Monday, February 15, 2010

Have you seen this woman: Councilwoman Arroyo ducks criminal-investigation spotlight

Where in the world is

Carmen Arroyo?

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City Councilwoman Maria del Carmen Arroyo, that is.

Have you seen her?

There was word she was sighted in City Hall on Thursday, two days after the indictment of Councilman Larry Seabrook on charges of looting the Council's slush fund.

But the glimpse was fleeting because Arroyo hid in a lounge and was spirited away in a blockade by Speaker Christine Quinn's chief of staff and guards.

The city Department of Investigation and the Manhattan U.S. attorney are said to be on Arroyo's trail. So, she, very shy and elusive, is staying close to her extended family - which nests in Bronx nonprofit organizations, where they are nourished with large doses of taxpayer money.

She is sometimes found in the company of birds of an indicted feather. Her nephew Richard Izquierdo Arroyo, who was charged last year with skimming $200,000 from one of the nonprofits, is one of them. Fellow Bronx Democrat Seabrook is another.

She flies from questions, but you might be able to lure her into view by leaving a City Council member item in plain sight. She is very attracted to them.

Her favorite comment is "no," and her favorite amendment may turn out to be the Fifth.

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