The New York Post has done it again. The paper best-known for its hilarious front-page headlines (the most famous of which being “Headless Body in Topless Bar”) published an “obituary” to commemorate New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s exit from the Democratic primary.
“Obituary: Bill de Blasio’s presidential campaign, May 15, 2019-Sept. 20, 2019, dead of ego-induced psychosis,” the fake obituary reads. It continues:
Neighbors said the body had been in rigor mortis for some time.
It died doing what it loves best – being as far away from New York City as possible.
It was surrounded in the end by friends, MSNBC hosts. It’s in a better place now – a Park Slope gym.
Whether it was in the empty churches of South Carolina, the sun-kissed empty deserts of Nevada or begging someone, anyone, to talk to de Blasio at the Iowa State Fair, the campaign always gave 100% – and always polled at 1%.
“Can’t” was never part of its vocabulary. Neither was “won’t,” “please stop,” or “this is a dumb idea.”
The campaign is survived by hotel industry officials who expect favors from City Hall. And 8 million suffering New Yorkers.
In lieu of flowers, de Blasio asks for donations to his slush fund.
De Blasio announced he was abandoning his bid for the Democratic nomination Friday Morning on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”
“Getting out there, being able to hear people’s concerns, address them with new ideas, has been an extraordinary experience,” de Blasio told the hosts. “But I have to tell you, at the same time, I feel like I’ve contributed all I can to this primary election and it’s clearly not my time so I’m going to end my presidential campaign.”
De Blasio consistently polled below 1%. His final polling average, according to RealClear Politics, was 0.2%, above only Miramar, Florida, Mayor Wayne Messam, The Daily Wire previously reported.
The Post “obituary” highlights some of the lowlights of de Blasio’s campaign. De Blasio has been regularly criticized for decrying climate change while taking SUVs across town nearly every day so that he can use a Park Slope gym. As for the hotel-industry favors, a state watchdog agency revealed the day before de Blasio exited the race that three developers settled after being accused of making illegal gifts to de Blasio. The City reported that the developers wrote “five-figure checks to his now-defunct charity, the Campaign for One New York.”
De Blasio also agreed to require hotel developers to seek a special permit after a major industry union announced its support for his presidential campaign, reported the New York Daily News.
De Blasio’s campaign may be over, but investigations into his campaign finances are not. Politico reported Friday that the campaign received a letter from the Federal Election Commission detailing issues with his fundraising practices:
In a July public filing, the de Blasio camp noted a $52,852 debt owed to the NY Fairness PAC, a state political action committee controlled by the mayor. The campaign had argued that this was a permissible loan from one organization to another. But the FEC’s senior campaign finance analyst, Robin Kelly, wrote this week that the practice is not allowed by campaign finance rules.
Such transfers are capped at $5,000 per election cycle, Kelly’s letter said, meaning the campaign took more than ten times the permissible amount from the state PAC and spent it on travel and advertising. Kelly mandated that the campaign refile an amended report by late October that corrects the transfer, and noted that an audit of the campaign may follow.
The campaign repaid the loan Thursday, the day it received the FEC’s letter, spokesperson Jaclyn Rothenberg said.
Politico further reported that “donors who had already given the max to de Blasio’s presidential campaign were also donating to both of his PACs. And PAC money was being shifted back into the presidential warchest.”