Katz Sends Residents Letter Explaining Her Term Limit Stance

Supported Mayor’s Bill Allowing Third Term

By Conor Greene

In an effort to explain one of the most controversial votes City Council members have cast this year, Melinda Katz recently sent a letter to constituents outlining her support for a bill allowing officials to serve a third consecutive term in office.

Katz (D-Forest Hills), who is running for the city comptroller position and would have been forced out of her current position on the City Council next year due to term limits, supported Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s bill extending term limits, when it passed by a vote of 29 to 22 in October.

The decision by City Council members to provide themselves with the opportunity to serve a third four year term came after residents previously voted twice to maintain term limits. It was seen by some as a conflict of interest, with the mayor reportedly lobbying hard to gain the necessary support of council members.

The vote threw a wrench into many local races, including next year’s battle for city comptroller. Incumbent William Thompson has said publicly that he is continuing his mayoral bid, despite now having the option of seeking another term as comptroller. He has until July to decide which office he will seek.

That leaves the other comptroller candidates, including Katz, Councilman David Weprin (D-Hollis), Councilman David Yassky (D-Brooklyn) and Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion, also a Democrat, in a tough position. Due to the differences in the amounts candidates can raise and spend for the comptroller race versus a city council run, the candidates who are now council members must decide by January 10 if they will seek reelection to their current position.

Katz, who has already spent about $775,000 on her comptroller bid, voted in favor of the mayor’s bill amending the term limit law, and also voted against a bill introduced earlier that same day that would have forced a public vote on the council’s decision. At the time, her comptroller campaign manager, Erik Joerss, maintained that Katz is moving ahead with her comptroller bid.

“Bill Thompson has been very clear that he is running for mayor and we are running for comptroller,” said Joerss on October 29 when asked whether the term limit amendment, or the possibility that Thompson seeks reelection as comptroller, would cause her to instead seek reelection to her council seat. “Other than that, we are not going to get into hypotheticals,” he said.

In a statement, Katz said that she has “long been against term limits” and saw the mayor’s bill as a chance to “create more stability” in local government.” She said that a referendum “would create more confusion for New Yorkers and for candidates about just what offices they are eligible to run for.” When asked whether Katz was concerned about going against the will of residents who twice voted for term limits, Joerss said the statement addresses that issue and refused to provide additional comment.

Katz recently expanded on the reasoning behind her vote in a letter to constituents. She argued that “from a practical point of view, a longer time in office affects… the ability to see capital improvements through completion.” In addition, she notes that the earliest a referendum could be held would be March or April meaning the vote wouldn’t take effect until May, a timeframe that would “hold the future of our City government in limbo at a time when it is in most need of stability.” Katz also argued in the letter that the City Council’s job “is to pass laws whether they change laws enacted by referendum or legislation.”

She maintains that she has been against term limits since the start of her career in public service, writing letters in opposition to the two public referendums as a member of the state Assembly in 1993 and 1996. “My position then as well as now has been clear and has not changed,” she wrote.

So far, a handful of candidates have already emerged to succeed Katz in the 29th council district, which represents Forest Hills and Rego Park, including Deputy Borough President Karen Koslowitz, former assemblyman Michael Cohen, community board member Lynn Schulman, Heidi Chain, president of the 112th Precinct Community Council, Mel Gagarin and Bob Delay.

Gallagher Spent Leftover Campaign Money During Final Months in Office

By Conor Greene

While former City Councilman Dennis Gallagher’s final few months in office were relatively quiet, the Middle Village Republican was busy spending money left in his campaign fund on donations to local groups and pricey meals at a local restaurant.

Although Gallagher’s legal troubles began last summer, he continued to raise money with a committee formed with the state Board of Elections for a potential run at higher office, even though his political career was essentially already sunk by the criminal charges.

After being charged with rape last August, Gallagher pled guilty in March to sexually assaulting a 52-year-old woman in his campaign office last summer. He resigned from his position on the City Council on April 18. As part of the plea agreement, Gallagher admitted he had “forcibly touched” the woman without her consent in his Metropolitan Avenue campaign office. The guilty plea spared him from registering as a sex offender and serving jail time.

During the final four months of his tenure representing the 30th Council District, Gallagher kept a low profile. However, he was busy spending $22,000 that was left in his “Gallagher New York” account on file with the state Board of Elections. A review of his campaign finance disclosure filed with the state for the for January to July shows him doling out money to some of his favorite groups, including two donations totaling $6,000 to the Greater Ridgewood Youth Council.

The disclosure also shows that Gallagher shelled out nearly $3,000 for five meals at O’Neill’s bar and restaurant on 53rd Drive in Maspeth. Those totals included $435 for dinner on March 3, a $382 dinner on March 28 and a $359 lunch on April 4. Finally, on April 18 – his last day on the City Council – Gallagher spent $200 for lunch and $1,512 for dinner.

A spokesperson at the state Board of Elections said that under election laws, the money is not allowed “to be converted for personal use” but can be spent at restaurants if it comes in the course of performing duties as a public official
or candidate.

Gallagher continued to raise money through the end of 2007 under a committee formed on the state level, but hasn’t filed any paperwork with the city regarding a future run for office, according to the city Campaign Finance Board. An audit of his campaign spending from his last run for City Council was completed this year and resulted in no penalties.

Gallagher was unable to be reached for comment regarding the expense report.

Katz Fundraising Request is Denied by CFB

Real Estate Contributions Will be Restricted in December

By Conor Greene

During her time as chair of City Council’s influential Land Use Committee, Melinda Katz has raked in hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from members of the real estate industry. Since deciding to run for comptroller two years ago, she has raised more than two million dollars, outpacing her three opponents.

However, starting in December, the amount that members of the real estate industry can contribute to politicians will be severely curtailed due to a change in the city’s campaign finance laws. That means Katz’s ability to pull in money for a runoff election during the Democratic primary – which would take place if none of the candidates received at least 40% of the vote – would be reduced significantly.

To avoid the possibility of having to amass a war chest for a runoff without being able to fully leverage the real estate industry, Katz recently asked the city Campaign Finance Board to allow her to establish an account now that would be set aside in case of a runoff. That means that industry members who have already contributed $4,950, the maximum allowed by law, could give another $2,475 for a runoff effort. Under the new law taking effect in December, those contributions will be limited to just $200.

In a letter to CFB Chairman Joseph Parks, the Katz campaign predicted the battle for the comptroller’s position “will be a highly competitive race.” Currently, three other elected officials – Councilman David Weprin, Councilman David Yassky and Assemblyman Jim Brennan – have formally declared their candidacy, and Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion has publicly stated his intention to seek that position.

In the June 30 letter to CFB, Katz’s treasurer Ronald Kaye, argues that a runoff “can be reasonably anticipated” due to the number of candidates currently running, the amount of money collectively raised so far, the lack of public polling in comptroller’s races until late in the primary process and the fact that incumbent William Thompson, Jr. can’t run again due to term limits.

“Councilwoman Katz believes that one of the most important aspects of the campaign finance program is that it encourages candidates to continue to focus on raising matchable contributions from New Yorkers early in the process, so that they can get that responsibility out of the way and concentrate on meeting with voters and debating the issues as the election draws near,” wrote Kaye.

“If there is a runoff election for Comptroller, which would surprise few political observers, the compressed time period after the primary would best be spent on debating and discussing the issues, not scrambling for last minute dollars."

Last Thursday, the CFB decided that “based on the information now available… a runoff election in the Democratic Party primary is not ‘reasonably anticipated’ at this time.” It notes that candidates “may submit another request” in the future if the race has “sufficiently evolved to enable them to demonstrate with concrete evidence that a runoff is ‘reasonably anticipated.’”

The decision, available on the CFB’s website, calls the prospect of a runoff “highly speculative” and argues that allowing a candidate to collect funds ahead of time would “actually undermine some core purposes of the Campaign Finance Program.”

It notes that the board has never decided that a runoff is reasonably anticipated more than a year before the election. The earliest it has done so was in February 2001 during the mayoral Democratic primary between Mark Green and Fernando Ferrer. The decision also points out that “no documentation of the history of runoff primaries for the Democratic comptroller primary, polling information or press reporting was presented to the board to support the request.”

According to the latest filings with the CFB, it’s clear that the comptroller’s race is attracting a lot of attention from donors. Katz leads the field with $2.1 million raised, followed by Weprin, with $1.8 million, Yassky, who has raised $1.3 million and Brennan, at $492,203. Carrion has raised $1.7 million, according to the CFB.

Katz’s comptroller campaign did not respond to a message seeking comment on the request or the CFB’s decision. However, at least one of her opponents is convinced that the new law limiting real estate contributions was the reason behind the request.

“Obviously, the request was premature, and we applaud the board for recognizing that,” said Yassky’s spokesman Doug Forand. “The context of this request is troubling and appears to be an effort to expand the ability for individuals to give money now who are going to be precluded from making those donations in the near future. There is plenty of time after these rules are put in place for someone to raise money should there be a runoff, so that argument doesn’t hold water as far as we’re concerned.”