It's lonely being Liu

From the Daily News:

As the federal probe into city Controller John Liu’s mayoral campaign widens, the embattled Democrat is so politically toxic that some of his bigwig union supporters are afraid to speak with him, sources said Thursday.

In recent days — as the investigation reached higher up the campaign hierarchy, ensnaring the 25-year-old treasurer for her role in an alleged fund-raising conspiracy — Liu quietly called around to labor leaders, seeking their backing of his plan to reform the city’s pension funds. But one union president said he was very nervous to be chatting with Liu — for fear the controller might be wearing a wire.

“He’s under federal investigation,” said the union president, who spoke under the condition of anonymity and speculated that Liu might be cooperating with authorities to bust others. “I know how this game works.”

The fund-raising firestorm has damaged Liu’s credibility and imperiled his plan to create a super-board to oversee the city’s five pension funds — a change the controller insists will more quickly deliver savings than Gov. Cuomo’s proposed raft of reforms for the public pension system.

“It’s totally dead,” a City Hall official said of Liu’s cost-saving push.