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John Haggerty Convicted Of Stealing From Bloomberg's Campaign

NEW YORK (AP / WCBS 880) - A political operative who worked on the election bids of prominent New York Republicans was convicted Friday of cheating Mayor Michael Bloomberg out of $1.1 million, ending a case that has put a spotlight on the billionaire mayor and the inner workings of his campaigns.

WCBS 880's Irene Cornell With Juror Reaction

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John Haggerty remained expressionless as he was found guilty of second-degree grand larceny and money laundering. He was acquitted of first-degree grand larceny.

Haggerty was accused of promising the mayor's 2009 campaign an elaborate poll-watching operation, then spending just $32,000 on the effort and pocketing most of the rest to buy a house. He could face up to 15 years in prison.

In the end, jurors were unconvinced by defense lawyers who often tried to turn their attention to the mayor, painting a picture of a former mogul who threw his money at problems and surrounded himself with highly paid insiders so desperate to hold onto power that they didn't care how Haggerty spent the money he was given, as long as he got results.

Prosecutors, meanwhile, maintained the mayor was the victim in a simple but lucrative scam: Haggerty, assigned to handle poll-watching for the campaign, drew up a budget to pay more than 1,300 watchers, hire drivers and rent hotel rooms. Once the mayor had donated money to the state Independence Party to pay for the effort, Haggerty created a company through which to launder the money, and used $750,000 to buy a house.

The four-week trial lifted a veil from Bloomberg's private and political dealings. His 2009 campaign manager conceded on the stand that he had worried that Haggerty's operation could look bad to the public. A former deputy mayor told jurors that he hadn't enjoyed his first two years at City Hall because he found it more difficult to get things done there than at Bloomberg's eponymous financial information company. Bloomberg's top city deputy and longtime confidante detailed how she was authorized to spend the mayor's vast personal funds.

And the mayor himself took the stand, speaking calmly and precisely even as a defense attorney raised his voice, pointed his finger at him and came close to calling him a liar. To the defense's questions, Bloomberg said repeatedly that he could not remember the answers. Among the things he could not recall: $1.2 million in additional donations to the Independence Party the year before Haggerty entered the picture.

The defense contended that the campaign had tried to distance itself from Haggerty's so-called ballot security project by arranging for Bloomberg to pay for it through the Independence Party - a contribution that wouldn't be reported until after the election.

Democrats in New York and elsewhere have long said that such operations are a cover for voter suppression, often in precincts with large minority populations. On the stand, the mayor - who narrowly won the 2009 race against then-city Comptroller Bill Thompson, who is black - said he believed the ballot security effort was meant to ensure that voters didn't encounter problems at the polls, and paying for it through the party was simply standard procedure.

But defense lawyers claimed that the arrangement meant that Bloomberg lost control of the money when he made the contribution, so Haggerty couldn't be held responsible for the budget he submitted to the campaign. That budget, Haggerty's lawyers said, was a slipshod effort that their client slapped together in the final days of the campaign, knowing that the decision to fund the project had already been made.

Prosecutors said that the donation - a relative drop in the bucket in a campaign that cost the mayor more than $100 million - would never have been approved were it not for the false promises in that budget. And several witnesses including the mayor said they never would have approved the transfer of funds if they thought the money would be going to Haggerty personally.

Are you surprised by the verdict? Let us know below...

(TM and Copyright 2011 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2011 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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