In NYC Council District 4, Buck the PACs and Billionaires and Rank Vanessa Aronson, Ben Wetzler, and Lukas Florczak

Forget the mayoral primary. The New York City Council race in the district next to mine is truly wild.

There were supposed to be a few “hot” NYC Council races this year, one in Park Slope, another in Sunset Park, but despite a fair amount of outside spending and vitriol, incumbents are expected to win those races relatively easily. People were also focusing on District 2 where Anthony Weiner is trying (but failing) to launch his political comeback. Few people were paying attention to the Upper East Side where politics are often relatively sleepy. Last time there was an open City Council seat on the Upper East Side, in District 5, we had a slew of well-qualified candidates. I had no trouble ranking five and I don’t remember any spending by outside PACs. There was little media coverage.

One district away, in District 4, which spans from East 93rd Street all the way down to StuyTown, it is anything but quiet. With Council Member Keith Powers term-limited, there is an open seat and it has become a circus with one candidate opting out of the public matching fund program, and corporate PACs and billionaire MAGA activists spending obscenely on behalf of three candidates in the race.

I don’t live in the district but I am telling my friends and family members (including my parents) to rank only three candidates in this race: Rank Vanessa Aronson 1st, Ben Wetzler 2nd, Lukas Florczak 3rd, and do not rank any other candidates. Conveniently for me, Vanessa and Ben recently co-endorsed. Vanessa is the past president of the Lexington Democratic Club where I am a relatively inactive member. I’ve met her a few times on Zoom and “real life” and like her a lot. I’ve never met Ben Wetzler personally but I’ve liked a lot of his tweets and he is supported by my friends at the Four Freedoms Democratic Club. Both Vanessa and Ben are rooted in the district and have long resumes of public service and are not funded by billionaires. I’ve never met Lukas Florczak and he did not raise much money or qualify for matching funds. But he is a person with integrity, trying to get the message out about veterans.

But the other candidates are a different story!

It started a year ago when a friend from the midwest wrote to me to introduce me to Rachel Storch, who had moved to New York City from Missouri where she had been a Democratic member of the State House. I was busy and it was the summer and we never ended up meeting. The next thing I knew, she had launched her campaign and was opting out of New York City’s public matching funds program. This was a red flag, as the vast majority of City Council candidates choose to participate in the public matching fund program for good reason. I’m a big fan of the program, which allows candidates without great personal wealth or wealthy friends and acquaintances to run for office, and allows small-dollar donors from the community to have an impact on races which previously were the domain of wealthy donors, including those from out of state. As of November, over 40% of Storch’a donations came from out-of-town, especially from Florida, Missouri, and Washington, D.C. Among her donors were Jared Kushner’s parents, who each donated $1600. (Jared’s father, Charles, is a Trump-pardoned felon and is Trump’s appointee to be Ambassador to France.)

Fast forward to this spring.

First, I noticed that the group PLACE NYC, co-founded by Maud Maron, a controversial figure, known for her anti-trans advocacy and votes for Republicans Lee Zeldin and Donald Trump and who is now running as a Republican against Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg, endorsed two of the candidates: Faith Bondy and Rachel Storch. (Maron’s co-founder Yiatin Chu also ran as a Republican for New York State Assembly last year.) An eyebrow-raising endorsement in neighborhoods where Harris got over 70% of the vote.

Next, a friend sent me a screenshot of a mailer funded by MAGA Trump donor and online conspiracy theorist Bill Ackman and real estate developers, including MAGA Trump supporter Steven Roth, trying to influence the election by urging voters to rank only three candidates: Faith Bondy, Rachel Storch, and Virginia Maloney (daughter of long time Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney whose district included Council District 4).

That flyer misleadingly implied that voters should “leave the remaining spots blank to keep [their] vote strong and undiluted,” which is a perversion of ranked choice voting which allows you to rank up to five candidates without any concern about diluting your vote It was so troubling to State Senator Liz Krueger that she condemned the outside spending in the race stating that “the targeted attack from an outside entity is disturbing and should be disturbing to everyone, whether they live in this district or not.” Senator Krueger encouraged voters in the district to “remain vigilant about the unprecedented outside influences in this campaign.”

In the last few weeks leading up to the primary, the district has been “swamped by mailers and digital advertising from outside groups backed by companies such as DoorDash and the billionaires Bill Ackman and Steven Roth, who have also supported Mr. Trump. . . . Ms. Maloney has been by far the biggest beneficiary of this outside support with $450,000 backing her.” — according to the New York Times.

Watching the PACs flood into the New York City Mayor’s race has been depressing. One of the PACs supporting Andrew Cuomo has brought in more than $24 million in donations, making it the biggest PAC in New York City history. The non-stop ads are negative and repetitive, and probably end up depressing turnout rather than encouraging it.

There is a microcosm of this phenomenon taking place in City Council District 4 where the spending is out of control, voters are confused (I have received as many calls requesting ranking advice for this district as I have for the mayoral race.)

As Vanessa Aronson said last week in deciding to co-endorse Ben Wetzler, "Like myself, Ben shares the belief that elections should be decided by voters and not be sold to the highest bidder. . . . In a race where MAGA billionaires and DoorDash are trying to buy the District 4 seat, Ben and I have stood up for our voters and sounded the alarm."

In City Council District 4, buck the PACs and vote for the candidates who are not paid for by billionaires and corporate interests. Rank Vanessa Aronson first, Ben Wetzler second, and Lukas Florczak third on your ranked choice ballots.