New York Post, Sunday, October 25, 2020
nypost.com
essential for adding input.” Bobulinski
writes that he appreciates “the name/
leverage being used” but thinks the eco-
nomic “upside” should go to the team
doing the actual work. Gilliar reminds
him that those on the Chinese side “are
intelligence so they understand the
value added.”
This dispute almost derails the deal.
Hunter is hardly visible through most
of the work, until final contract negotia-
tions ramp up in mid-May. He brings in
his uncle Jim Biden for a stake. (Gilliar
in a text message soothes Bobulinski
with a promise that Jim’s addition
“strengthens our USP” — unique selling
proposition — “to the Chinese as it
looks like a truly family business.”)
Hunter in texts and e-mails wants offi-
ces in three US cities, “significant”
travel budgets, a stipend for Jim Biden,
a job for an assistant, and more-frequent
distributions of any gains. As for annual
pay, he explains in an e-mail that he ex-
pects “a hell of a lot more than 850”
thousand dollars a year (the amount
Bobulinski, the CEO, is getting), since
his ex-wife will take nearly all of it.
Bobulinski pushes back, warning Gil-
liar in a text that they need to “manage”
Hunter because “he thinks things are
going to be his personal piggybank.”
The duo worry about his “mental state,”
substance abuse, and his ability to make
meetings.AMERICA’S OLDEST CONTINUOUSLY PUBLISHED DAILY NEWSPAPERMonths of protesters pushing to “defund the
police,” and politicians bending over backward
to appease them, have taken a toll on America’s
Finest.
Since protests began in late May after the death
of George Floyd, over a dozen chiefs and record
numbers of officers have retired or resigned in cities
all over the country.
Here in the city, more than 2,000 members of the
NYPD put in their retirement paperwork these last
seven months, an 87 percent jump over the same
period last year.
Protests over the death of Daniel Prude moved
Rochester’s police chief and his whole command
staff to step down rather than let critics “destroy”
their characters by attributing the mistakes of indi-
vidual officers to the whole department.
Politicians who try to appease the protesters by
cutting police funding are another morale-killer.
Seattle’s first black woman police chief resigned
in August after the City Council voted to reduce her
budget by $4 million and cut 100 positions. She cited
the “overarching lack of respect for the officers.”
Her city’s mayor had ordered the East Precinct
shut down to pander to anarchists who took over
several blocks to create the Capital Hill Autono-
mous Zone — only to eventually turn to police to
clear out the loons after two teens got killed in thechaos zone.
A record 39 Seattle PD officers left in Septem-
ber, with devastating exit interviews. One cop said
Seattle had become a “socialist city” using restric-
tions against cops to promote a “political agenda.”
San Francisco — whose radical DA has effec-
tively decriminalized a host of public-order of-
fenses — has already lost twice as many officers
as in all 2019. Asheville, NC, has seen 13 percent
of its force quit.
This, when the nation needs police most. The
National Commission on COVID-19 and Criminal
Justice reports that homicides for June-July-Au-
gust were 53 percent higher than in 2019, even as
the pandemic should’ve depressed violent crime.
One Portland cop said it best in a letter to fellow
officers after retiring: “It is up to us to tell the citi-
zens that mob rule does not get to decide policy
and law, but democracy must.”
It’s hard to blame officers for refusing to stay
on the job when they’re slandered by protesters
and hobbled by politicians. Who needs to be a
scapegoat? But the loss of experienced profes-
sionals is a nightmare for public safety — since
new cops are more likely to make mistakes.
The protesters may think they’re getting what
they want, but the reality is that everyone but the
criminals are losers here.Losing Our Finest
term hope. And it wouldn’t hurt tenants — not
when rents are dropping.
Rent control and rent stabilization keep prices
artificially low, which discourages move-outs and
the private production of affordable housing. With-
out these laws, nearly everyone would benefit, as
a functional market would finally encourage
healthy investment in new housing, without the
fear that lawmakers would change the rules after
the fact.
Yes, a few people with insanely good deals might
lose out — but those aren’t the truly poor or even
working-class renters that the laws are supposed
to help.
We realize that the Democrats who control the
Legislature won’t like any of this: They’re all too
likely to change the law to keep the phony “emer-
gency” going, since they can score easy political
points by denouncing landlords as long as the laws
keep the market broken.
But the truth remains: In US cities without rent
laws, an abundant apartment supply keeps rents
reasonable and provides enough slack so renters
— especially low-income ones — can more easily
find and move into larger places as their needs
change. Government doesn’t have to spend big
creating or subsidizing low-income housing.
This is New York’s chance at a normal housing
market — an opportunity not to be missed.Rents are collapsing while vacancy rates
soar citywide. This is clearly the time to fi-
nally free New York City from its unjust, de-
structive rent laws. That way, at least one good
thing would come from this pestilence of a
pandemic.
StreetEasy just reported that third-quarter mar-
ket-rate rents in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens
are all below their levels of a year ago — something
that last happened in the wake of the Great Reces-
sion. The median Manhattan rent dropped below
$3,000 for the first time in nearly a decade.
And the trends will continue — the market is fat
with inventory, and the pandemic has plainly
prompted a lot of people, especially higher earners,
to move away permanently. Landlords are offering
months of free rent to entice people to commit,
even as the law temporarily bans evictions.
Unofficially, the city’s population is down by
500,000, and it won’t soar back up soon. Units are
going for an average of 9 percent below the listed
amount, and vacancies are still at historic highs.
In theory, this should end the city’s decades-long
“housing emergency,” which stands as the legal jus-
tification for rent controls. If the vacancy rate is
above 5 percent at the time of the next official sur-
vey, the rent laws are supposed to expire.
That would indeed be a cause for celebration.
Landlords, who are now despairing, are given long-Kill the Rent Laws Now
The New York Post is published
by N.Y.P. Holdings Inc.
1211 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10036Chairman Rupert Murdoch
Publisher Sean M. Giancola
Editor-in-Chief Stephen Lynch
Editorial Page Editor Mark CunninghamJ
oe Biden has a problem, and
his name is Hunter. Because
the former vice president
hasn’t had to answer any
questions on this topic, that
problem could soon become
America’s.
That’s the reality now that a former
business partner of Hunter Biden’s has
come forward to provide the ugly de-
tails of the “family brand.” Tony Bobu-
linski, a Navy
veteran and
institutional
investor, has
provided the
Wall Street
Journal
e-mails and
text messages
associated
with his time
as CEO of Sin-
ohawk Hold-
ings, a venture
between the Bidens and CEFC China
Energy, a Shanghai-based conglomer-
ate. That correspondence corroborates
and expands on e-mails recently pub-
lished by the New York Post, from a
Hunter laptop.
In a statement, Bobulinski said he
went public because he wants to clear
his name, which was contained in those
published e-mails, and because accusa-
tions that the information is fake or
“Russian disinformation” are “offen-
sive.” He attests that all the correspond-
ence he provided is genuine, including
documents that suggest Hunter was
cashing in on the Biden name and that
Joe Biden was involved. Bobulinski says
he was also alarmed by a September re-
port from Sen. Ron Johnson that “con-
nected some dots” on the CEFC deal,
causing him now to believe the Bidens
sold out their US partners.
Bobulinski’s text messages show he
was recruited for the project by James
Gilliar, a Hunter associate. Gilliar ex-
plains in a December 2015 text that there
will be a deal between the Chinese and
“one of the most prominent families
from the US.” A month later he introdu-
ces Rob Walker, also “a partner of
Biden.” In March 2016, Gilliar tells Bob-
ulinski the Chinese entity is CEFC,
which is shaping up to be “the Goldmans
of China.” Gilliar promises that same
month to “develop” the terms of a deal
“with hunter.” Note that in 2015-16, Joe
Biden was still vice president.
As the deal takes shape in 2017, Bobu-
linski begins to question what Hunter
will contribute besides his name, and
worries that he was “kicked out of US
Navy for cocaine use.” Gilliar acknowl-
edges “skill sets [sic] missing” and ob-
serves that Hunter “has a few demons.”
He explains that “in brand [Hunter is]
imperative but right know [sic] he’s notWHAT DID
Biden has a problem. His name is Hunter.
kImbERlEy
STRaSSElThe Hunter tale is at best the
story of a wayward son and
indulgent father. At worst, it is
an example of the entire Biden
clan cashing in on its name
with a US rival.POSTSCRIPT Editorial