It’s the government’s way of blessing the departed.
Elected officials who have accumulated hefty campaign accounts get to keep them when they leave, spending the leftover money as they please, under rules that no one really enforces.
Former Brooklyn Borough President Howard Golden left office in 2002, but for the last 11 years he’s been writing checks against his Committee for a Golden Future.
In his latest filing, this month, Golden reported doling out $4,975 since July, including $25 checks to 42 local charities. But a large chunk went toward overhead — such as $1,930 to a bookkeeper.
At 87, Golden still has $91,001 to give away.
His successor, Marty Markowitz, is sitting on $546,046. He’s term limited, so this is his final year in office, and there’s no new campaign in sight.
But he isn’t offering refunds to contributors.
“Whatever I’m permitted to do, I’ll do,” he told The Post. “I know what I’m not permitted. I know I am permitted to spend it on not-for-profits. For instance, last summer, if you look at how I spent my money — The Post wouldn’t report it, naturally — $100,000 I used of my excess campaign money to hire a major entertainment group that performed for free in Brooklyn. It’s good news, so I don’t expect you to cover it.”
Markowitz was referring to the Jackson Family performance at the Seaside Summer Concert Series, a nonprofit he founded and oversees.
State election law requires that campaign funds be spent for political or charitable purposes.
“Don’t exactly know how it’s going to be spent, but I imagine along those lines,” said Markowitz of his surplus.
In practice, no one’s going over the books to check where any of the extra campaign funds end up.
For pols in and out of office, spreading around campaign cash is as good a way as any to curry favor.
Government watchdogs say the practice needs to stop.
“Former elected officials should be required to either return the funds or give them to charity,” said Dick Dadey of Citizens Union. “They should not sit around as a potential slush fund unless that candidate has a very clear idea of running for office again.”
Former Rep. Anthony Weiner, whose political career went bust in a burst of sexting in 2011, has $3.9 million left in his campaign kitty. But political insiders keep speculating that he’s bound to stage a comeback, so he’s not ready for the golden-parachute club just yet.
Markowitz, meanwhile, will be going out in style. Records show he spent $47,880 of taxpayer funds — from his $5.1 million office budget — last October on a 2013 Toyota Highlander hybrid V6 Limited, the top-of-the-line model.
A spokesman said Markowitz needed the new wheels because his 2007 Highlander “was more than five years old and had 88,000 miles on it” and had “mechanical issues.”