Former Mayor Bill DeBlasio will have to cough up a record $475,000 fine for using NYPD officers as security during his failed bid for the White House in 2019. As former Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino pointed out on 710 WOR’s Len Berman and Michael Riedel in the Morning program, DeBlasio’s mistake was not in using cops for his security, but rather in failing to submit records of and pay for the work.
“When I went to an event that was pure political,” Astorino told Berman and Riedel, “we would keep a log of that… calculate the time for the police officers… and we would reimburse the county of Westchester out of my political campaign account. So I did that every year for eight years… I thought it was not only the right thing to do, but it would also keep me out of trouble. Now, DeBlasio is never one to be the, I don’t know, hmm, ‘ethical’ guy all the time, so I think he thought he could get away with it.”
Astorino also offered his take on the dealings of another high-profile politician, Joe Biden. “I think they’ve got the goods and the banking records. I mean, it’s getting clear that (US Representative James) Comer is sniffing around and now is saying, apparently, that they have about $30 million worth that have gone to the Biden family. So, at some point they’re going to have to come out with all of the goods and show the American public, and if they don’t, then not only do they look stupid, but, you know, they prop up Biden.”
Photo Credit: Getty Images