ZONE OF CONFLICT
Fat cats who do city biz bankroll Blaz’s nonprofit
IT CERTAINLY pays to be mayor.
Mayor de Blasio raised a whopping $1.5 million over the past six months for his political nonprofit, which includes hefty donations from rich donors who have business before City Hall.
The two biggest contributions were from the health care union 1199 SEIU — which represents about 2,000 city workers — and George Soros’ Fund for Policy Reform. Both gave $250,000 to the nonprofit.
That’s well above the $4,950 they could donate under the city’s campaign-finance laws. But the mayor’s fund — called Campaign for One New York — technically operates as a nonprofit, even though all it does is raise money to promote de Blasio’s political agenda.
That loophole also allows it to collect money from corporations — a practice barred under Campaign Finance Board rules — as well as large sums from people doing business before the city.
Steve Nislick and Wendy Neu — the two anti-horse-carriage lobbyists prohibited from donating large amounts to de Blasio’s mayoral campaign because of their efforts to enact a ban — took advantage of the nonprofit’s more-lax rules and each gave $50,000.
Nislick and Neu made their donations March 2, three days after meeting with de Blasio at City Hall to discuss horse carriages, according to records the mayor makes public on his meetings with lobbyists.
The lobbying firm James F. Capalino, which would be prohibited from donating anything to de Blasio’s 2017 City Hall campaign under campaign finance rules barring corporations, gave $10,000 to the nonprofit on May 27.
A day later, Capalino met with the mayor at City Hall to discuss the Downtown Manhattan Heliport, which the city owns but some Council members want closed to tourist choppers because of noise, according to the mayor’s list of lobbyist meetings on the city’s website.
City Councilman Carlos Menchaca (D-Brooklyn) is drafting a bill to ban the helicopter-tourism industry, and de Blasio has yet to take a position on the bill.
Capalino also met with de Blasio April 30 to discuss “residential development” and March 25 for a meeting on “Chinese tourism,” according to the city’s lobbyist website.
Although the donations are perfectly legal, good-government watchdogs said they were unseemly.
“This is a democracy. I won’t say they shouldn’t donate, but I’m concerned that the mayor has his nonprofit soliciting contributions from people who have issues before City Hall,” said Dick Dadey, executive director of Citizens Union.
A spokesman for the nonprofit said the donations are from “individuals, foundations and organizations committed to New York City’s progressive agenda.”
The mayor also took money from several real estate companies working with the city on affordable housing — including a $10,000 donation from Bluestone Group, $5,000 from Mega Contracting and $5,000 from Alma Realty.