Mystery of Team Blas’ post-election p.r. bills
Mayor de Blasio’s 2013 campaign committee has continued to pay big bucks for services from a prominent publicrelations firm more than a year after the mayoral race ended, records show.
Campaign experts who reviewed the payments at The Post’s request said they were puzzled by the need for those types of services and expenses so long after the election.
The New Yorkers for de Blasio committee earmarked $45,000 for the Brooklyn arm of DCbased Hilltop Public Solutions between January and July 2015 — including four months each of $10,000 in billings, according to state campaign filings.
During the first six months immediately after the campaign ended — the busiest part of the winddown — Hilltop was paid a lesser $37,500 for its role.
“It doesn’t make any sense,” said one campaignfinance expert who insisted on anonymity out of concern about speaking out against the mayor. “It definitely doesn’t look like they should be paying that kind of money.”
A spokesman for Berlin-Rosen, another consulting firm that helped manage de Blasio’s successful run for City Hall, declined to explain the nature of the publicrelations work required of Hilltop 12 to 18 months after the election.
“Hilltop is being paid for their work winding down the 2013 campaign committee, as required by campaignfinance rules,” said the spokesman, Dan Levitan.
Former state Sen. Martin Connor (RBrooklyn), a prominent election lawyer, said candidates are “generally limited on what they can spend postelection.”
He said at this juncture, campaign cash is typically used for compliance work associated with routine audits by the city’s Campaign Finance Board and smaller expenses connected with closing down the account.
New Yorkers for de Blasio separately paid the legal firm David Kantoroff $31,000 in the latest filing period, to deal with the CFB audits, records show.
Even after the recent payouts, the committee still has $390,000 in its account.
That money can’t be rolled over, can’t pay for services toward the upcoming 2017 campaign, and can’t go toward paying bonuses, according to campaignfinance rules.
When the account closes, the balance will go to city coffers because it’s considered taxpayer money that was given to the campaign as matching public funds, according to Connor.
He said the payments to Hilltop are worthy of “scrutiny,” but emphasized that only an audit could determine whether the new work falls within the guidelines of allowable spending.
Nicholas Baldick, Hilltop’s founder and managing partner, raised money for the de Blasio campaign.
A spokesman for the Campaign Finance Board declined to comment.