Given all the attention which liberal media outlets love to shower on New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio for his progressive agenda and “reforms” in the Big Apple, it’s amazing how little attention is given to the many scandals which have engulfed his administration. And we’re not just talking about his nasty habit of killing any wildlife unfortunate enough to fall into his hands here. There are multiple investigations taking place into his handling of campaign funds and municipal money. The latest example, which turned up during an audit of his 2013 race, has now resulted in his being fined nearly $50K. (NY Post)

Mayor Bill de Blasio’s 2013 campaign improperly spent taxpayer funds on a makeup artist for the entire family to appear on TV, a hotel less than a mile from his daughter’s college in California, and a plane ticket to fly his son to a march with the Rev. Al Sharpton in Washington, DC, the city’s Campaign Finance Board found Thursday. Those and many other violations added up to $47,778 in penalties — including for blowing more than $33,000 in matching public funds for a second post-election party, when only one victory party is allowed. “While we strongly disagree with many of the CFB’s findings, we are pleased that the 2013 campaign audit is now complete,” said de Blasio campaign spokesman Dan Levitan, a VP at BerlinRosen.

I’ve covered more than a few stories in the past which dealt with the series of scandals surrounding de Blasio and the many investigations which are currently underway. The guy is alleged to have been using a variety of both campaign and city funding pools as his own slush fund, shuffling money around while receiving “favors” from any number of individuals. These latest findings cross the line between public and private money because he was raising money from donors but also accepting matching funds from the taxpayers. The fact that he blew nearly $50K of it on special perks for himself and his family is about as surprising as the sun rising in the east at this point.

The Democrats have had high hopes for de Blasio ever since he came on the scene. He’s a larger than life figure for them (literally… the guy looks like he’s at least NBA power forward height) and many have spoken of how he should clearly have bigger things in his future. This was underscored when he was invited to address the DNC in Philadelphia this summer. That was a rather surreal event because the speech landed on the same day that Preet Bharara announced a new investigation into his finances. He also fits the right demographic profile for the Democrats because of his “multicultural” family.

But underneath it all he’s another New York City Democratic politician. If any of these investigations hit pay dirt, the party can wave goodbye to any hopes that the mayor would be moving on to the Governor’s office or even the White House. He’s leaving a trail of crooked breadcrumbs in his wake everywhere he goes.