http://nypress.com/17/47/news&columns/feature.cfm
John Phillips Jr., an 80-year-old man, has lost all his multimillion dollar fortune as a result of legal actions of Brooklyn DA Joe Hynes. Phillips, a long-time judge, repeatedly ran against the Brooklyn political machine with success. When he ran against Hynes in 2000, people gave him a good chance to win. But that's when Hynes got ugly.
A former prosecutor named Frank Livioti forged motions from Phillips in court, saying that he was incompetent and appointing Livioti to be his trustee. Livioti sent thugs to Phillips' house while he was runnaging through his personal effects.
Livioti and a bunch of Hynes' other political friends took all of Phillips' money and fortune. Currently, Phillips is staying in a VA hospital.
So why is this so important?
- First of all, if we want to expose Republican corruption, we need to look in the mirror and expose Democratic party corruption when it happens. Otherwise, people will see us as hypocrites.
- Secondly of all, the article quotes the AARP as mentioning that this kind of elderly abuse happens on a smaller scale. I have a grandmother myself and I worry sometimes about people who might want to get their hands on her money if they find out about it.
- Third, this is a reason why inner-city turnout was so low: Many potential voters saw Bush for who he was, but also have to deal first-hand with the corruption of their local Democratic Party machine. Therefore, many of them decided to stay home and not vote.
If you are outraged by this case of eldery exploitation by public officials, you can call or e-mail the Brooklyn DA's office here:
schmetj@brooklynda.org
718.250.2300