[NYPOST] Even as Shelly Silver was drawing a 12-year stint in the slammer for selling his office, Team de Blasio on Tuesday was all but admitting it did much the same -- and actually defending the practice.Raising cash for a mayoral slush fund from "people who do business with the city" is perfectly OK, insisted Mayor Bill de Blasio’s counsel, Maya Wiley. She cited a 2014 Conflicts of Interest Board letter banning only funds from folks with matters "pending" before City Hall.
See the difference? Neither do we.
Wiley was trying to justify the boatloads of cash dumped on Hizzoner’s Campaign for One New York by folks who do business with the city or need special favors -- and the actions City Hall took to benefit them.
Tuesday, NY1 reported that CONY got "at least 60 donations" from parties "that had business with" or were "directly lobbying" the city or unions with city contracts.
A real estate developer won a variance for a building and handed over $10,000 three days later. SEIU Local 1199 came up with $250,000 and got a nice contract with the city just months later.
Stephen Nislick, Wendy Neu and NYCLASS (the forces behind de Blasio’s drive to ban horse carriages) were big givers, too.
No, de Blasio & Co. doesn’t admit it sold favors to donors. But it sure seems like it had a pay-to-play system in place -- whether technically in violation of the Conflict Board’s directive or not.