Monserrate Campaign Connected to Director of Dysfunctional Nonprofit

A few weeks ago the New York Times ran a story about a now-defunct nonprofit that received city funding at the request of Councilman Hiram Monserrate.

Then El Diario did a follow-up that I missed the first time around, revealing that the same person who ran the nonprofit did business with Monserrate's campaign.

Here's part of the piece, translated with help from Google:

Rodolfo Herrera, known by most as "Opo" in the Colombian community of Queens, was the beneficiary of a contract to purchase computers destined for one of Monserrate's campaigns, according to documents.

The company of which he is President, OpoTech Corporation, charged $2,755 to the reelection campaign of Councilman Monserrate for computers and technical services in September of 2004.

Herrera is also Executive Director of Latin Technologies, a nonprofit organization that has received over $120,000 in public funds since 2004, mostly from Monserrate. Latin Technologies and OpoTech share the same address and telephone number.

[skip]

"The gentleman (Herrera) has a company; goods and services were bought from him, period. In this country, everyone has a right to donate to whichever political campaign they desire. There is no violation of law," Monserrate explained.

In addition, Herrera is Executive Director of LIBRE, a nonprofit organization that has been allocated over $2.7 million dollars in discretionary funding from the City Council, at the request of Monserrate. Herrera assumed this post in November of 2007, but he was also the Treasurer of the organization since it was founded in 2003.