Last month’s primaries cost a lot for taxpayers

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Jul 31, 2023 View in browser   By Emily Ngo, Jeff Coltin and Hajah Bah Heshy Tischler (pictured) ran in an especially costly race against incumbent Kalman Yeger in their Republican primary. | Spencer Platt/Getty Images A lot of public campaign dollars doled out. Not a lot of voters turning out. New York City’s generous matching funds system is held up as a model for amplifying everyday voters’ voices — but the per-vote cost of last month’s primaries was expensive for taxpayers, according to a Playbook analysis. An especially costly race among the 17 council candidates who qualified for the maximum $184,000 matching payment: incumbent Kalman Yeger vs. Heshy Tischler in a Republican primary in Brooklyn. Yeger won at $466 in public funding per vote, while Tischler used $504 in public funding per vote. “Isn’t that stupid?” Tischler lamented to Playbook of the math. “A shame, a shame.” He said he doesn’t believe in government funding for candidates at the local level, but: “I had no choice. If they take it, I take it.” City Campaign Finance Board records show Tischler began receiving his matching funds a month before Yeger got his. Yeger, a critic of raising the match to an 8-to-1 ratio, declined comment. If it’s a matter of increasing voter turnout, consolidating elections is a more effective approach, said Rachael Fauss, a senior policy adviser with good government group Reinvent Albany. However, she argues, public campaign finance is worth the cost. Incentivizing campaigns to seek smaller, more local contributions by offering them matching public funds has made for “more diverse and competitive races and more representative government,” Fauss said, noting the system’s intent to limit the influence of deep-pocketed donors. In last month’s council primaries, political newcomer Christopher Bae came close to defeating Tony Avella in a Democratic race in Queens. Bae had received the maximum matching funds and his public cost per vote was $67. A state system has also been implemented, with similar results. Committees registered for 2024 state legislative campaigns raised $732,000 from individuals who gave $250 or less in the first half of this year, according to disclosure reports released last week. Reinvent Albany stands opposed to efforts to make it harder for state candidates to qualify for matching funds, saying watering down the reform gives incumbents the advantage. In New York City, missing out the 8-to-1 match on the first $250 of qualifying donations can feel like political malpractice. It’s so alluring that the criminal fraud charges against six supporters of Mayor Eric Adams centered around reaping in matching funds. As for Yeger and Tischler, they’re set to face off again in the November general election — Yeger on the Democratic, Republican and Conservative Party lines and Tischler with an independent party line. Both will seek new matching funds, striving to get that maximum $184,000. IT’S MONDAY. WHERE’S KATHY? Attending the Book of HOV Exhibit with Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado in Brooklyn. WHERE’S ERIC? Delivering a public safety-related announcement in New York City. QUOTE OF THE DAY: “Maybe you’ll find direction around some corner where it’s been waiting to meet you,” Bronx Acting Supreme Court Justice Jeffrey Zimmerman wrote in a ruling last week, quoting lyrics from the rock hit “Box of Rain.” It was in regards to what he considers New York's soft-on-crime reform laws.   SUBSCRIBE TO POWER SWITCH: The energy landscape is profoundly transforming. Power Switch is a daily newsletter that unlocks the most important stories driving the energy sector and the political forces shaping critical decisions about your energy future, from production to storage, distribution to consumption. Don’t miss out on Power Switch, your guide to the politics of energy transformation in America and around the world. SUBSCRIBE TODAY.     ABOVE THE FOLD Work crews lift the extension arm from a hi-rise construction crane, which broke away and plummeted to the street on July 27, 2023 in New York. | AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews The buildings department division tasked with inspecting cranes is short on staffers — on the heels of a crane collapse last week that left 12 people injured. Out of the 11 budgeted inspector positions within the Department of Buildings’ cranes and derricks unit, two are currently unfilled, according to city data. That's an 18 percent staff vacancy rate among those inspectors, higher than the 13 percent vacancy rate across the agency. Of the 28 total positions in the crane unit, which also employs engineers and support staff, just 21 are currently filled. The incident in Midtown last Wednesday morning was caused by a fire in the machine deck of the crane, officials said. An investigation into the incident is ongoing. DOB conducted a sweep of the construction site and did not find any serious safety concerns or violating conditions, per the agency. “We want the results of this investigation to be transparent so we can share with the public not only how this happened, but what we can do to prevent something like this from happening in the future,” buildings commissioner Jimmy Oddo said at a briefing Friday. — Janaki Chadha WHAT CITY HALL IS READING New York City Had a Migrant Crisis. It Hired a Covid Expert to Help, by The New York Times’ Jay Root Ex-buildings boss Ulrich tells NYC prosecutors Mayor Adams warned him ‘watch your phones’ before gambling probe went public: sources, by the Daily News’ Michael Gartland ‘No Space for Us’: Migrants Turned Away as City Swelters, by THE CITY's Gwynne Hogan, Haidee Chu, and Bianca Pallaro: “The asylum-seeker from Angola arrived in Midtown by bus Tuesday. But workers at Roosevelt Hotel, the city’s intake center for newly arriving migrants, told her repeatedly there were no rooms or even cots for single adults.” Eric Adams wants to speak to you ‘directly’, by City and State New York’s Sahalie Donalson Gun violence update — Remember the Gun Violence Prevention Task Force that Adams formed last June? The group is releasing its first report Monday, in a big announcement with the mayor and Gov. Kathy Hochul at City Hall. One more thing from City Hall — The administration is highlighting added funding in this year’s budget for the Advance & Earn program, which helps out of school, out of work young adults with degrees and job training like commercial driving courses and masonry. An extra $6.6 million in funding this year will expand the program to serve more than 1,700 New Yorkers a year. — Jeff Coltin WHAT ALBANY'S READING Schenectady County declares state of emergency over migrant surge, by Times Union’s Hannah Campbell: “The decision comes almost two weeks after guests at the Super 8 in Rotterdam were abruptly kicked out to settle migrants bused from New York City." Buffalo native and longtime jurist appointed to second-highest state court, by Buffalo News’ Grant Ashley: “Buffalo’s newest Housing Court judge also made a reputation for himself by ingratiating himself with the community. Nowak frequently attended block club meetings and recruited 24 volunteer neighborhood liaisons to bring housing issues to his attention." New York State minimum wage will rise with inflation index starting in 2027, by Newsday’s James T. Madore AROUND NEW YORK — NYC's sanitation department is ticketing people who put their trash out too early. (Gothamist) — Your TL;DR to what's happening with the Penn Station redesign. (Hell Gate) — A man held on Rikers Island put on a Correction Department uniform Thursday night in a possible escape attempt. (NYDN) SOCIAL DATA BY DANIEL LIPPMAN HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Mark Cuban … Gray Television’s Kevin Latek … Edelman’s Brian McNeill … U.S. Chamber’s Lexi Branson … Matthew Ballard of BCW Global … Sean Eldridge of Stand Up America … Deval Patrick … Sam Frizell … Elena Becatoros … Chelsie Gosk Doherty … (was Sunday): POLITICO’s Jeff Coltin … Bud Selig … NYT’s Jim Rutenberg … Michael Glassner (6-0) … Rebecca Kutler … Jonathan Kanter (5-0) … Rich Cohen ... Robert Gottheim ... Avishay Artsy … Heidi Crebo-Rediker … Suzanne Nossel of PEN America … MSNBC’s Isaac-Davy Aronson … former CFTC Chair Tim Massad … former Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-N.Y.) …  (was Saturday): NBC’s Peter Alexander … White House’s Herbie Ziskend … CNN’s Kristin Fisher (4-0) … Bloomberg’s David Westin … AP’s Aaron Kessler … Garance Franke-Ruta … Laura McGann … Nate Rawlings … George Kaiser ... Stuart Weitzman ... Rabbi Meir Soloveichik ... NYT’s Peter S. Goodman (h/ts Jewish Insider) MAKING MOVES — Pursuit has hired Sascha Owen as senior vice president of policy and external affairs, and Jonathan Chung as vice president for external affairs and community partnerships. Owen was previously DoorDash’s senior manager of government relations for New York and Puerto Rico, and Chung was VP of government affairs for the Queens Public Library. ... Maricela Cano, director of community boards for Queens Borough President Donovan Richards, is joining Constantinople and Vallone as a senior associate.   STEP INSIDE THE WEST WING: What's really happening in West Wing offices? Find out who's up, who's down, and who really has the president’s ear in our West Wing Playbook newsletter, the insider's guide to the Biden White House and Cabinet. For buzzy nuggets and details that you won't find anywhere else, subscribe today.     Real Estate N.Y.C’s Newest Highrises Will Have a Casino and a Soaring Skybridge to Connect Them, by Robb Report’s Rachel Cormack: “What’s more, Silverstein claims the project will create 9,500 jobs, generate billions for the state and the city, and bolster the MTA.”   Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook family Playbook  |  Playbook PM  |  California Playbook  |  Florida Playbook  |  Illinois Playbook  |  Massachusetts Playbook  |  New Jersey Playbook  |  New York Playbook  |  Ottawa Playbook  |  Brussels Playbook  |  London Playbook View all our political and policy newsletters Follow us

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