Former NYC Mayor to Pay $330K for Misusing Public Funds in White House Bid

WASHINGTON — Former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, once a rising progressive light in the Democratic Party, has agreed to pay $329,794 to settle an ethics board finding that he misspent public funds for security during his failed run for president six years ago.

The settlement was announced Wednesday by the New York City Conflicts of Interest Board, an independent agency charged with enforcing the city’s ethics rules.

The repayment order against de Blasio, who served as New York’s mayor from January 2014 to December 2021, is the costliest ever levied in the board’s history.

However, it represents a substantial reduction from the $475,000 that was previously imposed by the board. 

In explaining the reduction, the board pointed to de Blasio’s current “financial situation.”

De Blasio was a darling of the left when he announced his intention to compete in the Democratic primaries ahead of the 2020 presidential election, but his candidacy never caught on with voters.

Consistent polling at 0% among Democratic primary voters, including those in his home state, de Blasio was shut out of a series of candidate debates. 

After he tried and failed to qualify for the third round of debates, he dropped out of the race, and five months later, in February 2020, he endorsed Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., for president.

By then, however, he was already deeply embroiled in his controversy with the Conflicts of Interest Board.

Just ahead of his entering the presidential contest, de Blasio had asked the board if the city could pick up the cost of his security detail when he was out of town on the stump.

The board said taxpayers could cover the security detail’s salary and inevitable overtime costs, but warned that expecting them to pay for the retinue’s travel expenses would be a misuse of city funds.

With that warning in hand, de Blasio nevertheless went on 31 out-of-state campaign trips, racking up over $319,000 in travel costs for his security detail.

Since he’d been warned, the Conflicts of Interest Board hit him hard, ording de Blasio to pay $474,794, an amount that included compensating the city for the security detail’s travel expenses, and a $155,000 fine.

“Although there is a city purpose in the city paying for an NYPD security detail for the city’s mayor, including the security detail’s salary and overtime, there is no city purpose in paying for the extra expenses incurred by that NYPD security detail to travel at a distance from the city to accompany the mayor or his family on trips for his campaign for president of the United States,” the board said in its order. 

“The board advised respondent to this effect prior to his campaign; respondent disregarded the board’s advice,” it said.

De Blasio then sued, arguing, among other things, that forcing him to cover the cost of his security detail’s travel violated his First Amendment rights by creating an “unequal burden” between wealthy candidates and career public servants.

After he was term-limited and succeeded by Eric Adams as mayor in January 2022, de Blasio tried for a political comeback, briefly running for Congress in 2022 before concluding he could not win.

In exchange for having his fine lowered, de Blasio on Wednesday agreed to drop his appeal of the board’s finding.

He also conceded, for the first time, that he had received a written warning stating that his out-of-state security detail expenses could not legally be covered by the taxpayers of New York City.

“I acknowledge that by having the city pay for the travel expenses incurred as a result of my security detail traveling with my wife and me during my presidential campaign, and by failing to reimburse the city for these expenses, I acted in conflict with my official duties in violation of [the] city charter. I made a mistake and I deeply regret it,” the former mayor said in the settlement.

Dan can be reached at [email protected] and @DanMcCue