....October 22, 3:17 PM
 
 
 
Halloran: Disciplined Cop Out Of The Broom Closet
By MICHAEL SCHENKLER


Follow me on Twitter @QueensTribune

Wow, I didn’t really think I’d be writing about Dan Halloran again.

But this guy has secrets on his secrets and I am apparently the only journalist reading the available material. Read and you’ll discover.

Sadly, Dan won’t talk to the Tribune, so I’ll just present the published story I discovered and let the process of Dan denying and journalists pursuing begin.

This one is likely more explosive than our previously published discovery that Halloran is a Pagan Lord – the head of a Theod pre-Christian pagan religion.

But first, the disclaimer.

In this edition, the Tribune endorses Kevin Kim for Council in the 19th Councilmanic District. We do so simply because we feel he is by far the better candidate. His intellect, commitment to community and his record of public service has earned him our support.

The Tribune has an affiliated company, Multi Media, which provides print, direct mail, creative and consulting services to business, not-for-profit and political clients.

During this election, our affiliate has provided a variety of services to nine different council candidates and one Borough President candidate in Queens. Of the 10 candidates, only two Council candidates received this newspaper’s endorsement.

Kevin Kim was one of them.

There is no relationship between business with our affiliated company and our recommendations for elective office.

In this column on Sept. 3, we disclosed our affiliate’s business relationship with Kevin. We also disclosed that this paper’s founder Gary Ackerman had encouraged us to help Kevin. Heck, we disclosed that we liked Kevin. In every one of Kevin’s regular campaign filings, he discloses that he does business with Multi Media.

Nothing contained above or nothing in my relationship or this business’ relationship with Kevin Kim can change the news, the facts, or the secrets that his opponent lives with.

When we discover something that may be significant about a candidate for public office or an elected official, this paper will disclose it. Period!

A quick aside while we are talking about secrets and disclosure.

Last week, this paper discovered that the Democratic Candidate for Council in the 20th District, Yen Chou, had not voted in an election for the 10 years she was registered in Flushing, until she voted for herself in this past September’s Primary. It is on our list of questions to discuss with her in our interview on Monday. If our information is accurate, this paper will likely support the candidacy of her opponent Republican Peter Koo.

Good journalism gets the information to help determine who are the good candidates.

The first secret about Dan Halloran was uncovered by this writer just prior to the Sept. 15 Primary. We planned to print it as we did the following week, no matter who won the Democratic Primary.

It had taken me a number of weeks to uncover that Dan’s secrets were concealed behind an assumed name. Once I learned that, it was easy to find that Dan used the name Dan O’Halloran when performing his role as “First Atheling,” or Leader of the Asatru-Theod faith of pre-Christian Heathen religions.

I discovered extensive online writings by Dan promoting his heathen religion.

There is nothing wrong with that – I mean it.

But Dan was not just a member of a pagan religion, he was its leader, it’s Pagan lord.

And there is nothing wrong with that.

But it is significant, and the people have a right to know.

But is there something wrong with hiding your leadership of a religion from the people who you are asking to vote for you for public office?

Is there something wrong after the Tribune discloses the facts, that you take your writings off the web, then edit them, remove pictures of yourself and distance yourself from the religion you’ve practiced for at least 19 years and led for a number of them?

We were uncomfortable with a lot about Dan.

It bothered us that in interviews, that he justified his participation in “animal blood sacrifices” by saying the practice was also done in Judaism, Christianity and Islam. I’ve never witnessed any other religion, as part of a ritual, kill an animal. I personally think that in this day and age, it is barbaric.

Dan, if you think the practice is okay for your Theod, the constitution probably protects you, but don’t demean other religions by suggesting the rest of us participate in such barbaric acts. I never have and never will.

But we’re not there yet.

Dan refused to be interviewed by the Trib – we were the paper asking the tough questions.

So I started telling the journalists who asked about our “Pagan Lord” story that I thought there was a lot more out there about the candidate with a secret name.

But no one connected the dots.

So I spent the day Saturday reading and re-reading the web files on Lord Dan and there I discovered that the man with a family tradition of service to the New York Police Department left the force.

Buried in New Normandy Theod writings was the following description of Dan’s departure from the NYPD after only two years of service:

“After a full blown incident sent him to the internal trial room and a command discipline, he resigned and went disheartened into private security for a government contractor.”

While Dan has misled the public before by taking down, then altering the printed words on his website, his campaign refused to discuss the details around Dan’s NYPD trial and discipline. They did provide the follow information with no attribution:

“The incident was a request Dan made for time off for a religious holiday. It was denied by his supervisor and he took the day anyway. Dan simply received a command discipline for taking a day without authorization.”

They chose not to explain why this was referred to as a “full blown incident.”

In a response to a request from the NYPD for details on Halloran’s “incident,” the NYPD responded: “We do not comment on disciplinary records of retired members of the service.”

Dan, however, could authorize the immediate release of those records.

We suggest that journalists from larger papers with extensive law firms pursue the truth about Dan’s “full blown incident.”

No, we’re not on a religious crusade, Dan. We respect your right to practice whatever religion you want.

But we in Queens really don’t need another questionable former NYPD officer serving the people of our borough.

Got any other secrets?

MSchenkler@QueensTribune.com

 
 
Iceberg Right Ahead: Candidates Avoid Budget Shortfall

Henry Stern
By HENRY STERN

On the day of last week’s mayoral debate which we attended, our online column discussed what we thought was the most important issue facing the rivals in the debate to be held that evening — the city’s looming fiscal disaster.

Many well-informed observers believe that after the election, there will be substantial reductions in the city’s capital and expense budgets. We believe that small wage cuts or freezes for many people are better than total unemployment for the younger members of the work force. No union leader so far has subscribed to this viewpoint, and conventional wisdom is that none will. We hope some do; it would alleviate but not resolve the economic crisis.

DIGRESSION: One phrase I remember from French class at JHS 52, Manhattan, is “sauve qui peut,” or “let him save himself who can.”

The relevance of the phrase to the city’s straits is that, if conditions get bad enough, each person, agency, or each bargaining group of employees, will do what they can to keep their jobs without regard to the similar plight facing others.

We do not yet know how the economy will fare. There is a striking contrast, at least to numerologists, between of the Dow butting 10,000 at the same time that unemployment exceeds 10 percent. The fact is that many companies employ more workers than the minimum they need to function, but the extra employees are both consumers and spenders who put most of their wages back into the economy. I have long believed that if too many people spent money rationally the country would be threatened by depression.

Capitalism has to work for everybody, not just for the rich. There is clearly enormous inequity in the way different institutions were treated during bailout time, but there was similar inequity on the R.M.S. Titanic, with regard to who got into the lifeboats and who did not.

With 12 days remaining until the mayoral election, there still is relatively little excitement about the race. People are generally aware of the achievements of the Bloomberg administration, and most New Yorkers view them favorably. There is dissatisfaction on particular issues. There is also transactional discontent, expressed by people who have had unsatisfactory dealings with city agencies, or who are adversely affected by particular laws or regulations.

Bloomberg offers competence, which his commissioners have, in general, demonstrated. Thompson capitalizes on the desire for change.

The media mostly considered the debate a draw. A draw can be interpreted as a victory for each candidate: for Thompson because he reached a wider audience than usual and held his own against his better known opponent; and for Bloomberg, because he remained temperate, did not yield on any points, and appeared to be reassuring and wise. From the point of view of attracting attention, Thompson got more because he is newer; from the point of view of a winner running out the clock, it was Bloomberg, because it is up to the challenger to strike a decisive blow, and that did not happen.

Enjoy the weekend. I hope the weather improves. It would be nice if the Yankees won the ALCS. That would help to pay off the cost of building the new Yankee Stadium. Remember that, under the agreement with the City, Macombs Dam Park must be restored.

The title of this article, “Iceberg Right Ahead,” was spoken at about 11:30 p.m. on April 14, 1912 by Frederick Fleet, a lookout on the R.M.S. Titanic. Mr. Fleet was a seaman for the White Star and later became a shoremaster-at-arms. He hanged himself in 1965 after his wife passed away.

StarQuest@NYCivic.org

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Michael Schenkler can be reached via this contact form.