A key donor to Mayor de Blasio’s fund-raising was subpoenaed Thursday, as it became clear the growing investigation is zeroing in on whether his campaign broke rules pursuing checks from powerful interests seeking favors from City Hall, the Daily News has learned.
The Manhattan U.S. attorney and the Manhattan district attorney both demanded documents from an anti-horse carriage group that has steered hundreds of thousands of dollars to de Blasio in its effort to ban buggies from Central Park, according to a source familiar with the probe.
Supporters of that group, New Yorkers for Clean, Livable and Safe Streets, NYCLASS, have written checks totaling $125,000 to Campaign for One New York, a so-called “independent spending” organization de Blasio formed to support his pet causes.
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Late Thursday, Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara and Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. demanded documents dating as far back as 2013 from the group, which steered $100,000 to Campaign for One New York in March 2015 and hundreds of thousands more to the mayor’s 2013 campaign.
By then, de Blasio’s promise to end the carriages “on day one” of his administration was a distant memory, and the effort has since been resolved to the satisfaction of no one.
In 2014, the Daily News reported the FBI was looking at NYCLASS donations to the mayor, who championed the group’s cause during his run for City Hall. At the time, the FBI was examining how two de Blasio supporters appeared to have used NYCLASS to secretly attack his then-chief rival, Christine Quinn.
In May and June 2013, a union run by de Blasio’s cousin, John Wilhelm, and a top de Blasio donor, attorney Jay Eisenhoffer, wrote two checks totaling $225,000 to NYCLASS.
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Within days, NYCLASS wrote duplicate checks to New York City Not for Sale, a rabidly anti-Quinn group. At the time, the anti-Quinn group had to disclose its contributions, but NYCLASS didn’t. The two donations weren’t revealed until days after de Blasio won the primary.
These contributions well exceed the limitations on individual donations, which are restricted to $4,950 per election. Owners of entities doing business with the city can’t give more than $400, and lobbyists aren’t allowed to give at all.
But a review by The News found the mayor, a one-time political operative, has repeatedly found a myriad of legal, but controversial, ways to obtain huge checks from deep-pocket donors with interests before City Hall.
Key tools in the de Blasio woodshed include raising unrestricted donations via so-called “independent spending” groups and relying on donors who bundle multiple individual checks.
Records show de Blasio has been a consistent beneficiary of bundling — for example, pocketing $1.4 million this way in 2013 and $467,370 more for his reelection bid through mid-January.
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Both tactics are legal, but candidates are strictly barred from coordinating with independent spenders or promising contributors anything in return for their checks.
Sources familiar with the campaign finance aspect of the probe say the city Department of Investigation is inquiring, in addition to the feds and the DA. All three offices declined comment.
A key focus is the Campaign for One New York, set up by de Blasio a month before he took office. Since he’s become mayor, the group has collected $4 million to support his pet causes such as universal pre-K and affordable housing.
Much of that has come from big developers and lobbyists writing big checks at the same time they’re seeking zoning changes or tax breaks.
The News found at least 40 checks from developers with business before the city — and several giving amounts ranging from $10,000 to $100,000 either right before or soon after requesting — or in some cases receiving — favors from City Hall.
Last month, the mayor pulled the plug on Campaign for One New York, saying it had served its purpose. The shutdown came weeks after the watchdog group Common Cause filed a complaint demanding an investigation of the group.
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“We believe that the mayor’s direct involvement with the Campaign for One New York raises troubling questions regarding the legality of his conduct,” said Susan Lerner, the group’s director.
The organization’s unpaid board chairman is Bill Hyers, de Blasio’s former campaign manager, and its $180,000-a-year director, Ross Offinger, was a paid campaign consultant for de Blasio’s campaign throughout 2013.
In 2014, The News reported Offinger was doing political work for the mayor while running Campaign for One New York. That October, de Blasio asked grocery store mogul John Catsimatidis to donate toward his quest to gain Democratic control of the Republican-led state Senate. The next day, Offinger called Catsimatidis and told him where to send the money.
Despite the close ties, de Blasio has dismissed criticism of Campaign for One New York, arguing that all donors are disclosed and the group supports worthy causes.
Last week he went one step further, telling reporters the donations funneled to the group are “in the scheme of things, very limited amounts of money.”
Those donations range from $250 to $250,000, and most are in the $10,000 to $20,000 range — far more than the maximum individuals are allowed to give.
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In truth, New York’s deep-pocket givers often look for something from the mayor’s administrations at the same time they’re funding his political dreams.
Take developer Joe McMillan, who last year proposed building a luxury condo on a sliver of highly valuable property in upscale Tribeca.
The community board opposed it, claiming that jamming this condo onto the tiny lot would “negatively impact the character of the neighborhood.”
To alter zoning, builders must show they face a hardship they can’t overcome without the change. McMillan claimed he couldn’t make a profit unless he could build bigger. The board said he could build smaller and still make money.
“The idea is that you can’t vary every regulation in town,” said Michael Levine, Community Board 1’s consulting planner. “There must be a hardship behind it or the zoning would have no meaning.”
McMillan’s company, DDG Partners, hired Kramer Levin, the lobbyist law firm that includes as a partner Barry Berke, de Blasio’s former campaign treasurer. Kramer Levin reported lobbying the mayor’s office and the Board of Standards and Appeals for DDG.
The board approved everything they requested, allowing DDG to build 10 luxury condo units with retail space in one of the city’s most exclusive neighborhoods. In records, McMillan estimates his profits at $7million.
Standards & Appeals granted DDG’s zoning change June 23. Eight days later, one of DDG’s limited affiliates donated $10,000 to Campaign for One New York.
“It’s very odd case and a very odd decision. I’ve never seen one like this in all my years of city government,” said Community Board 1’s Levine. “The site is so peculiar, the community is so opposed, and the board approved it anyway.”
And there’s Jed Walentas of Two Trees. In 2014, he fought with de Blasio over plans to convert the old Domino Sugar Factory in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, into luxury and affordable apartments. Walentas agreed to increase the number of affordable units but also was allowed to build bigger and higher.
Shortly afterward, Walentas and other businessmen pulled together a plan to get the city to build a streetcar that would run through downtown Brooklyn — right past the Domino condos.
The group, Friends of Brooklyn Queens Connector, filed incorporation papers Feb. 23, 2015. One week later, Walentas donated $100,000 to Campaign for One New York.
During his February State of the City speech, the mayor championed the group’s streetcar plan. Walentas did not return calls.
To date, only two de Blasio supporters have shown up on the feds’ radar: Jona Rechnitz and Jeremy Reichberg, two Brooklyn men who’ve raised thousands of dollars for de Blasio.
De Blasio has acknowledged having “conversations” with the two in 2014 and early 2015, but his spokeswoman, Karen Hinton, declined to reveal details of those chats.
Reichberg hosted a Campaign for One New York fund-raiser at his home in 2014 but didn’t write a check, while Rechnitz donated $50,000 to the group in January 2014.
It’s not clear what, if anything, they sought in return, and Hinton said, “The mayor has said publicly they received no special treatment.”
