Multiple investigations into de Blasio fundraising

From the NY Post:

Mayor de Blasio and his top aides coordinated an illegal fundraising scheme to help elect Democrats to the state Senate in 2014, the top investigator at the state Board of Elections accuses in a blockbuster memo that recommends the DA investigate City Hall.

In the damning eight-page report, delivered to the elections board on Jan.4, enforcement chief Risa Sugarman said the actions of the mayor, his political team and his state democratic allies led to “willful and flagrant violations” of state law.

“I have determined that reasonable cause exists to believe a violation warranting criminal prosecution has taken place,” Sugarman wrote in the memo, a copy of which was obtained by The Post.

From the Daily News:

The commissioners, during a closed-door vote, made the referral on Jan. 11, sources said, which is now part of a broader probe by the DA and Manhattan U.S. Attorney’s office.

Sugarman’s memo paints a picture of a coordinated effort by the mayor and his allies — dubbed interchangeably as “Team de Blasio” and “Team Coordinated” — to deliberately circumvent legal campaign donation limits in three upstate races in what turned out to be an unsuccessful effort to help Democrats win control of the state Senate in 2014.

The memo did not spell out exactly who could be charged. Deliberately evading campaign donation limits would constitute a felony.

Unions like the powerful Service Employees International Union Local 1199, SEIU 32BJ, the state Nurse's Association, and the Communications Workers of America were among those who gave big amounts to the county committees though they never had before. Developers and powerful businessmen who had business before the city like supermarket mogul John Catsimatidis ($50,000) and Alexis Lodde ($100,000) also gave mega contributions to the county committees.

Sugarman wrote that by serving as “straw donors” that simply passed through the donations to the candidate campaigns, the Senate Democratic Campaign Committee and the two county committees may have also violated the law.

From the Daily News:

A key donor to Mayor de Blasio’s fund-raising was subpoenaed Thursday, as it became clear the growing investigation is zeroing in on whether his campaign broke rules pursuing checks from powerful interests seeking favors from City Hall, the Daily News has learned.

The Manhattan U.S. attorney and the Manhattan district attorney both demanded documents from an anti-horse carriage group that has steered hundreds of thousands of dollars to de Blasio in its effort to ban buggies from Central Park, according to a source familiar with the probe.

Supporters of that group, New Yorkers for Clean, Livable and Safe Streets, NYCLASS, have written checks totaling $125,000 to Campaign for One New York, a so-called “independent spending” organization de Blasio formed to support his pet causes.

Late Thursday, Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara and Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. demanded documents dating as far back as 2013 from the group, which steered $100,000 to Campaign for One New York in March 2015 and hundreds of thousands more to the mayor’s 2013 campaign.

From the Daily News:

On its face, it makes no sense.

A handful of sophisticated New York developers write big campaign checks to rural backwoods political committees miles upstate.

Upon closer inspection, however, it all becomes clear.

The developers were told the money wasn’t meant to help elect some yahoo constable in Moosebreath Corners, N.Y. Instead, it would help Mayor de Blasio in his quixotic quest to flip the GOP-controlled state Senate to the Democrats.

And the developers who chose to give just happened to be seeking — or had in the past received — lucrative benefits from the de Blasio administration such as zoning changes and tax breaks.

All of this is now under investigation by Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara and Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr.

A real horse's ass

From the Daily News:

A day after calling for a “compromise” that would save hundreds of jobs in the embattled horse carriage industry, Queens Councilman Paul Vallone was acting like a jittery thoroughbred — issuing a statement reiterating his loyalty to the animal rights group NYCLASS — and saying he would in fact vote for a ban.

“While reaching a compromise would be ideal, if it came down to an all-or-nothing decision I would ultimately side with NYCLASS and support the bill,” Vallone, who is on a cruise, told the Daily News in an email.

It’s a walk-back from his earlier statements, in which he blasted the mayor for refusing to consider a solution that would make both sides happy, and claimed that more regulations would eliminate the need for a ban.

“At this point, he’d like to see a compromise, and prevent the loss of jobs,” his spokesman, Lionel Morales had said on Monday.

And in an earlier interview in the Times Ledger of Queens, which was published on Monday, Vallone said he’d learned a lot talking to drivers recently, and felt the industry could be saved.

“I think the best thing to do is to put in more restrictions and further regulate the industry,” said Vallone. “And then you will have the best regulated industry as oppose to eliminating it.”

Vallone could not be reached for further comment because he is out of town on a Caribbean vacation.

His recommitment to the politically connected NYCLASS — which endorsed him in 2013 and paid over $8,000 for campaign literature championing him — infuriated members of the horse carriage industry.

I like it when the newspapers do the Photoshops for me.

Paul Vallone: Animal Advocate and Environmentalist?

From NYCLASS:

How we decided which candidates to endorse:

NYCLASS staff and volunteers interviewed more than 60 candidates. All candidates were selected based on their support of animal protection issues such as:

Banning horse drawn carriages and/or replacing them with vintage electric cars
Reforming NYC Animal Care & Control (the city's shelter system)
Building animal shelters in the Bronx and Queens (which currently have none)
Banning puppy mills
Requiring all pet stores to install fire sprinklers
Protecting a senior citizens' right to have a companion animal

Peter Vallone, Sr. wanted to expand the area in which horse carriages could operate.
But I'm sure his son is not a chip off the old block, even though he can't stop mentioning how proud he is of his pop's record of service. And his brother wants to ban pit bulls but I'm sure Paul thinks that's a terrible idea as well.

Glad to hear Paul is against puppy mills. I wonder which shelter he got that Bichon Frisé from...

As for environmentalism, Paul's CB7 record includes voting yes on a variance for a hotel in the middle of a river, not showing up to vote on the USTA expansion (which includes a power plant), and being part of a lobbying firm that represented a toxic soil dumping developer. Rumor has it that his buddies are eyeing the old Whitestone CYO site for development as well, where the community wants a park.

Kind of perplexing why NYCLASS would pick Vallone considering all this. Oh.....wait! I forgot something from the NYCLASS website:


We also considered each candidates' leadership potential and winability.

Ah, in other words, if you were endorsed by County, NYCLASS will say that you're an animal advocate and an environmentalist. Even when you aren't.

Yet another fake advocacy group.

At this point, I'd rather trust the Dilluvios than NYCLASS. They took down their Vallone signs.