Bill de Blasio finally faced the reality that he knowingly and willfully broke New York City law and the City Charter in charging the city treasury for his mayoral NYPD security detail’s airfare and hotels during his hopeless presidential campaign.
He got off too easy, far too easy.
On May 8, 2019, a City Hall lawyer wrote to the city Conflicts of Interest Board asking if taxpayers could pick up the political out-of-state travel expenses for de Blasio’s NYPD escort. The COIB wrote back on May 15, saying that while the officers’ salaries would be paid for from city funds, their airfare and hotels should be covered by de Blasio or his presidential campaign. The letter was very clear and de Blasio just ignored it.
The next day, May 16, de Blasio announced his White House run. That nonsense ended on Sept. 20, when he quit. During 127 days in between he used NYPD cops on 31 trips and billed taxpayers each time for the flights and lodgings for the detectives, despite being told not to in advance.
After he left City Hall on Dec. 31, 2021, the city Department of Investigation and COIB kept after de Blasio (the first time a mayor was so caught) and June 15, 2023, COIB ordered him to pay back the $319,794.20 for the airfare and hotels and fined him $5,000 for each of the 31 trips, for another $155,000, making a grand total of $474,794.20 to be paid. But instead of paying, that very day de Blasio sued COIB.
The case was resolved on Jan. 13 of this year when the judge dismissed de Blasio’s specious case in an 81-page ruling. De Blasio then filed an appeal.
Now, he’s withdrawn his appeal and will pay and issued a weak apology. While he’s still on the hook for the $319,794.20 in expenses, the $155,000 fine has been reduced to just $10,000 because of the settlement with COIB made public yesterday.
So this guy who used his position as mayor to wrongly take from the taxpayers despite being told explicitly not to, has had his fine reduced by $145,000.
We understand why COIB settled, but the ethics watchdog should have been tougher. Since the time of de Blasio’s blatant pilfering, in September 2019, prices have risen 25% (actually 24.94% according to the Consumer Price Index) so an equal amount in interest should have been assessed against him. The $329,794.20 in travel costs would become $399,551.25 and the $155,000 fine should be $193,657.18. Ideally, Big Bill should be writing a check for $593,208.43.
Under the settlement, if de Blasio misses a scheduled payment, the reduced fine of $10,000 is restored to the full amount of $155,000, which is good. However, should he die during the period of repayment, the entire debt is erased and his heirs and estate will not be responsible, which also seems fair.
We have often complained that COIB has tended to go hard against small fry in the municipal workforce, like the cop taking an apple, while letting commissioners and other big shots get away with all kinds of bad behavior.
But there is no one higher on the food chain than the mayor and here they didn’t give him a pass. Of course, he was no longer a powerful mayor when they dunned him and beat back his lawsuit, but it was the right pursuit of wrongdoing.
