So Far, Donations to de Blasio's Convention Bid Kept Secret

For the past nine months, Mayor de Blasio has been running a campaign to convince the Democratic National Committee to holds its 2016 presidential nominating convention in Brooklyn.

De Blasio's been doing all the things people running campaigns do: Making a public pitch, courting key decision-makers with glossy videos.

"We are taking on the big issues that Democrats care about,  from income inequality to affordable housing. We’re showing everyday that progressive ideas can work," he crowed in one of those videos.

And de Blasio’s raising money. Hand over fist. Six and a half million dollars so far from some of the city’s most powerful interest groups: bankers, real estate moguls, media executives, venture capitalists. The total is about the same amount de Blasio raised for his entire mayoral campaign in 2013.

De Blasio’s team says they won’t release details about who’s been giving and how much because the city hasn't yet officially been awarded the convention. This displeases money and politics experts like Sheila Krumholz, executive director of the non-partisan Center for Responsive Politics.

She said there’s no excuse for not immediately releasing information about donations to a favorite cause of a mayor who steers billions of dollars in city contracts, tax breaks, and underwriting deals.

"At a minimum, donors or those pledging money are developing good will and a relationship that may pay off over time," Krumholz said in an interview from her office in Washington, D.C.

The puzzling thing is, why doesn't de Blasio just tell us? What harm would it do? De Blasio spokeswoman Marti Adams wouldn't say. After two months of prodding, Adams finally said this week that donors would eventually be identified by amount of donation and date of donation — if the city wins the bid. But so far, as the Mayor puts together his budget and his administration oversees thousands of transactions, the citizenry remains in the dark while multi-billion dollar decisions are made.

At this point, you may be saying, 'But this isn’t actually a campaign, it’s a convention. Wouldn’t this be good for the city? Isn’t it better to have the private sector pay, not taxpayers?' The answer to both questions is probably yes. 

That’s why the mayor set up a host committee that includes American Express, Goldman Sachs, Citibank, Tishman-Speyer real estate, Citibank, real estate magnates Leonard Litwin and Bruce Ratner, AT&T and a whole lot more folk in finance, venture capital, and tech.

Some host committee members say they've been asked to pledge $100,000 to $1,000,000. But they would only say that on condition of anonymity, so as not to offend the mayor. Which goes against a message that Bill de Blasio has trumpeted over his  entire career in public office — that disclosure and transparency are important values. As a city council member, de Blasio constantly prodded the Bloomberg administration to be more "transparent."

As public avocate, he led a national coalition to fight the 2010 U.S. Supreme Court's Citizens United case, which unplugged all limits on money in politics.

"What we all seek to do is to ensure that in all of our dealings, the public has full information, and that the corporate sector understands that these decisions should be made out in the open," de Blasio said in a conference call with coalition members from around the country shortly after the decision was handed down.

And when he announced his campaign for mayor, de Blasio intertwined his message of a "Tale of Two Cities" with fighting back against the influx of big money in political campaigns.

"I have to say maybe we've all gotten a little numb because our democracy has been repeatedly attacked by the power of money," de Blasio said in announcing his campaign two frigid Januaries ago, in front of his yellow townhouse in Brooklyn. "Is it any wonder that average citizens feel overshadowed?" 

But that was then.

It's true that the mayor’s hand has been forced by rival Philadelphia, which has over $8 million in the bank for its own convention bid. When former Mayor Bloomberg put together bids for the 2004 conventions, he didn't raise much money, because no one doubted his ability to reach out to his fellow billionaires if the city won the bid. That’s not true for de Blasio. 

Marti Adams, the de Blasio spokeswoman, says if the city wins the bid, all the information will eventually be disclosed.

If the city doesn't win the bid, the host committee will file some information with the New York attorney general, and the city will wire unspent money back to the donors' banks. But a favor in the favor bank? That’s forever.