Bill de Blasio fined $155,000 for having city cover NYPD detail on presidential campaign trips outside New York
NEW YORK -- Former Mayor Bill de Blasio made history when the New York City Conflicts of Interest Board slapped him with its largest fine ever Thursday for using NYPD officers to protect him during his short-lived presidential campaign.
De Blasio was fined $155,000 and ordered to reimburse the city $320,000 for violating the City Charter by taking his NYPD security detail on trips for his failed presidential bid.
"When a public servant uses City resources for private purposes, it erodes the public's trust and makes City government less efficient," the board ruled.
It's not that de Blasio didn't know the score when he announced his presidential run in September 2019. Before he ran, the board told him, "It would be a misuse of City resources" to pay the hotel, travel and overtime costs for his NYPD detail to travel with him on the campaign.
De Blasio apparently gave the board's ruling his trademark "wink-wink," and took his security detail on 31 out-of-state trips between May 2019 and September 2019, when he folded his presidential tents.
The fine followed a report by the Department of Investigation that criticized the former mayor's use of his security detail even when he was in New York City. The report said de Blasio used his protection detail as hired help for errands, picking up coffee and food, and carting his family and friends around like Uber drivers.
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"It's not security. It's essentially concierge service," former Department of Investigation Commissioner Margaret Garnet said in October 2021.
De Blasio was outraged by the ruling. His lawyers called the decision reckless and released this statement:
In the wake of the January 6th insurrection, the shootings of Congressmembers Giffords and Scalise, and almost daily threats directed at local leaders around the country, the COIB's action - which seeks to saddle elected officials with security costs that the City has properly borne for decades - is dangerous, beyond the scope of their powers, and illegal.
Lawyers for de Blasio said they filed a suit to stop the board from collecting the money.