Two North Brooklyn−based nonprofits have found themselves in the crosshairs of Brooklyn’s nastiest City Council campaign.
City Council candidate and Community Board 1 District Manager Gerry Esposito strongly criticized the role of local nonprofit workers in his opponents’ campaigns, which could endanger their nonprofit status.
Esposito singled out St. Nicholas Neighborhood Preservation Corps (11 Catherine Street) and the Ridgewood Bushwick Senior Citizens Council (217 Wyckoff Avenue) for having many of its staff members volunteer for Councilmember Diana Reyna (D−Williamsburg, Bushwick) and Maritza Davila, his opponents for City Council. Davila is an organizer with RBSCC and Reyna contributed $145,000 in discretionary funds to St. Nicholas in the 2009−2010 budget.
“The law is clear. Nonprofits can’t take sides in campaigns,” said Esposito who began his career as a tenants rights advocate at St. Nicholas NPC and is currently running for a seat in the 34th District. “The incredible work done by our community nonprofits is too important to risk in a political turf war. If any nonprofit lost their 501c3 status for helping a candidate, it would be our neighborhood residents who really suffer.”
Both Reyna and Davila staff members said that volunteers for nonprofit organizations have been careful to “clock in and clock out” regarding the hours they work for their campaigns, so as to not create a conflict of interest. Esposito too has been careful to take vacation time from his city−paid job to canvass voters in the district.
“We feel we’ve got the cleanest petitions going. We did it ourselves. We didn’t rely on nonprofits or anybody getting funding from the city,” said Esposito campaign manager Gary Tilzer. “That’s the difference between us and the two other major candidates.”
Morgan Pehme, a campaign advisor for Esposito, has been troubled by the extent of nonprofit involvement in the race. He is calling on all candidates to depoliticize the process and eliminate the distribution of discretionary funds to nonprofits.
“It’s not about which candidate the nonprofit is supporting. Candidates use the power of discretionary funds as earmarks to buy the allegiance of nonprofit organizations,” said Pehme. “Earmarks and discretionary funds should not be used to buy allegiance to a candidate.”
Michael Rochford, executive director of St. Nicola, said this week he was looking into questions from Esposito and the community board.
