New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said Tuesday that a state probe of financing for a proposed Islamic center and mosque near the former World Trade Center site would set “a terrible precedent,” the Associated Press writes.

“You don’t want them investigating donations to religious organizations, and there’s no reason for the government to do so,” said Mr. Bloomberg, who has strongly backed allowing the project, located two blocks from the former World Trade Center, to go forward.

Critics of the development have speculated that its financial backers could have ties to terrorism. A Quinnipiac University poll found 71 percent of New Yorkers want state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo to look into the mosque’s finances.