by Edward-Isaac Dovere
eidovere@cityhallnews.com
A complicated web of coordinated activities, shared resources and staff, and quiet money transfers between the Working Families Party, a secretive private company called Data and Field Services and at least six current Council campaigns, as well as Bill de Blasio's campaign for public advocate, appears to have found several ways around the strict city campaign finance laws. Upwards of a million dollars, and possibly more, are involved, with over $1.7 million in matching funds comprised of taxpayer dollars already disbursed and more are potentially at stake.
There have long been assumptions and rumors of the collaboration between the Working Families Party (WFP) and its favored candidates, but never before has the scope of or intricate processes behind its joint activity been exposed to the degree made possible by an extensive review of public documents and close to 50 interviews with a range of key players conducted by City Hall over the last few days.
Similarly, though the existence of Data and Field Services (DFS), a for-profit company incorporated in February 2007, had been mentioned in passing in prior press reports and as an ambiguous line on a dozen campaign finance reports over the last year and a half, never before have the details of the company and the extent of its ties to the Working Families Party been revealed.
The company was set up by Kevin Finnegan, then acting as a lawyer on behalf of the WFP, and currently the political director of 1199SEIU. Explaining the benefit of having a private company to the New York Post in April, Finnegan said that having a private for-profit company would allow candidates to avoid potential problems with the campaign finance laws, which put limits on the amount of money candidates can give to political parties. In New York City, that amount is $10,000.
Another benefit of incorporating a private, for-profit company is that none of its activities--all of them done on behalf of the WFP and various political candidates--are visible to the same level of detail that would be possible if the WFP or the candidates made the expenditures themselves. In addition to the fact that regulations bar the WFP from having staff reach out beyond the ranks of its members for petitioning or any other campaign activity, and limit the amount of money the WFP can donate to campaigns, all such expenditures would need to be documented in public campaign finance reports, a requirement that the DFS corporate structure obviates.
Money transferred to DFS from the WFP and political candidates can be tracked, however, since these all must report their own expenditures. Already during 2009, according to the latest available records showing their finances through mid-July, the WFP has transferred $554,629 (listed as "wages") and nine campaigns together have transferred $253,855 (listed as "campaign spending") to DFS, for a total of over $800,000. The money from WFP is out of the general party account, which is funded in part by union contributions totaling to $345,000 so far this year, with the biggest donors being RWDSU, TWU, UFT and CWA. According to WFP executive director Dan Cantor, the WFP paid full payroll taxes on these wages.
It is impossible, however, to know how this money has been spent by DFS.
One person who said he had knowledge of DFS spending and spoke on the company's behalf was Cantor. Cantor confirmed multiple times that he is not an employee of DFS, but said he was authorized on the company's behalf because, as he put it, "I created it."
In a subsequent conversation, he said that speaking on behalf of DFS "is my job, it's obviously my job."
In the outgoing message on his cell phone, Finnegan says that he is out of the country. Cantor said he believed Finnegan is in Russia, again indicating that there is no one else to talk to about DFS but himself.
Cantor also made clear throughout conversations that he has ongoing access to DFS records, participates in discussions about DFS business decisions and can very quickly get information about DFS activities.
DFS was incorporated with the state Department of Corporations with an address listed as 612 2nd Street in Brooklyn, which according to Cantor, was then the residence of George Short, whom Cantor identified as an accountant, "our former finance guy."
Cantor said he was unclear of the corporate structure of DFS, including whether there is a board of directors. He said he believed Short may be the president of the company, but was not sure. Short, whom Cantor said is ill, could not be located.
The employees of DFS, Cantor explained, are "organizers, mobilizers, campaigners," as well as "some core of kind of field managers, leadership team."
As to the services that the company provides, Cantor said, "fundamentally, it's organizing."
Despite the name of the company including the word "Data" Cantor said he was not aware of DFS doing polling or significant data analysis. The focus is on field operations, he explained.
"It could go from soup to nuts: it could involve strategizing, messaging, our volunteer mobilization--that's a gigantic part of the puzzle," he said, "canvassing, GOTV, phone banking--although that's almost always 100 percent volunteer, but someone has to organize the volunteers."
He made no mention of DFS providing any permanent staff to campaigns or providing communications assistance.
Several times, he explained the relationship between WFP and DFS by saying they shared a similar mission and purpose.
"DFS is kind of owned by Working Families, although it's not technically owned--it's part of the Working Families family, so to speak," he said, adding a little bit later, "it's very much part of Working Families."
Asked if the company had been succeeding in achieving the goals he and others had for it, Cantor seemed relatively upbeat.
"Yes and no," he said with a laugh. "We have dreams, as of yet unrealized, that some day we'll make some money. But not yet. We want to have a kind of capacity to have year-round field capacity to work on issues, to work for a few candidates that we endorse."
Later, when asked whether there is a corporate structure in place that outlines what would be done with any profit which DFS turns if the day comes when it does, Cantor seemed unsure, other than apparently suggesting the money would be turned back to WFP.
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