Nelson Castro trips on silver tongue

NELSON NETTED

Disgraced ex-west Bronx Assemblyman Nelson (Speak up, please) Castro just can’t seem to keep from stepping on his so-called silver tongue.

Snagged and turned into an undercover informant with a recorder by prosecutors after lying at a civil court deposition, Nelson got snagged again, this time for lying about a media interview he did after his undercover days were blown with the bribery arrest of Assemblyman Eric Stevenson. His federal handlers called talking to the media a definite no-no under his informant agreement.

He pled guilty Tuesday, Aug 27 to the Bronx perjury and the new perjury charges. No indication if he’ll be joining some other former Bronx electeds at Chez Fed, but Stevenson’s lawyer is probably licking his chops over Castro’s reliability as a key witness.

THE FAKE JOEL

Somebody over at Jobs for New York (read that the New York real estate industry’s limitless campaign spending PAC) doesn’t like “the Fake Joel Rivera,” otherwise known as Joel R. Rivera, who’s dropped his middle initial while running for the term-limited REAL Joel Rivera’s City Council seat in the 15th C.D. covering Belmont, Bathgate, East Tremont, and Fordham.

The Jobs PAC recently mailed out a flood of flyers in the district accusing “the FAKE Joel Rivera” of also running on the (GASP!) Republican line in the Sept. 10 primary, not that you could find many registered Republicans in that district.

“The FAKE Joel Rivera” also got into some recent heat with the city’s Campaign Finance Board, according to the NY Post, after a complaint from rival candidate Richie Torres that “the FAKE Joel Rivera” failed to report a whole load of expenses for his faceless posters (not that he hopes voters will confuse him with the REAL Joel Rivera) and other items that should have been reported to the CFB.

And as one of our Deep Throats reports, “the FAKE Joel Rivera” recently boasted at a block party for the Bronx Park East Community Association “that he paid for it all.” Wonder if he reported that as a campaign expenditure?

HIT MAN

And speaking of that Council race in the 15th, the REAL Joel Rivera’s longtime chief of staff, Albert Alvarez, has brought veteran hired political gun Mike Nieves into the race in its final weeks to do his best to do his worst to the competition.

Mike was a longtime campaign advisor to Assemblyman Jose Rivera, among others around town, and has a rep of going for the jugular.

TOASTED

Looks like federal inmate 63107-054, otherwise known as former City Councilman Larry Seabrook of the $177 bagel sandwich expense account, will have to do his full five-year stretch on his 2012 corruption conviction after recently losing his appeal. The 62-year-old ex-pol is doing his time at the medium security Schuylkill (Pa.) Federal Correctional Institution, whose commissary menu lists a bagel for 55 cents.

SPLITTING HEIRS

Joe McManus, state committeeman at the Liberty Democratic Club in the 80th Assembly District disputes last week’s column item about the club being split on who it’s supporting for term-limited Council Majority Leader Joel Rivera’s central Bronx 15th C.D. seat.

We wrote that District Leader Kenny Agosto and state committeewoman Maria Gonzalez are supporting Joel’s longtime chief of staff Albert Alvarado, while the club backs its president, Richie Torres.

Joe, always a gentleman when disputing a column, says the CLUB officially voted for Richie.

And we say, the club’s LEADERSHIP is split. End of debate. Shake hands.

COUNCIL SEAT
FOR SALE

No, we’re not talking about political corruption.

While we were talking with Joe McManus, who ran for the City Council in 2005 against Jimmy Vacca, Steve Kaufman, Egidio Sementelli and others, we asked him just what it costs these days to put a campaign together.

Joe figures about $200Gs for a fairly effective one, with a campaign manager, treasurer and compliance officer to deal with the maze of regs at the city Campaign Finance Board to see upwards of $84,000 in 6-1 matching funds for the total cost of the campaign, plus petition gatherers and canvassers to work seek out voters.

All this for a part-time job that pays $112,000 a year.

“The nicest part to running,” sayeth Joe, “was door knocking and meeting the real people.”

VETO VOTE

Just for the record, that vote to override Mayuh Mike’s veto on two council bills imposing an inspector general on the NYPD, and cracking down on bias-based stop-and-frisk profiling had a split vote among the Bronx delegation.

All the borough members voted to override the mayor’s veto on establishing an NYPD inspector general reporting to the city Department of Investigation, while Joel Rivera and Jimmy Vacca supported Bloomberg on opposing restrictions being placed on cops performing stop-and-frisks.

LOVE BIRDS

Boro Prez Ruben Diaz Jr. posting a photo on Facebook of him and gorgeous wife Hilda cuddling at an outdoor table on City Island.

“Our youngest is at Temple University and our oldest is going back to Boston College as a senior. That’s why we were at City Island practicing being Empty Nesters!”