Former Democratic mayoral candidate Fernando Ferrer has been sanctioned by the city’s Campaign Finance Board for violations during his run against Mayor Bloomberg in 2005.
The board says Ferrer’s campaign had several violations, including accepting more than 10 over-the-limit donations — one of $10,000 from a union. A campaign-finance spokesman said that did not equal a cash donation from the union but amounted to work it did directly for Ferrer’s campaign.
Ferrer was penalized $12,500. But the Campaign Finance Board also ruled that the city still owed him public matching funds for outstanding campaign expenses. So the fine was deducted from the money owed, and Ferrer was paid $463,724.
Bloomberg, a billionaire who spent $85 million on his re-election campaign, beat Ferrer by a landslide.
The 2005 mayoral run was the second by Ferrer, the former Bronx borough president who lost a Democratic primary run-off to Mark Green in 2001.