"PENDING" Mayor de Blasio's Counsel Explains, When It's Legal to Solicit Donations 5/18/16

"It is absolutely permisable under the ethics rules, for a city official to request donations for people who have business before the city. The distinction here that is complex and is getting lost, is "PENDING" transactions. And the process that we had in place was to review, to understand if anyone had any pending transaction. That does not mean that folks who are in different parts of government who have no connection to the discussions about fundraising to have to preclude themselves from going through their regular government business with those entities."

"Each and every type of interest was different, meaning it's a different set of standards for something like Campaign For One New York, or pursuing affordable housing, and pursuing Pre K, then if you're talking about an electoral situation, no city official is in a position to solicit donations.