They were too eager to see Bill de Blasio elected mayor.
The Mayor-elect’s campaign had to refund nearly a quarter of a million dollars just before and after Election Day to more than 150 deep-pocketed donors who exceeded the city’s contribution limit of $4,950 per election, new campaign finance reports show.
The amount refunded came to $227,000.
Several of the serial check-writers who gave too much had links to the yellow taxi industry, which has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for de Blasio.
The Mayor-elect allied himself with the yellow cab industry in its opposition to Mayor Bloomberg’s creation of competition with new green cabs authorized to pick up passengers in northern Manhattan and the outer boroughs.
Theodore Strauel, owner of one of those companies, Metro Systems, was a repeat giver.
First Strauel gave de Blasio $1,000 in 2010, then another $1,000 in February 2011, then two more checks for $4,950 and $2,450 on Dec. 5, 2011.
That put him at $9,400 — way over the limit — and in June 2012 de Blasio returned enough of that to bring Strauel back to the allowed $4,950.
But Strauel was just warming up. A month later he sent over another $1,500. A few months later, de Blasio sent the check back. On Oct. 1, Strauel struck again, writing another check for $4,950.
On Oct. 29, days before the election, de Blasio returned that money, too. Strauel did not return calls seeking comment.
