Queens senator fined $15K for ‘quid pro quo’ trips from city-funded nonprofit
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State Sen. James Sanders Jr. Eagle file photo by Caroline Ourso
Jan. 6, 2021 at 2:43 p.m. — This story has been updated with a response from Sen. James Sanders Jr.
By David Brand
A Queens state senator has been fined $15,000 for accepting all-expense-paid trips and various “valuable gifts” from a local nonprofit he funded during his time in the city council, Conflict of Interest Board records show.
State Sen. James Sanders was a Far Rockaway councilmember when local nonprofit Margert Community Corporation picked up his tab at an all-inclusive Poconos resort on five separate occasions between 2009 and 2012, according to a COIB decision dated Dec. 8.
Margert, a Far Rockaway housing assistance nonprofit, also paid for a dinner cruise for Sanders and his family and a “birthday floral arrangement” for his wife in 2010, COIB found.
As Margert lavished Sanders with the trips and gifts, Sanders funneled nearly $842,000 in discretionary funding to the nonprofit between 2009 and 2012, Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings Judge Kara Miller wrote in a decision certified by COIB.
“This appeared to be a quid pro quo, in which respondent [Sanders] arranged for over $800,000 from City Council discretionary funds to be allocated to Margert and Margert paid for respondent’s and his family’s mountain getaways,” Miller wrote.
Sanders, she said, “manipulated the situation to repeatedly and self-servingly use City funds as a windfall for his family and himself.”
The free trips included rifle range outings, gift shop purchases and dozens of rooms for Sanders’ family, staff and constituents. Two 2011 visits to Woodloch Resorts in the Poconos totaled nearly $45,000, all covered by Margert, according to court documents.
In December 2011, the nonprofit reimbursed Sanders more than $650 for Woodloch gift shop jewelry purchases.
Overall, Margert paid more than $116,000 for the many getaways using the money they received through discretionary spending, according to Miller’s ruling.
Sanders argued that he had not violated ethics law and that his family’s “attendance served a government purpose” because they helped staff the events. The events were intended to give senior constituents a chance to experience the outdoors, he said.
Throughout his eight years in Albany, Sanders has been plagued by accusations of public corruption and kickback schemes, though he has avoided criminal prosecution. The Margert payments were investigated by former U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara’s Office in 2016, but prosecutors did not charge Sanders with any offense.
COIB said Sanders had 30 days to pay the fine. He has not provided a response for this story.
Sanders was represented at his OATH proceedings by Assemblymember Clyde Vanel.
Vanel said Sanders partnered with Margert to provide services for constituents.
“These were not gifts given from Margert to the then-Councilman Sanders,” Vanel said. “These were trips and events organized by Senator Sanders’ Office and Margert. They cosponsored these events.”
UPDATE: 2:43 p.m. Jan. 6, 2021 — Sanders told reporters Wednesday that he has not paid the fine because he is appealing the decision.
“The moral arc of the universe is long but it bends toward justice, Rev MLK said. And nowhere has that been more true than these slanderous accusations that have been used against me,” he said.
The items purchased at the gift shops were prizes for seniors at the outings he said.
“One of the best things I’ve ever done is to treat my elders right, including taking them to beautiful trips, whether around NYC or trips where, yes, it’s true I gave flowers to elders. It’s true they were among the gifts. It’s also true there was a Mother’s Day event where we gave roses to all the mothers. All these things I’m guilty of. I’m not guilty of taking a dime of the peoples’ money.”
“Im glad to be finally free of the COIB and free to appeal this to a real court,” he added.
