BK candidates get independent expenditure windfall
BY BEN BRACHFELD
Special interests have
poured money into primaries
for Brooklyn elections this
year, hoping that their investment
will pay off in candidates
who will shape city policy over
the next decade.
The city’s Campaign Finance
Board sets strict contribution
limits in city races,
whether a candidate participates
in its public matching
funds program or not. Participating
candidates can accept
$2,000 individual contributions
if running for citywide offi ce,
$1,500 in borough president
races, and $1,000 in City Council
races; for non-participants,
the limits are $5,100, $3,950,
and $2,850, respectively.
But deep-pocketed special
interests also have the option
of making “independent expenditures,”
which are made independent
of a candidate even if
the campaign, typically TV ads
or mailers, is openly supportive
of said candidate. As long
as the committee making the
IE doesn’t coordinate with a
campaign, and discloses its donors,
Mayor • Public Advocate • Comptroller • Borough President • City Council
COURIER L 16 IFE, JUNE 18-24, 2021
they can spend unlimited
amounts of money.
The vast majority of the IEs
in this election cycle have been
spent on the mayor’s race, but
the committees have also spent
millions of dollars in borough
president and City Council
races.
For instance, borough president
candidate Robert Cornegy
Jr. has been the benefi ciary of
$171,106 in IEs from New Yorkers
for a Balanced Albany, a
pro-charter school Political Action
Committee mostly funded
by Alice Walton, heiress to the
Walmart fortune. Walton is the
17th richest person in the world,
according to Forbes, with a net
worth of $66.2 billion; she contributed
$800,000 to the PAC.
The money was spent on
internet ads and phonebanks
on behalf of Cornegy, per the
Campaign Finance Board. Cornegy
is a supporter of charter
schools, having sent his own
children to charters, and believes
the state’s cap on the
number of charter schools that
can operate in the city should
be lifted.
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It’s the largest IE in any borough
president race in the city;
in Brooklyn, the only other IE
in the competitive race for beep
is a $1,500 spend by the Working
Families Party national
PAC on behalf of Antonio Reynoso.
The PAC previously spent
big on a special election for City
Council in the Bronx, spending
$140,454 on behalf of John Sanchez’s
campaign for the 15th
Council District, a race he ultimately
lost to Oswald Feliz, and
has spent $40,915 on behalf of
Manhattan City Council candidate
Shaun Abreu.
The Waltons have spent
hundreds of millions of dollars
over the years funding and promoting
charter schools, and
have been large donors nationally
to both Democrats and Republicans.
The beep race isn’t the only
domain for IEs, though.
A pro-business group called
Common Sense NYC has
poured $178,897 into Brooklyn
Council races, supporting
some candidates and opposing
others. They’ve spent
$26,008 on behalf of Henry
Butler in District 36, $11,078
for Justin Krebs in District 39,
$8,219 for Doug Schneider in
District 39, $14,861 for Nikki
Lucas in District 42, $14,300
for Farah Louis in District 45,
and $31,487 for Ari Kagan in
District 47. They’ve also spent
$33,605 against Michael Hollingsworth
in District 35 and
$39,339 against Alexa Avilés in
District 38; both Hollingsworth
and Avilés are running with
the support of the Democratic
Socialists of America.
Common Sense NYC’s biggest
backers are real estate developer
Stephen Ross, who contributed
$1 million, and Estee
Lauder heir Ronald Lauder,
who contributed $500,000.
Darma Diaz in District 37 is
the benefi ciary of a $26,252 IE by
Voters of NYC, whose funders
include real estate fi rms run
by bigwigs Silverstein Properties,
WLZ (William L. Zeckendorf)
Properties, and Rosewood
Realty Group.
Early voting in the primaries
continues until June 20,
and Election Day is June 22.
For more on who’s running and
who’s getting the money, visit
PoliticsNY.com.
Special interests have poured money into a number of local races. Pexels
0 EARLY VOTING: JUNE 12-20
0 ELECTION DAY: JUNE 22
Find your Early Voting poll site and
learn more about Ranked Choice Voting:
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