In The End, Sucking Up That Way To Ken Livingstone Was All For Naught

In case you were wondering why the State Department concerns itself with the ins and outs of a domestic transportation bill, now you know:

Mayor Bloomberg promised that diplomats would pay up, just like everyone else, under his congestion-pricing plan — but it looks like he won’t be able to keep that promise.

According to the fine print inside the deal that gives $354 million in federal transportation funds to support the anti-traffic scheme in the city, the State Department will be able to waive fees on foreign bigwigs whenever it wants.

The State Department has already taken a stand against congestion pricing. U.S. officials are arguing in London, which now has congestion pricing in place, that assessing such fees against foreign governments violates international law.

Aides to Bloomberg told The Post in April that the mayor will only waive fees for emergency vehicles, taxis, livery cabs and handicapped drivers.

. . .

The Committee to Keep NYC Congestion Tax Free, which opposes Mayor Bloomberg’s plan, said the last-minute clause was “infuriating.”

“It is galling that an Iranian diplomat could pay nothing while a senior citizen from Bayside would be charged to go for cancer treatment at a Manhattan hospital,” said spokesman Josh Bienstock.

The DOT said the potential loophole for foreign government workers was added at the request of the State Department.

The clause says the State Department can force the city to waive fees for “vehicles owned or operated by any foreign government or international organization.”

The State Department — currently locked in a bitter battle with the city of London over $3 million in unpaid congestion fees and fines American diplomats have racked up there — has argued that congestion pricing amounts to a tax. And under the Geneva Conventions, the agency maintains, foreign governments don’t pay taxes.

Backstory: Hizzoner The Cab Crusher.