the New york law journal: Challenger George Grasso—the former administrative judge for Queens County Supreme Criminal Court—has raised over $314,500 since launching his campaign in October

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz has assembled a $1.1 million war chest as she ramps up her re-election campaign.

Katz is facing a challenge from George Grasso, who last year announced his intention to challenge the incumbent Katz in the upcoming Democratic primary.

Grasso—formerly the administrative judge for Queens County Supreme Criminal Court–has raised over $314,500 since launching his campaign in October.

In the last six months alone, Katz has raised over $600,000, her campaign said.

Those contributions constitute amounts reported to the campaign finance board raised during the first filing period, which ended Jan. 13.

“My entire career led me to this position and the support I’ve received for re-election is a strong signal that the office is heading in the right direction,” Katz said in a statement released by her campaign. “This filing is just the start of our campaign where I will highlight the work that the office is doing—to take illegal guns off the streets, to hold human traffickers and domestic abusers accountable, and to build a criminal justice system that prioritizes public safety, justice, and fairness for all—because our office shows that you can have safety in the streets and fairness in the courtroom.”

Katz—who served as member of the State Assembly, City Council and as Queens borough president prior to becoming DA—recently sat down with the Law Journal to discuss the last four years.

Since launching his campaign, Grasso has raised about a fifth of the amount of his opponent.

But in an interview Friday, the 30-year veteran of the NYPD said he’s feeling “great.”

“I never raised five dollars before, I’m not a professional fundraiser,” he told the New York Law Journal. “It’s so reaffirming to me to see the massive response I got in terms of individual contributors.

“I’ve got a base of support,” he added. “I’m gonna give Melinda Katz and the Queens Democratic Party a run for their money and I have the resources to do it.”

A visible difference between the two campaigns is the number of individual contributions. Around 600 individuals gave to Grasso in the last six-month period, while 280 individuals gave to Katz.

Katz, meanwhile, is seeing the sizable support of high net worth individuals, labor unions and business interests.

One of Grasso’s largest individual contributions is from Michael Ricatto, a Queen real estate investor and Trump supporter who made headlines in 2016 when he offered a $5,000 reward for the return of stolen campaign signs. Ricatto gave $10,000 to Grasso’s campaign.

The former judge has also received $1,000 from lawyer Arthur Aidala, $250 from former FDNY Commissioner Daniel Nigro, and $1,500 from Barry Kamins—a retired judge who has also represented Rudy Giuliani.

Of the individual donations to Katz, billionaire businessman John Catsimatidis has so far given Katz $35,000 while his wife Margo donated $10,000. Alexandra Marie Cohen, wife of New York Mets owner Steve Cohen, has donated $40,000.

Catherine Wigdor, wife of Douglas Wigdor, gave $7,500, while attorney Athas Ioannou gave $10,000.

Katz also received $10,000 contributions from both 1199 SEIU and 32BJ and $10,000 contributions from real estate developers Gary Barnett and Douglas Eisenberg.

Katz narrowly won the Democratic Primary in 2019 for Queens DA, beating out challenger Tiffany Cabán by a margin of some 50 votes.

Written by Emily Saul, The New York Law Journal

https://www.law.com/newyorklawjournal/2023/01/27/queens-da-melinda-katzs-re-election-campaign-has-over-1-1-million/