City Council Member Martinez is resigning in deal with feds

City Council Member Miguel Martinez, who has filed petitions to run for a third term, is resigning from the office he has held since 2002 in a deal with federal prosecutors that will reduce charges of financial wrong doing against him and keep him out of jail, according to sources.

Martinez was considered the front-runner in a nine-person race for Council District 10, which roughly encompasses the east side of Washington Heights and Inwood as well as Marble Hill in the Bronx. His opponents include a formerly staunch ally, Manny Velazquez who chairs Community Board 12, and a long-time opponent, Ydanis Rodriguez, who lost races to Martinez in 2001 and 2003. Also on September's primary ballot is Ruben Dario Vargas, Martinez' lone Democratic challenger in 2005.

Rumors about Martinez' legal troubles had swirled for months.

In March investigators seized documents at the W. 189th Street office of nonprofit Upper Manhattan Council Assisting Neighbors (UCAN) where City Council had funneled close to $1.5 million since 2006, over $400,000 directly from Martinez, after his sister joined the UCAN board in an unpaid position. UCAN, which Martinez was closely allied with, has since been closed.

Investigators began cracking down on how City Council members dole out funds to organizations in 2008 in what became known as the "Slush Fund Scandal," trying to determine whether the millions of dollars of discretionary funds were being used for legitimate purposes.

Martinez also ran afoul of the Campaign Finance Board, which fined him $44,780 in January 2008, after it determined the documentation he submitted to back up his 2001 campaign expenses was not authentic, although it stopped short of charging Martinez with fraud. He was also required to repay $128,786 in public dollars based on the city's campaign finance laws. Martinez' 2003 campaign was also fined a total of $31,820.

Martinez has maintained that the discrepancies in the paperwork - such as receipts with identical typos - were not an attempt to mislead the board but the futile record keeping of an inexperienced campaign.

The Manhattan Times is the bilingual newspaper of Washington Heights and Inwood.