Results tagged “campaignfinance”

There was some talk about a year ago that upon finishing out his second and final term, Mayor Bloomberg's plans were to ride off into the sunset and begin pouring some of the many millions he had accumulated into the philanthropic causes supported by his foundation. In the time since, Bloomberg has in fact found a way to open the vault on his fortune at a record pace—into winning an election that no one seems to believe will even be close. With a financial report filed this weekend, Bloomberg has already spent $18.7 million on his campaign for a third term, twice what he had spent at this point in 2005. It's also nearly ten times what challenger Bill Thompson has spent and triple what any possible contender can spend until September under campaign finance regulations. A public affairs expert tells the Times, “There appears to be very little downside to this kind of spending...It’s a shock-and-awe approach.” The paper also calls the mayor's treatment suspiciously harsh treatment of Anthony Weiner (who's not even in the race!) "a thuggish cast to Mr. Bloomberg’s Park Avenue-style campaign."

After an audit by the Federal Election Commission, Al Sharpton is being forced to pay back almost $500,000 for what they have deemed illegal campaign contributions during his 2004 run for president. The FEC is nailing Sharpton for not delineating between donations for his campaign and money coming in for his National Action Network. The report says that "virtually no effort was made" to show which funds were for which.

As the City Council reels from slush fund mess and other budget scandals, the NY Times found more 12 of the 51 City Council members, or approximately 25%, were using campaign funds to pay relatives or themselves. One aid to familial lining of pockets is the fact that taxpayers are filling campaign war chests with cash, even when Council Members are running unopposed or face barely credible challenges.

Sure, the 2008 election is exciting, but hundreds of candidates are expected to run for city office next year.

A lawsuit filed Monday against the City Campaign Finance Board seeks to overturn a recently enacted funding law that opponents assert will just make the City Council richer - and whiter. The recently-enacted campaign finance restrictions reduces the contributions from companies who do business with the city by a whopping 92%. Translation: In a mayoral race, the individual limit on giving is now $400, versus $4,950; in City Council races, it's $250, down from $2,950.

Andrea Schwartz, the Brazilian ex-pat who settled in Manhattan and became a madam with powerful clients, is back in the news. And she's as saucy as ever, this time denying that she's a lesbian. Tell us more!

Gothamist hopes that you'll take time to go and cast votes for Mayor, Public Advocate, other politicians, and various ballot measures. If you have time to read up on candidates and measures before you head out, read these to make informed decisions: The Campaign Finance Board's 2005 Voter Guide and Gotham Gazette's Guide for the Last Minute Voter.

Tomorrow, there are four ballot proposals that New York City voters will be able to cast a "yes" or "no" on. Unfortunately, many people don't know about them. So, Gothamist recommend you spend a little time reading about these ballot proposals before you head out and vote. The Campaign Finance Board site has descriptions of what each ballot measure says, as well as pro and con arguments for them:

Just five days until election, and it's like there's one of those grey, rainy clouds over Fernando Ferrer's head. Not that he or anyone from his campaign or his supporters will admit it, but even the trying-to-be-upbeat words are veiled with gloom. For instance, City Councilman Lewis Fidler tells the Times, "I'd be a moron to tell you I was confident. I'm a Met fan and I've been a Met fan since 1962, so I am not adverse to being the underdog, and I always believe in miracles because I've lived through them." Ouch. And Ferrer was struck with uncanny timing and attentiveness from city agencies when he tried to campaign at a subway station and park in Harlem to show how dirty they were, only to have cleanup crews try to stuff the crap into the closet and under the couch before TV crews came. Then the Campaign Finance Board has been warning his campaign that the NY State Democratic party's emails on his behalf may be illegal.

- We haven't even finished this years election and already we're seeing polls for next years. Anyway, and this shocked, , us, it seems that Hillary Clinton and Eliot Spitzer are the clear crowd favorites to win in their respective elections. Which might mean something if the election weren't a year away.

-Finally, Tuesday's election is expected to have an anemic turnout. Prove them wrong and vote (y'know, if you're registered).

The Campaign Finance Board's records show that Manhattan Borough President C. Virginia Fields has not reimbursed her government drivers for driving her to campaign events. Newsday points out that Fields hasn't "paid for gas or parking used during those appearances" and that in the past week, only two of her many events were job-related. Fields' campaign manager, Chung Seto, claims that the drivers/city will be reimbursed, but she doesn't know why it's taking so long. Just like she didn't know why the flyer was Photoshopped, eh? Actually, the practice of using a city government car for campaign events is common, as long as the city is reimbursed is common (City Council Speaker had his police detail drive him around). Congressman Anthony Weiner's campaign took the opportunity to say that while he has a congressional car, Weiner uses his own hybrid car to get to campaign events.

- Newsday reports the Parks Department is considering various ways to kill the dangerous snakehead fish. Hilariously, one of the suggestion is "salting" it (okay, it's just raising the saline level of the lake, but still).

Oh, Mayor Mike. The Campaign Finance Board has its Finance Summary online now and, surprise, Bloomberg is once again set to outspend his competition by leaps and bounds. Of the $57 million total raised for all the campaigns in the city besides the Brooklyn and Manhattan District Attorney races (thats more than 200 candidates) Bloomberg has 40%. That's $23.6 million bucks that Bloomberg has given his own campaign. That's a lot of money, but the question still remains if its enough for Bloomie to keep the election a "snooze" for the next three months so he can stay in office. And just as interesting, will he outspend his record breaking $69 million from the 2001 election?