Mayor Adams' 2021 campaign still won't answer key questions about fundraising

Mayor Eric Adams’ 2021 mayoral campaign continues to ignore key questions about its spending nearly two years after the city’s campaign finance watchdog started raising flags about missing documentation and other gaps in the campaign’s records, which have come under increasing scrutiny as the mayor faces a federal indictment and multiple ongoing investigations.

The continued delays come five months after an initial deadline to respond to a draft audit from the Campaign Finance Board, seven months after the watchdog identified $2.3 million in unaccounted expenses, and after nearly two years of asking for extensions to provide documents. Adams’ team has cited the ongoing corruption case against him as the reason for the delay. If the board chooses to penalize Adams for the shortcomings, his campaign could owe thousands of dollars in fines. It’s unclear when the Board will make that determination.

According to new documents Gothamist obtained through a Freedom of Information request, the Adams campaign failed to address six sections of the draft audit from the New York City Campaign Finance Board.

The board had ordered the campaign to provide more documentation or explain discrepancies related to hundreds of donations across 22 categories. But the campaign neglected to explain nearly 150 undocumented or in kind donations associated with unreported fundraisers, prohibited contributions from LLCs, hundreds of donations collected through suspected intermediaries and dozens of donations from admitted straw donors – people who made comments saying they were donating on behalf of someone else.

An attorney for Adams’ campaign acknowledged the campaign's response to the Campaign Finance Board was incomplete, citing the ongoing criminal case against the mayor as the reason.

"Given the ongoing trial, the campaign was not able to respond to a number of findings identified in the Draft Audit Report,” said Vito Pitta, counsel to Adams’ 2021 campaign. He noted the campaign is withholding additional information because it is subject of the ongoing investigation.

Outside of the audit, Adams currently faces a federal five-count criminal indictment that alleges he received more than $100,000 in luxury travel perks and illegal foreign campaign contributions in exchange for official favors from his office.

The Campaign Finance Board’s original 900-page draft audit listed 22 separate categories where the Adams campaign needed to supply more explanation and documentation. The campaign provided a 781-page response made up largely of single-page pay stubs for campaign staff, media ad schedules and invoices.

Unlike Pitta’s comment, the audit response does not acknowledge the ongoing federal case. Rachael Harding, a campaign compliance lawyer and chair of the New York City Bar Association’s election law committee, said she was surprised by the omission – among others.

“I’m not going to say it’s the bare minimum, but it certainly didn’t respond to everything,” Harding said. “It’s not normal for their counsel to respond this way and it’s not normal for a campaign, a candidate who has been involved in city elections, city politics, the CFB for as long as [Adams] has to respond in this way,” she added.

One thing the response does address are the costs of car repairs and tickets charged to the Adams campaign. The campaign said the $10,410 in expenses were for the costs of “repairing and repainting vehicles rented by the Committee for use by the candidate and campaign staff.” The campaign said its long-term rental contract required it to make the repairs. The traffic fines were associated with travel around the city since the cars did not have E-ZPasses.

It is unclear if the Campaign Finance Board will accept this explanation for an appropriate campaign expense. The board had already granted the campaign several extensions for its response to the draft audit, and had said it would not issue any more.

Pitta said the campaign wanted to provide as much information to the Campaign Finance Board as it could at this time.

“In an effort to cooperate as fully as possible in the post-election audit and not delay the process by seeking another extension, the campaign provided a partial response,” Pitta said.

A spokesperson for the Campaign Finance Board declined to comment on what potential enforcement actions the agency may take to penalize the campaign for violations, but the Adams campaign could face significant fines and may need to return any unspent funds. It currently has a balance of just over $41,000 in its 2021 account, a significant adjustment from the more than $560,000 that appeared in the account as of July. The latest statement reflects more than $500,000 in updated expenditures from 2021 to campaign workers, including payroll taxes and Workers Compensation, additional office expenses, fundraising costs, and legal fees.

Earlier this week, the Campaign Finance Board denied Adams’ re-election campaign crucial matching funds, citing the ongoing criminal case against him, a move that elicited praise from civic and government leaders.

The agency has faced mounting pressure to take a tough stance on Adams as the mayor’s political and legal problems have grown. Adams’ chief adviser and longtime confidante Ingrid Lewis-Martin abruptly resigned ahead of the announcement, becoming the latest senior official to depart Adams' team. Within hours of the news that Adams had been denied matching funds, Lewis-Martin said she expected to soon be indicted by the Manhattan district attorney’s office. She said she did not know the nature of the charges, but maintained that she was not guilty.

Board Chair Frederick Schaffer acknowledged the “unusual circumstances” and “great public interest” in their decision to withhold taxpayer matching money from Adams’ re-election campaign. He read a brief prepared statement that said the board reviewed all necessary information, including the five count indictment of the mayor, and decided his reelection campaign was not eligible for a public funds payment, “at this time.”

“Our priority remains achieving an equitable and transparent democracy that is accountable to all New Yorkers,” Schaffer added.

Several good government leaders had been pressuring the Campaign Finance Board to deny the Adams’ campaign any additional public funds.

More than half of the $19 million Adams spent on his 2021 mayoral campaign was from taxpayer matching money. Susan Lerner of Common Cause New York wrote a New York Daily News editorial urging the Campaign Finance Board to refuse Adams matching funds.

“ A candidate for mayor has to be held to a high standard and clearly this mayor has missed the mark so far,” Lerner said. She called the Campaign Finance Board’s decision “the necessary action to protect the system.”