Three Queens CMs hit with campaign finance penalties
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Councilmembers Adrienne Adams, Barry Grodenchik and Donovan Richards were each hit with campaign finance penalties for infractions during the 2017 election cycle. They join a large group of candidates who incur violations for bookkeeping errors and other minor infractions. Photos via the lawmakers’ offices.
By Victoria Merlino
Three Queens councilmembers were forced to pay up after the New York City Campaign Finance Board officially hit them with campaign finance penalties for the 2017 election cycle.
Councilmembers Adrienne Adams, Barry Grodenchik and Donovan Richards were officially penalized on Thursday for a host of violations totaling a combined $10,347. They join numerous city politicians who were already penalized for infractions during that election cycle, including Queens Councilmembers Jimmy Van Bramer and Rory Lancman.
Adams received $1,250 in penalties for three infractions: a failure to disclose certain transactions leading up to the election, exceeding the campaign spending limit and providing a late response to a request for documentation and information.
Her campaign failed to report eight expenditures across two companies — Connective Strategies and Red Horse Strategies — that resulted in $48,203.21 in spending, according to the NYCCFB. Campaigns that spend over $20,000 with a single vendor within 14 days of an election must report it. Additionally, Adams’ campaign spent almost $500 over the expenditure limit for campaigns that participate in the NYC Campaign Finance Program, which hers did.
“Unfortunately, there were common oversights due to human error as with many new campaigns,” said Adams in an emailed statement to the Eagle. “The penalty was paid in full some months ago.”
Grodenchik received $1,797 in penalties for infractions that ranged from not providing proper documentation to the NYCCFB and failing to respond to a draft audit report.
Steve Behar, an attorney representing Grodenchik at the NYCCFB’s Oct. 17 meeting, said that a paperwork mixup was to blame for the campaign not responding to a draft audit report.
“This simply fell through the cracks as confusion between request for documents for 2015 versus 2017,” Behar said. Behar explained the campaign was grappling with requests for both the 2017 and 2015 election cycles at the time.
Behar said that Grodenchik and the campaign had difficulties scanning and copying the volume of bank receipts and deposit slips by the deadline, and were surprised by a “falling out of the sky deadline” after the campaign was given an extension with no previously set hard deadline.
“The idea that we failed to demonstrate compliance is wrong. We failed to demonstrate within the deadline that was kind of thrown at us at the last minute,” Behar said.
At the meeting, Joseph Gallegar, senior associate counsel for the NYCCFB, asserted that the campaign was given that deadline after failing to produce the slips after two extensions, and that the NYCCFB never received the campaign’s deposit slips. Behar said that he delivered the slips to the NYCCFB front desk personally.
Grodenchik did not respond to requests for comment.
Richards received $7,300 in penalties for failing to report transactions, not providing proper documentation to the NYCCFB, filing late disclosure statements and accepting over-the-limit contributions.
His campaign did not report two transactions that totaled $3,750, according to the NYCCFB, did not submit some deposit slips and accepted contributions from organizations that had business dealings with the city there were over the $250 limit imposed on those companies.
Richards did not respond to requests for comment.
In the 2013 election cycle, the most recent election in the final stages of an NYCCFB audit, 56 percent (or 109 out of 193) of audited City Council candidates received a penalty.
Election attorney Sarah Steiner said that the majority of candidates incurs some kind of fine because the NYCCFB are “extreme sticklers for the rules” and penalize candidates for minor and arcane bookkeeping errors.
“If you look at what they’re asking for it blows your mind,” Steiner said. “The slightest mistake or lost receipt results in a penalty.”
Van Bramer was slapped with with $7,682 worth of penalties, and Lancman with $8,490’s worth, earlier this year.
"We do our best to comply with the Campaign Finance Board and we have a plan in place to pay the fine,” Van Bramer said in an emailed statement to the Eagle.
"The fine was for technical/administrative violations in our CFB filings and the timeliness of refunds, which felt excessive given that there was never any question of impropriety and we didn't seek or receive public matching funds. But it wasn't worth the time or expense of fighting too hard over it,” Lancman said in an emailed statement to the Eagle.
Candidates who do not pay their fines are not able to receive public funds in future elections, forcing them to be more accountable.
“Information about candidates’ outstanding obligations is publicly available on our website, so voters can hold candidates accountable for the conduct of their campaigns,” NYCCFB Executive Direct Amy Loprest told Gotham Gazette in 2016. “Beyond that, the CFB makes every effort to collect the penalties and public funds repayments that candidates owe.”
CORRECTION 10/28: The line that originally said “Election attorney Sarah Steiner said that nearly every candidate incurs some kind of fine,” has been changed to “the majority of candidates incurs some kind of fine” to better reflect the percentage of candidates and avoid confusion. The Eagle regrets this error.
