Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance Jr. is demanding that a top Republican operative spend time behind bars as part of a plea deal to avoid indictment for allegedly swiping $750,000 of Mayor Bloomberg's campaign funds, The Post has learned. "It's make a deal or be indicted," said one source. "The DA is insisting on jail time."
The DA began investigating John Haggerty after The Post unmasked him in January as the man behind a mysterious Election Day poll-watching operation funded by the mayor through a $1.2 million personal contribution to the state Independence Party last year.
Just about everything about the operation was odd.
Haggerty set up a firm to receive the $750,000 but didn't register it with the secretary of state until Dec. 3, a month after the election. Its mailing address was that of an Albany consulting firm run by aides to former Gov. George Pataki, who later said they had no other role in its formation.
Most tellingly, Haggerty refused to say what he did with the money after The Post began raising questions.
Officials now believe he stole virtually the entire sum.
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