excerpt, this sort of thing is why I remained registered as an Independent when moving to NY in 1983. It's not gone away. The Democratic party remains a corrupt machine and this especially affects what happens in NYC

Lt. Gov. Brian A. Benjamin of New York, the state’s second-in-command to Gov. Kathy Hochul, surrendered early Tuesday morning to face a federal indictment charging him with bribery, fraud and falsification of records in connection with a scheme to funnel illegal donations to a previous campaign.

The five-count indictment accused Mr. Benjamin of conspiring to direct state funds to a Harlem real estate investor in exchange for orchestrating thousands of dollars in illegal campaign contributions to Mr. Benjamin’s unsuccessful 2021 campaign for New York City comptroller.

“In so doing, Benjamin abused his authority as a New York State senator, engaging in a bribery scheme using public funds for his own corrupt purposes,” prosecutors charged in the indictment. The investor was arrested on federal charges in November.

The indictment — the result of an investigation by the F.B.I., U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York and the city’s Department of Investigation — also charged that Mr. Benjamin subsequently “engaged in a series of lies and deceptions to cover up the scheme,” including falsifying campaign donation forms, misleading New York City authorities and giving false information as part of a background check to become lieutenant governor last year [....]

If you ever wonder why Bloomberg and Giuliani were elected and re-elected mayor of a city with heavily Democratic party registration, I think this is why. Voters figured someone in charge who is not part of the machine can at least make them lay low.

Edit to add: Here in NY, it's not even a case of "both sides do it", it's definitely a case of the Democrats overwhelmingly doing it. To the point where to be a avid Democratic partisan is to be suspect of partaking of graft in some way at the very least.

[....]THE CITY first brought the suspicious donations into public view in January 2021, after campaign finance filings from Benjamin’s campaign for New York City comptroller showed stacks of money orders sent to the campaign via a Harlem philanthropist, Gerald Migdol — including in the names of multiple people who said they did not give.

One was Midgol’s 2-year-old grandson, THE CITY found. Migdol was indicted late last year in connection with the scheme, which prosecutors say aimed to extract public dollars from New York City’s campaign finance matching funds program by booking eligible contributions [....]

Edit to add, link to Migdol Family Foundation picture page

Who we support. And who supports us.  The Migdol Organization and family have long supported progressive democrats both locally and nationally