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7 Months Later, No Sign of De Blasio's Promised 'Racial Justice and Reconciliation Commission'


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Mayor de Blasio painting a Black Lives Matter mural (photo: Ed Reed/Mayor's Office)


After weeks of mass demonstrations last June calling out police violence against Black people, New York city and state officials responded by passing and signing legislation for police reform and accountability that had seemed indefinitely stalled, ordering investigations into the policing of the protests themselves, and painting murals as a sign of government solidarity with its people.

One of the commitments made by New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio was to establish a commission to explore, in a comprehensive manner, the history of racial injustice in the city, a broader scope than any standalone reform with the promise by the mayor that it would lead to structural change and the redistribution of wealth and resources. But despite its fanfare (de Blasio held a press conference to announce it, then raised it more than a dozen times in remarks last summer) no public work has been done to advance the project in the seven months since it was proposed and, with less than a year left in office, the de Blasio administration says it is not ready to discuss it.

"By having a Racial Justice and Reconciliation Commission, we are saying officially, we want the truth to come out in the open, and then we want to work structurally to address the falsehoods and the pain and the injustice," de Blasio said at the announcement on June 19, Juneteenth, the day observed by some to commemorate a milestone in the formal end of slavery in the United States. (The same day, he signed an executive order making future Juneteenths a holiday for city employees but hasn't begun the necessary contract negotiations with the city labor unions.)

After more than three weeks of marches, set off by the killing of George Floyd by Minneopolis police on May 25, de Blasio announced the city would establish a commission to examine "the effects of structural and institutional racism in New York City," according to an official press release. In the days leading up to announcement, the mayor himself had been the target of a great deal of criticism, both for the ways the protests were policed and for his lack of progress in many areas of police reform, which had been a central commentent of his 2013 mayoral campaign.

The Racial Justice and Reconciliation Commission would look at racially-motivated violence against Black communities, as well as policies that contribute to and reinforce segregation "with an emphasis on housing, criminal justice, environmental racism and public health." It would be modeled on South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the most famous of its kind, undertaken in the aftermath of Apartheid.

"The commission will examine how the disease of racism has infected all facets of our lives in New York City, from the disruption of families, to the seizure of land and other hard earned assets, from the parade of humiliations that declare we are worthless human beings to the systems that thwart the ability to accumulate wealth, racism has shaped our everyday practices and policies and is reflected in our behaviors and our norms," said First Lady Chirlane McCray, Co-Chair of the Task Force on Racial Equity and Inclusion, at the Juneteeth press briefing.

The commission was not only intended to identify the causes of institutional racism in New York but provide a specific road map to "tear it down in all agencies," de Blasio said at a press briefing two weeks later.

"I want to get to the material and tangible work of changing what we do in this city, redistributing wealth in this city, changing policies that are racist and discriminatory, changing structures that are inherently institutionally racist -- breaking them down," he told reporters at a separate briefing on June 23.

The administration provided few details on how the commission would be composed, who its members would be, who would appoint them, or what kind of budget it would have. Nor did the mayor define to what extent the commission would be independent and how much of a hand he would have in setting its scope and mandate. De Blasio has made no mention of the project in any of the transcripts of his public remarks after August 5.

The Mayor's Office declined to provide any information on the status of the commission in response to several Gotham Gazette inquiries.

"We were very excited when we heard about the proposal...and we're looking forward to see it happening," said Anna Myriam Roccatello, deputy executive director and director of programs at the International Center for Transitional Justice, which had some informal exchanges with the administration around the announcement. "We couldn't support more an initiative of that kind."

"Of course timing is very important because the sooner and the more promptly you demonstrate you want to address something of that significance the better it is, use momentum," Roccatello added. But doing it at a moment of high tensions and political posturing could have adverse effects on the process, she warned.

"Six months is not ideal but it's not so dramatic. It's the six months in context, meaning how much longer de Blasio has in office and how has he used these six months after such a loaded presentation," she said.

The Importance of Independence
Truth and reconciliation commissions are an element of some restorative justice models, often used when state-led or -sanctioned atrocities span policies and generations too numerous to adjudicate in court and which the state's legal system is not intended to address. They are a kind of government-run healing and record-setting process, meant to establish an officially-accepted historical account that comes from sources independent of the government and traditional channels of power, drawn from the testimony of people impacted and disserved by that history.

In the best of circumstances commissions can create powerful tools of fact and accountability that can serve as the basis of policy change. "It responds to a strong agitation from a significant part of the population that represents greivances and instances of exclusion and discrimination," Roccatello told Gotham Gazette in assessing de Blasio's proposal. "It sets the basis for having a participatory process where these issues are discussed, often with a view of addressing through policies -- policies that were demands by the movement itself."

There is always the risk of voices being excluded and cases being left out of the historical record. In New York City, the history of racial discrimination, violation, and neglect is well-documented but less frequently acknowledged in everyday policymaking or by the people who drive it.

Much depends on how data is selected, gathered, and analyzed, how demographic factors are prioritized, and how histories are brought to light -- all of which are choices that must be decided on by the commissioners.

According to Roccatello, the most important element of a truth and reconciliation commission is that it is allowed to be independent, both in its operations and to set its scope.

"In some cases representatives have put their political capital behind an initiative of that type with an ultimate political agenda," she told Gotham Gazette, adding, "and that could be legitimate as long as once the initiative takes off that you retreat and let the process be as independent and legitimate and participatory and inclusive as possible."

While it's not clear if de Blasio will in fact follow through on launching the commission, if he does, his involvement in its work will be closely scrutinized.

The mayor was a frequent target of criticism during the spring and summer Black Lives Matter demonstrations, not only for the NYPD's often aggressive response to predominantly peaceful protesters, but for having been in power during the killing of Eric Garner by police, slowing subsequent investigations into the officers responsible, and meting out limited and delayed discipline of them. He has also been criticized by reformers for having overseen a more than $1 billion increase in the NYPD budget over six years in office, the addition of thousands of members to the police force, and for promising to significantly alter police accountability in the city but showing limited results.

"This is the first time any city or state in America will actually examine our truth," de Blasio said last June. (There have indeed been other commissions of varying kinds established before and since de Blasio's announcement.)

Depending on the scope of the issues under examination, commissions are generally divided into multiple bureaus, with departments dedicated to collecting public and private testimony and investigating emblematic cases. Typically, there are interdisciplinary teams -- social scientists of various kinds, anthropologists, historians, economists -- analyzing the data, ostensibly with a lense toward the human impact of the violations. The work could look at how patterns of abjection developed and embedded themselves in institutions, as intimated by de Blasio in the case of the city's commission announcement.

New York City's Racial Justice and Reconciliation Commission was announced by de Blasio with First Lady Chirlane McCray, who has co-chaired the Task Force on Racial Equity and Inclusion with First Deputy Mayor J. Philip Thompson, since the task force was launched last spring to address racial disparities exacerbated by the pandemic.

Questions remain about how this process, with few successful models in the United States, would function in a city and country with its old and uniquely engrained forms of racism.

New York and the United States have a history of establishing task forces and commissions as a form of political deflection or to excuse the actions of white people. In other cases, government issued reports have been used to sanction practices and underwrite future policies that have had long-lasting and devastating effects on black communities.

Truth in the Present
Implicit in the city's lofty goal is the fact that achieving racial justice and reconciliation is not just an exercise in uncovering the original sins of racism. There are also real-time examples of official truth-seeking in ongoing calamities taking place in underserved communities. They are notably part of current efforts to curtail the disproportionate impact of the coronavirus on communities of color -- what advocates and some elected leaders have described in terms of unfolding atrocities in Black, Latino, and immigrant communities -- that have exacerbated long-standing disparities in health care, housing, and beyond.

At a recent City Council oversight hearing of the de Blasio administration's COVID-19 vaccine programs, Council Member Adrienne Adams, a Queens Democrat and co-chair of the Black, Latino, and Asian Caucus, read a statement from the caucus: "One of the most painful lessons drawn from this crisis was that a failure to provide timely reporting of racial demographic data at the onset of the pandemic resulted in a disproportionate number of dead black and brown New Yorkers that otherwise could have resulted in more aggressive mitigation measures employed in these communities.”

"If the federal government can establish a system that integrates key logistical aspects for delivering and administering vaccines and products to facilitate vaccinations, surely our city and state can do the same," Adams read before the committees and members of the administration, including Health Commissioner Dave Chokshi, "but such a system must be accompanied by a prompt disclosure of racial demographic data to help prevent the further loss of life and ensure that our historically neglected communities receive the desperately needed relief these vaccines provide."

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by Ethan Geringer-Sameth, reporter, Gotham Gazette
     

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Candidates Riding Cash Advantages in City's Down-Ballot Races


city comptroller candidates 4 Dems

(l-r) Comptroller candidates Lander, Benjamin, Weprin, Parker


This article is published in partnership with City Limits. Also read: The Money Race in the Mayoral Primary: January Filing Sets the Stage for 2021

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If money plays a decisive role in the Democratic race for city comptroller, it looks to be a two-candidate affair. But, even in the race to be the city's accountant, money isn't everything.

According to filings with the New York City Campaign Finance Board for the January 15 deadline, just over five months until the all-important primary day in June, Brooklyn City Council Member Brad Lander now has $2.7 million on hand, fueled by $800,000 of his own fundraising and a $2.3 million dose of matching funds in December.

Manhattan State Senator Brian Benjamin, whose fundraising has been the source of controversy, trails Lander by $100,000 in private donations but did on Friday receive a $950,000 injection of matching funds and had $1.5 million on hand as of the filing.

Queens Assemblymember David Weprin had $295,000 in the bank and Brooklyn State Senator Kevin Parker just over $81,000.

However, Weprin was the most successful fundraiser during the July to January period covered by this recent reporting deadline. He hauled in $292,000 to Benjamin's $244,000, Lander's $173,000 and Parker's $119,000. Both Lander and Benjamin started fundraising well before Weprin and Parker.

As of the filing, Parker had raised $122,711 from 663 contributions for an $183 average. Weprin reported having raised a total of $465,212 from 1,431 contributors, for an average of $318. 

Benjamin reported raising a total thus far of $706,046 from 2,146 contributors, for an $327 average. And Lander has reported raising a total of $858,844 from 4,621 contributions for an $169 average.

Down Ballot But Big Money
In 2021 as in earlier years, the race for mayor usually gets the spotlight. But down-ballot races contribute mightily to the cost of New York City's municipal campaigns and the spending that helps reach voters across the city.

In 2013, the last time a large share of offices were thrown open by term limits, mayoral campaigns comprised just under half of the $122 million spent by city candidates. Races for comptroller, public advocate, borough president and City Council made up the rest.

As in any contests, money is just one factor—always important, but not always decisive—in these races. John Liu outspent the field when he won a crowded 2009 primary race to win the nomination and go on to become comptroller. But Eliot Spitzer's heavy spending advantage in 2013 did not help him prevail over Scott Stringer in that comptroller primary.

Last week's fundraising numbers do indicate something about how the down-ballot races are shaping up. In a year featuring an abundance of open seats, pandemic-related restrictions on campaigning, the first use of ranked-choice voting, and a generous eight-to-one matching ratio for public campaign financing of certain eligible contributions, having the most money might not be crucial, but having enough money to compete will be. It's a long five months between now and the June Democratic primary.

The Hunt for Matching Funds
The threshold for receiving public matching funds in the comptroller's race is raising $125,000 in matchable donations from at least 500 New York City residents. Lander qualified in December and received money based on his fundraising through July. Benjamin received public funds on Friday based on the July numbers.

The CFB will now look at the July through January fundraising reported last week to determine whether Parker and Weprin qualify, and to figure out the amounts any qualified candidates are owed. Benjamin and Lander could receive additional money based on their more recent fundraising. The next payout is in February.

Parker, with just over $53,000 in matchable donations, appears to have fallen short of the threshold. Weprin posted what the campaign assesses as matchable donations of more than $209,000, which is enough to qualify, and his campaign said he's expecting nearly $2 million in public matching funds at the disbursement next month.

As for Lander and Benjamin, they appear to be in line for additional public funds payments of as much as $940,000 and $480,000, respectively, in February, based on matchable donations they received from July on. The Campaign Finance Board will vet the numbers submitted by campaigns, which have made their own assessments that are published upon filing.

While Lander had the smallest average donation thus far in the race, he's raised far more ($38,000) through intermediaries than anyone else in the field, though no single go-between brought in more than $2,500 to Lander.

In the very quiet race for public advocate, there's been modest fundraising. Having raised $106,000 since July, incumbent Jumaane Williams -- the only citywide official eligible to run for reelection this year -- now has $44,300 on hand—a tiny amount for a citywide campaign, but much more than any of the three other candidates registered for that race. Closest to him is Anthony Herbert with nearly $1,500 on hand. The threshold for public funds in the advocate race is identical to the one for comptroller, and with just over $50,000 in matchable donations against the $125,000 threshold, Williams is short of qualifying.

Races at the Borough and District Levels
City Council Member Fernando Cabrera has the biggest bankroll of anyone running for Bronx borough president, with $120,000 on hand. State Senator Luis Sepulveda has the second-most cash ($48,000) but his campaign has been imperiled by the allegation that he tried to strangle his wife. City Council Member Vanessa Gibson has $29,000 to spend and Samuel Ravelo some $16,000. Assemblymember Nathalia Fernandez's campaign is in the red by $28.

“Council Member Cabrera has built unprecedented support on the grassroots level throughout the Bronx," Cabrera's campaign manager, Timothy Tapia, said in a statement. "Fernando has demonstrated that his vision for repairing the Bronx has been embraced by residents from every corner of the borough."

In the contest for Brooklyn borough president, Assemblymember Jo Anne Simon ($187,599) and City Council Member Antonio Reynoso ($139,089) lead the money race. City Council Member Robert Cornegy, Jr. has raised ($249,640) more than both of them, but spent nearly every dollar he’s raised.

“Raised in just three months, the filing demonstrated strong local support for Simon, with Brooklynites making up over 80 percent of her more than 800 unique contributors,” Simon's campaign said in a statement. But cash position includes a $125,000 loan she made to her campaign.

City Council Member Ben Kallos has a healthy stockpile of cash ($574,139) in the race for Manhattan borough president, but State Senator Brad Hoylman ($278,421) and City Council Member Mark Levine ($235,920) also have competitive cash on hand. They are among six candidates in that Democratic primary, and the only three current elected officials in the race. Former community board chair Elizabeth Caputo has more than $55,000 on hand as of the filing.

City Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer's bid to unseat newly-elected Queens Borough President Donovan Richards received a boost with the CFB's award of $395,000 in matching funds on Friday, giving him a balance of $384,000—more than three times what’s in the account of Richards, who just won a November special election to serve out the rest of now-District Attorney Melinda Katz's 2018-2021 term. Both are Democrats.

Staten Island borough president candidate Steven Matteo, a City Council member, now has $545,000 to spend. The only other Richmond County candidate registered with the CFB, Leticia Remauro, reported $34,000 in the bank. Both Matteo and Remauro are running in the Republican primary.

Given the low threshold for qualifying for public funds as a borough president candidate (100 donors and matchable donations totaling $10,000 on Staten Island and up to $50,094 in Brooklyn), it appears that multiple candidates will qualify for funds in the borough president races once the CFB goes through the most recent filings and awards new funds in February.

Across the five boroughs, City Council candidates have dropped a combined $4.8 million on the race so far, and have a collective $10.9 million to spend. Ten Council candidates received matching funds payments on Friday based on pre-July fundraising. A few dozen had received public funds in the previous round of awards, in December. Many are on track to receive matching funds in February and others will hope for March.

The best-funded candidate citywide is Erik Bottcher, running in Manhattan's 3rd District, who has raised $133,000, received $160,000 in matching funds, and has $244,000 on hand. However, no one has raised or spent more than incumbent City Council Member Mark Gjonaj of the Bronx, who has already expended $446,000 of the $577,000 he has raised. Four years ago, Gjonaj outspent nearly every candidate in the city by dropping $1.3 million to win his Council seat. He’s again facing tough competition.

Also Read: The Money Race in the Mayoral Primary: January Filing Sets the Stage for 2021

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by Jarrett Murphy of City Limits, published in collaboration with Gotham Gazette
@GothamGazette @CityLimitsNews

Ben Max contributed to this article.

The Money Race in the Mayoral Primary: January Filing Sets the Stage for 2021


Gotham Gazette:

l-r: (top) Eric Adams, Shaun Donovan, Kathryn Garcia, Carlos Menchaca, Zach Iscol (bottom) Dianne Morales, Scott Stringer, Loree Sutton, Maya Wiley, Ray McGuire


With under six months until the 2021 primary elections, candidates running for mayor filed their January campaign finance disclosures. The disclosures were due on Friday, covering the last six months of fundraising and spending activity. For a number of candidates, it was their first filing.

There are well over a dozen candidates running in the Democratic primary, the winner of which will likely be the next mayor because of the overwhelming number of registered Democratic voters in the city. The January deadline was crucial, as candidates attempt to show the support they’ve garnered among voters and campaign donors, and particularly because it will help determine the next round of public matching funds payments made to candidates by the city’s Campaign Finance Board on February 16. Only two candidates -- Comptroller Scott Stringer and Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams -- have qualified for matching funds prior to this upcoming assessment by the Board based on the new filing.

The Democratic candidates include Stringer, Adams, City Council Member Carlos Menchaca, former Citigroup executive Ray McGuire, former counsel to the mayor Maya Wiley, former city veterans services commissioner Loree Sutton, former city sanitation commissioner Kathryn Garcia, former nonprofit executive Dianne Morales, former federal housing secretary Shaun Donovan, veteran-turned-entrepreneur Zach Iscol, entrepreneur Joycelyn Taylor, former Campaign Finance Board member Art Chang, attorney Isaac Wright, Jr., and several others.

Former presidential candidate and entrepreneur Andrew Yang also jumped into the race last week, just one day before the campaign finance deadline, and has just begun raising funds, though he is expected to be able to raise them quickly given his base of support and the fundraising he showed in his run for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Stringer and Adams received public matching funds in December through the city’s program, putting both candidates well ahead of most others and nearing the money to hit the original spending threshold for the primary, though that ceiling is set to be lifted based on the fundraising by McGuire, who is not participating in the matching system and can therefore accept larger individual contributions. 

The matching funds program’s rules have been amended in recent years, setting a maximum individual contribution limit of $2,000 and matching the first $250 of every donation from city residents with public funds at an 8-to-1 ratio. Candidates must meet a dual threshold of raising a minimum of $250,000 from at least 1,000 donors who are New York City residents. Before any adjustments based on the fundraising of non-participating candidates, mayoral candidates who participate in the program can spend up to $7.3 million in the primary, as well as another $7.3 million in the general election. They can receive a maximum public funds payment of about $6.47 million for each leg of the race.

To even the playing field with participating candidates, CFB rules mandate that if a non-participant (here, McGuire) raises or spends more than $3.6 million in the primary, 50% of the $7.3 million spending limit for participating candidates, then that limit will increase by 50% to just under $11 million. If a non-participant raises or spends three times the limit, almost $22 million, then the limit will be eliminated entirely for all candidates.

Wiley is the only other candidate besides Adams and Stringer who has apparently qualified for public matching funds and expects a major windfall when payments are made in February.

Adams has raised more than $3 million in total and has spent about $746,000 as of the filing. He received nearly $4.4 million in public funds last month, giving him a hefty campaign balance of more than $6.6 million. In the last six months, he raised more than $426,000, and spent about $334,000. His latest disclosure also includes more than $122,000 in matching claims, which could mean roughly another $980,000 in public funds. Those claims are estimates from the campaign and are likely to change after they are audited by the Campaign Finance Board.

In total, $1.9 million of Adams’ fundraising came from New York City residents and about $750,000 from outside the city. He has 6,261 contributors, with an average donation size of $424.

Stringer is in second place in campaign funds. He has raised more than $3.25 million and spent about $820,000 overall. He got $3.37 million in public funds in December and another $38,000 payment on Friday. He has about $5.8 million in cash on hand as of the filing. In the last six months, he raised about $458,000, and spent a little more than $400,000. His campaign estimates that about $194,000 of that fundraising qualifies for matching funds, which could bring in almost $1.6 million for Stringer next month.

In total, Stringer raised about $1.4 million from city residents and $445,000 from outside. He has 5,517 contributors for an average contribution size of $329.

McGuire is the only major Democratic candidate not participating in the public funds program, which means he faces no limits on his spending and can raise $5,100 from individual contributors. He has already raised nearly $4.9 million and has spent about $1.1 million, all in the last six months, leaving him with about $3.75 million in cash on hand.

McGuire has raised most of his funds, $3.3 million, from city residents and about $1.5 million from outside sources. He has 3,709 donors and an average contribution size of $1,317.

Donovan, a former housing commissioner under Mayor Michael Bloomberg and a top official in the Obama administration as housing secretary and budget director, has raised more than $1.6 million for his campaign and has spent about $690,000, for a remaining balance of about $913,000 as of the filing. He has $152,000 in matching claims, which falls well below the $250,000 threshold for public funds.

Donovan raised $938,000 from city residents and $664,000 from outside the city. He has 2,044 donors for an average contribution size of $784.

Iscol is a relatively unknown first-time candidate but he has connections that have apparently helped him out-raise a number of other Democrats. His mother, Jill Iscol, is a major Democratic Party donor with ties to Hillary Clinton, and his father is a mobile technology entrepreneur. He has raised more than $746,000 and has spent just over $261,000, leaving him with about $485,000 in cash on hand as of the filing. His campaign estimates it has more than $229,000 in matching claims, just short of qualifying for public funds.

City residents donated $409,000 to Iscol’s campaign while $336,000 came from people outside the city. He has 1,943 contributors and an average donation size of $384.

Wiley has some name recognition from her time as a contributor on MSNBC, her previous role in the de Blasio administration, and her work as a civil rights attorney. She has raised more than $720,000, spent about $404,000, and has $316,000 in cash on hand as of the filing. Her campaign has made more than $287,000 in matching claims, which crossed the public funds threshold and will likely net her a major windfall of $2.3 million in mid-February, a major achievement.

Wiley raised $451,000 from city residents and $269,000 from noncity sources. She also has 6,976 contributors, the most of any candidate so far, with an average donation size of $103.

Morales has raised more than $336,000, spent more than $208,000, and has $127,000 in cash on hand as of the filing. Her campaign’s matching claims of nearly $180,000 are about $70,000 short of the public funds threshold. Morales raised $235,000 from city residents and about $100,000 from outside sources. Her campaign has 4,423 donors and an average contribution size of $76.

Garcia, who is running on management and having been Mayor de Blasio’s go-to fixer for several crises while also heading the sanitation department, has raised about $304,000 and spent only $27,000, leaving her with more than $277,000 in campaign cash as of the filing. Her campaign claims only $151,000 in qualifying contributions, which means she will not receive public funds next month

Garcia raised $224,000 from city residents and about $80,000 from outside. She has 1,572 donors with contributions averaging $194. 

Sutton is the only candidate who opted into the public funds program but chose to follow its older rules, which are still an option till the end of this election cycle. That means she can raise a maximum of $5,100 from individual contributors but will only receive a 6-to-1 match on the first $175 of every contribution. She has raised about $192,000 overall and has spent nearly all of it. She only has about $398 in cash on hand as of the filing. She has just $14,228 in matching claims. She raised $117,000 from city residents and $73,000 from outside sources. She has 448 donors and an average donation size of $425. 

Menchaca has raised about $62,000, spent $48,000, and has about $14,500 left as of the filing. Taylor has raised $60,000, spent $51,000, and has about $8,400 left. Chang has raised $57,000, spent $39,000, and has $18,011 left. Wright has raised $50,000, spent about $8,800, and has roughly $41,000 left. None of the other Democrats have raised $50,000.

There are few Republican candidates in the race and none have shown any significant fundraising.

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by Samar Khurshid, senior reporter, Gotham Gazette
     

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