#Still hope de Blasio will face justice for his first-term corruption

Mayor Bill de Blasio may yet pay a price for his first-term corruption.

The state Joint Commission on Public Ethics last week got the green light to further probe de Blasio’s pay-to-play operation known as the Campaign for One New York. Specifically, a judge said JCOPE could indeed subpoena communications between Broadway Stages, the mayor, CONY and lobbyist James Capalino.

Broadway Stages operates film and TV studios in Brooklyn and Queens. While employing Capalino to lobby City Hall on its behalf, it gave $60,000 to CONY.

Back in 2018, Capalino reached a $40,000 settlement with JCOPE over his own donations to CONY, albeit with no admission of wrongdoing. But it’s established fact that the clients he got to give to CONY were then invited to meet personally with the mayor in what the lobbyist termed a “kitchen cabinet.” It’s also established that the mayor pushed city agencies to heed requests from CONY donors.

No one so far has been able to quite prove any quid quo pros, but JCOPE plainly still hopes to find that proof in the case of Broadway Stages. But the company contested JCOPE’s subpoena last year on the grounds that the ethics watchdog only has jurisdiction over politicians — not those who might be doing the bribing.

Now that the courts have let JCOPE proceed, there’s at least a chance de Blasio will finally face justice before he leaves office on Dec. 31, 2021.