How candidates spend during Queens DA recount
Katz spends big on public relations while Cabán pours funds into legal fees
BY MARK HALLUM
If one thing has become
clear in the recent round
of filings with the Board
of Elections in the Queens
district attorney race, it’s that
the two frontrunners seem to
be placing their chips on much
different strategies in their
post-primary battle.
While Tiffany Cabán has
raised over $203,000 between
July 1 and 11 alone, the
majority of her campaign’s
spending has gone toward her
two lawyers, Jerry Goldfeder
and Renee Paradis. Melinda
Katz, however, continues to
pour hundreds of thousands
into political strategists and
public relations firms.
Filings logged with the
BOE show that Cabán has so
far paid Goldfeder $40,000 and
Paradis $30,000 as they aid her
effort to not only oversee the
recount, but guide a litigation
effort in Queens Supreme
Court to validate up to 114
affidavit ballots rejected by
the BOE.
Within the last month
alone, Connective Strategies
received over $115,500 from
the Katz campaign and Red
Horse Strategies was paid
out $273,000. This is on brand
with pre-primary filings that
showed the Katz campaign
had spent over $600,000 on
services from Red Horse,
a firm frequently used by
candidates in Queens and even
more frequently by candidates
with the backing of the Queens
County Democratic Party.
With sorting of ballots
finished as of Friday, Monday
marked the true begin of the
full manual recount in the
race. But the fight has only
just begun for Cabán, who has
launched a recruiting effort
to bring volunteer attorneys
and poll watchers on board
to oversee the recount of over
91,000 ballots.
Both groups have accused
the other attempting to
undermine the recount in one
form or another, with Katz
and Queen Democratic Party
Chair, Congressman Gregory
A BOE worker at the Middle Village facility taking stock of ballots
on July 15. Photo: Mark Hallum/QNS
Meeks, calling dialog from the
Cabán campaign an ongoing
attempt to disenfranchise
black voters and discredit
the BOE.
“This election is far from
over, with many valid votes
left to be counted. In the days
ahead, the manual recount will
yield potentially hundreds of
additional votes that were not
previously captured by voting
machines and we will fight to
make sure all valid votes are
counted,” said Daniel Lumer,
Cabán campaign spokesman.
“At the same time, our team
is prepared to move ahead in
court to restore the ballots of
dozens of eligible Democratic
voters who are at risk of
being disenfranchised. It’s
disappointing that the Katz
campaign has repeatedly
lied about these efforts while
refusing to agree in court that
every legitimate vote must be
counted. Our team is making
every effort to protect the
voting rights of all eligible
Democrats across Queens, and
we urge the Katz campaign to
do the same.”
The two campaigns met
in court on July 9 for a judge
to reach a decision on the
114 affidavit sealed ballots
rejected by the BOE, but the
court was adjourned until the
recount had concluded.
Katz attorney Frank Bolz
has charged that the Cabán
effort to redeem certain
affidavits in court was an
attempt to cherry-pick votes
based on neighborhood.
Read more at QNS.com.
Reach reporter Mark
Hallum by email at mhallum@
schnepsmedia.com or by
phone at (718) 260–4564.
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