Gilly’s pork Butts
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand pushed for more than $3 million in pork-barrel grants to the Harlem-based development corporation chaired by the Rev. Calvin Butts, one of the city’s most politically influential black ministers, records show.
The money for the Abyssinian Development Corp. was included among more than 100 earmark requests, made by Gillibrand (D-NY) for the 2009-2010 budget, that were reviewed by The Post.
The funds to Butts’ ADC group were supposed to go in two chunks.
One was from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, for $2 million, which was listed as going toward a “new state-of-the-art pre-K facility” for 400 students, and would create 575 jobs.
The other was a $1 million grant to improve “the educational successes for students attending school at the ADC Education Corridor.”
Butts has not yet endorsed a Senate candidate. He didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Gillibrand also sought $56 million for Friends of the High Line, the park makeover of the defunct elevated freight-rail system on the West Side — a key pet project of City Council Speaker Christine Quinn.
“Clearly, if you look at her earmarks, they’re going to be what most politics earmarks are — and they’re aimed at establishing their bona fides and good graces with important electoral constituencies,” said Baruch College political science professor Doug Muzzio.
“The woman ain’t no dummy,” he added. “You figure out the relevant voting constituencies . . . and you distribute goodies.”
Gillibrand pushed to aid the upstate village of Kiryas Joel, in the form of $1.2 million for a “pedestrian safety improvement project” — in other words, sidewalks.
The Orthodox Jewish community generally votes in a bloc.
Gillibrand also:
* Sought $525,000 for the Ohel Children’s Home and Family Services, a Borough Park, Brooklyn-based program.
* Requested $1 million for a new palm-print enhancement system for the Suffolk County Police Department.
* Asked for $200,000 for the Lower East Side Tenement Museum, in Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver’s district.
In most cases, Gillibrand got less funding than she asked for or no money at all. Abyssinian Development Corp. got no funding, while Kiryas Joel got only $300,000. Ohel only received $350,000 and the funding for Friends of the High Line is still pending.
“From youth centers in The Bronx to ensuring clean drinking water across the state, all earmark requests are considered only on the merits, regardless of politics,” said Gillibrand spokesman Glen Caplin.
