REAL ESTATE, LEGAL BIZ ERIC’S BIGGEST FANS
Adams’ reelection campaign, which has banked about $3M so far, rakes in most from law firms & developers
New York’s real estate and legal industries drove much of Mayor Adams’ latest campaign cash haul, the latest filings show, helping put the mayor ahead of any would-be competitors for his 2025 campaign.
It was one of several findings in a Daily News analysis of his latest campaign finance report released Tuesday showing Adams raised $399,000 from last July 14 to Jan. 12. All told, Adams has raised a total of about $3 million so far as he vies for a second term.
Here’s a look at some key observations from Adams’ latest campaign haul, which covers the most recent six-month period:
Big presence in legal, real estate
The legal world stood among the top sectors to contribute to Adams’ campaign, with at least six dozen individuals contributing over $70,000 during the reporting period. Almost half came from one firm. (More on that below.)
Real estate companies large and small also chipped in to Adams’ latest haul, with some four dozen contributors with job titles that include real estate agent, developer, builder or CEO in a development firm giving money.
Adams has made it known he’s a pro-business mayor ready to streamline bureaucracy for the sake of real estate developers looking to build in New York City. The amounts from real estate interests total at least $51,720.
Among the developers is Sam Charney, who is currently involved in building a 261-unit property in Gowanus, and David Neil, a principal at the Durst Organization, a New York City real estate firm with a major foothold in several well-known properties. Each gave Adams’ campaign $2,100.
Manhattan edges out Brooklyn
Residents in Manhattan contributed more to Adams than his home borough of Brooklyn.
Campaign numbers show at least 111 contributors that call Manhattan home gave to the mayor, with numbers that range from $10 to $2,100. The majority of those contributions were matched by the city’s Campaign Finance Board. Adams is participating in the 8-to-1 matching funds program that allows him to collect extra money from the city in a program designed to limit influence from deep-pocketed donors.
Adams’ home borough of Brooklyn was nearly as generous to the mayor, with over 100 Brooklynites giving to Adams, who once served as its borough president.
Brooklyn has doubled as the epicenter for political power in the city given that all three citywide elected officials — Adams, Comptroller Brad Lander and Public Advocate Jumaane Williams — hail from the borough. The filings also showed that while Brooklyn was good to Adams, the mayor had to issue refunds to some of his supporters.
Law firm biggest single booster
Dozens of employees at a Manhattan law firm participating in a fellow program that provides legal help to City Hall pumped nearly $30,000 into Mayor Adams’ campaign coffers, the new filings show.
The wave of donations from lawyers at the high-powered firm, King & Spalding, marked the largest contribution from a single company to Adams in the recent filing.
King & Spalding spokeswoman Micheline Tang said this fall’s donations were made as part of a fundraiser held at the firm’s office. Thirty-eight King & Spalding employees — including Ed Kehoe, the firm’s managing partner — gave Adams’ reelection bid a combined $29,505 between this past Oct. 11 and Nov. 8, according to campaign finance filings released Tuesday.
The city partnership that King & Spalding’s involved in was announced by Adams in November 2022. Under the initiative, dubbed the “Legal Fellows Program,” King & Spalding and eight other law firms would assign attorneys to work for city agencies in order to help the Adams administration address lawyer staff shortages in the municipal ranks, according to a City Hall press release. Salaries for the attorneys would be covered by their firms.
Contribution restrictions do not apply to the firm because it’s not compensated by the city for the program, Tang said.
Adams returns exceed $100,000
The campaign returned contributions 91 times during the past six months, totaling over $125,000, according to the filings.
It returned one in June, five in July, 33 in August, three in September, seven in October, two in November, and 41 times so far in January. This compares with 61 returns made in the last period covering January to July 2022 despite having raised $1.3 million in that period.
Adams’ campaign compliance attorney Vito Pitta said some donors gave more than legal limit.
Ensnaring the Adams campaign in the latter part of 2023 were two separate allegations of illegal donations. The first came in May, when the Manhattan district attorney’s office unearthed a straw donor scheme involving an Adams ally. The other involved an FBI probe into illegal straw donations involving Adams’ campaign, a Brooklyn-based construction group and the Turkish government.
The Turkey investigation triggered the campaign to suspend fundraising activity until it conducted an internal inquiry to ensure compliance. The campaign said it determined no wrongdoing took place and resumed fundraising once again.