Metro

California politicians busted for spending taxpayer money on New York entertainment

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As if New York doesn’t have enough crooked politicians of its own . . .

The bright lights of Broadway beckoned corrupt California officials to cross the continent and spend taxpayer money on nights at theaters, baseball games and pricey dinners at the Big Apple’s finest bistros, authorities charged yesterday.

The four were from Irwindale, a bustling metropolis of just over 1,400 people where the main entertainment is watching cars at the local speedway.

The bureaucrats and politicians did have enough taste to pass on Los Angeles, just 20 miles away, for the allure of the world’s greatest city.

They were busted yesterday for misappropriating public funds to finance the trips, which took place between 2001 and 2005.

They claimed they had to come to New York to pitch for a higher municipal-bond rating, and they did manage to squeeze in some time on Wall Street when they weren’t hanging out in Times Square.

They lived high on the New York hog, staying in five-star hotels, guzzling $250 bottles of wine and spending evenings on Broadway watching “Mamma Mia” and “Phantom of the Opera,” authorities said.

“Mostly they partied quite a bit,” Los Angeles Deputy DA Nipa Cook said.

“They spent money on Mets and Yankee games and Broadway shows.”

Councilman Mark Breceda, retired City Manager Steve Blancarte and retired finance director Abe De Dios are charged with five felony counts. Former Councilwoman Rosemary Ramirez faces one count.

Prosecutors said the officials used public money to pay for $250 Yankee tickets; $260 tickets to “Follies” on Broadway and $1,027 for brunch at The River Café.

On a trip in 2003, they had only eight hours of scheduled meetings, yet they spent six nights at the lavish Ritz-Carlton, checking in on a Saturday night, even though no business meetings were scheduled for Sunday.

They also saw a matinee of “Jackie Mason’s Laughing Room Only” followed by dinner at Atelier on Central Park South.

Former Councilwoman Rosemary Gutierrez, who came along on one of the trips but was not charged with a crime, justified their actions by saying New York is an expensive place to do business.

“It’s not like we were meeting in Irwindale or in the state of California,” she told reporters. “It was New York.”

The financially challenged California town famously lost $10 million on a botched bid to get the NFL’s then-LA Raiders to relocate there.

It hoped to build a stadium in 1987 on a former rock quarry, but lost its deposit when owner Al Davis opted to return his team to Oakland.

Additional reporting by David K. Li

leonard.greene@nypost.com