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"Advocate vs. Insider": de Blasio "Knee Deep in Slush Fund Scandal"
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| Contributor | Craverguy |
| Last Edited | Craverguy Sep 18, 2009 05:52am |
| Category | Press Release |
| News Date | Sep 16, 2009 12:00pm |
| Description | New York – Mark Green today began his run-off campaign for Public Advocate by questioning opponent Bill de Blasio “for the documented fact that he gives away millions from the Council slush fund and then receives back hundreds of thousands in campaign contributions.”
At a City Hall press conference, Green – the City’s first Public Advocate and before that the Consumer Affairs Commissioner – contrasted his history as a consumer advocate fighting for campaign reform with his opponent’s “history as a political insider who abuses the City Council’s Member Item process for enriching his own candidacy.”
A recent study of Council Member Bill de Blasio’s individual Member Item funding to non-profits, totaling over $7 million in the past three years, showed that 60% of the groups gave back political contributions.
“I’ve worked for years on campaign finance reform,” said Green who wrote the 1998 law that established the modern system of matching small gifts with public funds. “We did not at that time expect Council Members like de Blasio to abuse the budget process to milk campaign gifts from taxpayer expenditures. Groups receiving Member Items are usually worthy and honorable, as are their executives, staff and members. But they shouldn’t feel the implicit coercion to contribute to politicians in the belief that’s necessary to receive more funds.” |
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