By Peter Sorkin
With nearly $600,000 in her campaign war chest, U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-Astoria) already has more than 30 times the amount raised by her Republican opponent, Adrienne Rhodes, according to documents filed with the Federal Election Commission.
Maloney, who on Jan. 1, 1999 had a beginning cash balance of $187,084, had raised a total of $931,383 and had spent $534,693, leaving her with $599,659 as of Aug. 23, 2000, her campaign finance reports filed with the FEC showed.
Rhodes, who did not have any money as of Jan. 1, 1999, raised a total of $22,887 and spent $3,493, which created a cash balance of $19,384 as of Aug. 23, 2000.
Maloney, whose district covers Astoria, Long Island City, parts of Jackson Heights and much of the East Side of Manhattan, was first elected in 1992 and is seeking her fifth term in Congress.
Nearly two thirds of her total contributions came from individuals, but she still received a substantial amount of money from political action committees, groups typically formed by industries or lobbying organizations to donate money to a candidate.
Rhodes did not receive any money from PACs, but Maloney benefitted greatly from these groups.
Maloney, a member of the House Banking, Finance and Urban Affairs Committee, the Government Operations Committee and the Joint Economic Committee, was given $109,000 by PACs representing finance and insurance interests.
Of these PACs, the largest contribution to Maloney's campaign came from the New York Life Insurance Company, which gave the incumbent a total of $10,000 on seven separate occasions, the FEC documents showed. The American Bankers Association gave the congresswoman $8,500. Citigroup Inc. contributed $6,000 and three other groups donated upwards of $5,000 to Maloney's campaign.
Organized labor PACs were also very generous with their money for Maloney, giving her $83,500. Of this total, the Transport Workers Union PAC gave Maloney the most, contributing $5,500. The Carpenters Legislative Improvement Committee, the Laborers' Political League and the Plumbers Local Union No. 1 each contributed $5,000.
In terms of individual contributors, Maloney again towered over her opponent with 749 donations as compared to only 12 for Rhodes.
Rhodes did not have a single individual contributor who has given more than $1,000 to her campaign compared to Maloney, who has received $2,000 or more from as many as 88 individuals. Of the 88 people who contributed this amount, six gave more than $2,000.
Bartholomew Lawson of the William Jefferson Group, a consulting firm, contributed $1,000 on four separate occasion for a total of $4,000. This represented the largest individual contribution to the Maloney campaign.
Napoleon Savescu, a Long Island doctor, and Bernard Aidinoff, a partner in the white shoe Manhattan law firm of Sullivan and Cromwell, both gave the congresswoman $3,000. Jack Friedman of Jamaica's Franklin Nursing Home contributed $2,500 and Krishna Reddy from Whittier, Calif. gave the congresswoman $2,300. Robert Ginsberg, a New York attorney, contributed $2,250.
Maloney received two contributions totaling $1,500 from individuals including Stephen Berger, an investment banker from New York, and Daniel Chill, a lawyer also from New York.
Fred Wilpon, co-owner of the New York Mets who works at Sterling Equities in Great Neck, donated $1,000 to the congresswoman for her re-election.
Rhodes only had one contribution of $1,000. That money came from Stephanie Kupferman, lawyer from the New York firm of Tonick, Kupferman & Creadore.
The bulk of the money Rhodes spent on her campaign went for fund-raising and advertisements in local papers. Rhodes held three fund-raisers in June and August on which she spent a total of $630.
Maloney, on the other hand, gave a significant portion of her money to other Democrats involved in their own races and Democratic causes. U.S. Sen. Charles Robb (D-Va.), was given $5,000 on two separate occasions for a total of $10,000 for his re-election campaign and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in Washington, D.C. was given $5,000 in April.
Reach reporter Peter Sorkin by e-mail at Timesledgr@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 155