Polital operative John Haggerty, charged with bilking New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg out of more than $1 million, leaves criminal court in New York, Tuesday, March 15, 2011. A Manhattan judge denied Haggerty’s request Tuesday to have the case against him thrown out of court. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
Reporting Irene Cornell
NEW YORK (WCBS 880 / AP) - Put simply, prosecutors say John Haggerty stole money from New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
WCBS 880′s Irene Cornell On The Case
That’s been their constant refrain during the trial. Now, it’s all up to the jury.
Bloomberg himself took the witness stand to say he never gave the political consultant permission to spend the $1.1 million he had donated to the Independence Party to buy a house.
But that’s what Haggerty is accused of doing.
He had promised an elaborate poll watching operation for the mayor’s last re-election campaign, but did not deliver.
The jury is following the money, the e-mail trail, and evidence against the once trusted political consultant.
Haggerty, 42, is a veteran of several prominent New York Republican campaigns. As a volunteer on Bloomberg’s 2009 campaign, Haggerty was the point man on ballot security, a term used mainly by Republicans for poll watching with an eye to preventing voter fraud. Democrats in New York and elsewhere have long said it’s a euphemism for suppressing votes, often in minority-heavy precincts.
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