The question of NYC2012‘s relationship to this administration has been hovering over the Mayor for a little while now, in the form of our article on the subject, WNYC’s reporting, and a Village Voice story.
Tomorrow, Anthony Weiner will insert the subject into the mayor’s race with a speech at Columbia University. According to the advisory, he’ll be demanding the city “shut ‘secret backdoors’ to City Hall influence,” and calling for mandatory public disclosure of donors to NYC2012.
As Anthony appears to be pointing out, the pressure some feel to give to NYC2012 is the high-rent equivalent of the nickel-and-dime pay-to-play stuff that has tarnished administrations from Koch’s to Pataki’s.
In part, the mayor is a victim of his own fundraising purity here. He does have a point when he argues that he doesn’t owe donors anything. But the mayor’s billions have also put him in a world of charity boards and fundraising on a scale that could buy and sell most political campaigns many times over. And purity of motive seems quite a bit to assume of donors in either arena.
