The City Council may be have been able to get a budget through on time this year, but not all of the Council can balance their own budgets new financial disclosure documents reveal. Jumaane Williams (D-Brooklyn), for instance, owes between $35,000 to $308,000 on seven credit cards thanks to a business in Park Slope that went bust while Councilman Michael Nelson (D-Brooklyn) owes $102,000 on four credit card, a number he tosses up to lavishing gifts on his late wife as she died of cancer.
Nelson tells the Daily News that during his wife's six-year battle he bought her anything and everything she wanted, including "a fur coat, a Cadillac and two diamonds." "I kept on using credit cards, and that's what got me into this pickle," he said. "It'll take years, but I'll pay it all off."
Other members of the Council who owe bucks to the banks include Councilman Oliver Koppell (D-Bronx), who owes $160,000 on three credit cards which he says he uses to support his law practice, and Councilman Vincent Gentile (D-Brooklyn), who disclosed that between credit cards, loans and legal fees he owes around $444,000.
But not everyone on 51-seat Council is being clobbered down by debt, not at all. A number of Council members revealed that they earn quite a pretty penny durring the year. Peter Koo (R-Queens), for instance, owns five pharmacies in his borough which make him more than $550,000 a year. He says he donates his council salary to charity.
