Monday, February 17, 2014

Swept Under The Rug: Mayor De Blasio's Call To NYPD To Get His Friend Rev. Orlando Findlayter Out of Jail


 Bishop Orlando Findlayter at the New Hope Christian Fellowship Church. He was arrested because a failure to
pay his car insurance led to a license suspension and he also had two outstanding warrants from an immigration protest.

Mayor De Blasio set a bad precedent by making a call to the NYPD to "talk" about his friend Rev. Findlayter, and then telling him to not talk about it. The new monitor of the NYPD should investigate. This is a matter of public interest. Meanwhile, if a person you know is arrested, call the Mayor's office and ask them to call the police to set your friend/relative/other, free.

Betsy Combier

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Bishop Orlando Findlayter, an early supporter of Bill de Blasio’s campaign
for mayor, after giving a sermon in Brooklyn on Sunday morning. Ozier Muhammad/The New York Times
By 

The pastor whose arrest last week has turned into a political headache for Mayor Bill de Blasio appeared publicly on Sunday for the first time since the incident, leading a rousing service in Brooklyn but saying nothing about his arrest — or the controversy that has entangled the mayor.

The pastor, Bishop Orlando Findlayter, made no mention of Mr. de Blasio on Sunday morning at New Hope Christian Fellowship, housed in a large, fluorescent-lit room in a rented civic center on Utica Avenue in East Flatbush. Instead, pausing only to wipe his head with a white cloth, Mr. Findlayter swayed to songs alongside members of the church, shook a colorful tambourine and eventually strode to the microphone to tell his parishioners, “You need to ask God, ‘What is my assignment?’ ”

“My ministry may not be your ministry, and your ministry may not be my ministry, but we all have a ministry,” Mr. Findlayter said, citing verses from the Gospel of Matthew. “We all have been called. We all have been gifted.”

 Mr. Findlayter, an early supporter of Mr. de Blasio’s mayoral campaign and a member of the mayor’s inaugural committee, was arrested last Monday and accused of driving on a suspended license. He faced being held overnight in jail because of two outstanding warrants connected to his role in a rally last year for immigration reform.

 After learning of the arrest, Mr. de Blasio called a deputy police chief, Kim Y. Royster, who told the mayor she would look into the matter.

 When Chief Royster called the precinct commander, Deputy Inspector Kenneth C. Lehr, he told her that he had already decided to release Mr. Findlayter, whom he knew from their work together in the community.

 The mayor has said he was making an “inquiry” and not trying to exert any influence. But his decision to place such a call prompted criticism from some officials and a barrage of pointed questions at a news conference last week.

 While the mayor has fended off suggestions of favoritism, the minister has said nothing publicly about the arrest and the firestorm that followed. On Saturday, he was expected to address the controversy during a planned appearance in Harlem with the Rev. Al Sharpton. But when Mr. Findlayter did not attend, attention turned to his congregation’s service on Sunday. More than 100 worshipers showed up, along with several reporters, for the service. But Mr. Findlayter maintained his public silence on the arrest and the criticism of the mayor.

 Wearing a black jacket, white clerical collar and a gold chain, Mr. Findlayter appeared smiling and relaxed. But as he embraced admiring parishioners after the service, Mr. Findlayter, who was flanked by security guards wearing earpieces and radios, declined to speak to reporters. “I have nothing to say,” he said. “It’s a Sunday. I came to worship.”

 Before Mr. Findlayter spoke at the end of Sunday’s two-hour-long service, another clergyman, the Rev. Eric Barnes, delivered a strong defense of the pastor, admonishing the reporters in attendance to pay attention.

 “Thank you for standing up for immigration reform,” Mr. Barnes said, addressing Mr. Findlayter from the stage. “Thank you for standing up for Downstate Medical Center. Thank you, Bishop Findlayter, for hobnobbing with the president. Thank you for helping people who can’t pay their rent, for helping them find the resources.”

 Those who came to hear Mr. Findlayter’s sermon were no less effusive.

 “He’s a lovely man, a lovely, lovely person,” said one woman, who declined to give her name. “He speaks for those in the community.”
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