Blaz cash flap
Ducks query over in-debt donor’s free fund-raisers
MAYOR DE BLASIO avoided questions Sunday about his alleged intervention on behalf of a big campaign donor who threw two free fund-raisers for him.
The Daily News broke the story on its website Saturday, revealing that a former city deputy claims he was fired after protesting City Hall’s interference for Harendra Singh (photo, inset left), whose Queens restaurant owed the city nearly $750,000 in back rent.
The News revealed that de Blasio’s campaign didn’t bother paying the bill for fund-raisers in 2011 and 2013 at Singh’s Water’s Edge restaurant until the city Campaign Finance Board demanded documentation during an audit in 2015.
The News also revealed that de Blasio’s top aide, director of governmental relations Emma Wolfe, personally intervened in the Water’s Edge rent dispute with the Department of Citywide Administrative Services.
Ricardo Morales (photo, inset right), the department’s deputy commissioner for asset management, was handling the Water’s Edge negotiations and says he was fired in February because he complained that City Hall’s “inappropriate involvement” violated city conflict-of-interest rules.
On Sunday The News tried in vain to question the mayor about this as he rode the F train from his gym in Park Slope to a press briefing in downtown Brooklyn.
At first, he promised to address the issue after answering what he considered to be “on-topic” questions about the city’s role in dealing with the deteriorating subways.
“Can we stay on this? Then we’ll take that question,” he said.
But after the mayor finished answering questions about the subways, he waved away a reporter from The News who was again asking about Singh. His aides then said the mayor wouldn’t be taking any more questions.
That followed stonewalling Saturday by de Blasio’s press secretary, Eric Phillips, and his campaign spokesman, Dan Levitan, neither of whom would answer specific questions about City Hall going to bat for Singh.
Officials would not explain why they didn’t pay the bill for Singh’s fund-raisers in 2011 and 2013 until February 2015, after the Campaign Finance Board demanded they produce documentation of the bill and payment. And they would not explain why Wolfe, one of the mayor’s closest aides, got involved in Singh’s money dispute when it was already being handled by Administrative Services and Morales.
The News also asked why in 2014 de Blasio appointed Singh to the Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City, a nonprofit that helps raise private sector money for city causes. De Blasio also put Singh on a committee to lure the Democratic Convention to Brooklyn.
De Blasio awarded Singh those positions even though internal city documents show his team had redflagged “vetting” concerns about Singh. Asked about this, Phillips responded, “There were lots of business owners on the committee, obviously.”
Six weeks after Wolfe met at City Hall to discuss Water’s Edge, Singh was indicted by federal prosecutors on charges of defrauding federal disaster aid and bribing a Long Island politician.
Morales made his allegations in a notice that he plans to sue the city for wrongful termination. He’s seeking $5 million, including $3.25 million in front and back pay, $1 million in punitive damages and $250,000 for “emotional distress.” ALBANY — Gov. Cuomo on Monday will announce a series of steps designed to make it easier for New Yorkers to register to vote, the Daily News has learned.
The effort comes as most states have refused to cooperate with President Trump’s voter fraud task force and and national security agencies concluded Russia meddled in the 2016 election.
“It is our responsibility to make it as easy as possible for people to vote because that’s what democracy looks like,” Cuomo said.
Cuomo on Monday will sign an executive order mandating that every state agency provide voter registration forms to those they deal with and to offer help in filling them out.
According to the state Board of Elections, 16 different state agencies already make voter registration forms available. Cuomo’s executive order expands that to all agencies, including ones that interact with the public through professional licensing and recreational activities.