Thing is, the nonprofit burned at least $860,000 in its two years — cash
that mostly came from de Blasio’s Campaign for One New York. And CONY,
as New Yorkers well know, got its funds by selling fatcats access to,
and public favors from, the mayor. But the bigger issue is de Blasio’s use of nonprofits. Yes, he closed
CONY after widespread outrage over its seamy fund-raising — but he’s
since opened his Fairness PAC to similarly advance his agenda (and cover
family travel costs). And the PAC hits up many of the same donors as CONY, particularly
real-estate interests, as well as state and federal lobbyists. What are
they buying? It’s bad enough that the taxpayers get billed directly for building
the political machine that is the de Blasio family business. Far worse
that the public interest is surely being sold out in other ways, out of
sight. In the end, this mayor only plays at being a progressive. Beneath the mask, he’s just another political mercenary.
For 5 Years True News Exposes how de blasio and his lawyers use nonprofit PACs to go around the election law with pay to play developers and city contractors #Data&Field (2009) #NYCLASS (2013) #Campaign for One NY (2014) #Progressive Agenda (2015)
The Bill de Blasio show: The New York City mayor’s rise and fall on the national stage (Politico)
de Blasio’s first major attempt to be a national player was a
monthslong comedy of errors involving City Hall staffers and some of the
biggest political operatives in New York, according to thousands of
pages of emails — many of them previously undisclosed — reviewed by
POLITICO.
De Blasio’s Progressive Agenda nonprofit was ostensibly designed to
champion issues the mayor held dear — income inequality, voter
enfranchisement, education — with de Blasio as the central force behind
the “movement.” What it did yield were reams of emails that paint a portrait of de Blasio as a micromanager who allowed confusion and frustration to reign among his staff and stable of advisers. He tasked those advisers with the often-conflicting jobs of advancing the mayor’s national stature while also running the country’s largest city during a series of crises that included a burgeoning feud with Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a losing regulatory battle with Uber and growing alarm about the city’s increasing homeless population, which had ballooned to roughly 60,000 people.
The mayor—perhaps overshadowed outside the tri-state area by the three-term legacy and billions of dollars of former Mayor Michael Bloomberg—has been working to bolster his nationwide profile, particularly among the progressive left wing of the Democratic party. He plans to hold a forum on income inequality for presidential candidates, and caused a stir this week with his decision not to immediately back the presidential bid of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, whose U.S. Senate campaign he managed in 2000. Tomorrow, he will head to Iowa, where Ms. Clinton is campaigning.
