Republican Party leaders enmeshed in a corruption scandal are about to get another kick in the stomach: Mayor Bloomberg isn’t going to fund the local GOP county committees anymore.
Bloomberg is by far the single largest campaign contributor to the five borough committees. Records show the mayor has lavished $665,000 on the local GOP since 2009, when he received the green light to run on its line for a third term even after dumping his Republican voter registration to become an independent.
With the federal indictment of two party leaders for allegedly taking bribes for ballot access, only Brooklyn Republican Party chairman Craig Eaton still has ties to the administration.
“There are no more relationships,” said one source close to the mayor. “It’s not likely they’re going to get any more.”
The corruption cases — including one against Bloomberg ally Jay Savino, the Bronx GOP leader — make it that much easier to cut the funding cord.
The mayor is more than willing to put up large sums of money to further his political ends. He’s not willing to get near anything that smells of scandal, if he can help it.
The state Independence Party, for example, hasn’t received a dime from the mayor since 2009. Bloomberg used the party as a vehicle to deliver $1.1 million to consultant John Haggerty for a poll-watching operation. Haggerty is now serving time for stealing most of the money.
Judging by its various campaign accounts, the Republican Party here is struggling. Only the Staten Island committee has more than $100,000 in the bank — and that’s after a $50,000 donation from Bloomberg in March 2012.
The Manhattan committee has $31.65 in one account and 29 cents in another. Manhattan GOP chairman Dan Isaacs said not to make too much of those paltry figures since his committee will get most of its income from an annual fund-raiser in June.
“It’s all cyclical,” he said. “I don’t need to be sitting on a lot of money right now.” Isaacs described Bloomberg’s funding as “not a factor. I haven’t thought at all about support from Mayor Bloomberg going forward.”
One possible white knight is billionaire John Catsimatidis, who is running for mayor on the GOP line and has been generous to many politicians over the years.
But he’s not in Bloomberg’s lofty league.
Records show he and his firms have ponied up $311,700 to the local GOP since 2009, or less than half what Bloomberg has provided.
Scandals are not selling points for the bottom line.