Stuck with the bill!
Former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio was hit with the largest fine ever issued by the city’s watchdog group on Thursday for misusing government resources during his failed bid for the White House in 2019.
The Conflicts of Interest Board billed de Blasio for nearly half a million dollars: a $155,000 fine as punishment, plus another $320,000 to reimburse the treasury for the expenses the NYPD incurred as the security detail accompanied him around the country.
The fine comes more than a year after de Blasio was excoriated by a Department of Investigation report that detailed his extensive use of his security detail during his presidential campaign, revealed that he had done it against ethics guidance and said it amounted to using government resources for political purposes.
“The Conflicts of Interest Board’s conclusions regarding former Mayor Bill de Blasio’s misuse of his security detail reaffirms DOI’s investigative findings, and shows that public officials — including the most senior — will be held accountable when they violate the rules,” DOI Commissioner Jocelyn Strauber said in a statement.
De Blasio’s presidential campaign lasted just four months in 2019 and he never rose above 1 or 2 percentage points in the polls in the 2020 Democratic primary, which was eventually won by former Vice President Joe Biden.
Attorneys for de Blasio quickly filed a lawsuit in Manhattan Supreme Court to block the fine and accused the ethics watchdog of endangering public officials.
“In a time of unprecedented threats of political violence, the COIB’s reckless and arbitrary ruling threatens the safety and security of our democratically elected public servants,” said de Blasio’s lawyer Andrew Celli. “The case isn’t about Bill de Blasio or any other mayor or high official in particular. It’s about the principle of protecting our leaders from harm — for the good of our city.”
The supersize fine issued by COIB comes more than a year after de Blasio left office and DOI released the scathing results of its probe, which sparked a war of words between the mayor and his top anti-corruption official.
The 49-page report revealed de Blasio used his detail for “political purposes” and for “errands,” including chauffeuring his son Dante from Gracie Mansion to his job in Brooklyn even though he had declined protection.
It revealed that cops were assigned to help move his daughter from her apartment in Brooklyn into the Upper East Side mayoral residence in 2018.
And probers uncovered that de Blasio’s detail was sent to pick up one of the mayor’s brothers from the airport and then ferried him on a two-hour trip to New Jersey to get a rental car.
Several of those incidents had been previously reported in the press, prompting City Hall to claim that security assessments necessitated the assignments. However, DOI investigators found no written documentation to back up the claims.
Instead, the report concludes that the security provided was based far more on the “personal preferences” of de Blasio’s adult children, instead of legitimate security recommendations.
“In practice, what is happening is that it’s not security,” then-DOI Commissioner Margaret Garnett told the press when the report was released. “It’s essentially a concierge service, primarily for Dante.”
“It’s no way to run a railroad,” she summed it up.
After its release, de Blasio loudly complained about the report, claiming that it was loaded with “inconsistencies” and “inaccuracies,” though he never specifically pointed out any errors.
“This report was shockingly inaccurate,” he claimed during a radio interview on WNYC shortly after its release. “I very consistently put the public interest first, and did what was appropriate.”
