New York Mayor Bill De Blasio and his aides should be criminally prosecuted for an illegal fundraising scheme to elect Democrats to the State Senate in 2014, the State Board of Elections has determined.

The eight-page report, which was submitted by the Elections department’s top investigator to the board on Jan. 4 was only just released to the public. In it, enforcement chief Risa Sugarman said de Blasio’s actions – along with the actions of his political cronies – were “willful and flagrant violations” of state law, the New York Post is reporting.

“I have determined that reasonable cause exists to believe a violation warranting criminal prosecution has taken place,” Sugarman wrote in the memo.

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The elections board – a bipartisan group of two Democrats and two Republicans – first received the complaint about the mayor’s illegal fundraising efforts in October 2014. Fifteen months later, they voted unanimously to refer the case to the Manhattan District Attorney.

“There is considerable evidence in this case that New York City mayor William de Blasio organized a team dedicated to getting a sufficient number of Democratic New York State senators elected in 2014 to achieve a Democratic majority in the senate. The evidence indicates that de Blasio established a structure, both within and outside City Hall, and entered into an agreement with powerful unions… and political consultants… to raise and spend money to influence senate races,” wrote Sugarman, who was nominated to the post by Gov. Cuomo.

“The evidence demonstrates that the de Blasio team coordinated its fundraising activities with and intentionally solicited contributions for these candidates … in order to evade contribution limits and to disguise the true names of the contributors, conduct which may violate [two election laws],” she wrote.

One of the violations, the Post reports, is a felony.

The board calls the group that surrounded the mayor and designed the illegal operation “Team de Blasio,” They solicited nearly $1 million from unions and donors and steered them to both the Putnam and Ulster County Democratic Committees, then had the funds steered toward three state Senate candidates.

It is illegal to donate more than $10,300 to any one senatorial candidate.

“Based on the evidence that these transfers were pre-arranged, reasonable cause exists to believe that all the contributions were made to the county committees simply as straw donors. Therefore, they should be considered contributions to the candidates and subjected to the candidate’s contribution limits,” the memo charges.

Sugarman then cites provisions of the election law that say it’s a Class E Felony to “knowingly and willfully” solicit and or coordinate donations “for the purpose of evading contribution limits.”

Some of the illegal checks deposited have “donation per mayor” written in the memo line.

Oops.

H/T: weaselzippers.us





