He just can’t help himself.
Mayor Bill de Blasio will keep the two loosely regulated political accounts he leaned on to help his failed cash-strapped presidential campaign pay bills, aides admitted Friday — as federal authorities demanded an explanation for the accounting maneuvers.
De Blasio billed nearly $53,000 in campaign expenses — including rent, advertising and plane tickets — to a state account he controls, NY Fairness PAC, in a series of transactions highlighted by The Post in July.
But Hizzoner’s presidential campaign reported the gifts from the state account as a debt, allowing it to effectively allowing it circumvent strict limits on federal political campaigns — earning the ire of good government activists and a letter demanding answers from the Federal Election Commission.
“[Y]our report discloses a debt owed to NY Fairness PAC totaling $52,851.89 for travel expenses, digital advertising and rent,” the FEC wrote its letter to de Blasio’s campaign.
“The term ‘contribution’,” the letter tartly adds, “includes any gift, subscription, loan, advance, or deposit of money or anything of value made by any person for the purpose of influencing any election for federal office.”
Additionally, the FEC confirmed to The Post it is treating de Blasio’s state account and his federal political account — which was the nearly identical name, Fairness PAC — as a single entity.
That means de Blasio would only be able to accept $5,000 in support from both.
De Blasio’s campaign has until October 24 to provide the FEC with answers.
The letter was dated Thursday but not publicly posted until Friday, the day de Blasio announced he was ending his White House run.
Collectively, the two PACs provided de Blasio’s campaign with more than $170,000 in aid, though some of the money was later reimbursed, according to press accountings.
The de Blasio political operation declined to comment on the FEC letter.
De Blasio’s federal account is also the subject of a complaint to the FEC, following reporting by The City and Politico New York.
NY Fairness was one of two accounts that de Blasio controls, which he tapped to help pay for a string of campaign-related expenses.
The second one — a federal account that carries a nearly identical name, Fairness PAC — is also the subject of a complaint to the FEC, following reporting by The City and Politico New York.
Good government experts blasted de Blasio for leaning on the accounts, saying the move amounted to an accounting maneuver that allowed his struggling campaign to circumvent donor limits.
But the growing campaign finance scandal apparently was not enough to convince de Blasio to close the accounts down, despite ending his presidential campaign.
His aides disclosed Friday that the two campaign accounts would remain open and would be run by the manager of his now-defunct White House bid, Jon Paul Lupo, a longtime City Hall staffer.
“Both of his eyes are on the job,” Lupo said. “We’ve talked about what happened in New York City as part of the campaign.
Good government groups assailed the move.
“The Mayor seems hell-bent on providing donors with a backdoor to his administration, repeatedly undermining his own moral authority as the leader of this city,” said Susan Lerner, executive director of government watchdog group Common Cause’s New York chapter.
De Blasio’s mayoralty has been beset with ethics scandals.
In 2017, he narrowly avoided indictment by state and federal prosecutors for trading access to City Hall for donations made to a nonprofit controlled by his aides, the Campaign for One New York, which has since been closed.
CONY continues to dog de Blasio.
The state’s Joint Commission on Public Ethics hit three companies with $65,000 in fines on Thursday for their past contributions to the nonprofit.