As Mayor Bill de Blasio was openly considering a run for the White House earlier this year, an agency under his purview provided a venue for Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s competing campaign.
Warren met with supporters in March at a space owned and operated by the New York City Economic Development Corporation, which provided the venue for free, helped arrange the visit and sent a staffer from its public relations department.
The agency’s assistance came at a curious time: Warren was in New York City that day to deliver remarks at the site of the city’s failed Amazon headquarters deal which was, ironically, spearheaded by the EDC.
In providing her the space, the quasi-governmental entity that de Blasio controls assisted a top-tier presidential contender in a crowded field the mayor would enter two months later.
EDC says its venue, an East Harlem food market called La Marqueta, is a public space that anyone can use without charge. Therefore, it had to treat Warren as it would any organization or campaign looking to visit.
“Given the nature of the event, explicit consent was not required,” spokesperson Stephanie Baez said.
“However, EDC was notified out of courtesy, and we obliged the request given that there was no threat to public safety, no political endorsement by the city or EDC, and the event is within the First Amendment right to peaceably assemble in a public space,” she added. “We would treat any request of similar nature equally.”
Regardless, Warren’s campaign has since said it would reimburse the city.
The curious coupling began when Warren’s team reached out to the EDC to request a March 8 meeting with a women-owned business operating out of La Marqueta.
According to emails obtained through a Freedom of Information Law request, an EDC senior associate wrote to a Warren staffer on March 6, saying: “As per our conversation you indicated that Elizabeth Warren, Presidential Candidate for the Democratic Party would like to visit La Marqueta and have a talk with Hot Bread Kitchen owner."
Warren’s staffer immediately wrote back, saying the event was “looking to be a very laid back stop to chat with the owner to hear about the amazing work she is doing in the community, and how the bakery was started.”
A few hours later the Warren staffer wrote again, saying the team was expecting “30‐40 folks come by to have a cup of joe and support this amazing local business on International Women’s Day.”
The staffer added: “By the way, just curious, have you ever had any political candidates stop by before?”
No one answered that question on the email thread provided to POLITICO, but an EDC staffer appeared enthusiastic at the prospect of a visit from the Massachusetts senator. And the agency sent a member of its press shop to field questions about La Marqueta and Hot Bread Kitchen, according to a spokesperson.
When Warren arrived, the event appeared to be geared toward meeting donors.
“This is my first fundraiser and it’s great to be here with people who pitched in what they could,” Warren said at the event, according to a video posted on Facebook.
Her campaign subsequently said that the event was not a fundraiser, and that the senator did not receive any contributions from the gathering. Instead, supporters and previous donors were invited to come and meet Warren during her stop in New York City.
“This event was open to the public and gave Elizabeth a chance to thank her supporters in the area,” campaign spokesperson Chris Hayden said in a prepared statement. “The campaign sold no tickets to it and raised no money from it.”
Federal campaign finance rules require free event space that would normally be rented out to be declared as an in-kind contribution. Because the city maintains that any campaign could use La Marqueta for free, the event would not necessarily need to be declared. However, the campaign has since said that it would pay the city “out of an abundance of caution.”
After availing herself of the agency’s free public space at La Marqueta, later that day Warren traveled to a warehouse in Long Island City, where she announced a policy proposal to break up big tech companies. The senator shared the stage with a union group and two elected officials who were the staunchest opponents to Amazon’s plans for a headquarters on the Queens waterfront, which was supposed to be EDC’s signature economic development achievement until the deal fell through in February.
“I understand that you had a visitor,” she said. “Amazon came. Amazon left. You know, that is the problem in America today — we have these giant tech companies that think they rule the earth. They think they can come to towns, cities sand states and bully everyone into doing what they want.”
Article originally published on POLITICO Magazine