De Blasio to Have Donors Pay Legal Fees for His Corruption Probe

Ethics experts decry the NYC mayor's plan

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio / AP

BY: Washington Free Beacon Staff
February 13, 2017 12:36 pm

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio's announcement Friday that he will have donors pay for his mounting legal bills connected to suspected corruption in his administration has led ethics experts to publicly denounce the plan.

De Blasio on Friday introduced a fundraising plan to solicit donations from supporters "according to a set of rules" to pay growing debt that he has accumulated since April, when he hired defense lawyer Barry Berke to help with multiple corruption investigations. The announcement has been met with criticism from government watchdogs and legal experts, the New York Post reported Monday.

John Kaehny, the executive director of the reform group Reinvent Albany, told the Post that de Blasio is walking into "a trap of his own making" if he follows through with his proposed fundraising idea.

"He's responding to probes about his fundraising activities by doing more fundraising," Kaehny said.

 http://freebeacon.com/issues/de-blasio-donors-pay-legal-fees-corruption-probe/