Zeldin looking for a cut of the action?

Daily Point

A new strategy for Zeldin

Lee Zeldin is looking for a fundraising job.

A draft consulting agreement obtained by The Point proposes that “Zeldin Strategies, Inc” of Locust Valley do fundraising in exchange for a monthly fee as well as a portion of the donations it collects.

The document, dated Feb. 1, outlines a $5,000 monthly retainer “to begin our representation and consulting services,” plus a sliding scale commission on donations: 5% on donations received up to the first $250,000 per month, and 10% on those above that.

Zeldin Strategies was registered as a business in New York at the beginning of January with no CEO name included in public records. The potential client listed on the draft agreement is “New York Majority Makers JFC.” No such outfit shows up in searchable Federal Election Commission filings, but three New York and D.C. Republicans told The Point that this business proposition is being pitched to new GOP House members from New York. A joint fundraising committee, or JFC, is a vehicle for raising and distributing money to multiple candidates.

Zeldin and his former spokeswoman did not return requests for comment about the outfit, but one Republican familiar with the proposal confirmed those monetary terms and that Zeldin Strategies is the former congressman’s venture.

The agreement included “Lee Zeldin” in the signatory field, and the version obtained by The Point is not signed and the client’s address was not specified.

Zeldin has been floated for various political jobs or races since his gubernatorial run ended in a loss to Gov. Kathy Hochul, and the high-paying world of lobbying and law could certainly be his oyster. But the field of fundraising makes some sense for the Shirley Republican. He has repeatedly raised millions for his runs for office, and insiders say it’s the kind of job that could help him build connections to donors and fellow Republicans. And it would not preclude a return to elected politics.

— Mark Chiusano @mjchiusano

Talking Point

Sometimes a reunion is just a reunion

Last week, about 125 alumni of Gov. Mario Cuomo’s administration gathered in the Flatiron section of Manhattan to mark 40 years since the first inauguration of their three-term boss. Some of the late Cuomo’s closest and highest-ranking appointees from back then, such as secretary Michael del Guidice and state operations director Mary Ann Crotty, made appearances.

Ordinarily, these kinds of reunions go on free of static and controversy. Former top and middle-level government veterans reminisce and reconnect and remember colleagues who have died. That’s what happened here, according to several of those who attended.

Except, of course, for the matter of Andrew Cuomo, who quit his own governorship under fire in 2021. The son declined to attend, after immediate family members tried to get the private event canceled, sources told The Point. A sore point: Ex-aide-turned-Andrew-nemesis Howard Glaser’s name had appeared on a host committee posting.

As it turned out, at least one other attendee long on Andrew Cuomo’s bad side was Senate Deputy Majority Leader Michael Gianaris of Queens. Back in the day, before winning an Assembly seat in 2000, Gianaris worked in the first Cuomo administration’s regional constituent office along with now-political consultant Harry Giannoulis and lobbyist David Weinraub, who were also spotted at the fete.

But Gianaris, from Astoria, earned his status as an Andrew Cuomo antagonist while fighting for Democrats to win the Senate majority, which they did in 2018. Cuomo had supported the Independent Democratic Conference, which in turn allied itself with the Senate Republican leadership. (Ironically, Cuomo’s backing of Tish James that year for state attorney general may have helped push Gianaris out of that race.) In 2021, the senator extensively denounced Andrew Cuomo as a bully, tyrant, and manipulator.

As for last week’s gathering, Gianaris mildly told The Point that he showed up for the obvious reason: “I am an alum of Mario Cuomo’s administration.”

Mark Grossman, an organizer of the event, who had been Long Island regional director back then and is now a public relations professional in Medford, offered his own straightforward context: “The purpose was to celebrate a man we worked for and respect and to celebrate his life.”

— Dan Janison @Danjanison

Pencil Point

Homework help

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Final Point

Matching money

New York’s new public campaign finance program launched quietly on the day after Election Day 2022, but the matching system should have a big effect on the next cycle of state races.

That’s according to an analysis from OpenSecrets and NYU Law’s Brennan Center, which crunched the 2022 contribution numbers to show how much more powerful small donors would have been if the program had already been in place. Contributions of $250 or less would have gone from making up 11% of the total funds in legislative races to 53%, when the matching money is added. And the jump would have been from 6% to 27% in statewide races.

The researchers tried to identify the 2022 contributions that would have been matched with public funding due to their size (being at or less than $250 in aggregate) and provenance (having come from a person in the legislative district, or someone from New York at large for statewide races). Some estimates were used to equate the new and old systems: unitemized small donations, for example, were logged as in-district at the same rate as itemized ones.

The gist is that the matching funds would have greatly amplified small donors. And the amplification is even larger if you assume that candidates would shift their campaigns to target small donors.

Other interesting pieces of the analysis include that in 2022, the 200 largest donors to candidates gave nearly $16 million, which was more than all 206,000 of the state’s small donors put together.

The researchers argued that the matching system’s offer of hundreds of thousands of dollars could put many candidates on a relatively even footing with big outside spenders: 70% of legislative races saw no independent expenditures at all, and even the most expensive races saw less than $1 million in outside spending.

The program’s immediate question now becomes: How many candidates will sign up? The state Board of Elections system only showed 10 registered legislative candidates as of Tuesday, including State Sens. Jabari Brisport and Pete Harckham but no Long Islanders.

Candidates have until Feb. 26, 2024 to register a committee for the 2024 elections, according to BOE spokesman John Conklin.

“But any funds raised before the candidate registers a committee will not be eligible for the match,” Conklin told The Point, “so it is in their interest to register as early as possible.”

— Mark Chiusano @mjchiusano