The consultant accused of stealing a $1.1 million campaign contribution from Mayor Bloomberg tried to turn the tables in opening statements yesterday — arguing that the mayor himself was the lawbreaker.
It was a win-at-all-costs Bloomberg who tried to skirt campaign-finance rules by paying through back channels for what he hoped would be a massive 2009 Election Day ballot-security operation, a lawyer for John Haggerty told jurors in the bombshell political-larceny case.
The mayor could have simply paid for the operation directly and declared the $1.1 million as a campaign expense, Haggerty’s defense argued. Instead, he shunted the donation to the housekeeping account of the Independence Party, where it wouldn’t be declared until two months after the election — but in doing so, he by law lost all control of the loot.
“Very simple — no victim, no crime,” defense lawyer Raymond Costello told a Manhattan Supreme Court jury of the technicality he’s hoping will set Haggerty free.
“No money was ever stolen from Michael Bloomberg. Someone who contributes to a party loses control over the money. Michael Bloomberg knew that he could not control or rely on how the money was used.”
Costello called the $1.1 million “a never-disclosed campaign expenditure,” designed to keep his minority opponent from raising ballot security as an issue.
“The last thing Michael Bloomberg wanted in 2009 was a claim of voter suppression,” Costello said.
Prosecutors accuse Haggerty of stealing the mayor’s contribution by promising that once it was passed on to him by the Independence Party, he’d use it mainly to pay workers to monitor the city’s 1,300 polling places.
“This contribution would never have been made if the mayor and his agents did not believe that this would be used for ballot security,” Assistant DA Brian Weinberg told jurors.
“The mayor will testify,” Weinberg promised. “The mayor will tell you he never authorized this money to be used by the defendant to purchase his brother’s share” of a Forest Hills mansion.
Former deputy mayor and longtime Bloomberg right-hand man Kevin Sheekey took the stand yesterday as the first prosecution witness.
Prosecutor Eric Seidel walked the Bloomberg LP exec through a series of pre-election e-mails in which Haggerty repeatedly groveled to Sheekey — who was campaign manager — for cash for the phantom security operation.
“If the defendant told you that he would use the $1.1 million to buy a house … would you have recommended to the mayor that the Independence Party receive the money?” Seidel asked — prompting a strongly-voiced “Never!” from Sheekey.