Presumptive Republican challenger Nicole Malliotakis on Friday blasted Mayor Bill de Blasio’s “appalling” $2 million flip-flop over legal bills tied to the corruption probes he faced.
“Our mayor is ethically challenged,” Malliotakis said outside City Hall.
“He has shown a complete disregard for the taxpayers today by now saying he’s going to use taxpayer money to pay for his legal fees.”
Malliotakis, a state assemblywoman from Staten Island, also accused de Blasio of adding “insult to injury” by “announcing this on Fourth of July weekend, hoping that New Yorkers do not take notice.”
“I think it is appalling what the mayor is saying today, that after saying he was going to raise the money, he now saying he is going to have the taxpayers foot the bill,” she fumed.
In a message posted on the medium.com website, de Blasio, a Democrat who’s seeking a second term in November, said he’d been “reluctant to ask taxpayers to shoulder the burden of my compliance with these reviews.”
“But after giving this a great deal of thought, it has become increasingly clear that the most appropriate course of action is to let the City cover the costs for legal work tied to my government service, as it would for any of its employees in a similar situation,” he added.
The mayor’s $2 million legal tab adds to at least $11.6 million in public funds spent on lawyers who represented several underlings in the corruption probes, which ended in March with no charges filed — but harsh criticism of the mayor’s fundraising practices.
In addition to around $2 million in bills that taxpayers are getting stuck with, de Blasio said he would raise about $300,000 to pay his lawyers for “some non-governmental work reviewed during the investigation.”