State campaign finance filings show that Adam Haber, a Democrat, received more than four times the amount of campaign contributions that were raised by Elaine Phillips, a Republican, in the race for the Seventh Senate District seat during the filing period that ended June 30.
Haber raised $301,977.53 compared with Phillips’ total of $73,410.56
“We have an opportunity to bring new leadership to our state government and people are responding with excitement – they want to be a part of this campaign,” he said. “We are off to an amazing start thanks to the support of so many from across the district and we are only going to continue building on this momentum.”
Haber, who announced in February he would run for the seat to be vacated by state Sen. Jack Martins, was actively campaigning and fundraising for three months before Phillips, mayor of the Village of Flower Hill, joined the race in May.
The filings show that before Phillips formed a campaign committee and registered with the state Board of Elections on May 17, he raised a total of $139,800.
After she registered with the Board of Elections, Haber raised $162,177.53.
A Phillips campaign spokesman, Chris McKenna, said that even though Haber had more time to raise funds, Phillips still raised a respectable amount of money given the short period of time she has spent campaigning.
“This represents a very strong fundraising effort for a candidate who only announced she was running for office a few weeks ago,” McKenna said. “Her opponent has been running unsuccessfully for this and other offices for several years.”
Haber raised a little over $90,000 in out-of-state contributions, with individuals, corporations and unions based in Oregon, Texas, Maryland, Colorado, New Jersey, Florida and the District of Columbia all donating to the campaign.
A Haber campaign spokesman, Jonathan Heppner, said the out-of-state contributions were not “out of the ordinary.”
Some of the contributors were friends of the Democratic candidate, Heppner said, and others were from New York but had headquarters in other states.
Haber received $11,000 from a New York businessman, Gary Greenberg, whose political action committee endorsed him two weeks ago.
Notable contributions to his campaign include $100 donations from Nassau County Legislator Laura Curran, Mayor Michael Koblenz of the Village of East Hills, North Hempstead Town Councilwoman Lee Seeman, the Great Neck Democratic Club president, Steven Markowitz, and the 16th Assembly District candidate Anthony D’Urso.
Haber, an East Hills restaurateur who previously ran for the same seat and lost in 2014 to Martins, also received $200 in contributions from North Hempstead Town Councilman Peter Zuckerman and $150 from the North Hempstead receiver of taxes, Charles Berman.
He currently has a little over $230,000 on hand.
Heppner said the funds would be used to get “the message out and informing voters that Adam Haber is best candidate to pass real ethics reforms, advocate for our children’s education and lower taxes.”
Phillips’ most notable contribution was $11,000 from the Friends of Senator Jack Martins committee.
She also received 25 $400 contributions from different limited liability corporations with the address 3677 East Tremont Ave. in the Bronx.
The address is the location of Diamond Property Group, a company owned by the low-income housing developer David Diamond.
“Elaine’s filing shows a number of small dollar contributions from LLCs that fully comply with the election law,” McKenna said. “Ironically, her opponent lists an almost equal number of LLC contributions, and thousands of dollars from entities at the heart of the Bill de Blasio campaign finance scandal that’s currently under investigation by federal and state authorities.”
Phillips has about $71,000 on hand, McKenna said.
“Elaine will have a very strong campaign, with the resources she needs to get out her message and win on Election Day,” he said. “Right now, she is focusing on meeting voters in every corner of the district – Elaine has already personally knocked on over 2,000 doors and attended countless community events – listening to their concerns and outlining her own ideas to help make living on Long Island even better.”
In the 16th Assembly District race, the Republican, Matt Varvaro, received about $7,000 more in campaign contributions than the Democratic candidate, D’Urso.
Varvaro received $6,750 in contributions from family members, more than half of the $12,205 he received in total contributions.
Nassau County Legislator Richard Nicolello’s committee Citizens for Nicolello donated $100 and Phillips gave $50 to the campaign.
“We are very excited about the level of support we’ve gotten so far,” Varvaro said. “Our filing shows that we have a great deal of support in the district, and that people are willing to invest in a candidate who is committed to reforming Albany. It also shows that we’ll have the resources we need to win this race.”
He said he has about $10,000 in his war chest and said it was a “great number” given that he has only spent a month campaigning.
“We’re going to use those funds to spread our message to the voters and lay out our plans to end corruption and reform state government,” Varvaro said.
D’Urso, a former North Hempstead town councilman, raised $5,554 during the second-quarter filing period.
A relative gave $5,000 to the campaign, records show.
D’Urso said he has been “very active” in meeting with voters and top political figures laying the “ground work” for the campaign, but is beginning to set up fundraisers to increase his funds.
He said he has a campaign budget of $150,000 and wants to raise at least that much in contributions.
D’Urso said he would look into using funds for newspaper and radio advertising as it gets closer to the election.
“I’m going to run as if I’m 20 percentage points behind in the race and will work for every vote we can get,” he said. “I’m very serious about running a positive campaign. I don’t run against my opponent’s weaknesses, I run on my proven record of accomplishments.”
