Adolfo Carrion resigning as HUD director (UPDATE)

Former Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion is stepping down from his post as regional director for the Department of Housing and Urban Development in New York and New Jersey next month. 

Carrion is leaving the Obama administration to go to the private sector and help work to re-elect the president. One source said he is planning on starting a company. 

After serving as borough president until 2009, Carrion went to Washington to serve as Director of the White House Office of Urban Affairs before taking the position at HUD.

Carrion officially leaves his post Feb. 10. 

The resignation comes less than two months since the New York City Conflict of Interest Board fined him $10,000 for his connection with an architect who helped renovate his home in 2006. At the time, the architect was also seeking approval from his office for a separate project.

The source, with Washington ties, said the resignation is likely an effort to get himself back into the political limelight for the 2013 mayoral race or city comptroller. With City Comptroller John Liu struggling lately, Carrion could hope to gain the minority vote in either race.

He has over $2 million in his war chest that could be used for either race. According to reports, having a federal job would prevent him from raising campaign cash.

Current Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr., also a Latino, still hasn’t ruled out a run for mayor either, though.

The source said Carrion most likely was not pushed out and that it was not related to Monday’s news of fellow Bronxite Jack Lew’s appointment as President Obama’s new chief of staff. 

UPDATE: Here is a letter Carrion sent to friends and colleagues, where he writes, "Upon my departure from HUD, I will be launching Metro Futures LLC, an entity that will be dedicated to advancing investment in infrastructure, housing, and smart metropolitan growth. In this work, I plan to continue to make progress towards our shared mission of building competitive, sustainable and opportunity-rich communities across our great country."

ADOLFO CARRIÓN

Carrion fined $10,000 in conflict with architect

Former Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion has been fined $10,000 by the city Conflict of Interest Board for his connection with the architect who helped renovate his home in 2006. At the time, the architect was also seeking approval from his office for a separate project.

This caused a two-year delay in being billed for the architect's work (A bill that probably wouldn't have been paid had the public not found out about the situation, despite what Carrion claims).

Carrion left the Bronx BP position in 2009 to become Obama's urban affairs czar, but later got 'moved' to the regional director of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

Head over to the Daily Politics later on to get more information. Right now, they only have the disposition, which is here below:



COIB Press Release _ Disposition _Bronx Borough President_

Carrión attempting a city comeback?

One last story from this week's paper. This one on the possibility of former borough president Adolfo Carrión running for city comptroller. Check out Bob Kappstatter's Daily News column to read about how he's heard Carrión may decide to run for his former BP post instead. 

By Brendan McHugh 

After mediocre success on the federal level, it is possible that former Bronx Borough president Adolfo Carrión Jr. could come back to New York to run for city comptroller, which would make him the first Latino to hold a citywide office in New York City.

Carrión has $2.3 million in a campaign account, most of it left over from an abandoned run for comptroller in 2009, according to New York City Campaign finance records.

Carrión was instead tapped to run the White House Office of Urban Affairs in 2009, and left a year later to run the regional office of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, a move some consider to be a lateral career move at best—current Public Advocate, Bill de Blasio, had the HUD position under President Bill Clinton before taking citywide office.

The funds the former borough president has amassed put him in good position to run for comptroller, which caps candidates’ total funds at slightly over $4 million.

Jump below for the full story.

Adolfo Carrion's Last Public Day: Video

Here are a few video's I took today at Adolfo Carrion's final public act as Bronx Borough president, his 2009 "State of the Borough" address.

First, here is the retrospective on Carrion's career as the chief executive of The Bronx.



Next, we have the first have of his final press conference as borough president:



Here's part two:

--John DeSio

Israel Ruiz Considering A SpecElec Run

One thing we’ve been doing around the office is tracking down the wide array of different potential candidates who have mentioned, at one time or another, that they might consider pursuing the borough presidency (with two confirmed, of course).

One such candidate is former State Senator and City Councilman Israel Ruiz, who told me on Friday that he was also interested in jumping into the special election.

“I’m exploring,” said Ruiz, who recently sent out a mailing looking for campaign contributions to former contributors.

Ruiz said that nothing is final, and that he is also considering a run for borough president or for City Council in the 14th District against incumbent Maria Baez.

Ruiz held that council seat until 1997, when he ran for borough president against Fernando Ferrer.

(Though, to be fair, Ruiz did not seek out a Ferrer contest. When Ruiz announced for borough president, Ferrer was planning a run for mayor against Rudy Giuliani. When Ferrer opted out of the mayoral race, Ruiz stayed in the beep race rather than finagle his way back to the City Council. Obviously, Ferrer won, and Ruiz’s former seat was filled by Adolfo Carrion.)

Ruiz was unsuccessful in 2001 and 2003 races against Baez for the seat. Ruiz also ran for his former State Senate seat in 2006 against Efrain Gonzalez Jr, a seat he had held until 1989, when he was convicted of lying on a loan application. Upon his release from jail, Ruiz was victorious in the City Council race.

Ruiz said he’s spoken about his potential return to a number of people, and all the response he has gotten is positive.

“People are saying they’d like to have a discussion about who should be the next borough president, and they want me to be a part of that discussion,” said Ruiz. “The Bronx is really hurting, and we have to come up with solutions.”

--John DeSio

Welcome To The Thunderdome

The Bronx is in a very unique political situation right now.

With this week’s announcement that Adolfo Carrion would officially be heading to Washington as President Barack Obama’s director of urban affairs, the Bronx now faces the first borough wide special election for the seat of Bronx Borough President in its history, and possibly the first borough wide special election in the history of the City (we're still checking).

With that in mind, we here at the Bronx Press Review/Riverdale Review understand there will be a hunger for news about this race and it's associated consequences. To fill that need, John DeSio and Candice M. Giove will be providing daily updates about the race, covering all aspects of the contest from the important to the minutia.

Stay tuned.