Sometimes it’s OK for government officials to hit up people with business before the city for donations, as long as it isn’t for an election campaign, Mayor de Blasio said Thursday.
De Blasio, speaking in a radio interview on WNYC, told host Brian Lehrer that it was never kosher for officials to ask for election campaign funds, but that in other circumstances — like his now-defunct Campaign for One New York — it’s sometimes permissible.
“When it came to, for example, the Campaign for One New York … that’s where it’s appropriate with conflict of interest board guidance for an official to work on that (fundraising) effort,” de Blasio said.
The Conflicts of Interest Board, which governs ethics rules for city officials, ruled that administration officials could fundraise for the Campaign as long as he didn’t seek money from people with business “pending” before the city.
His lawyers have said that is a narrow definition that doesn’t include people with business before city agencies, and that they followed that guidance meticulously.
De Blasio reiterated that on Thursday.
“There is a definition of when someone is considered to be doing business in a certain matter that would preclude them from being asked, and that’s exactly what we we followed,” he said.
He added, “Everything done here was in accordance with the law.”
De Blasio’s fund-raising activities have come under intense scrutiny in recent weeks, following revelations that the feds, the Manhattan District Attorney and other enforcement agencies are probing donations and his donors.
Among the activity being investigated is the Campaign for One New York, the now-disbanded political non-profit de Blasio set up in order to raise money for his pet causes.
That non-profit operated outside the campaign finance system and took numerous six-figure donations from people with business before the city — which wouldn’t be allowed if done for an electoral campaign.
No one has been accused of wrongdoing, but questions have been raised about whether those donors got special treatment.
De Blasio said on the radio that although some people who gave ended up settling deals with the city, plenty of others who didn’t give got city contracts, and vice versa.
“Folks who had nothing to do with the process of donations won awards consistently,” he said.
When asked if New Yorkers should be worried about those who did donate, and then settled deals with the city, he said, “The question you’re raising is, should people be concerned if there’s any proximity (between donations and deals with the city). Well that’s what we have laws for … The central question is, is there a conflict?”
He answered his own question.
“No,” he said.
