De Blasio Says His Administration Is Doing Its Own Probe Into Fundraising Allegations
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Mayor Bill de Blasio fielded questions Wednesday about the investigation into his fundraising, saying his administration is doing its own digging.
"As we have information that's confirmed; that we feel ready to announce to you, we will be doing that directly," the mayor told reporters.
As 1010 WINS' Samantha Liebman reported, the mayor continues to assert that the contributors to his campaign fund, who had business before the city, did not get special treatment.
"A stunning number of supporters not only did not get things they hoped they would get, they got a rejection of things they hoped they would get, because we ran a government that was clean and appropriate," de Blasio said.
He said when everything comes out, it will show his administration did what was in the public's interest.
As WCBS 880's Rich Lamb reported, the mayor acknowledged he is unhappy about a city-approved deed change that led to the conversion of the Rivington House nursing home on the Lower East Side into luxury condominiums. But he said he cannot get into the details publicly due to an ongoing investigation.
De Blasio vowed reforms to the city's controversial process of lifting deed restrictions, which has allowed a number of questionable developments to go through. Among the reforms, de Blasio said from now on, all changes to deed covenants will be approved personally by him.
The main investigation into team de Blasio, jointly run by the U.S. attorney's office for New York's Southern District and by Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance Jr., is examining de Blasio's efforts to help Democrats win the state Senate in 2014 and whether donors to his campaign or the Campaign for One New York nonprofit received city benefits in exchange for donations.
Probers are seeking to investigate charges that team de Blasio sought to evade individual campaign limits of $10,300 by having donors make big donations to local county committees, which in turn earmarked and funneled the money to specific candidates. Such methods are against the law.
De Blasio has not been accused of any wrongdoing and has repeatedly said he and his team did not violate any campaign finance laws.
Several teams of high-powered and expensive attorneys have been hired to help defend the city, and taxpayers will foot the bill for two of them that have already been hired "to represent the city and assist in document collection and review."
Senior partners at Carter, Ledyard & Milburn bill the city $370 an hour. The firm has collected nearly $3 million for representing the city in various cases over the past five years.
The other law firm, Debevoise & Plimpton, bills at $250 for partners and has collected more than $500,000 since 2010.
