DE BLASIO'S CONFLICTS OF INTEREST FROM OUTSIDE INCOME

"When a lobbyist is putting cash in your pocket by hiring you to work for their research arm, how can that not be ethically compromising?," asks former Public Advocate.
 
(New York, NY) - While serving as a member of the City Council, Bill de Blasio accepted $33,000 from the “Progressive America Foundation,” a group that shares leadership and an address with organizations that lobbied de Blasio while in the Council.  After being exposed by the New York Daily News, de Blasio provided a Conflict of Interest Board (COIB) opinion (Case No. 2006-400) based on a declared payment of only $6,000 (in contrast with $33,000 actually received) for work that was said to have occurred largely out of state.
 
"When Councilmember de Blasio not only takes personal income from a group that lobbies him but also refuses to admit that it's a conflict of interest to give away taxpayer money from a Slush Fund and receive back $200,000 in campaign money, it's hard not to view him as an ethically challenged political insider,” said former Public Advocate Mark Green.  “When lobbyists from the Working Families Party visit him on an issue, how can he pretend to be an independent watchdog when they've paid him $33,000?"
 
In de Blasio’s 2006 Financial Disclosure, between $5,000 and $34,999 was listed as outside income for serving as a “Consultant” for the Progressive America Foundation (PAF) with an address of “2-4 Nevins Street, Brooklyn, New York.”
 
On September 12, 2009, Eric Gioia, Chair of the City Council Committee on Oversight and Investigations and then a candidate for Public Advocate, called for the release of the letter de Blasio sent to the COIB on which they based their opinion and posed three simple questions regarding the COIB letter:
 
1) Did de Blasio disclose to the COIB that he would be paid $33,000 for less than 5 months of work prior to their opinion?
2) Did de Blasio disclose to the COIB that the non-profit was controlled by the same individuals and organizations who control the WFP and who lobby the City Council?

3) Did de Blasio disclose to the COIB that the non-profit shared office space with WFP, which lobbies the City Council and endorses City Council candidates?
 
The Green campaign's subsequent investigation found that PAF is controlled by the same individuals running the Working Families Party (WFP), which shares an address at 2-4 Nevins Street in Brooklyn.  A review of the Federal 501(C)(3) Form 990 and corresponding Schedule A for the PAF revealed filings by:
 
·        Dan Cantor, Assistant Treasurer in 2001 – 2004; also serves as the Executive Director for the WFP.
·        Bertha Lewis, listed as Treasurer in 2005; is also the founding Co-Chair of the WFP.
·        Kissima Sylla, listed as in charge of books in 2005 – 2007; also serves in Administrative/Finance for the WFP.
 
Additionally, both Dan Cantor and Bertha Lewis are registered lobbyists with the Office of the City Clerk.
 
“Like Bill, I know and have worked well with Danny Cantor and Bertha Lewis,” recalled Green.  “But unlike Bill, I wouldn't accept personal income from them while I was a public official because it would be a comprising conflict of interest. When they lobby him, who does de Blasio think of first -- his employers or his constituents?"
 
“As of now, Bill has refused to substantively answer questions about his Slush Fund involvement and now payment from a lobbyist-connected non-profit, instead only attacking me for past campaigns.  The issue is not past campaigns but current ethics,” noted Green.  “He should answer questions rather than evasively attacking questioners, who include Eric Gioia and me.”
 
"I have a different standard when it comes to public service. Fact is, when the City government sent me and others $20,000 pay increases during an economic downturn in 1999, I refused the increase saying ‘I shouldn't be earning more when the taxpayers who I serve are earning less.’"