NYC Council passes legal defense fund bill allowing de Blasio to raise cash to pay his lawyers – By Jillian Jorgensen (NY Daily News) / Jan 24 2019
The City Council paved the way for Mayor de Blasio to hit up donors to cover the cost of his legal fees — the ones that taxpayers aren’t pick up, anyway.
Legislation allowing for the creation of legal defense funds breezed through the City Council Thursday, passing by a vote of 42 in favor, five against and one abstention, just two weeks after it was introduced. It takes effect immediately upon becoming law.
Among the main beneficiaries of the bill is de Blasio — who owes Kramer, Levin and Naftalis about $300,000 in legal fees for the firm’s work defending him during Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance’s investigation into his fundraising for state Senate Democrats in 2014.
Hizzoner asked the Council to consider such a law after the Conflicts of Interest Board told him he could only solicit donations of $50 or less to pay his legal fees — with any higher contributions amounting to an illegal gift.
But the Council insisted the bill was not introduced just for the mayor, citing the case of Councilwoman Debi Rose (D-Staten Island), who was investigated for years by a special prosecutor before the charges were dismissed.
“For me. I have been focused on this issue, known how bad it was for Debi, long before the mayor’s legal bills,” Council Speaker Corey Johnson (D-Manhattan) said.
The legislation was introduced by Councilman Stephen Levin (D-Brooklyn)
“All people, including public officials, deserve the right to a fair trial and quality defense against allegations of wrongdoing,” Levin said.
The law allows elected official to raise up to $5,000 from individuals, and would not allow for donations from lobbyists, people doing business with the city, corporations or LLCs. The donations will be made public.
The move comes just months after voters opted to drastically limit the amount of money elected officials could accept in the form of campaign donations — but Levin argued he did not see the creation of the legal defense fund as beng at odds with that.
“This is not something that I think most candidates would establish,” he said. “This is distinct and separate and apart — it’s not part of the campaign finance system.”
The $300,000 at issue is just a fraction of de Blasio’s total legal bills — he racked up at least $2.6 million in legal fees to the firm for its work defending him in several other probes by former U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara. But those bills were paid for with taxpayer money, because the investigations related to de Blasio’s government work.
De Blasio initially pledged that none of his legal bills would be passed on to the taxpayers — but walked that back when he found himself unable to ask donors to help him pay the bill. The $300,000 he wants to pay off with the legal defense fund are expenses related to political, not city hall work.
The mayor and his staffers were never charged in the investigations. His office declined to comment.
https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/ny-pol-deblasio-legal-defense-fund-20190124-story.html
