Manhattan DA Vance Unintimidated by Bloomberg

Cyrus Vance, the Manhattan District Attorney, is starting to establish himself as the independent legal officer we hoped he'd be. He has demonstrated a willingness to investigate the $1 million gift that Mayor Bloomberg made to the Independence Party in 2009 as part of Bloomberg's campaign for a third term as Mayor of New York City.

Bloomberg's Missing Million Dollars

As Mayor Bloomberg sought the endorsement of the Independence Party in 2009, he gave the party a $1 million gift. Three quarters of the Bloomberg gift went to pay a former Bloomberg advisor to run election day operations for the Independence Party. $750,000 for one day?

As one might expect, the payment brought scrutiny. But, the Independence Party has been unable to explain what happen to the Bloomberg gift. We expressed our frustration with the lack of answers in February of this year, and we are still awaiting answers.

Cy Vance Unintimidated

Manhattan's District Attorney has launched an investigation and empanelled a grand jury to attempt to determine what happened to the missing $750,000 that Bloomberg contributed to the Independence Party in 2009.

The Independence Party has been less than forthcoming. They have thus far responded to only 4 of the 23 items requested by the Manhattan District Attorney.

The Independence Party likely believed that their association with Mayor Bloomberg would make them immune from investigation. The Mayor has been able to avoid prosecution for the killing of firefighters in a building near the site of the former World Trade Towers. He has been able to engage in long periods of racial discrimination in hiring within the fire department and harass Black and Latino New Yorkers through record numbers of stop-and-frisk incidents without being held accountable. But, Cyrus Vance is not an ordinary prosecutor. He is not intimidated by Mayor Bloomberg, and he is already living up to the promises he made when he sought the Manhattan District Attorney position in 2009. We endorsed his candidacy, and we are happy to see him moving forward without fear.