A developer paid an ethically tarred City Hall lobbyist — and the law firm that defended Mayor Bill de Blasio against pay-to-play allegations — to press the administration for permission to expand a 10-story office tower in the East Village, The Post has learned. The plan was approved in June — although the $200,000 the developer paid to de Blasio lobbyist James Capalino and the law firm Kramer Levin Naftalis and Frankel LLP — were not reported in the press. Capalino paid a $40,000 settlement to a state ethics watchdog in 2018 for improper contributions to de Blasio’s since-shuttered Campaign for One New York. Meanwhile, the mayor still owes Kramer Levin $300,000 for defending him against pay-to-play allegations. Local resident Carolyn Ratcliffe called the process “very suspect.”“I think that if de Blasio owes the law firm $300,000 that it’s sort of like a very smelly mackerel.

Source: The Local January 14, 2020 23:20 UTC