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Council Races Get Special Interest

Races for Queens City Council seats should be home-grown affairs with candidates taking positions on neighborhood issues that have divided some residents and united others, but in the 2013 primary outside influences in the form of big bucks have been injected into the contests for Council spots in several communities.

Jobs for New York, a political action committee backed by citywide real estate interests, has hijacked the Democratic primary for Councilman Dan Halloran’s seat, spending $220,500 to back one contender, Paul Vallone, who has the blessings of the Queens Democratic Party. The PAC shelled out $45,000 to send out attack ads against three of his opponents.

One of the targets ran her own response ad showing a masked man packing a semi-automatic handgun under the heading, “Coming to a neighborhood near you.”

Where is the debate in northeast Queens over airplane noise, placing a new school in Bayside and overdevelopment? It has been drowned out.

In southeast Queens, Jobs for New York and labor unions spent $347,000 on two of the contenders in the sprint for Councilman Leroy Comrie’s seat, far more than the total of $214,800 raised by the five Democratic hopefuls.

Jobs for New York PAC shelled out $209,000 to support Manuel Caughman, the county party’s choice, against Daneek Miller, a union president, who got $138,000 in contributions from special labor interests.

In western Queens, Jobs for New York accounted for most of the $155,000 in outside funds for Costa Constantinides, the party-backed contender for Peter Vallone’s Council seat, in the three-way primary.

The flood of money representing outside interests has eclipsed the power and voice of Queens donors, who may give $25 or $3,000 to support the candidacy of a favorite son or daughter. In the past, candidates have cited numerous donations from within their district to tout their widespread appeal.

The U.S. Supreme Court freed PACs from spending caps in the 2010 Citizens United case. Participants in the city’s matching funds program can’t spend more than $168,000 on a candidacy, but PACs have no limits.

Something is rotten in Queens when 40 percent of the money raised in the borough for the 2013 primaries comes from special interest groups, based on a city Campaign Finance Board report.

We want our votes to count, donations to matter and concerns about the community to be heard.