In the years when ex-Assemblyman Vito Lopez was still a kingmaker in New York, his campaign treasurer ran the government-funded Ridgewood Bushwick Senior Citizens Council and her annual salary at one point topped $685,000.
The line handed out at the time was that Christiana Fisher had long been underpaid to run the social-services empire, an operation with more than 500 employees and 30,000 clients, and deserved Wall Street-level compensation to, well, compensate her.
All this sparked the interest of probers, who eventually determined that documents had been doctored to justify wildly inflated paychecks.
On Nov. 15, Fisher pleaded guilty to a single misdemeanor count of criminal contempt. She later forfeited about $170,000.
Tax returns filed by the organization last month indicate Fisher made out like a bandit.
IRS filings show Fisher received $685,975 in 2008 and $607,624 in 2009 before settling at $383,491 in 2010 and $353,475 in 2011. The Department of Investigation put her 2009 take even higher at $782,000. She got the ax in January 2012.
A fair salary?
Well, the new chief operating officer, James Cameron, got $300,000 plus “standard benefits” in 2011. He was raised to $325,000 last year.
The new team running Ridgewood Bushwick would just as soon never hear Fisher’s name again.
“Jan. 15, 2012, is a dividing line in RBSCC’s history,” the organization said in a statement. “As of that date, the story of Christiana Fisher and RBSCC ended, and RBSCC began a new chapter in its 40-year history.”
There’s good reason for the clean sweep.
City Councilman Peter Vallone, a candidate for Queens Borough President, wants all government grants halted unless all vestiges of Lopez are gone.
Never one to let something like a sexual-harassment scandal deter him, Lopez is still said to be considering a run for the City Council this year even as some allies plead that he call it quits.
In its statement, the group said it was unfortunate that The Post was focusing “on the past” because doing so “clouds current reforms.”
“We will, however, respond in an attempt to put the matter of Christiana Fisher finally to rest,” the statement said.
That’s good, because now the new board can focus on Angela Battaglia, Lopez’s girlfriend, who is still the associate executive director at Ridgewood Bushwick.
She pulled down $224,115 in 2011, plus $15,942 in “other compensation.”
And while the organization’s leaders don’t want to go near Lopez, 10 of its employees, including Battaglia, contributed $1,700 to his council campaign.