At his press conference in midtown yesterday Michael Bloomberg was asked why one city agency approved a funding application for the Donna Reid Fund after the same group had been denied funding by another agency.

The mayor defended what had happened and added, "In fact, the process worked."

Two employees of Councilman Kendall Stewart have now been accused of skimming money off the grants the nonprofit received.

UPDATE: Councilman David Yassky's office released a letter this morning in support of the actions of the first agency to see an application from the Donna Reid Foundation--the Department for the Aging--expressing support and commending the agency for taking the right course of action. In recent days, D.F.T.A. has been blamed for not doing more to expose inconsistencies in the nonprofit's application.

Here's the letter:  read more »

Councilman Kendall Stewart helped steer taxpayer money the Donna Reid Fund, which not only shares an address in Brooklyn with Stewart's chief of staff Asquith Reid, but allegedly was used to funnel money to Reid and another staff member.

But the relationship between Reid and the Donna Reid Foundation wasn’t a secret.
 read more »]]> Politics Donna Reid Fund Kendall Stewart Lew Fidler Wed, 16 Apr 2008 14:31:33 -0400 Azi Paybarah 67956 at http://www.observer.com http://www.observer.com/2008/former-kendall-stewart-staffers-named-indictment

The unsealed indictment from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York names Councilman Kendall Stewart's former chief of staff, Asquith Reid, and another staffer, Joycinth "Sue" Anderson.

The charges include conspiracy to commit mail fraud, money laundering conspiracy and witness tampering and center around an organization called the Donna Reid Fund, which has received $356,000 in discretionary funds from the Councilman since April 2005.  read more »