By Karen Frantz
Former state Assemblyman Rory Lancman raised more than $85,000 in 51 days for his campaign for City Council, maxing out in terms of the public matching funds he is able to receive.
He also racked up two early endorsements from two prominent unions last week, the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union and the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1500.
“It’s been a good week,” Lancman said.
He is running for the 24th District, which includes Flushing, Fresh Meadows and Hillcrest, neighborhoods that overlap with the Assembly district Lancman previously held for six years. The seat now is held by Councilman James Gennaro (D-Fresh Meadows), who must step down because of term limits.
Under the city’s matching funds program, Council candidates are able to receive $6 in public funds for every dollar they receive from a city resident for a maximum of $1,050 matching funds per contributor.
The maximum amount Council candidates are allowed to receive in matching funds through their campaigns is $92,400 — a number Lancman is already set to receive.
“In terms of fund-raising, we had a great day today,” Lancman said Monday, the day of his latest campaign filing.
But he said he is not going to slow his campaigning.
“We are going to continue to fund-raise until the field is set,” he said.
He said moving forward his campaign is establishing leadership committees that will host house parties that will enable him to get to know people who are not already familiar with him from his days in the Assembly.
He also hopes to rack up more union endorsements in the coming month, adding to the two endorsements he won last week.
Both RWDSU President Stuart Appelbaum and UFCW Local 1500 President Bruce W. Both said they supported Lancman’s Council run due to his record of supporting workers in the Assembly.
“As a member of the Assembly and chair of the Workplace Safety Committee, Rory Lancman fought arm-in-arm alongside the RWDSU for safer working conditions, better wages and real bargaining rights for retail, car wash and supermarket workers,” Appelbaum said.
Lancman decided not to run for another term in the Assembly because he was running in a hotly contested primary for U.S. Rep. Gary Ackerman’s seat. He was defeated in the primary by Assemblywoman Grace Meng, who ultimately went on to win the seat in the general election.
Lancman officially launched his Council bid in December.
Reach reporter Karen Frantz by e-mail at kfrantz@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4538.
