New York City’s Campaign Finance Board on Tuesday again denied Mayor Adams public matching funds for his reelection effort — but the panel switched up the reason for depriving him of the critical cash after a key judicial ruling.
Since December 2024, the board has withheld more than $3 million in matching funds for Adams’ campaign, in large part due to his federal indictment, which accused him of taking bribes and illegal campaign contributions from Turkish government operatives in exchange for political favors.
The indictment was dismissed in April at the behest of President Trump’s Department of Justice in a highly controversial deal that many believe has left Adams compromised. Despite the dismissal, the CFB has since April at several board meetings continued to cite the corruption case as grounds for denying Adams matching funds, arguing it provides “reason to believe” he broke city campaign finance laws.
However, last week, a Brooklyn Federal Court judge ruled in response to a lawsuit from Adams’ campaign that the board couldn’t withhold matching funds from Adams due to the indictment, given that it has been dropped.
The judge did rule, though, that the board could deny Adams matching funds because of his campaign’s long-running failure to respond to its requests for various documentation, including records related to donors mentioned in his indictment.
In a meeting Tuesday morning, Frederick Schaffer, CFB’s chairman, acknowledged the judge “called into question” its reasoning on the corruption case. Still, he said the board is continuing to deny Adams matching funds because of the outstanding document requests, delivering a blow to the mayor as he faces a difficult path to reelection, running as an independent in November’s general election.
“Because the documents and information requested from the Adams campaign are still outstanding and have been outstanding since last November, the board determines today that Mayor Adams’ campaign has failed to demonstrate to eligibility for public funds payments at this time,” Schaffer said.
Schaffer also said the board’s independent investigation into Adams and his campaign remains “ongoing.” As part of that probe, the board recently requested a slew of records related to individuals and fundraising events referenced in his indictment.
Frank Carone, Adams’ reelection campaign chairman, said he’s hopeful the mayor will get matching funds at the board’s next meeting. He also thanked the Brooklyn Federal Court judge for ruling that the “reason to believe” standard CFB previously cited in denying Adams funds was “arbitrary and unconstitutional.”
“Without that arbitrary standard, all that we must do is comply with what remains from CFB’s document request … Therefore, we are confident now that Mayor Adams will receive matching funds,” Carone said in a statement.
Also at Tuesday’s meeting, the board approved about $1 million in new matching funds for Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee for mayor who’s leading in the polls. It also awarded about $135,000 in new matching funds for Jim Walden, a lawyer mounting a longshot independent bid for mayor.
Ex-Gov.Andrew Cuomo, who’s also running as an independent in November’s mayoral race, didn’t apply for Tuesday’s matching funds payout, according to his spokesman Rich Azzopardi. In light of his Monday announcement that he will stay in the November race, the ex-governor plans to apply for funds at next month’s board meeting, Azzopardi added.
Republican mayoral nominee Curtis Sliwa didn’t apply for Tuesday’s payout, either, but his spokesman Daniel Kurzyna said he plans to do so at the August meeting.
The CFB’s board meetings are typically dry, pro forma affairs. But before Schaffer started reading his statement about denying Adams funds, the meeting was disrupted by a small group of protesters angry about the CFB’s flubbed rollout of its 2025 primary elections voter guide, which included a number of errors, resulting in the board having to spend millions of dollars to correct the pamphlet and mail out new ones to city residents.
“$7 million down the drain,” one of the protests shouted before being escorted out of the room.
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