If Richard Stiek (R-Port Washington) is to surprise state Assemblywoman Michelle Schimel (D-Great Neck) in the 16th Assembly District race, it will be in spite of a lopsided financial campaign in which Schimel has so far outraised Stiek by a factor of 23.
And while Schimel has raised more than half her funds from donations of $500 or less, she has also benefitted from the support of political action committees and tobacco lobbyists.
Stiek has raised $7,359, according to disclosures of donations filed with the state Board of Elections up through Oct. 1. All of Stiek’s donations are from individuals, rather than PACs and corporations, including a $300 contribution from his mother in Texas.
But according to Stiek, money is not his primary goal.
“My focus is on getting my message and my goals out there, and meeting people in the district,” he said. “Obviously having a large sum of cash on hand would be a wonderful opportunity to use greater resources and do mailings and what not. I’m focusing more on getting out and meeting people and trying to spread the world the old fashioned way.”
Schimel is not quite so strapped for cash.
The incumbent assemblywoman has raised $171,152, including more than $98,000 from individuals and $62,000 from committees, partnerships and unions.
One contributor – Roslyn-based lobbying firm Gotham Governmental Relations – has lobbied on two bills introduced by Schimel that benefit the firm’s tobacco industry clients.
Gotham, which advertises legislative lobbying and fundraising, among other services, has contributed $3,000 to Schimel’s campaign since 2011 – a sum well below the legal maximum of $4,100 per year.
But founding partners Bradley Gerstman and David Schwartz are supporting Schimel in another way. The lobbyists hosted a fundraiser for Schimel Oct. 11, charging between $118 and $1,000 per plate.
Schimel introduced a bill in 2011 to cap the state’s 75 percent tobacco tax at $1 per cigar sold. That measure was lobbied on by Gerstman and Schwartz on behalf of the New York Tobacconist Association – a trade group run out of the same offices as Gotham, according to public lobbying disclosures. The bill was not passed by the Assembly.
Schimel introduced another measure in May this year that would alter language dealing with the timing and scope of the state’s tobacco tax.
Schimel said that her support of the law was not about tobacco, but rather shielding small retailers from a tax burden that she said was killing business and driving customers to order cigars online from out of state.
“I said it was a stupid law, a stupid tax. We’re going to roll it back,” she said.
According to Schwartz, the writing of both bills was a collaborative effort.
“A lot of the language was written by industry experts,” he said. “[Schimel’s] office wrote a lot of the language in conjunction with a lot of the advocates.”
“They’re really small business bills… these are bills that affect local shopowners, local tobacconists,” he added.
According to Schimel, her relationship Gerstman and Schwartz goes back to the beginning of her career in government and does not affect whether she determine whether she supports the issued advocated to her by Gotham.
““I know David and Brad since I was town clerk. They used to come in my office… they had said we’ll do a fundraiser for you, and I said fine,” she said. “There are a lot of things they’ve asked me to do and I’ve voted against them… I consider them friends.”
Schwartz told the Great Neck News that his and Gerstman’s support of Schimel is due to her quality as a local representative and small business advocate.
“She’s my assemblywoman who I’m fond of,” he said. “We give to a lot of various candidates, and we support candidates that we believe are good for the state.”
“Michelle and I disagree on loads of issues,” he said.
Several PACs have also made significant contributions to Schimel’s campaign.
1199 Service Employees International Union, a health-care workers’ labor group, gave $4,100 in Oct. 2011 through its PAC.
The Nassau County Police Benevolent Association’s PAC has given $3,000 since the 2010 elections, and VOTE/COPE – the political contribution wing of the New York State United Teachers union – gave $1,100 in April.
Stiek has spent $2,483 total, including $705 on campaign literature from A&M Supplies Network in East Meadow, NY. He also placed an ad in Port Washington’s Patch news website for $225.
Schimel has spent $142,000 since the 2010 elections, with campaign consulting services from New York City-based firm the Advance Group making up $50,000 of those costs. Her single biggest expenditure was $5,600 to Port Washington restaurant H on the Harbor for a fundraiser.
Stiek and Schimel are competing in a newly configured 16th Assembly District, which now consists of Great Neck, Manhasset, Port Washington, Herricks, Mineola and East Williston.
