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CityAndStateNY.com
May 16, 2022
Canceled by coronavirus
By Jeff Coltin
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Bo Dietl, political consultant Stu Loeser and Edward Mermelstein, a real estate attorney Adams appointed to serve as commissioner of the Mayor’s Office of International Affairs. But it wasn’t clear how the transition committee determined whose money got spent and whose money got returned. For example, Mets owner Steve Cohen and his wife Alex Cohen each donated $5,100 to the transition committee on the same day, Nov. 23. But the transition committee only reported processing a refund for Steve Cohen. Hedge fund manager Paul Tudor Jones also wasn’t so lucky – his $5,100 donation got spent, rather than returned. (Though he, too, had already given $600,000 to a pro-Adams super PAC.) A spokesperson with the mayor’s office could not explain how
those refund determinations were made. Vito Pitta, co-managing partner of Pitta LLP, which does campaign fundraising compliance work for Adams, told City & State in an emailed statement that the committee raised more funds than were needed for the costs of the transition. “All unspent funds were returned to donors appropriately and in accordance with CFB rule §13-03(c)(ii),” Pitta wrote. However, that rule merely states that unspent funds should be returned to donors and does not provide any further guidance. That means that, unlike with other campaign committees, Adams could not legally transfer money raised for the transition committee to another account. He had to use it or lose it.
MICHAEL APPLETON/MAYORAL PHOTOGRAPHY OFFICE; JIM MCISAAC/GETTY IMAGES
New York City Mayor Eric Adams didn’t have an inauguration and had to refund $800,000 to his big-time donors.
EW YORK CITY Mayor Eric Adams’ transition committee returned more than $800,000 to donors after he canceled plans for a formal inauguration ceremony earlier this year due to the continued spread of COVID-19. Adams raised more than $1.9 million in two months for his transition and spent roughly $1.2 million of that in the months following his November election. Financial disclosure data posted on the New York City Campaign Finance Board’s website showed the mayor’s team returned the remaining money to donors – $800,236 of it – to 246 people. Some prominent New Yorkers will be getting their money back, including former American Express Chair and CEO Kenneth Chenault and his wife Kathryn, who each gave the limit of $5,100. Ditto for Daniel and Margaret Loeb – though it’s not much compared to the $1 million the prominent hedge fund manager gave during the primary to a super PAC that supported Adams. Loeb is now courting the mayor to show more support for charter schools, CNBC reported. Others getting their $5,100 back included 2017 mayoral candidate and Rao’s dining buddy
