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POL'S $WITCHEROO

By VINCENT MORRIS

February 2, 2005 -- Rep. Anthony Weiner convinced scores of contributors to take back their checks to his congressional campaign and write new ones for his mayoral race, according to filings made public yesterday.

Records show Weiner voided or returned checks worth 376,857�whichlaterturnedupaspartofhis376,857 � which later turned up as part of his 376,857�whichlaterturnedupaspartofhis1,501,025 war chest for a City Hall run. The trade-ins are entirely legal.

In fact, Weiner spokesman Anson Kaye said it was the city Campaign Finance Board that recommended the unusual procedure.

Weiner found himself scrambling after the City Council threatened to block transfers of federal campaign funds into city campaign accounts, which was precisely what Weiner was planning to jump-start his late candidacy. The council didn't act as the issued festered late last year.

But by that time, Weiner had already pleaded with his donors to re-issue checks so there'd be no question of their legality under the city's campaign finance system.

A federal law enacted in mid-December made the entire matter moot: it specifically allowed the type of transfer Weiner was envisioning. So on Dec. 14, he moved 225,645fromhiscongressionalcampaigntohismayoralrace.Bysecuringsuchhugechunksofcampaigncashwithouttheusualexpensivefund−raisingdrives,Weinerwasabletokeephisexpensesdownto225,645 from his congressional campaign to his mayoral race. By securing such huge chunks of campaign cash without the usual expensive fund-raising drives, Weiner was able to keep his expenses down to 225,645fromhiscongressionalcampaigntohismayoralrace.Bysecuringsuchhugechunksofcampaigncashwithouttheusualexpensivefund−raisingdrives,Weinerwasabletokeephisexpensesdownto121,115, about 8 percent of what he's raised as of Jan. 11.

By comparison, rival Fernando Ferrer spent 373,399ofhis373,399 of his 373,399ofhis2,532,185 war chest, about 15 percent. City Council Speaker Gifford Miller shelled out 931,378,orabout22percentofthe931,378, or about 22 percent of the 931,378,orabout22percentofthe4,247,689 he collected.

Manhattan Borough President C. Virginia Fields tore through 576,426inexpenses,morethanhalfthe576,426 in expenses, more than half the 576,426inexpenses,morethanhalfthe1,122,096 she raised.

In other filings:

* Mayor Bloomberg sent $2,000 to Rep. Vito Fossella (R-S.I.) on Nov. 23. Fossella briefly toyed with the idea of challenging Bloomberg last year.

* Solutions America, Rudy Giuliani's political committee, took in 108,660inthelastsixmonths,mostlyfrom108,660 in the last six months, mostly from 108,660inthelastsixmonths,mostlyfrom5,000 contributions by longtime Giuliani loyalists such as Donald Trump. The PAC now has $194,551.

* Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's political committee, Hill PAC, had just 83,000inthebankaftercollectingmorethan83,000 in the bank after collecting more than 83,000inthebankaftercollectingmorethan1.3 million last year. Rep. Greg Meeks (D-Queens), who's trying to become a vice chairman of the Democratic National Committee, sent in $5,000.