Mike's Mystery Money

While the Daily News continues its Code of Omertà when it comes to our sainted mayor, it might be of interest to point out that the editorialists over at 33rd Street have yet to weigh in on Bloomberg's mysterious $1.2 million "investment" in the Independance Party's putative GOTV effort.

As the Post wrote yesterday; "Mayor Bloomberg thinks there’s nothing strange about the $1.2 million he sent to the state Independence Party just days before last November’s election — most of which was pumped straight into a shady corporate front. “These are monies used to hire poll watchers,” the mayor said. “We did it through the Republican Party two previous times, and this time I was an independent, so I thought using the Independence Party made some sense.”

But as the Post goes on to point out: "Well, maybe — but there are still a few small items Hizzoner would do well to clear up. To wit:

* Why was the firm that supposedly paid the poll watchers — an outfit called Special Election Operations — incorporated a month after the election was over?"...

* Why did the Bloomberg campaign and the Independence Party refuse for six days to identify the folks in charge of SEO?...

* Where did the money go? Three-quarters of a million bucks is a lot of cash for the 200 to 300 poll workers the campaign says it hired — even if, as it insists, other expenses were also covered. Indeed, The Post’s David Seifman reports that in 2005, Mike spent a mere $200,000, through the GOP, for that purpose."

All of which serves to underscore, as a single small example, just how much the mayor's money has contributed to the corruption of the democratic process. Reverend Flake and his crew deserve the scrutiny that the News has given them; but it is beginning to look as if there is one sacred cow that the Daily News shochets will simply refuse to slaughter