Follow the Money (D-49): Entry 2

In Plea for the Fifth’s first look at campaign financing for the City Council District 49 race to replace Councilwoman Debi Rose, there were 12 candidates running in the Democratic primary – nine were included in our analysis. The field has since grown to include 15 candidates as of March 15, the end of the last campaign financing reporting cycle. In addition to the nine candidates who received at least $500 in donations through January, Abou Dikhate, David Hernandez, and Aidan Rivera have each fundraised at least $500 since launching their campaigns this year.

In fact, since the arrival of January’s campaign financing deadline, the 12 highest fundraisers have raised an additional $52,000, and attracted 726 new donors.

During this two month period, Michael Schnall has experienced the most rapid influx of donations – increasing his previous fundraising by 43 percent. Troy McGhie, however, attracted the most new donors since the close of the last filing period. McGhie increased his number of donors by 62 percent. The gains in new donors and donations haven’t truly changed the overall fundraising picture much from last time.

Amoy Barnes, Kamillah Hanks, and Ranti Ogunleye still remain the three highest fundraisers. Barnes, Ogunleye, and Kelvin Richards also remain those with the most individual donors.

Philippe-Edner Apostol-Marius and Hanks still have the lowest and highest average Staten Island donation, respectively. Fundraising newcomer, Hernandez, has the second highest average donation, closely trailing Hanks, however.

_{If you’re interested in learning more about how matching funding can illuminate the dynamics of candidates fundraising, see Entry 1.}

In the last iteration of this analysis, Apostol-Marius had the highest proportion of his New York City donations eligible to be matched by the NYC Campaign Finance Board. Over 95 percent of Apostol-Marius’ haul is still eligible to be matched, but 100 percent of Rivera’s New York City donations are eligible to be matched. This means that every single donation to Rivera’s campaign from residents of the city is less than $175.

Individual Candidates

Philippe-Edner Apostol-Marius

Community Liaison for Assembly Member Richard Gotfriend (D-75)

Apostol-Marius has still received the second-lowest amount of money in donations so far. His six largest individual donors have not changed since January. They have each contributed $175. Two of them live in Brooklyn, two live in Manhattan, and two live in Staten Island. Apostol-Marius is presently receiving one-third of his funding from outside of Staten Island.

Amoy Barnes

Staten Island Director of the DOE Education Transition and College Access Center

Barnes has retained the top fundraising spot in the District 49 race. In addition to her original three highest donors (The United Healthcare Workers East Union (1199 SEIU), International Union of Painters and Allied Trades Political Action Together Political Committee, and one individual donor from Staten Island), she also added another top donor from Schenectady, New York. Each of her top donors has contributed $1,000. Barnes’ campaign is still receiving most of its donations from donors living outside of Staten Island. 21 percent of her donations are coming from outside of NYC.

Abou Diakhate

Personal Assistant to the Surrogate in the New York State Unified Court System

Of the candidates with over $500 in donor contributions, Diakhate has the highest percentage of his campaign funding coming from Staten Islanders (87 percent). Diakhate’s largest donation ($250) comes from a single donor in Staten Island.

Selina Grey

Former Campaign Manager City Councilwoman Debi Rose (D-49)

Grey is receiving just under 30 percent of her funding from outside of Staten Island. Her largest donations have increased from $500 to $1,000 since January. Presently, her two largest donations come from individuals in Staten Island and Albany, respectively.

Kamillah Hanks

President & CEO of the Historic Tappen Park

Hanks has retained her position as the second-highest fundraiser of the candidates running for this City Council seat. Hanks continues to bring in the most money from the South Shore. Just over nine percent ($3,150) of her Staten Island donations are coming from the 10307 zip code, which includes all of Tottenville. She’s gained one more top donor, increasing her number of top donors to eight. Her highest donors are each contributing $1,000. Two of these seven donors include the CEO and COO of The Angiuli Group, a real estate agency located in Tompkinsville. Of the eight, all, but two, are from Staten Island. The non Staten Islanders live in Brooklyn and Hoboken, New Jersey, respectively.

David Hernandez

Councilwoman Debi Rose’s Director of Constituent Services

Hernandez currently has the lowest percentage of his New York City donation eligible to be matched (39 percent). Additionally, he currently ranks right behind Hanks in terms of highest average donation ($110). Just about a third of his donations are coming from outside of Staten Island, and about 18 percent of his donations are coming outside of the city. He is currently his own largest contributor to his campaign, donating $2,000 to his own campaign.

John McBeth

Deacon at St. Philip’s Baptist Church

McBeth continues to maintain just around 80 percent of his donations from Staten Islanders. This gives him the third highest proportion of donations from the borough. He’s still his own largest donor contributing $1,000 to his own campaign.

Troy McGhie

Teacher & Basketball Coach

McGhie continues to receive just over a third of his funding from outside of Staten Island – 22 percent of his funding coming from outside of NYC. His largest donor is still a single individual from Staten Island who has contributed $1,000.

Ranti Ogunleye

Director of the Gerard Carter Cornerstone of Staten Island’s Jewish Community Center

Ogunleye has moved into the third position for total amount of money fundraised so far. In addition, he’s also moved comfortably into the second position with regard to the number of individual donors to his campaign. Around 57 percent of his donations are coming from outside of Staten Island. He continues to receive his largest individual donations from five individuals – none of whom live on Staten Island. Two individuals from Queens, one from Roswell, Georgia, one from Chicago, Illinois, and one from Birmingham, Michigan, have each contributed $1,000 to Ogunleye’s campaign.

Kelvin Richards

Public Defender at the Legal Aid Society

Richards currently has the second highest percentage of his campaign funding coming from Staten Islanders (85 percent). Richards also has the third highest number of individual donors for this race so far. His largest donations are now coming from three individuals from Staten Island, all contributing $500.

Aidan Rivera

Shift Supervisor at G4S International Employment Services

Rivera has currently fundraised the least amount of money for this election. Over half of his fundraising is coming from outside of Staten Island, and 30 percent of it from outside of the city. His largest monetary contribution ($175) comes from one donor living in Staten Island.

Michael Schnall

Vice President of Government Relations and Community Investment at NY Road Runners

Over the last two months, Schnall has fundraised the most money ($8,300) of any of the candidates running for this City Council seat. Schnall continues to be the only candidate without a plurality of his financial contributions coming from Staten Island. The plurality of his donations (39 percent) are coming from outside of the city altogether. He has added one more top contributor during this funding cycle, bringing his number of $1,000 donors to four. None of his four largest financial contributors are Staten Islanders. Four individuals from Manhattan, Chicago, Delray Beach, Florida, and Aldie, Virginia have each contributed $1,000 to his campaign. His Manhattan and Chicago contributors are both attorneys working for Holland & Knight LLP.

Cover Photo: Illustration by Xio