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Comptroller Liu's Political Future Is Out Of Control
By
Jen Chung
Published Nov 17, 2011
Modified Nov 17, 2011
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By
Jen Chung
Published Nov 17, 2011
Modified Nov 17, 2011
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NYC Comptroller John Liu's hopes of running for mayor in 2013 are being thrown into question as the federal authorities' investigation into his campaign fundraising has resulted in the arrest of one of his fund raisers on fraud charges. Liu said, "I am saddened by what I read today. If it is true, then the conduct was clearly wrong and my campaign was not told the truth."
Xing Wu "Oliver" Pan, who was released on $100,000 bail, was accused by the feds of accepting a $16,000 donation, which is higher than the allowed $4,950, from a FBI undercover. Pan allegedly sought to mask the large donation through straw donors. When the NY Times looked at Liu's campaign donors, they found instances of companies' employees donating money to Liu, but the companies and employees had no idea of the donations (for instance, the campaign stated that 11 employees from one company donated money, but the company only has three employee). Liu's lawyer said that Pan was not working with Liu's approval, telling the Times, "John Liu is not the first person in public life to have someone try to ingratiate himself by violating the campaign finance laws. Today’s arrest is a sad story, but there is no suggestion that Mr. Liu or anyone on his campaign staff did anything wrong."
Still, some think this might be the end of Liu's hopes of being the city's first Asian mayor; political consultant Hank Sheinkopf told the Daily News, "It’s not likely he’ll be elected mayor in [2013] and not likely that voters will reelect him to be controller, the city’s chief auditor. The person who’s supposed to protect the city from fraud can’t be under investigation for fraud."
And the Post, which has a history of being critical of Liu and put his scandal on its front page ("The Biggest Liu-ser"), has an editorial: "So [Liu]’s either too dumb to keep track of a few thousand dollars on his own books, in which case he isn’t qualified to be comptroller — or he’s lying, and thus too crooked to hold any city office."
Tagged
campaign finance
Election 2013
federal probe
fraud
fundraising
john liu
oliver pan
straw donor
xing wu pan
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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