Bloomberg Campaign Finance Fraud Probe On Hold

You have to wonder about the machinations behind this deal:

The Campaign Finance Board is holding off its review into whether Mayor Bloomberg's re-election campaign violated disclosure rules on the orders of the Manhattan DA's Office, sources told The Post.

The sources said the DA is worried that any CFB findings might interfere with the criminal case against John Haggerty Jr., the Republican operative charged with swiping most of the $1.2 million that the mayor channeled through the state Independence Party last year for an Election Day ballot-security operation.

A veteran election lawyer said that it was a violation of both state election law and CFB regulations, since the chief beneficiary of the donation was the mayor's campaign and not the Independence Party, which was supposed to keep only $100,000.

Why the mayor went to such lengths to hide the Haggerty/Independence Party connection remains a mystery.

"Why didn't he just use the campaign to pay Haggerty directly?" wondered a political consultant. "He's spending $100 million to get re-elected. What's another $1 mil?"

If the CFB decides the mayor was trying to hide spending that benefited him directly, he could face a significant fine.

Oral arguments in Haggerty's case are being heard tomorrow.

I wrote when Haggerty was first arrested that there was more to this story than what has been so far revealed.

Unfortunately, with the DA's office putting the kibbosh on a probe of Bloomberg's campaign financing, we may never know all the details or learn why the Bloomberg campaign decided to break the law by laundering money through the Independence Party.