Pols reveal campaign cash

Disgraced ex-Congressmember Anthony Weiner topped the list of Queens politicians to file disclosure statements with the city’s Campaign Finance Board (CFB).
Weiner had raised about $5.1 million for a potential run for mayor of New York City, according to disclosure statements filed with the CFB.
The former ninth district congressman did not file any paperwork with the CFB indicating that he no longer had a committee with the board, said Ilona Kramer, a CFB spokesperson.
Candidates for the 2013 citywide elections had to file campaign funding disclosure statements by July 15. All figures are the sum of their entire campaign contributions thus far.
Other Queens politicians that made the list are City Comptroller John Liu from Flushing, and Councilmembers Peter Vallone Jr., Elizabeth Crowley and Peter Koo.
Any candidate that files to run for elected office with the New York State Board of Elections must open a committee with the board and file disclosure statements during the four year election cycle, according to Kramer.
Candidates file their statements in January and July during the first three years of the cycle, but those filings become more frequent during the election year, she said.
Flushing native John Liu raised about $1.5 million in campaign funds as of the filing deadline, but did not declare which citywide office he will be running for, according to the CFB.
The two Queens councilmembers that made the top five contributions list, Peter Vallone Jr. and Elizabeth Crowley were also undeclared. Vallone raised about $1 million and Crowley raked in close-to $83,000. Rounding out the top five is Flushing Councilmember Peter Koo who raised about $73,000.
The Campaign Finance Board created by the Campaign Finance Act in 1988 mandates that all candidates comply with contribution limits and disclosure requirements whether or not they choose to participate in the board’s voluntary Campaign Finance Program.
The program institutes strict spending limits for private funds raised by candidates for citywide elected office such as mayor, comptroller, public advocate, borough president and the City Council. Under the act, the program matches public funds raised from city residents.
According to a Quinnipiac University poll, New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly is at the top of the heap of potential 2013 mayoral candidates with 23 percent, followed by City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, Liu, former City Comptroller Bill Thompson, Public Advocate Bill de Blasio and Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer.