De Blasio dipped into his own state PAC for his presidential run

Hizzoner has been sneaking a few cookies out of his own cookie jar, it seems.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s federal campaign filings revealed that a significant source of his presidential campaign funding came from a state political action committee that he created in 2018 to help New York Democrats, The City reports. 

The Fairness PAC was originally created to help de Blasio’s “preferred candidates” win majorities for the Democrats in the state Legislature and in Congress, according to Politico. But the fund paid over $200,000 for de Blasio’s pre-campaign polling, digital fundraising and marketing services, and on exploratory expenses, like his campaign video that announced his presidential bid. 

De Blasio’s state PAC setup also allows him to collect donations without having to report them in his federal campaign filings – and he gets to ignore the $2,800 presidential primary contribution limit.

Myles Martin, a spokesperson for the FEC, told The City that he was unable to recall a time when a presidential candidate used a state-registered PAC as an exploratory committee.

While technically not illegal, de Blasio’s use of his state PAC is certainly an unusual move for the mayor – though, he’s known for having a history of seriously eyebrow-raising campaign finance scandals. And he recently caught flak for making a big deal about returning donations from people with business before the city – while still keeping donations from wives and other family of those people, or those who donated days before they officially went on the “Doing Business” list.