Metro

De Blasio picks Silver pal to help with city’s 2016 DNC bid

A week after he defended Sheldon Silver following the disgraced Assembly speaker’s arrest on corruption charges, Mayor Bill de Blasio on Thursday officially named a developer at the center of that scandal to help the city’s bid for the 2016 Democratic National Convention.

Big-time political donor Leonard Litwin was on Hizzoner’s 119-member list for the convention host committee, even though Litwin’s luxury apartment-rental company, Glenwood Management, is tied to Silver’s alleged dirty deals.

According to the feds, Silver steered two developers, including 100-year-old Litwin, toward the law firm Goldberg & Iryami, so Silver could rake in hundreds of thousands of dollars in referral fees.

Litwin agreed to hire the two-person firm to curry favor with the influential Silver, Manhattan US Attorney Preet Bharara has charged.

“And that is not surprising, because Silver is a powerful political leader in the state who holds sway over so many laws and policies near and dear to the developers’ bottom lines,” the prosecutor said.

Glenwood hasn’t been charged with any wrongdoing — but Litwin found out about the fee-sharing arrangement in January 2012, when the firm sent him a new retainer agreement, court papers say.

Litwin refused to sign the new agreement, although he later signed a “side letter” acknowledging the deal.

De Blasio’s decision to keep Litwin on his list could spell more trouble for the mayor’s bid to hold the convention in the city. It reportedly has already taken a hit among national Democrats because of the mayor’s ongoing feud with cops.

Last August, the Sergeants Benevolent Association took out full-page newspaper ads saying it could not “in good conscience” support his bid to bring the convention to the Barclays Center.

Litwin, who donated $4,950 to de Blasio’s mayoral campaign, was first named a member of de Blasio’s host committee last November.

He is known as one of the top political donors in New York state — and has skirted around caps on campaign contributions by funneling millions of dollars in donations through more than 20 limited-liability companies controlled by Glenwood.

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When asked about Litwin’s continued inclusion on the committee, City Hall officials would only say they were proud of all the people chosen.

In the press release, de Blasio also announced his 10 host committee co-chairs, including Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, Vogue editor Anna Wintour and tech giant Sean Parker, who recently gave $250,000 to the mayor’s nonprofit Campaign for One New York.

“As we head into the final weeks of the selection process, it’s more critical than ever that we show the DNC that New Yorkers are enthusiastic and united in our desire to bring the convention back to New York City,” the mayor said in the statement.

As of Thursday, de Blasio’s host committee had raised $20 million in pledges, with $6.5 million in cash on hand, according to the statement.