If you had any remaining doubt that Mayor de Blasio and his team just don’t understand the meaning of “nonpolitical,” consider the case of Joseph Finnerty.
Word broke this week that the reason Finnerty quit the Water Board a few months back is that the Conflicts of Interest Board had fined him $1,000 for co-sponsoring the mayor’s May 12 birthday-bash fundraiser.
Sponsoring the affair came naturally to Finnerty — who was a de Blasio fundraiser before the mayor put him on the Water Board, whose seven members set rates for the city’s water and sewer system.
Seems Finnerty didn’t get the word that the board’s supposed to be nonpolitical.
But why put a donor on a nonpolitical board to start with? And why did none of the mayor’s aides realize that put Finnerty off-limits for fund-raising?
Probably because they just don’t get it.
After all, they had the de Blasio-controlled board this year OK a $183 rebate to homeowners, funded by a 2.1 percent rate hike on landlords — in a clear bid to buy votes.
Which, again, the nonpolitical Water Board’s not supposed to do. That’s why a judge soon slapped down the illegal scheme.
It’s all part and parcel of the sleazy approach to government that has City Hall facing more investigations than we can count.
If it all starts to seem just too much, Mr. Mayor, how about another vacation? We hear JetBlue now has regular flights to Cuba.