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Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC. Now, we're going to ask, who are the people with money and power trying to influence the New York City mayoral race and other elections in this New York City election year? We'll talk about that now as we take a look at endorsements and interest groups spending in city politics as we head toward the June primary.

With me for this, our WNYC Senior Political Reporter Brigid Bergin, covering the mayoral race, and Gothamist Editor David Cruz, who has a new article on deep-pocketed political action committees pouring big bucks into New York City Council races. We'll also touch on Brigid's new article about the viability of the women running for mayor this year. New York City has never had a woman mayor as most you know. Hi, Brigid. Hi, David.

David: Hi.

Brigid: Hi.

Brian: Let's start with these endorsements. Some of them at least. Let's start with a big one from just the last few days. The big healthcare workers union local 1199, which historically turns out a lot of votes, has endorsed Maya Wiley for Mayor now. Brigid, why Maya Wiley for 1199?

Brigid: They talked about how her position, her platform supports the issues that matter to their workers. It's a union that represents healthcare workers across this city, has a large number of women of color within its membership. They talked about how elements of her platform, she has a whole element of her platform that talks about a care economy and supporting people who provide care to whether it's childcare or eldercare and supporting and building an infrastructure around that. That is among the issues that resonate, I think with their membership.

As you mentioned though, Brian, this is a huge endorsement and came during a week that didn't start up great for Maya Wiley. To get that boost last week means that it really gives a big jolt of viability to her campaign because 1199 is known for their political operation.

When I was talking to them last week, one of the things-- They have been successful in the past, they backed Bill de Blasio, the only major union to back Bill de Blasio in 2013, but also in 2020, they were running campaigns across the country virtually. They were really honing in on their digital skills in places like Georgia and Texas and Florida to support the Biden administration, so their members feel very comfortable with the types of tools they might need to rely on while campaigning during a pandemic. That makes the weight of this endorsement even more powerful because not only is it the backing of this organization, but it's expanding the number of volunteers who are beating the drum for Maya Wiley.

Brian: You said last week didn't start out great for Wiley, that was because there's some bad fundraising numbers and we'll get to that when we get to the money part of this endorsements and money conversation, but let's stay on endorsements for now. One more about Maya Wiley, the other organizational endorsement I see for her and I'm curious how significant you think this is, in turnout terms. It's democracy for America, a progressive wing of the Democratic Party group founded by Howard Dean, some people will remember after he was the progressive wing, Democratic primary candidate for president in 2004. What does a DFA endorsement tell us? Do you think they have clout in the context of a New York City mayoral primary?

Brigid: I think that that's an open question, but my sense is there are a lot of organizations who are more rooted here in New York City, who have organized here on the ground actively that probably whose endorsement will bring more weight. I think that is also a reflection of the national profile that Maya Wiley brings, given her time on MSNBC as a legal analyst, in terms of what it's going to mean for that type of volunteering that I was describing that 1199 will bring to her campaign. It's not clear to me yet what a DFA endorsement will actually do for her.

Brian: Wiley has some individual politicians and celebrities like state senator Michael Gianaris, the number two ranking state senator from a progressive wing of the party, some Manhattan city council members, and people from the arts and entertainment, including Kathy Griffin, Rosie O'Donnell, and Alyssa Milano.

Let's go on to Scott Stringer. He's got the biggest list based on an article on the new site, City & State that aggregated endorsements last week. Stringer's got the Retail and Department Store Workers Union, the Communications Workers Union, and Alliance of South Asian American Labor Groups, a number of local Democratic clubs from the Central Brooklyn Independent Democrats to West Harlem Progressive Democratic Club, and a list of others like that. He's got politicians, actors, and activists ranging from Congress members Nadler, Espaillat, and Bowman, to environmentalists Bill McKibben, and Actor Scarlett Johansson. What is the string of Stringer endorsements, and that it takes up half a page on City & State tell you?

Brigid: Well, I'm so glad you gave a shout-out to City & State, and I will add to that Jeff Colton, who has been doing great work. I think all of us trying to cover this mayor's race, David Cruz, Liz Kim, my colleague, there are so many candidates. The more reporters covering it and reading some of this information into one spot for us to find it, the better.

What's interesting about Scott Stringer's endorsements, certainly, from the day that he launched a standing there with some of those city's most progressive politicians in state elected office, folks who he had backed when they were running, who then stood there with him. I'm talking about people like Assembly Member Yuh-Line Niou, Jessica Ramos, these are people who not only represent the progressive wing of the Democratic Party within the city but also are very savvy online, have an ability to spread a message via social media.

I think that there's something interesting and noteworthy about some of those endorsements. He is picking up some of the other union endorsements, he's going to pick up another union endorsement later today from the building construction trades. What we don't hear and have not seen in the endorsements yet, are some of the other huge city unions who also will play a major role in this mayoral race. I'm talking about the teachers union, DC 37, the Union representing the city's municipal workers. Those are huge endorsements. In 2013, we saw those unions split in terms of who they supported.

It will be interesting to see and I think at this point likely that we will see some of those splits again. I had a campaign staffer say to me last week that they expected that Stringer might be in line for UFT. We have no knowledge of that, but that was the rumbling from a campaign staffer, but an endorsement like that is a really big deal because, again, they also have a political operation, and they have an ability to turn out both voters and spread a message. We'll be watching all of that.

Brian: We'll get to the money side of this in a minute with Gothamist David Cruz who's also on the line with us. David, thank you for your patience. I want to go through two other mayoral candidates and their endorsements, both of whom are somewhat significant when you look at the list. Other people don't have as many endorsements, it doesn't mean folks that they're not as good candidates, but we're just looking at the endorsements right now.

Ray McGuire, former vice-chair of Citigroup now running for mayor. Some notable celebs, Spike Lee, Samuel L. Jackson, plus Patrick Ewing, and Charles Oakley from Basketball World plus not a celebrity, Gwen Carr, Eric Garner's mother, and a racial justice activists now, no real organizations or sitting elected officials, but an interesting small group of prominent individuals there.

Eric Adams, the Brooklyn Borough President running for mayor and a former NYPD Captain has the New York State Court Officers Association that union and the State Public Employees Federation that's the state-level workers, village reform Democrats, a number of elected officials, including Laurie Cumbo, Peter Ku, Adonis Rodriguez. Are you surprised, Brigid that Eric Adams for all his experience and really the force that he has been in New York politics for a long time, like Scott Stringer doesn't have more at this point.

Brigid: It's late and yet it's early. Brian, I think that as I mentioned, we've got major unions that have not yet announced their endorsements. I'm sure that he is in conversation and is actively seeking the support of those organizations. I think that he will see more endorsements from other elected officials. He's doing a very interesting event today with one of the other mayoral candidates. He and City Council Member, Carlos Menchaca are doing an event today. I think-- [crosstalk]

Brian: That's really interesting. What do you make of that? Because Menchaca, who's a very interesting candidate and I think he's running to be the most left candidate, tell me if you disagree on City & State-- By the way, that's how Bill de Blasio ran in '13 and won. That he was the most progressive candidate out of the field and Menchaca is a very interesting candidate, but he has zero endorsements on the City & State article.

Brigid: That's true. I think that Dianne Morales probably would give him a run for his money in terms of being to the left and a progressive candidate and does have endorsements. He also entered the race late. I think there's something to be said for the timing. Timing also speaks to the organization that you have behind your campaign. I think that is a challenge for a candidate like Menchaca.

I think the idea of the two of these candidates appearing together, obviously, both from Brooklyn it is strategic obviously. It gives them both an opportunity to potentially get some coverage. At this point in the race, name recognition is still a huge part of the game, making sure that voters know who you are. As we have seen a little bit teasing that idea of people who are trying to get multiple endorsements, first and second place endorsements.

This will be our first major primary with rank choice voting. We've already seen Senator Gustavo Rivera in the Bronx announce his first place endorsement for City Comptroller Scott Stringer, but then also saying that his second choice is Dianne Morales. I think to the extent that we see people issuing dual endorsements, we may also see more candidates teaming up together to try to appeal to voters in that same way.

Brian: Fascinating. All right, David Cruz from Gothamist. Your article is about outside money rather than outside endorsements and focusing more on city council races, but there's obviously overlap. You start out with a PAC or Political Action Committee founded by someone who helped AOC get elected to Congress. Who is that? Or what is that PAC and where are they getting their money from?

David: The PAC is called our city and it's being operated by Gabe Tobias, who did help, as you said, elect Representative Ocasio Cortez. They're focused on bankrolling about 15 candidates with a platform for greater equity surrounding housing, education, public safety, and recovery. I spoke to Gape Tobias last night and he framed his political action committee, not as a traditional independent expenditure because they're not relying on big donors, but more like just small-time donors.

Obviously, this contrasts with another PAC that had formed late last year called Common Sense, which is largely funded by Steven Ross, a billionaire, and chair of the related companies, which of course, is invested in Hudson Yards. The PAC like our city is ready to pour hundreds of thousand of dollars into the election, especially these council races. They've shown their financial might for the 24th council district race where the Baptist centrist Democrat James Gennaro by running $200,000 worth of negative ads against Moumita Ahmed, a progressive candidate.

This is essentially very early. I think that more money will be pouring in as we get closer to the June election, but I should point out too that a big part of the money being put in is through the Campaign Finance Board and their generosity to one matching program that stretches money for small-time donors and reduces the influence of PACs with a variety of thresholds that need to be met.

About a week ago, the CFB announced it has so far contributed a record $37 million to this election alone and between the private dollars and the CFB money, I spoke to Doug Muzzio for this article over at Baruch College, and he estimates that this will be the most expensive election in New York City history. Of course, the CFB expects to release updated financials for the candidates and these PACs by March 15th and we'll be looking at that.

Brian: How does the public matching fund system in the city, as you say, up to an eight times match in tax dollars for small donations to candidates, it's intended to level the playing field so that big corporate PACs and big union PACs can't dominate, how much does it do it, or how much does it fall short of that goal in recent history to the extent that you could tell?

David: Well, this is brand new. The program is an eight-to-one, it's a brand new program. The last selection was a six to one matching program. Also, the fact that just $100 can become $900 for one candidate. That is what forces these PACs to start contributing more because they know that they are going toe to toe with the CFB, whose goal is to essentially just try and equalize these elections.

This is essentially a brand new that we haven't seen for New York City, where this generosity to one matching program can essentially really go against these large PACs. Of course, there are restrictions for PACs as well, they have to contribute a limited amount of money if they have business before the city. Whereas small-dollar donations can-- If you build them over time, can really be very formidable against these PACs.

Brian: We heard about some of the union clout in the endorsement section, are there certain corporate sectors which if they endorse a candidate-- If the real estate industry-endorsed a candidate it would probably backfire in the New York City election, so they might spend a lot of money. Are there certain corporate sectors spending the most or likely to this year? Can you see that yet?

David: There is a independent expenditure that had formed for Ray McGuire, who's been pegging himself as the centrist Democrat, and also this former wall street executive. There's a PAC called in New York for Ray, and it's essentially exclusively created for Mr. Maguire. The PAC is running in tandem with his own money that he's raised. He's raised about $5 million in private funds. Also, he has not participated in the eight-to-one matching program. You have this--

Brian: As a former vice-chair of Citigroup he's got those kinds of connections, Ray McGuire, correct?

David: Correct. I think that is what helps him be a viable candidate. He's going up against folks like Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams and Comptroller Scott Stringer, two leading contenders, who have the most money. Of course, all this can change next month when we look at what Andrew Yang has pulled in. He recently announced that he has achieved the threshold to qualify for matching funds.

The Campaign Finance Board won't be able to confirm that until March 15th. It is worth noting that McGuire has opted not to participate in the matching funds program, which clearly hasn't hurt him. It clearly shows that there is a concerted effort by the business community to see him become the next mayor. Of course, as Brigid reported, Maya Wiley came short in the matching funds' program, but with the 1199 endorsement, I wouldn't rule Ms. Wiley out just yet.

Brian: Brigid, a little more on endorsements, we haven't mentioned Sean Donovan yet, who was the former budget director for President Obama, as well as having been a housing official in the Bloomberg administration, but with his Obama administration back on, and he's got some national figures like Senator John Hickenlooper of Colorado, I don't know why that matters in a New York City mayoral race.

It's interesting a former US Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx, former mayor of Philadelphia, Michael Nutter, which is interesting, the former mayor of New Orleans Mitch Landrieu, the former mayor of Miami Manny Diaz, Interesting list for Sean Donovan. Katherine Garcia running in the hyper-competent lane because Mayor de Blasio keeps appointing her to run things that are being messed up and she's bailing them out. She gets the Teamsters local 831. I think that's the sanitation union.

Brigid: The Teamsters. Then, absolutely the sanitation workers.

Brian: The sanitation Chiefs Association as well. What about Andrew Yang? I'm seeing Ritchie Torres, which might surprise people, the newly elected congressman from the Bronx. Ron Kim, who, of course, has been in the news, the assembly member from Queens who Andrew Cuomo, bullied on the telephone. He's been in the news so much he's endorsing Andrew Yang. John Leguizamo interesting one from this stage, Amy Schumer endorsing Andrew Yang. What is the Andrew Yang endorsement list reflect?

Brigid: Well, I think someone like Congressman Ritchie Torres was one of the earliest endorsers and appeared in his launch video. Really describes that the breath of fresh air that Yang brings to the position of mayor. I think some of this you also see that there were these questions about New York City authenticity, and that somewhat silly narrative. I think a name like John Leguizamo, those are folks who I think contribute to the sense of someone who is rooted here in the city.

I think again, this is a list that's going to evolve and likely grow. Yang is absolutely a formidable candidate. The very limited public polling we have seen, he really trump's the field so far because he has such significant name recognition. He knows how to-- He understands the media, probably as well if not better than a lot of the folks. Even when he does something or throws something out there that he gets criticized for, he still manages.

A great example, his team put out some information, as David mentioned, and my colleague, Liz Kim reported about, that he had met the fundraising threshold to qualify for matching funds. He timed that information to come out the same week that the campaign finance board was actually announcing who did receive matching funds for the latest disclosure filing. Now, because he set up his campaign when he did and didn't get into the program until he did, as David mentioned, his first filing won't even be submitted to the campaign finance board.

We won't be able to see who has contributed to his campaign and who he is saying he has contributions from until March. On top of that, then the CFPB does its audit, and that's when they go back and look at is the information that has been filed-- Are the I's dotted? Are the T's crossed? Everyone who he was saying is from a certain address, are they from that address? It's not until April, that we'll actually know how much money he gets. I think it's really interesting to see how he has been able-- That means essentially, he will likely get three stories out of a single campaign finance filing. It's just a sign of how I think they understand how to operate in this system.

Brian: Media savvy, but also, therefore, requiring media scrutiny. This is WNYC-FMHD AM New York, WNJT-FM 88.1 Trenton, WNJP 88.5 Sussex, WNJY 89.3 Netcong, and WNJ0 90.3 Toms River. We are in New York and New Jersey Public Radio. Almost out of time for this conversation about who the people are with money and power trying to influence the New York City mayoral race and other elections in this New York City election year with endorsements or money.

I want to end on something slightly different. David, maybe you can take this for a quick comment. Candidates lining up to position themselves on the Cuomo scandal. New York One did a good job of aggregating this last night and you have Menchaca and Morales among the mayoral candidates, calling on Cuomo to resign or be impeached. Maya Wiley and Scott Stringer calling for an investigation and to rescind his emergency powers. Eric Adams wouldn't comment. I'm just curious if Adams whose endorsement list was also notable for the State Employees Unions rather than City Employees Unions on the list. If Eric Adams is particularly aligned with Cuomo, among the mayoral field? If you have a sense of that.

David: It's a good question. I think it's still February, and I think he wants to stay mum to see how this plays out. If it continues to look bad for Cuomo, it may very well-- Eric Adams may very well just start publicly expressing what the public is refreshing with respect to the nursing home scandal. I think it's still pretty early, I'm going to say we're about four months out. Perhaps in two months, things will turn around, maybe the COVID rates go back down, and Cuomo's numbers go back up again.

It'll just give Adams the opportunity to just go ahead and accept the endorsement. I think with the rest of the candidates who already expressed outrage over the scandal, it's clear that they perhaps knew that they were not going to get the endorsement to begin with. So best to just go out and be pretty vocal about it in the same way that so many other lawmakers have.

Brian: Brigid a last thought on this. Do you think that either Cuomo or de Blasio are going to endorse in the mayoral primary?

Brigid: I think if either of them do it will be much closer to when voting starts. Certainly, we've seen them both dance a little bit around it. Bill de Blasio, talking about the challenges of being mayor, and Andrew Cuomo, talking about what the candidates for Mayor should be talking about at a recent press conference. You don't see any of the candidates really racing for those endorsements right now. If we get into June, and the race has really tightened, it seems an endorsement like that could help a candidate, it wouldn't surprise me if, at that point, one of them decided to get in the race.

Brian: Certainly, in a Democratic primary in this climate, sure it's a complicated judgment call for these candidates to make as to whether a de Blasio endorsement or a Cuomo endorsement is a positive or a negative for them. On that question, we leave it with our Brigid Bergin and David Cruz, two members of the team covering the New York City elections this year for WNYC and Gothamist. Thanks, Brigid. Thanks, David.

Brigid: Thank you.

David: Thank you.

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