The City Council on Thursday approved a bill that allows Mayor de Blasio to immediately start hitting up donors again to raise $300,000 to settle two-year-old bills from his criminal defense lawyers.
The Council voted 42-5, with one abstention, to adopt rules for legal defense funds covering all elected officials.
The bill sponsored by Councilman Stephen Levin (D-Brooklyn) caps donations at $5,000 – even though de Blasio himself recently pushed to lower the maximum campaign donation to $2,000.
The measure bans contributions from lobbyists and others doing business with the city, as well as corporations and LLCs.
And it mandates all donations be reported to the city’s Conflicts of Interest Board and posted online.
Under previous rules, legal defense donations were considered gifts and limited to $50.
Asked whether the Council was rushing through a bill to help the mayor, Council Speaker Corey Johnson said, “I feel very comfortable with what we are doing.”
“We spent a long time working with good government groups studying the issue, making sure there is no commingling of funds [with political campaign accounts], making sure lobbyists and people who do business with city can’t give,” Johnson added
But opponents said the bill gave elected officials a benefit they shouldn’t have.
“I think we should be honest with ourselves that people would be donating to our legal funds because we are elected officials,” said Councilman Joe Borelli (R-Staten Island).
“Not many other accused criminals can throw themselves fundraisers to pay for their personal lawyers, and this feels more like accruing a personal benefit from our public service.”
Councilman Carlos Menchaca (D-Brooklyn) said he felt “uncomfortable about” how the bill “landed,” adding it “brings the opportunity for corruption for folks that are not to far from this space here” in the City Hall Council chambers.
Three other legislators who voted against the measure were Chaim Deutsch (D-Brooklyn), Steven Matteo (R-Staten Island) and Eric Ulrich (R-Queens). Councilman Jumaane Williams (D-Brooklyn), who is running for public advocate, abstained.
The mayor ran up his tab after enlisting Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP in 2016 to represent him in federal and state investigations of his fundraising practices. The probes were closed in March 2017 with no charges filed.
Taxpayers separately are shelling out $2.6 million for legal bills covering what de Blasio claimed as official duties. Another $11 million in bills, also being picked up by taxpayers, were run up by mayoral aides.
The $300,000 bill is for legal work involving the mayor’s political activity.