The common voter's choice prefers deep-pocketed donors

From the Daily News:

Bill de Blasio is launching a fund-raising campaign to help pay for his “transition and inauguration” — and the biggest fund-raisers will get private face time with the mayor-elect at a secret location.

The centerpiece of the fund-raising effort is a $4,500-a-plate “Holiday Dinner Party” hosted by de Blasio Tuesday night, according to a solicitation sent to de Blasio supporters and obtained by the Daily News.

Supporters who sell $50,000 in tickets will be named a “chair” of the event; those who sell $25,000 will be a “host.”

In exchange, chairs will be entitled to a “private reception” with the soon-to-be-mayor and hosts will enjoy an “individual dinner reception,” according to the solicitation. The invite says the location will be revealed just before the event.

The $4,500 ticket price represents the maximum that an individual can give to de Blasio’s transition and inauguration effort under city law.

A new fund-raising drive by Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio will grant people who raise $50,000 for his transition and inauguration private audiences with him. As a candidate, de Blasio worried about “the rich and powerful having their voices heard above the rest of us because of weak laws and loopholes that allow money to permeate our elections.”

The use of third parties to sell tickets to a fund-raiser, a process called “bundling,” is considered by watchdogs as a legal way for people to get around contribution limits on individual donors.

As a candidate, de Blasio worried about “the rich and powerful having their voices heard above the rest of us because of weak laws and loopholes that allow money to permeate our elections.”

Asked how giving private audiences to people raising $50,000 squared with his campaign concerns, spokeswoman Lis Smith said, “Mayor-elect de Blasio is determined to attack New York’s inequality and affordability crises in City Hall and he is committed to finally ending the ‘tale of two cities’ in New York.”