New York Post

grand juries probe Blas

Feds & state eye funds Hints of criminal raps Slapped with 47G fines

- By YOAV GONEN City Hall Bureau Chief

Federal and state grand juries are investigat­ing Mayor de Blasio’s campaign fundraisin­g, it was reported last night — hours after he was slapped with $47,778 in fines for spending violations. The probes could be the strongest indication yet that criminal indictment­s are looming.

So much for being a paragon of progressiv­e virtue.

Mayor de Blasio’s 2013 campaign repeatedly violated campaign-finance rules — improperly spending taxpayer matching funds on personal expenses like a makeup artist for his family and a plane ticket to send his son to a rally in Washington, DC.

The city’s Campaign Finance Board slapped Hizzoner with $47,778 in fines Thursday for the violations, which also include spending $236.52 in 2012 on a room at a Days Inn in Santa Clara, Calif., less than a mile from his daughter’s college.

“We want our mayors to be direct and honest and not provide reasons that make us shake our heads in disbelief,” Dick Dadey, director of Citizens Union, told The Post.

De Blasio’s campaign insisted the Santa Clara trip was for “finance prospectin­g meetings,” even though he snagged only one contributi­on from California that entire year, officials noted.

De Blasio raised $10.6 million in private donations and received nearly $4 million in public matching funds, which required him to abide by strict contributi­on and spending limits.

Even so, his campaign blew more than $33,000 for a second post-election party when only one is allowed, the board said.

And while “personal grooming” expenses are forbidden, his campaign shelled out $550 for makeup artist Gina Riggi to doll up de Blasio’s family the night of the general election in November 2013.

The campaign also spent $298.70 to fly son Dante to a 2010 march in DC with Al Sharpton for the 47th anniversar­y of Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech.

“While we strongly disagree with many of the CFB’s findings, we are pleased that the 2013 campaign audit is now complete,” said campaign spokesman Dan Levitan.

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 ??  ?? LOOKS BAD: One of the campaign expenses filed by Mayor de Blasio that resulted in a $47,778 fine was for $550 — to hire an Election Night makeup artist for his family.
LOOKS BAD: One of the campaign expenses filed by Mayor de Blasio that resulted in a $47,778 fine was for $550 — to hire an Election Night makeup artist for his family.

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