Evan Vitale Consulting: Melissa Mark-Viverito fined over consulting payments connected to re-election

Friday, October 9, 2015

Melissa Mark-Viverito fined over consulting payments connected to re-election – New York Post

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Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito was whacked by the city’s Campaign Finance Board Thursday after her 2013 campaign committee failed to show $3,000 in consulting payments were connected to her re-election efforts.

The board fined her campaign $750 for a payment made to consultant Brendan Kelly on Nov. 16, 2013 — nearly two weeks after the general election that put Mark-Viverito back into her East Harlem/Bronx council seat.

At the time, Kelly was a lead strategist on Mark-Viverito’s bid to become council speaker — a race she won in 2014 with Mayor de Blasio’s backing.

Kelly had also been the campaign manager on her successful re-election bid.

“The campaign reported a $3,000 expenditure . . . with the purpose code ‘consulting,’ and has failed to demonstrate that this was a permissible post-election expenditure,” the board wrote in its summary.

While the board didn’t prove that the payment was connected to the speaker’s race, it fined her because campaign funds can’t be used for anything outside of the election itself.

A Mark-Viverito campaign spokesman insisted the payments were aboveboard despite the fine.

“All speakership race expenditures after the general election were paid for by Viverito NY, consistent with campaign finance law and CFB guidance,” the spokesman said.

The lefty leader’s campaign for speaker has also been probed for violating city rules by accepting free consulting work from a lobbyist.

The Conflicts of Interest Board probe, which was reported earlier this year, stems from a complaint made over forbidden pro-bono work Mark-Viverito received in late 2013 from The Advance Group.

An official at the Conflicts of Interest Board declined to comment on the status of the case.

The Campaign Finance Board also dinged the speaker’s campaign on a lesser violation of accepting donations from an unregistered political action committee.

That $100 fine stemmed from a $50 donation in 2011 from the group Educational Justice PAC.

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