Here are excerpts from two letters sent yesterday by lawyers for the mayoral campaign of the borough president of Manhattan, C. Virginia Fields.

To: New York City Campaign Finance Board

Pursuant to Rule 7-01 of the Rules of the New York City Campaign Finance Board, Fields for New York (hereinafter, “the committee”) makes the following complaints against A. Gifford Miller and the political committee supporting his campaign for Mayor.

Upon information and belief from an article in the New York Sun on June 8, 2005, and from recipients, A. Gifford Miller has sent several mass mailings paid for by his government office containing an electioneering message.

… the mass mailings were sent to council districts other than his own. Some included photos of other Council members; others did not. The ones that included others more prominently featured Mr. Miller than the local Council member.

Upon information and belief from the same sources, the mass mailings urge people to “call” Mayor Bloomberg to take certain actions.

Section 1136.2(c) of the Charter of the City of New York prohibits public servants from using governmental funds or resources for electioneering messages.

An electioneering message is defined … as a statement “designed to urge the public to elect or defeat a certain candidate for elective office….”

… the mass mailings appear to be designed to promote his own election campaign for Mayor.

The New York City Campaign Finance Board should, therefore, find that A. Gifford Miller has violated Section 1136.2(c) of the Charter of the City of New York.

Accordingly, inasmuch as the expenditures from his Council office were undoubtedly made in coordination with Mr. Miller for the transparent purpose of his campaign for Mayor, these expenditures should be counted towards his mayoral campaign’s expenditure limit.

It is requested that the New York City Campaign Finance Board … investigate this matter and take enforcement action as appropriate.

… A. Gifford Miller sent the said mass mailings to residents outside his own Council district, and to residents of vari ous other Council member’s districts, including that of Council member Tony Avella’s district in Queens.

Section 1136.2(b) of the Charter of the City of New York provides that … no mass mailings shall be “intentionally” sent to individuals “outside the particular council district” represented by such candidate. …

The said mass mailings were obviously intentionally sent to residents in districts other than his own.

Mark A. Davies
NYC Conflicts of Interest Board

Dear Mr. Davies:

The New York City Charter provides that “no public servant shall use or attempt to use his or her position as a public servant to obtain … any private or personal advantage.” Section 2604(b)(3). According to an article in the New York Sun dated June 8, 2005, Miller spent taxpayer dollars to send out mass mailings promoting himself to New Yorkers outside of his council district. …

By sending these mailings, we believe Mr. Miller violated the sacred trust between the people of New York City and their elected representatives that a public official not use his public office for private gain.

We therefore file this complaint and request that the following issues be investigated:

1) Did Gifford Miller send these mailings to registered Democrats only?

2) Did Gifford Miller send these mailings to “prime” Democratic voters?

3) Did Gifford Miller send these mailings to what he believes to be strategically important areas to his Mayoral campaign?

4) Did Gifford Miller send these mailings to what he believes to be people who are of strategically important demographic groups?

We respectfully request that the Conflicts of Interest Board subpoena the mailing lists that Mr. Miller’s City Council office used to send this literature to get to the bottom of these questions.

However, even if the answer to all of these questions is “no”, a mailing of this magnitude going to so many people outside of his Council district still constitutes a blatant attempt to use his public office for private gain; using his taxpayer funded office to fulfill his own private political ambitions.