Last week, an ad attacking City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and her campaign for mayor was released by what is known as a SuperPAC. While we’ve all been hearing about SuperPACs for years now, the most important thing to know about these groups is that they raise millions of dollars and are able to circumvent disclosure laws. SuperPACs do this in a legal way, but we should ask ourselves—if we don’t know who is speaking, why should we trust them?
Quinn has worked very hard to strengthen New York City’s campaign finance laws, so an attack ad funded by anonymous donors flies in the face of all the hard work she’s done. But even more importantly, Quinn has worked very hard for the middle class, focusing on issues such as economic development, education and housing. As a Queens resident, middle class issues are crucial to me, and that’s why I’m supporting Chris.
Now, most Queens residents don’t know me any better than they know the anonymous donors who fund SuperPACs, so I can understand how my opinion isn’t any more important than theirs. I would just challenge people to learn as much as they can about the candidates from reliable sources—friends, family, trusted organizations—and vote for what they believe is best for New York City this fall.
Lauren Lombardo
Astoria
