How convenient that just when city government is deluged with more lobbying by special interests than ever recorded . . .
Just when the mayor asks his city to trust him that his second term will be free of the rotten influences that soiled his first . . .
. . . and just when eight City Council members each ask to wield the power of the speakership, vital facts about influence-peddling the Council is legally required to share remain under wraps.
Surely the powers that be have anything to hide from the people of New York City about the paid favor-seekers they consort with. Surely not.
The local law in question was passed way back in 2013, under the leadership of the then-Council Speaker Christine Quinn, following the recommendation of a joint mayoral-Council Lobbying Commission.
It is plenty clear.
It required, no later than Dec. 17, 2015, the City Clerk — he’s an employee of the Council — to create a modern, searchable online database enabling anyone to instantly figure out which real estate developers, labor unions, immigrant advocates and on and on (more than 1,800 interest groups in all last year, a record) are hiring which lobbying firms to wheedle which Council members and city officials to pass or block which bills.
Want to get a full picture of which industries lobbied City Hall for a leg up in this year’s $85 billion city budget?
Which groups whispered in which Council members’ ears to drive New York City’s most prolific legislative session ever?
Who’s looking to fly tourist helicopters or curb Uber or park tour buses on more corners?
Or maybe which lobbyists have gotten the most face time with each of the leading contenders to take over as Council speaker next session?
No dice. Even though City Clerk Michael McSweeney dutifully collects all the information needed to answer inquiries like these, he has so far refused to make it available for search, law be damned. Which forces the public to rely on a primitive and incomplete old system.
Going on two full years out of compliance, city government keeps this important information shielded at an especially dangerous time.
As the Daily News reported in March, the sheer volume of lobbying has surged to unprecedented levels — reaching an astounding $95 million in work billed in 2016, a 54% increase since de Blasio and Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito took office.
She’ll soon walk out the door thanks to term limits, leaving de Blasio to be held to account.
He’s the one who by the skin of his teeth survived a federal investigation into his suitors . Whose team after months and months of stalling says that the search system will arrive . . . soon.
Each passing day city officials flout their legal duty reinforces one conclusion: Someone must be hiding something.
