City comptroller candidate Justin Brannan was denied more than $1.5 million in public matching funds by the city’s Campaign Finance Board on Tuesday because he failed to undergo compliance training in time, records show.
The denial is a blow to Brannan, who’s already trailing Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine in the fundraising battle for June’s Democratic comptroller primary. Levine received a payment of over $628,000 in matching funds Tuesday, adding to the roughly $1.2 million he got in public cash last month for a total cash balance that tops $2 million.
Brannan, meantime, sat on a cash balance of about $300,000 as of the close of the last reporting period, all of it raised from private donors. Last month, Brannan, who chairs the Council’s Finance Committee, said in a statement his comptroller campaign was expecting to get its first public matching funds payout Tuesday for a total of more than $1.5 million.
But the Campaign Finance Board wrote in records that Brannan was denied the matching payment Tuesday because he “did not complete compliance training before the deadline.”
Jon Paul Lupo, a spokesman for Brannan’s campaign, confirmed the Councilmember missed a Feb. 3 deadline to finish a campaign finance compliance training session due to “scheduling conflicts.” Brannan’s team has since completed the training and expects to get the full public matching funds allocation on the board’s next payout set for March 17, said Lupo.
The public matching funds program, administered by the Campaign Finance Board, provides candidates an eight-to-one match for every dollar donated by local residents up to the first $250. Those funds give a huge bump to candidates, who need the money for staff, ads and office and event space, among other things.
Jumaane Williams, the city’s public advocate and next in line to be mayor should Eric Adams resign or be forced out, also did not qualify for a matching funds payout Tuesday. That could pose an issue if Williams runs for mayor in a special election, as he’s indicated he may be ready to do.
Williams has not met the threshold to receive the public funding, with just $69,000 in his campaign coffers as he runs for reelection.
Jenifer Rajkumar, now running against Williams in the public advocate’s race after switching from running for comptroller, received a public payment of over $1,092,000 on Tuesday.
Adams, who has resisted growing calls to resign and hasn’t indicated he has any plans to step out of his race for re-election, was also denied matching funds, with the board upholding a December decision blocking him from getting the public cash due to his federal corruption indictment. He has pleaded not guilty to charges that include involvement in a straw donor scheme to disguise contributions from foreign nationals.
As of late January, Adams had not appealed his denial of funds, records obtained by the Daily News show.
Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani, who’s running against Adams in June’s primary, had the biggest matching funds haul out of the mayoral field at $2,827,443, followed by State Sen. Zellnor Myrie at $2,200,109.
“More than 7,000 New Yorkers have donated to our campaign – the most of any, by far,” Mamdani said in a statement. “Now their small dollar contributions will be turbocharged by nearly $3 million in matching funds, giving us the resources to win this election and refocus City government on addressing the cost of living crisis.”
Comptroller Brad Lander Lander and former Comptroller Scott Stringer, also mayoral candidates, both raked in just short of $700,000 in public cash, and State Sen. Ramos did not meet the threshold to receive matching funds.
