RANIOLO'S RISKS 
The Daily News runs an expose about the mishandling of estates lacking wills in the Bronx, where some such assets have been inaccessible to heirs for years. Surrogate Judge Lee Holzman is responsible for overseeing the position of public administrator, who manage such accounts — including investing estate money in conservative financial instruments such as treasury bills — until the court approves a settlement. But Public Administrator John Raniolo and his predecessor, Esther Rodriguez, allegedly mismanaged the accounts, allowing them to stall for years, while granting politically connected attorneys millions in fees. Most recently, Raniolo invested millions into auction-rate securities, risky investments that were no longer selling, leaving the city (and taxpayers) on the hook.

WHERE EVERYBODY KNOWS YOUR NAME 
In other cronyism news, The New York Times reports on a Harlem apartment complex where multiple prominent city officials have scored rent controlled apartments, including Governor Paterson, Norman Goodman, the New York County clerk, Burton Roberts, former administrative judge of State Supreme Court in the Bronx, Betty Ellerin, former presiding justice of the Appellate Division, First Department, and Manhattan Supreme Court Administrative Judge Jacqueline Silbermann. “As you mention it, there are a lot here,” said Justice Roberts. The article delves into the politics of deregulating rent controlled apartments. After saying on Friday that, “It is the policy of the Rudin Management Company to not discuss individual residential tenants,” Howard Rubenstein, a spokesman for the building’s ownership group, admitted that favors played a role in who got into the building and what they paid. “Lew and Jack Rudin, over many years, have had many friends in and out of government,” Mr. Rubenstein said, adding that “from time to time some of the people would tell the Rudins, ‘Look, we really would like and need an apartment.’ ”  

DOPP WON'T QUIT 
And The New York Law Journal reports that Darren Dopp, press secretary to former Governor Eliot Spitzer, plans to challenge any finding by the Commission on Public Integrity that he violated the Public Officers Law in connection with a Spitzer administration scheme to smear former Senate Republican Majority Leader Joseph Bruno by tracking his travel records and providing them to The Albany Times Union. Dopp contends the commission’s executive director, Herbert Teitelbaum, wouldn’t listen to his testimony that Spitzer had approved the plan. “He didn't want to hear it. He wanted to hear that I was a rogue,” Dopp’s attorney, Michael L. Koenig of Greenberg Traurig in Albany, also has tried to contact individual members of the commission to tell Dopp’s story. “At some point, we just lost confidence that Mr. Teitelbaum was being objective,” said Dopp. “After that, my lawyer sought a direct dialogue with the commissioners, but they’ve refused to engage. They won’t even listen to our concerns.”