Dwyer maintains that the intent of the Legislature was to pass a law with loopholes in it so the politicians could easily get around fundraising limits. This is from his column today which is appropriately titled: "De Blasio Proves that Some Laws are Made to be Unbreakable."
Among the gold medals awarded to Bill de Blasio on Thursday was one for limbo-dancing his way past election laws so he and his allies could funnel money into 2014 state legislative campaigns at a rate 10 times the supposed limit.
Money was not given directly to candidates, but to party committees, which can receive bigger piles of cash. Those committees could then legally transfer the inflated donations to candidates.
It makes a sham of the limits, but Mr. de Blasio did not invent these evasive moves. In just about every single competitive legislative race in this century someone, Republican or Democrat, has used precisely the same contortions. Perhaps because the mayor has a talent for annoying people — he would say, the right people — the state Board of Elections sicced the office of Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. on him a year ago.
On Thursday, the prosecutor said the de Blasio operation “enabled an unprecedented amount of money to flow” to individual campaigns, but did so without violating the limits on contributions.
This comes down, then, not to behavior, but to scale. That is why the gold medal goes to the de Blasio team, which was up against a field of strong contenders that included Mr. de Blasio’s predecessor, Michael R. Bloomberg, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, and the state committees of both the Republican and Democratic parties. All of them engaged in versions of the de Blasio team’s tactic of washing big pots of money through state or county party committees in support of individual candidates.
Mr. Vance, in a letter to the Board of Elections, suggested that the de Blasio team’s activities contradicted the “spirit and intent” of the campaign laws.
For this to be true, one would have to believe that the legislature really intended there to be actual limits on how much money could be given to candidates. Mr. Vance is correct that the legislature created limits, but it simultaneously built ways around them; its “spirit and intent” is like the public piety of a Mafia hitman who makes the sign of the cross when passing a church on his way to work.
Here is Dwyer's conclusion:
Certain practices deserve our attention not because they are against the law, but precisely because they are legal. Moments after the prosecutors’ announcements, Brian Lehrer of WNYC radio spoke to the mayor on the air.
“Were you looking to get money to the hands of those candidates through the state committees and understanding the spirit of the law but trying to just stay within the letter of the law – not caring about the spirit of the law?” Mr. Lehrer asked.
“Brian, respectfully, I think that’s an outrageous question,” Mr. de Blasio replied.
Mr. de Blasio loves saddling up on the highest horse he can find. It can be a long way down.
Our political expert Reality Based Educator and many others seem to think de Blasio should now cruise to reelection victory but the comments on his piece are revealing for what this means for New York City teachers.
- Bloomberg isn't still mayor? You wouldn't know it being a teacher now, things are the same as they have always been.Delete
- You're absolutely right about that. The tone changed - anti-teacher policies did not. But at least under Bloomberg, UFT made slight effort to fight Klein/Walcott. They're so buddy buddy with Farina now, they give her everything she wants.
I can't add much to those two comments.
All I can say is I can't find too many people who are happy that de Blasio dodged these bullets.
