Bronx Assemblyman and congressional candidate Michael Blake boasted of being an “honorary co-chair” of a national youth nonprofit group — while at the same time getting paid handsomely by the same outfit, critics charge.
Blake is listed as honorary co-chair of the New Leaders Council — alongside presidential candidate Julian Castro and U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine — while raking in tens of thousands of dollars for annual consulting work, records show.
In his Twitter bio, and other online descriptions, Blake lists the word “honorary” over and over again, with no mention that he was also a paid “consultant” and senior adviser — giving the impression that he was an unpaid volunteer and that his role with the group was solely an altruistic endeavor.
In March 2018 Blake invited a cohort of NLC members onto the floor of the state Assembly in Albany, honoring them with a proclamation and a framed certificate and referring to himself as “NLC co-chair.”
But in three different 2019 financial disclosure reports, Blake listed getting conflicting amounts of compensation from NLC, a progressive group that provides leadership training for youth in business and government.
In his race for city public advocate earlier this year, Blake reported getting paid between $60,000 and $99,999.99 as a NLC “consultant” as well as serving as national honorary co-chair, according to his filing with Conflicts of Interest Board.
He also reported getting paid between $12,000 to $72,000 by NLC in his financial statement provided to the feds for his congressional race, and said that “project concluded in Feb. 2019.”
And he reported getting between $20,000 to $50,000 in income on his 2019 state Assembly financial statement filed with the Joint Commission on Public Ethics.
He had been paid by the group going back to 2016.
A Post review found that Blake was the only honorary co-chair to be compensated by the group.