NEW YORK — Andrew Cuomo’s mayoral campaign is intertwined with a New York City-based lobbying firm that is providing services for free and stands to have a top ally in City Hall if he wins.
Cuomo’s arrangement with Tusk Strategies is saving the Democratic frontrunner tens of thousands of dollars on consulting fees, based on a review of rates his rivals pay for similar services. That allows him to spend more money on direct outreach to voters in the form of TV ads, mailers and digital spots.
The Democrat’s campaign is employing at least four people from another major lobbying firm, Mercury Public Affairs, in Cuomo’s bid to oust Mayor Eric Adams. Campaign spokesperson Rich Azzopardi said Mercury is being paid as a general consultancy. He then cited lobbyists working for opponents Zellnor Myrie, Adrienne Adams, Brad Lander and Eric Adams.
Tusk presents a different case.
The prominent firm, which ran Andrew Yang’s 2021 mayoral campaign, has been playing an integral role in Cuomo’s bid since before he entered the race in March, ahead of the June 24 primary.
CEO Chris Coffey is involved in the campaign, providing communications advice to the former New York governor and handling outreach to the city’s politically influential Orthodox Jewish leaders, as first reported by POLITICO. His business partner, Shontell Smith, works as the political director of Cuomo’s campaign.
Tusk Strategies paid for two public polls — one in February, released days before Cuomo entered the race, and a second less than month after the March campaign launch — which found the former governor handily leading the primary field. Both surveys were conducted by the Honan Strategy Group and helped solidify a perception of inevitability around Cuomo that helped with endorsements and fundraising.
Coffey described his role as an “informal advisor in a volunteer capacity.” Azzopardi said Smith is paid directly by the campaign “in a personal capacity.”
Coffey said the campaign does not take up much of his time, though three people familiar with his role in Cuomo’s circle — who were granted anonymity to freely discuss its inner workings — recently described it as more involved than he did.
Coffey’s firm is also running a 501(c)(4) called “Restore Sanity NYC,” whose literature matches Cuomo’s campaign messaging — down to a photo of the remodeled LaGuardia Airport Terminal he oversaw as governor. The organization, first reported by The CITY and the New York Times, does not mention a candidate on its mailers.
Its structure as a nonprofit allows it to raise and spend unlimited sums while shielding the identity of its donors during the race.
Campaigns are legally barred from coordinating with super PACs, like the one that has raised some $9 million to boost Cuomo’s mayoral bid. The city’s Campaign Finance Board has withheld $622,056 in public matching funds as it investigates whether Cuomo’s campaign coordinated with the PAC, Fix the City. Azzopardi has said he expects to receive the full amount of eligible matching funds once the regulators complete their probe.
Groups like Restore Sanity NYC — which purport not to help any particular candidate — are not beholden to a prohibition on coordination.
Nevertheless, Coffey and one of his employees — Alex Sommer — separately said the CEO is walled off from any involvement in the organization, following what the Times — and a person familiar with the matter — described as his outreach to potential donors in March. POLITICO reviewed an April 16 document memorializing that firewall. Tusk Strategies, of course, stands to gain financially from a share of the revenue raised by the group.
“I’m the CEO of a firm with 35 plus people and 40 plus clients with three offices around the country. I also chair two NYC nonprofits (Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy and WIN),” Coffey said in a statement. “That, along with spending time with my two kids and my husband, take up the vast majority of my time and focus.”
“That being said,” he added, “I love this city and care deeply about its future, which is why I’ve worked on or volunteered (Quinn, Cuomo) for every mayoral campaign for [the] last 25 years and am beyond proud to do the same for Andrew Cuomo.”
Tusk was founded by its namesake, political consultant Bradley Tusk, who ran Mike Bloomberg’s 2009 mayoral campaign. It primarily advises corporate clients and lobbies state agencies. Coffey also routinely consults New York politicians, and his firm ran most of Yang’s campaign in house four years ago.
Cuomo’s campaign filing will be public in the coming days; it’s not yet known how much his team is paying Mercury.
Longtime Cuomo confidant Charlie King, one of the campaign’s earliest hires, is a Mercury partner. King worked with Cuomo in the Clinton administration and was his preferred running mate during a disastrous 2002 run for governor, and the two men have remained close. POLITICO in January reported that King was vetting potential campaign staff.
As Cuomo prepared to enter the race, Mercury announced the hiring of Jennifer Bayer Michaels, a former Cuomo fundraiser who does not lobby. She now serves as the Cuomo campaign’s finance director. Ten days after Cuomo’s March 1 entrance into the race, The New York Post reported his campaign hired Edu Hermelyn, a Mercury senior vice president, to be a “political advisor.” Hermelyn is the husband of Democratic Party leader Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn, who endorsed Cuomo shortly after he entered the race. Jake Dilemani, a Mercury partner, was also involved in hiring staff, and is not listed as a lobbyist.
“It is not uncommon that public affairs professionals work for firms that also provide lobbying services,” Azzopardi said, citing four rivals’ on-staff lobbyists — all of whom are being paid, per public filings and statements from those campaigns. “While we are busy reaching voters and running a campaign, I’m sure POLITICO, with all of its sprawling resources, will do a careful review of all of the other candidates and their consultants who also lobby or work for firms that provide lobbying services.”
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