By Nathan Duke
Kevin Kim has moved into the lead in fund-raising efforts among the seven candidates vying for City Councilman Tony Avella’s (D-Bayside) seat, according to campaign finance records released last week.
Kim, who lives in Bay Terrace and acts as deputy director of community affairs for U.S. Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-Bayside), will face off this fall against Democrats Jerry Iannece, Paul Vallone, Debra Markell, Steve Behar and Tom Cooke as well as Republican Dan Halloran.
Kim has raised $233,102 and spent $161,848 in the race, according to city Campaign Finance Board figures. Vallone, son of former Council Speaker Peter Vallone and brother of Councilman Peter Vallone Jr. (D-Astoria), has raised the second-highest amount in the race with $135,526 and spent $88,795.
Iannece, Community Board 11’s chairman, has raised $67,295 and spent $34,922, while Debra Markell, a Whitestone attorney and district manager for Long Island City’s Community Board 2, has received $40,811 and spent $39,751. Bayside’s Behar, an attorney, has raised $25,403 and spent $43,542, while Cooke, a disabled veteran who has acted as board chairman for the United Spinal Association since July 2008, has raised $20,030 and spent $15,485.
Whitestone attorney Halloran has received $9,205 and spent $5,961.
Kim had a mixture of large and small contributions from within the district, but also from as far away as California and China. He received $2,750 in contributions from the Oyster Bay Cove owner of Sam Won Gak restaurant, a California resident, a Bayside student, the president of Flushing’s DY International Corp. beauty salon, the owner of a Honolulu-based pancake house, a consultant from Shanghai and attorneys from Manhattan’s Boies, Schiller & Flexner firm.
He also had smaller donations from district residents and the publisher of Flushing’s Korean American Times.
Vallone’s contributions were a mixture of large and small donations. He received $3,000 from Astoria’s Michael Partridge Realty Corp. and Waste Management in Houston as well as $2,750 from his father Peter Vallone, the former Council speaker; an employee of Old Westbury-based Nash Builders real estate company; and homemakers from Manhattan, Jackson Heights and Lawrence, N.Y. Other contributors include his brother Councilman Peter Vallone Jr., the president of Bayside’s Helms Bros. Automobile, attorneys from Mattone & McCabe, the Steamfitters Local 638 union, the Sheet Metal Workers 28 union, actor Tony LoBianco and CB 7 Vice Chairman Chuck Apelian. Apelian is also his campaign manager.
Iannece’s largest contributors include his own law firm, which donated $2,500 as well as a Little Neck housewife, a Walgreens pharmacist from Bayside and James Riso, of Bayside’s Briarwood Organization, each of whom gave $1,000. Other contributors include architects, attorneys, Mattone Group President Carl Mattone and CB 11’s Henry Euler, Bernard Haber, Christine Haider and Frank Skala.
Markell received $2,750 from two members of the Briarwood Organization, $1,250 from borough consultant Catherine Giuliani and $1,200 from former Queens Borough President Claire Shulman. Smaller contributions came from Caffé on the Green owner Joseph Franco, Mattone Group Management, state Assemblywoman Audrey Pheffer (D-Far Rockaway), state Sen. Frank Padavan (R-Bellerose), Bruce Bendell of Long Island City’s Major World Autox and Flushing Chamber of Commerce Co-President Myra Baird Herce.
Behar’s largest contributor was his own law firm, which donated more than $1,800. Most of his contributors gave smaller amounts and were within the district. Behar received money from Avella, South Ozone Park attorney Albert Baldeo, real estate broker Ethel Chen, administrative law judges, CB 11’s Henry Euler, attorneys, a staffer from Wright Risk Management and a debt relief attorney from San Diego.
Cooke’s largest contributors were a South Bay Cardiovascular Association physician and a Farmingville social worker, both of whom donated $2,750, and a city student, who gave $1,000. Other contributors include Padavan, Euler, a reporter for the Korea Times and a Las Vegas resident.
Halloran’s donations were under $1,000 and came from Padavan, Councilman Eric Ulrich (R-Rockaway Beach), Queens County Republican Party President Phil Ragusa, Queens GOP Executive Vice Chairman Vincent Tabone, Myra Baird Herce, former Council contender Dolores Maddis, an FDNY worker, attorneys and a real estate broker.
Avella, who was first elected in 2001, decided to run in the mayoral race this year rather than seeking a third term in the Council.
District 19 covers Bayside, Little Neck, Douglaston, Whitestone, Auburndale, College Point, Malba and East Flushing.
Reach reporter Nathan Duke by e-mail at nduke@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 156.
