Miguel Martinez

City Councilman Miguel Martinez was one of the politicians who helped deliver Hillary Clinton's February 5 primary win in Harlem, which looked far from a sure thing beforehand, despite the support she had from much of the political establishment in the district.  read more »

Charlie Rangel was busy yesterday morning.

On his way to speak at three churches uptown within 90 minutes, Rangel made an unscheduled stop at West 155th Street, where Clinton supporters were kicking off a 61-block march north.

“Okay, what a gorgeous day,” said Rangel when he emerged from his Cadillac, surrounded by campaign volunteers and reporters.  read more »

There appears to be some struggle over at the Campaign Finance Board to figure out how, exactly, to describe City Councilman Miguel Martinez’s use of matching funds, which the board ordered him to repay.

Today's New York Times story has this quote:

“If these were genuine expenditures, the campaign was unable to produce documents that showed it,” said Eric Friedman, a spokesman for the board. “Nor were the vendors. And they didn’t come back to us with records that were convincing to the board.”

But late this afternoon, the C.F.B. sent out a statement, distancing themselves from what Friedman told the Times, without calling it factually incorrect. The clarification seems to be that Martinez did make expenditures and he did submit documents, but they were “self-created, non-contemporaneous documentation made to look like originals coming from the vendor." The release also says the campaign's actions "did not rise to the level of fraud."

The C.F.B.’s statement is after the jump. If you have insight into this linguistic and legal contortion, please email me.  read more »

Continuing with our marginally useful compilation of Hillary Clinton-designated Democratic National Convention delegates for next year, here's who the campaign picked in the Harlem-based 15th congressional district, according to a reader in the district and confirmed by a knowledgeable Democrat.

The delegates are: Assemblyman Keith Wright, City Councilwoman and Charlie Rangel ally Inez Dickens, Assemblyman Adriano Espaillat (who championed the original driver's license policy that tripped up Clinton during the last debate), City Councilwoman Melissa Mark-Viverito (who has close ties to 1199), City Councilman Miguel Martinez, and disabled activist Pamela Bates.

The alternate is City Councilman Robert Jackson.

Advocates of Eliot Spitzer's executive order to allow non-legal residents to obtain driver's licenses have just turned up the volume.

At a press conference just now on the City Hall steps, Assemblyman Adriano Espaillat compared one vocal critic, Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy, to a “little Bull Connor.”

Espaillat went on to say that there is nothing to fear from the people who will be affected by the change in the law. “I don’t think we need to be concerned about a Mexican going to Home Depot to get some materials to do your lawn,” he said.

City Councilman Miguel Martinez said Michael Bloomberg was opposing the plan for slightly less sinister reasons: national ambition.

“This is about what is right for the mayor politically and his national agenda,” Martinez said. “Just like a former mayor who used to champion issues of immigrants for the city of New York and said that the doors were open, for all immigrants, is now saying it is not."

A supporter of Bill Perkins' bid for state senate tells the Politicker that he'll be endorsed Sunday by three Council Members who serve the Harlem senate district: Robert Jackson, Melissa Mark-Viverito and Miguel Martinez.