Bill de Blasio's Failed 2020 Presidential Bid Comes Back to Haunt Him
Former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has to pay more than $300,000 for breaking the rules when he had his New York Police Department security detail tag along when de Blasio staged a short-lived campaign for the 2020 Democratic nomination for president.
New York City’s Conflicts of Interest Board has said there were more than 30 occasions when de Blasio misused his city-funded security detail, according to WNBC-TV.
The board said that de Blasio was liable for the travel costs of the officers.
The board and former mayor had been haggling over a settlement for over two years.
De Blasio has already paid $100,000 of his penalty.
Over the next four years, he will pay the balance of the $329,794.20 that the board ruled he owed.
The board additionally levied a $10,000 fine on the former mayor.
De Blasio posted an apology on social media.
“Today I settled an outstanding case with the NYC COIB. I acknowledge that I made a mistake, and I deeply regret it. Now it’s time to move forward,” he wrote on X.
Today I settled an outstanding case with the NYC COIB. I acknowledge that I made a mistake, and I deeply regret it. Now it’s time to move forward.
— Bill de Blasio (@BilldeBlasio) May 14, 2025
The New York Post noted that de Blasio never topped 1 percent support in the polls during the four months of 2019 when he tried to position himself as a candidate for the White House.
The charges that de Blasio must repay include, for example, attendance at a Boston Red Sox game in Los Angeles.
“This settlement brings to a successful conclusion the first-ever enforcement action brought by the Board against a Mayor of the City of New York,” the board noted in a news release.
If de Blasio does not make his scheduled payments, he faces a penalty that would total $475,000.
An editorial in the Daily News said de Blasio “got off too easy, far too easy,” criticizing the reduction in the fine the board proposed to levy against the former mayor.
“[T]he $155,000 fine has been reduced to just $10,000 because of the settlement with COIB made public yesterday,” the editorial said.
“So this guy who used his position as mayor to wrongly take from the taxpayers despite being told explicitly not to, has had his fine reduced by $145,000,” the editorial lamented.
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