The former mayor owes the city nearly $320,000 and must pay a $155,000 fine for using his government-issued security detail for campaign, the city’s Conflicts of Interest Board ruled.
Former New York City mayor Bill de Blasio (D) owes the city nearly $320,000 and must pay a $155,000 fine for using his government-issued security detail on travel “in connection with his presidential campaign,” according the city’s Conflicts of Interest Board.
In an order issued Thursday, the board said the then-mayor, between May and September 2019, had the city “pay the travel expenses for an NYPD security detail to accompany [him] or his spouse on 31 out-of-state trips in connection with his presidential campaign.”
Those 31 trips, the board said, resulted in $319,794.20 in expenses, excluding police officers’ salaries and overtime pay.
According to New York City’s conflict of interest law, public servants are prohibited from using city resources “for any non-City purpose.”
“When a public servant uses City resources for private purposes, it erodes the public’s trust and makes City government less efficient,” the board said in its Thursday order. “For this reason, the Board has routinely enforced this prohibition, particularly where a public servant uses City resources for the non-City purpose of advancing a campaign for elective office or other political activity.”
The board, in issuing its fine, concluded that de Blasio’s conduct “plainly violates this prohibition,” noting that there is “no City purpose” in paying for extra expenses connected to de Blasio’s travel on a presidential campaign.
