Assembly races bursting with public cash

Daily Point

State's matching campaign funds leave candidates flush with money

Think of a hot election that gets people to the polls — a state Assembly race likely doesn't pop to mind.

But thanks to New York State's matching campaign funds, elections for Assembly districts on Long Island are flush with cash as candidates take advantage of the system, first implemented for the 2024 election cycle but hitting full stride for the first time this year.

Just look at the amount of money in the 7th Assembly District, a mostly South Shore of Islip Town district that has been held by a Republican for decades. At first blush, the district should be a solid lock for the GOP since there are 36,214 registered Republican voters compared with 26,824 registered Democrats. There are 28,849 "blank" voters.

GOP Assemb. Jarrett Gandolfo, who is leaving the seat to run for the State Senate's 8th District this year, won AD7 three times, each election with majorities over 60%. Former Assemb. Andrew Garbarino, a Republican who is seeking reelection to New York's 2nd Congressional District, won AD7 four times with strong majorities. Before him, Republican Michael Fitzpatrick won reelection several times with massive majorities.

So, on paper, there's no reason for Republicans to fret about losing AD7. No reason for Democrats to seriously think they have a shot at winning the seat. And certainly no reason why a donor would want to give money in an election that appears predetermined to vote Republican, whoever the candidate is.

But the money is pouring in.

This year, Republican Islip Town Councilwoman DawnMarie Lentz-Kuhn is running against Democrat Trish Kopp, a public schoolteacher, for AD7. In the most recent campaign finance filings with the state Board of Elections, Kuhn reported raising over $86,000 and spending $127,000 while Kopp reported just over $86,000 raised and $70,000 spent.

That's to be elected as a first-term legislator among 150 members, a position with little influence.

"The word is out about matching funds," one Suffolk political operative told The Point. "One thousand percent you are seeing significant amounts of money in races that historically [have] not had money in them."

In some 2024 state races, the money raised was huge, like the Democratic primary for AD4 featuring Rebecca Kassay and Skyler Johnson where both candidates combined for about $300,000 in matching funds. The matching funds cap for Assembly is $175,000 for a primary and another $175,000 for the general election.

But most campaigns didn't take full advantage of those matching funds — until this year.

Campaign managers told The Point the matching funds have caused them to adjust their tactics. Instead of relying on a smaller number of donors with deep pockets or cash infusions from county and town political parties, candidates go door-to-door armed with a QR code and palm card and are able to turn a $5 donation into $65.

"It's made an explicit impact in Assembly races on Long Island," one campaign manager of a Suffolk Assembly race told The Point.

In AD3 in Brookhaven Town's South Shore, Republican Assemb. Joe DeStefano is being challenged by Democrat Josh Slaughter in his bid for reelection. DeStefano's most recent campaign finance filings show $144,000 in total receipts and almost $72,000 in spending while Slaughter reported $199,000 in total receipts and $85,000 in spending.

Even in races that don't seem competitive, like Nassau's AD16, huge sums of money are pouring in. Democrat Kim Keiserman reported $240,000 in total receipts and $102,000 in spending. Her Republican opponent, David Hassid, reported just $1,400 raised and $116 in spending. AD16 is an open seat this election since Republican Assemb. Daniel Norber isn't seeking reelection. The district has 37,328 registered Democrats compared with 26,853 registered Republicans.

But no matter how much public financing a candidate gets, money alone doesn't determine the winner — which is the original point of matching funds.

"I don't know if I would look at the money and say this is a barometer of how seriously contested a race is," one political source said.

— Mark Nolan mark.nolan@newsday.com

Pencil Point

Sad state

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Reference Point

Deconstructing LI's housing problem

In the 1940s Newsday's founding publisher Alicia Patterson introduced a recurring Opinion feature called "The Squared Circle" to explore various sides of difficult topics, ostensibly an ode to the "squaring the circle" idiom that refers to trying to solve an impossible problem.

Eighty years ago today, The Squared Circle focused on a problem that remains hard to solve: building housing on Long Island.

On Oct. 7, 1946, Newsday published guest essays by William J. Levitt, the founder of Levitt & Son Builders, and O. J. Hartwig, of what was then called the Long Island Home Builders Institute, to write about the complexity of building GI housing here after World War II.

In his piece, "How to Build a House," Levitt, considered the father of suburbia, told the hypothetical story of a fictional builder named Henry Jones as a metaphor for the brutal experience.

His "momentous decision eventually will either give him a nervous breakdown or put him in a lunatic asylum," Levitt dramatically began, before in vigorous detail going through the 13 steps and substeps Jones would face on his building journey.

The steps start with standard paperwork and back-and-forth with the Federal Housing Authority and a contract with an interested soldier. "He sits back and waits," and a statement that everybody is happy, soon devolves into battles with the FHA over denials and/or with the soldier trying to cancel the contract. If the project does manage to proceed, Jones next faces a local materials shortage, a cross-country trip to secure supplies, price gauging that derails his budget, factory strikes that cause more delays, a widespread labor shortage and ultimately a wage board violation.

"Henry screams and falls into a dead faint," Levitt embellishes, before ending with the reality check. "A most amusing situation develops. Henry has sold the house for $10,000.00. It has actually cost him $12,000.00." And then another hit on taxes a few months later, since the government refused to recognize labor costs in the profit calculations because he overpaid workers because of the labor shortage.

In a less exaggerated manner on the other side of the page, Hartwig practically describes the plight of "the veteran desperately seeking housing" and "the frustrated builder," in his piece "Housing Time Runs Out."

"Our members alone have 1,750 houses that could be finished for occupancy by veterans ‘before the snow flies' if the materials needed were immediately available," Hartwig wrote. "Occupancy of these homes would release hundreds of other living accommodations, many of them rentals, needed by other veterans."

He blamed the delays on material costs and wages being under direct government control, and said projects dragged due to skyrocketing overhead from "hundreds of new regulations and directives, weeks and months of delays and red tape in bureau after bureau."

Hartwig then introduced the builders institute's "Long Island Plan," which would lobby to cut government out of the process and form a coalition of veterans, builders, labor, civic groups, bankers, dealers and businessmen. "Together we can lick this problem, locally and nationally. It can be done," he wrote.

Today builders face different issues, but some problems remain. In the 2020s, the Long Island Builders Institute said zoning rules and insurance costs are its biggest obstacles to new construction. A recent report by the nonprofit Regional Plan Association predicts by 2040, LI's housing demand will be more than double what zoning allows. Then there's the steep decline in the issuance of private residential building permits on Long Island thanks to surging construction costs and some of the same zoning hurdles. 

Sounds like Long Island is certainly still "squaring the circle" on building housing today.

— Amanda Fiscina-Wells amanda.fiscina-wells@newsday.com

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