Queens candidates get matching funds

The New York City Campaign Finance Board dolled out matching funds to a handful of Queens candidates on Monday and denied funds to a few others. Screenshot via New York City Campaign Finance Board/Youtube

By Ryan Schwach

A handful of Queens Council candidates received matching funds on the sixth payday from the Campaign Finance Board on Monday, while a few others were denied.

Queens City Council Democratic candidates Benjamin Chou, Erycka Montoya, Paul Pogozelski and Phil Wong, nearly all of whom are running for open Council seats in Queens, were awarded money from the public matching funds program.

Queens-raised mayoral candidate, former Governor Andrew Cuomo, also picked up his first allocation of matching funds, but was subsequently hit with a hefty penalty from the board for alleged wrong doing from his campaign.

A duo of Queens candidates, Democrats Alexander Caruso and Ruben Wills, were once again denied public matching funds. Neither has been awarded any funds in their respective races.

In the local races, receiving matching funds brings a level of seriousness to a campaign, and shows the candidate’s ability to raise money. The funds can also do a lot to separate one candidate from the others.

While some of the Monday payouts were small, others could mean increased notability for certain candidates with six weeks to go before the primary election.

For Chou, who is running against Caruso in the District 19 Democratic primary, it was his first matching fund payout.

Until recently, Chou did not have an active campaign website and has received little attention in the race.

District 19 already has a popular councilmember in Vickie Paladino, who two years ago defeated a well known Democrat in Tony Avella by a landslide.

With little attention on the Democratic primary, money has not flowed in, but Chou’s matching payout could signal a change.

The active duty FDNY firefighter received $80,902 for his campaign on Monday. He is currently ahead of Caruso in overall campaign donations, having raised $14,153 to Caruso’s $6,664.

“We’re excited to receive matching funds and we’re so incredibly grateful for the grassroots support that made it possible,” his campaign said. “They’ll power a community-focused campaign fighting for a safer, more affordable Northeast Queens.”

Caruso, who is running with the support of the progressive Working Families Party, has struggled to raise money and has yet to receive matching funds.

He was denied again on Monday by the CFB for having variances in his reported and documented expenditures.

Caruso said that it was “unforeseen backend accounting errors” that led to his missing out on funds.

“My campaign team is working tirelessly to correct these errors and ensure we qualify for the next round of matching funds,” he told the Eagle.

Montoya, another WFP backed candidate, had better luck with campaign funding.

She is the second-highest fundraiser in the race for District 21, and was the only candidate in the race to receive matching funds on Monday.

She received a small kick of $760 to add to her $119,677 in matching funds to date.

Montoya and all of her opponents in District 21 have received funds, the most going to Shanel Thomas-Henry with $161,964.

While none of the candidates for District 28 got matching funds this payout, only Ruben Wills was outright denied and has yet to receive funds.

Wills was denied on Monday for not meeting the threshold, and not completing the compliance training.

However, the former office holder running to replace City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams believes his campaign will receive funding on the next payout.

“We have met and exceeded all of the threshold requirements and conditions to qualify for public matching funds,” he said.

Wills has only raised around $5,000 to date, which is far behind all his opponents.

Pogozelski – who is running in District 30, which is currently represented by City Councilmember Robert Holden – received a small payment of $1,710.

The candidate told the Eagle the payout was a correction adjustment from an earlier deadline.

Another D30 candidate, Wong, got his first payout on Monday and received $138,130.

Wong has struggled in fundraising behind his two primary opponents, but the added bump in cash changes that and makes him the new highest fundraiser in the D30 Democratic field.

He now has $161,140 on hand, $9,000 more than Queens County Democratic Party-backed candidate Dermot Smyth and $40,000 more than Pogozelski, who owns an operates a local roller hockey league.

With Wong’s payout, all four candidates running for District 30 have received matching funds, including Republican candidate Alicia Vaichunas, who has received the most matching funds.

Citywide races

Cuomo received $1.5 million in matching funds on Monday – his first of the campaign – but was also penalized $622,056 by the CFB for allegedly communicating with a PAC.

According to the CFB, Cuomo’s campaign may have put out information and data that was used by a PAC formed to support him called Fix the City.

In doing that, the campaign was accused of committing a “redboxing” violation, where a PAC uses data or information publicly shared by the campaign.

“CFB rules state that the Board may determine an expenditure was not independent if the 'entity making the expenditure has utilized strategic information or data.... [that] has been made publicly available by the candidate in a manner which the candidate … knew or should have known would facilitate such utilization',” Board member Richard Davis said. "When there is reason to believe a candidate has received an impermissible contribution, the Board may withhold the amount of that contribution from a public funds payment.”

“The Board's investigation into this matter is ongoing, and we will continue to evaluate the issue of improper coordination,” he added.

The CFB has explicitly warned against redboxing in recent weeks.

The $622,056 is the amount Fix the City used to pay for a pro-Cuomo ad.

“Our campaign has operated in full compliance with the campaign finance laws and rules, and everything on our website was reviewed and approved by our legal team in advance of publication,” Cuomo spokesperson Rich Azzopardi said in a statement to the New York Times. “We look forward to making that clear when we respond to the board’s preliminary ruling and receiving the full matching funds to which the campaign is entitled.”

Other mayoral candidates Brad Lander, Zellnor Myrie and Whitney Tilson also received matching funds.

Speaker Adams was denied matching funds for not meeting the threshold and having a high number of documentation errors with her expenditures.

Her campaign said they were not anticipating getting matching funds this round.

Senator Jessica Ramos also did not meet the threshold for her mayoral campaign, which has continued to slip since Speaker Adams joined the race.

Queens Public Advocate candidate Jenifer Rajkumar also received $4,683 in matching funds for her campaign.

The next round of payments will be dolled out on May 30, less than a month before the June primaries.