Unfair fight: how lefty nonprofits — and taxpayer money — lifted Mamdani's campaign

New York Post

17 hours ago

New Yorkers are under the false impression that the taxpayer-funded city Campaign Finance Board is leveling the playing field to make Gotham's elections fair.
Just the opposite is true: The CFB is actually doling out obscene amounts of our money to tilt the scales for left-wing candidates, including Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani.
If November's election is anything like 2021's, taxpayers will shell out more than $100 per vote cast — while the board kneecaps Mamdani's moderate rivals.
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The CFB, an independent city agency, was formed in 1988 to give political newbies a fair shot against established pols.
The idea was to match small private contributions dollar-for-dollar with taxpayer funds.
Since then, the match has increased sharply: Now it's a staggering 8-to-1 in the primary, and another 8-to-1 in the general election.
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The CFB paid out nearly $63 million in taxpayer money to candidates in last week's primary, and its general-election expenditures will likely double that figure.
It's a gold mine for political operatives, campaign professionals and candidates in the CFB's good graces. As Zohran Mamdani apparently appears to be.
But not everyone is.
Last December, the CFB declared incumbent Mayor Eric Adams ineligible for public financing, alluding to federal allegations that have since been withdrawn.
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It was straight-up election meddling — the old 'guilty until proven innocent' trick.
It's not the first time.
In 2013 the CFB denied matching funds to then-Comptroller John Liu in his race for the mayoralty, citing unproven allegations.
That let communist-loving dimwit Bill de Blasio win the primary — a disaster for the city.
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This time around, the CFB is turning a blind eye to abuses that violate at least the spirit, and possibly the letter, of the public campaign-finance system.
When Mamdani in May urged his followers to help the floundering campaign of City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, some 370 of them did so, making her eligible for nearly $15,000 in public funding.
That sent taxpayer money to a candidate who didn't have the grassroots support to qualify.
Not a word from the CFB, even after Adams then instructed her supporters to add Mamdani to their ranked-choice ballots.
Wink-wink, a publicly financed quid pro quo.
CFB also chose to ignore Mamdani's biggest in-kind contributor: the Democratic Socialists of America.
On Monday, a DSA Zoom call boasted of its work on Mamdani's behalf: 1.6 million door knocks, 2.3 million phone dials and 30,000 volunteers, who canvassed in at least 60 neighborhoods.
Businesses face severe restrictions on such donations, and candidates have to report every penny of the in-kind resources they receive.
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But the DSA poured millions of dollars' worth of expertise and sweat equity into Mamdani's hostile takeover of the Democratic Party — and the CFB was mum.
Mamdani was also backed by a broad network of leftist nonprofits that receive taxpayer funding courtesy of Democratic legislators and supply the expertise, manpower and connections to win political races.
These nonprofits are outstripping the unions in impact and influence.
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A close look at Mamdani's fund-raising illustrates how taxpayers are getting fleeced by this nonprofit advocacy-industrial complex.
Mamdani raised $1,708,494 in individual contributions, which the CFB matched 8-to-1, giving him $7,050,417 in taxpayer funds.
That's a whopping $8.75 million, just for the primary race.
But according to CFB filings, 94% of Mamdani's small-dollar haul was 'bundled' by one person, Jerrod MacFarlane.
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Bundling is a technical term for gathering donations from multiple givers, and MacFarlane is a professional fund-raiser with Action Lab, a left-of-center group.
The bundling suggests that Mamdani's campaign was less a groundswell of spontaneous support — and more an organized effort by powerful leftist groups with long fund-raising lists at their disposal.
It may not violate the law, but it is contrary to the principle behind the taxpayer-funded matching program.
The CFB did not respond to my questions regarding MacFarlane's bundling — and his name then disappeared from its list of fundraising 'intermediaries.'
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Action Lab is headquartered in Brooklyn, thanks to a 'community projects' grant sponsored by Rep. Nydia Velazquez that paid for the building.
There's a pattern here: In a city and state dominated by the left, lawmakers are using taxpayer money to boost the nonprofit radical advocacy-industrial complex, which in turn helps orchestrate their re-election.
The CFB pretends not to see, and lavishly doles out tax dollars to fund the rigged system.
CFB also puts a thumb on the scale through its own aggressive voter 'education and engagement' operation — frequently collaborating with leftist groups like the Legal Defense Fund.
The goal isn't maximum turnout, but to turn out specific groups, including former felons, new immigrants and the youth vote.
That is, likely Democratic voters.
CFB even provides provide food, paid transportation and paid childcare — all courtesy of the taxpayers — to engage those targeted audiences.
Sounds almost illegal.
It's past time to eliminate the CFB, let taxpayers off the hook — and ask whether Mamdani actually won the Democratic primary in a fair fight.
Betsy McCaughey is a former lieutenant governor of New York and co-founder of the Committee to Save Our City.