Gotham Gazette

The Place for New York Policy and politics

CITY

City

Top Democratic Mayoral Campaigns Spent $69 Million on the Primary, Outside Groups Another $31 Million


1 camp fina shows

(photo: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)


Spending on this year’s mayoral election has already surpassed the $100 million mark, according to the latest campaign finance reports that were filed on Friday. Those filings show fundraising and expenditures by the Democratic and Republican candidates for mayor, including the top eight Democratic mayoral candidates who made the televised debates, as well as independent expenditure groups, also known as political action committees (PACs), which spent for or against candidates.

The top eight Democratic mayoral candidates spent $68.9 million altogether through July 11, including about $38.5 million in public funds that they received through the Campaign Finance Board as part of the city’s matching funds program that is meant to incentivize small-dollar fundraising. Independent expenditure committees, PACs and Super PACs that cannot legally coordinate with candidate campaigns, spent another $38.9 million through the same period, including $31.4 million on the Democratic mayoral primary. The next campaign finance filings are due August 27, reflecting fundraising and spending between July 12 and August 23.

Of the eight Democrats, the campaign of former Citigroup executive Ray McGuire topped the chart, spending $11.7 million on the race, including a $2 million loan that he has yet to be repaid and a $1 million gift from McGuire himself. He was the only major candidate to not participate in the public funds program, allowing him to raise higher individual donations but not affording him any matching funds. An outside group, New York for Ray, spent $5.75 million to support McGuire’s campaign but he nonetheless came in at seventh place. Top donors to the PAC include oil magnate John Hess, Broadway producer Daryl Roth, and hedge fund manager Bill Ackman, among others.

The winner of the Democratic primary, Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, was second in campaign spending, with more $11.2 million through July 11. Adams met the spending cap of $10.9 million for the primary with the rest of the spending going towards the general election, which has a spending limit of $7.3 million (the primary spending limit was raised in response to McGuire’s fundraising and expenditure). Adams had roughly $1.7 million remaining as of the mid-July filing, but as the Democratic nominee his fundraising is ongoing and likely to be robust.

Additionally, Adams benefitted from $7.7 million in outside spending, the most of any of the candidates. One outside group, Strong Leadership NYC, accounted for $6.3 million of those independent expenditures. The group’s top donors were hedge fund managers Steve Cohen, Daniel Loeb, and Kenneth Griffin.

Entrepreneur Andrew Yang, who ended up in fourth place, saw his campaign spend nearly $10.3 million and he received another $3.8 million in outside support. Most of that independent expenditure came from Comeback PAC, created by political operative Lis Smith, who was previously senior advisor to Pete Buttigieg’s presidential campaign. The same hedge fund managers who backed Adams – Cohen, Loeb and Griffin – also donated to Smith’s PAC.

Close behind was Comptroller Scott Stringer, whose campaign spent just under $10 million on his race only to end up in fifth place. Outside groups spent more than $4.75 million to support his campaign, of which $3.75 million was spent by a PAC associated with the United Federation of Teachers, the teachers union.

Former counsel to the mayor Maya Wiley, who finished in third in the primary, listed more than $8.4 million in expenditures on the race through July 11, though that includes more than $995,000 in outstanding payments. Her campaign had a negative balance of $843,000 as of the filing, though she is expecting another public funds payment by August 5 to resolve any liabilities. She received about $2.2 million in outside support, largely supported by 1199 SEIU, the healthcare workers union.

The campaign of former sanitation commissioner Kathryn Garcia, who just narrowly lost the race to Adams, spent $8.3 million on the race and got just $235,000 worth of outside support. Meaning when campaign and outside spending is combined, Adams saw about $10 million more in spending support during the primary than Garcia.

Shaun Donovan, the former federal housing secretary, saw his campaign spend about $4.8 million through July 11. But there was nearly $6.5 million in outside support for his campaign from New Start NYC, a committee funded almost entirely by Donovan’s father.

Former nonprofit executive Dianne Morales’ campaign spent $4.2 million on the race and got just $10,000 in outside support.

In the Republican primary, radio host and Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa spent only $529,000 to win the race. His opponent, Fernando Mateo, spent nearly $2.5 million, which included a late influx of public matching funds (Sliwa did not qualify for public funds). There were no independent expenditures in that race.

Sliwa, Adams, and other candidates on the ballot will now compete in the general election set to be decided this fall.

***
by Samar Khurshid, senior reporter, Gotham Gazette
     

Read more by this writer.

Latino Vote '21 Podcast: Alexa Avilés Pursues a City Council Seat in Brooklyn


6 alexa aviles latinovote

Alexa Avilés (photo: Alexa Avilés campaign)


Alexa Avilés, a Democratic candidate for City Council, recently prevailed in the primary in District 38 in Brooklyn. She joined the Latino Vote '21 podcast to discuss her candidacy and the Latino vote in her district and beyond. The Latino Vote '21 podcast is a pop-up podcast produced by Gotham Gazette and hosted by contributing columnist Eli Valentin (who writes a column of the same name) exploring Latino candidates, voters, and other related themes in the city's 2021 elections. Episodes can be found under "Max Politics" wherever you get your podcasts. Listen to the episode with Alexa Avilés there or through the embedded audio below:

Read more: Latino Vote '21 Podcast: Alexa Avilés Pursues a City Council Seat in Brooklyn

Think Tank Curates 250 Ideas for New York City’s Recovery


library

Hunters Point Community Library in Queens (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayor's Office)


On Thursday the Center for an Urban Future published a report,  “Blueprint for New York City’s Economic Recovery,” outlining some 250 proposals for the future of the city and drawing upon the ideas of over 175 New Yorkers. A think tank, Center for an Urban Future focuses on securing a robust and inclusive economy.

The report comes as the city is not only recovering from the devastation of the COVID-19 pandemic but selecting the next class of city government through the ongoing election cycle that will seat a new mayor, City Council, and other office-holders in January. It offers up a set of plans that promises, ambitiously, to bring back 500,000 jobs lost during the pandemic that have yet to return, bolster small businesses, and provide meaningful aid for a revival of the arts, among other goals.

“New Yorkers are full of bold ideas,” the report says. “Now is the time to turn these ideas into action.” The Center for an Urban Future sourced the varied ideas from business, labor, education, community, and other leaders, arguing that a diverse mix of authors makes for a true reflection of the city’s strengths and possibilities.

All told, it’s a “sweeping vision” for the city’s economic rebuilding that is “urgent, practical, and hopeful,” the report says. It’s detail and broad scope are meant to offer up to the next class of city leadership a policy agenda rooted in the will, creativity, and thoughtfulness of the people.

The ideas were compiled from a series of interviews, emails, and meetings conducted by Center for an Urban Future between March and May of this year. Each proposal was submitted in response to one of three prompts -- how to spark immediate economic recovery, how best to address structural challenges that have resulted from or been worsened by the pandemic, and how to reconstruct an economy that is more equitable in the long-term. The report attributes each suggestion to its original source and urges the ideas to be viewed as completely unto themselves and their author, not as policies endorsed by other study participants or by CUF itself.

The hundreds of proposals are divided up into a set of ten core principles: sparking NYC’s economic comeback; strengthening NYC’s small businesses; helping New Yorkers of color boost incomes and build wealth; making skills-building the centerpiece of an equitable recovery; reimagining streets and public spaces and re-investing in vital urban infrastructure; boosting the hard-hit arts sector to bring back the city’s magnetism and vitality; building a stronger and more inclusive economy for the long-run; prioritizing hard-hit workers and communities; and shoring up the building blocks of NYC’s economic success.

Under the first principle -- sparking an economic comeback -- the report lists a total of 36 ideas. The proposals span climate resiliency, job creation, tourism campaigns, and even the revitalization of public housing. Among them, Sally Tallant, President and Executive Director of the Queens Museum, suggests filling vacant office spaces with artists-in-residence; while Jeff Zucker, the President of CNN, suggests attempting to attract film and television production from Georgia and other states by creating new incentives.

On strengthening the city’s small businesses, the report outlines proposals heavily focused on themes of increased access to capital and financial services, as well as advancement into the tech sector and repurposing of city space. There are plans to create a relief grants program for street vendors; to help restaurants gain access to Department of Education and senior center food procurement contracts; to allow businesses to temporarily operate in city parks; and to use the tech-savvy student bodies on CUNY campuses to help small businesses get online.

On helping New Yorkers of color boost income and wealth, the report lists plans for the issuance of “baby bonds”; increased capital funding for minority- and women-owned construction firms; expansion of freelancer hubs; aid for New Yorkers of color starting businesses in the burgeoning marijuana industry; extension of government benefits and voting rights to immigrant communities; and more. Nathaniel Fields, the CEO of the Urban Resource Institute, proposed a wage hike for the non-profit and human services workforce.

For the “embrace” of public health to ensure a healthier New York with a better economy, the report includes proposals from contributors to make the city a “global capital” of public health, and the city best prepared for the next pandemic. More specifically there are plans to transform the city’s covid test and trace corps to a public health workforce and to expand the Mayor’s Office of Resiliency mandate to include public health threats.

On making skills-building the focal point of an equitable economic recovery, Reshma Saujani, the founder of Girls Who Code, proposed launching a major workforce training initiative centered around women and the care economy. This section of the report also lists plans to boost funding for adult education; provide free community college; create a talent-matching program within the biotech industry; closing the digital divide through community help desks; and targeting workforce development programs for domestic violence survivors and homeless individuals.

As part of the goal to “Reimagine streets and public spaces and re-invest in vital urban infrastructure,” the report touts a plan from Sheena Wright, the President and CEO of United Way of NYC, to prioritize affordable home-ownership above rental housing, as well as plans from other contributors to launch a WPA-style program to create jobs and upgrade city infrastructure; improve the commutes of essential workers by subsidizing micromobility e-vehicle purchases; and to extend the Hudson Bergen Light Rail to Staten Island; among others.

On revitalizing the arts and bringing back the city’s “magnetism,” the report offers a Teaching Artists Jobs Corps; free rehearsal spaces in schools; creating grant-matched Individual Development Accounts for artists; ensuring that city funding for the arts goes to organizations that pay a livable wage; and more.

The platform reaches a more broad point with the eighth tenet -- building a stronger and more inclusive economy for the long-run. Here the proposals look to the future by diversifying the economy with plans to support the manufacturing of PPE and sterilization products and to grow the city’s presence in the adult entertainment industry and in the green economy.

In prioritizing hard-hit workers and communities the report includes plans by contributors to boost the impact of local nonprofits by prioritizing paying them on time; to create a new office aimed at targeting K-12 students who were disconnected from school during the pandemic; to close the digital divide through broadband expansion and digital literacy programs; to expand ethnic studies programming in schools; and to ensure that there are stable and well-trained security officers in homeless shelters.

Finally, the report finishes with a relatively short section on shoring up the building blocks of New York City’s economic success. Plans in this section fall largely under the themes of a clean and safe city -- with proposals to prioritize quality of life investments; put money into street cleaning; and bringing together community leaders and the NYPD for conversations on public safety.

There is much more in the 250 proposals included in the Center for an Urban Future report. The publication, in its entirety, attempts to offer a roadmap to a post-pandemic city that draws upon what CUF calls “an unwavering belief in the power of New Yorkers to tackle big challenges together.”



Print Friendly and PDF

Editor's Choice


Gotham Gazette: New York Voters Approve $4.2 Billion Environmental Bond Act
New York Voters Approve $4.2 Billion Environmental Bond Act
Gotham Gazette: 
New York City Voters Approve Racial Justice Ballot Measures
New York City Voters Approve Racial Justice Ballot Measures
Gotham Gazette: 
Housing Development in New York City Slows to a Crawl as Officials Debate Tax Incentives
Housing Development in New York City Slows to a Crawl as Officials Debate Tax Incentives
Gotham Gazette: 
City Council Examines Low Voter Turnout, Moving Local Elections to Even Years City Council Examines Low Voter Turnout, Moving Local Elections to Even Years