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.
Blake is being deceptive, says Doug Sauer, CEO of the New York Council of Nonprofits, a charity watchdog group.
“It’s not transparent, and the word honorary conveys a volunteer position. That is the custom, that is the norm,” Sauer said.
“He obviously didn’t present to the public that he’s a paid consultant…It’s not honorary to be paid, it’s like the organization is saying, `we’re going to honor you by paying you, and by the way don’t tell anybody. It doesn’t jive.”
Former NLC President Mark Riddle confirmed to The Post Blake was the only paid “honorary” member, and the group contracted with him for years for speaking gigs and other outreach for the group.
“He was our most requested speaker for any number of years. He was doing more than the other co-chairs and he needed to be compensated. It just made sense,” said Riddle, who stepped down recently.
Blake is one of as many as nine candidates vying to succeed retiring Rep. Jose Serrano in the 15th congressional covering the south Bronx. Among the other leading contenders include Councilman Ritchie Torres and Councilman and Rev. Ruben Diaz Sr.
Blake said he acted appropriately and defended the compensation from NLC.
“In addition to my current designation as an honorary co-chair, I am pleased of the work I did to help further NLC’s outreach strategies as a Senior Advisor and Consultant, which ended at the start of my run for Public Advocate earlier this year,” Blake said in a statement.
“Both the NLC and I were keenly aware of and followed all ethical guidelines throughout our engagement. Additionally, all required New York State Assembly Ethics approvals were obtained and rules were followed.”