Bloomberg aide probed by Manhattan DA

From the NY Post:

A top campaign adviser to Mayor Bloomberg -- who won't explain how he spent $750,000 of the mayor's money -- is now the target of a grand-jury probe.

Sources said last night that Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance Jr. is summoning witnesses before a panel examining what John Haggerty Jr. did with cash funneled through the state Independence Party.

As The Post first reported, Haggerty set up a mysterious company -- Special Election Operations LLC -- to conduct a supposed poll-watching operation on Election Day 2009.

But the firm didn't register with the Secretary of State's Office until Dec. 3, a month after the election.

Officials said Haggerty hired 200 to 300 poll watchers at $500 apiece, producing a bill far short of $750,000.

Deputy Mayor Howard Wolfson, the campaign's communications director, said Haggerty wasn't authorized to keep any leftovers.

Although Haggerty was listed as a "volunteer," sources said he was regularly seen at Bloomberg's Midtown campaign headquarters.

Haggerty's $750,000 came by way of the Independence Party, which got $1.2 million from the mayor a few days before Election Day.

Independence Party chairman Frank McKay said party officials would cooperate in the probe.