public official.
Now, who'll replace Seabrook in the Council?
City and State had a good preview of this back during Seabrook's first trial, which ended in a hung jury.
Among the leading candidates is Andy King, a community organizer with ties to 1199 SEIU and DC37. There's also Jerome Rice, a candidate who famously confronted Seabrook at his own press conference, where the two men accused each other being sellouts.
