A Powerful Bronx Politician Dines on Developers’ Double Donations

Over less than three years, Salamanca raised $244,000 through the second account, even though he’s never faced a challenge at the ballot box for the comparatively lowly post of district leader.

“That’s an extraordinarily high amount to have in a district leader campaign chest,” said Sarah Steiner, an attorney and former chair of the election law committee for the New York City Bar Association. “It’s an unpaid position.”

Salamanca then spent hundreds of thousands of dollars from the account to pay for restaurant bills, bar tabs, liquor store purchases, his wife’s salary for her role as his campaign treasurer, and other expenses.

As of January, the committee had reported expenditures totaling nearly $268,000 — or $24,000 more that it raised. The discrepancy appears to be the result of errors in campaign finance reports overseen by Salamanca’s wife, Jessenia Aponte.

Since 2016, Salamanca campaign committees have paid Aponte $156,000, including $29,000 in recent years from the district leader campaign account.

Normally, Steiner said, a treasurer for a district leader account would “rarely get paid, or would get paid very little,” although since Salamanca is raising so much money, his filings are more extensive than the typical district leader candidate.

Since March 2022, Salamanca shelled out more than $55,000 on dining and alcohol through the second campaign account, including on 46 occasions at two locations of the Bronx restaurant Enzo’s, a favorite haunt of Bronx politicos. And the account recorded more than $25,000 spent on Uber rides, gas, and other vehicle-related expenses.

New York state has notably loose laws concerning what campaigns are allowed to spend their money on. A spokesperson for Salamanca’s borough president campaign, Christian Amato, said all of the politician’s spending was “tied to campaign activity or political duties.”

“In Bronx politics, meetings are often held over meals — typically at places like Jimmy’s or Enzo’s,” Amato said. “Rafael chooses to cover the tab to avoid any feeling of obligation among those he meets with. Transportation is for campaign and political activities.”

The transportation costs reflect Salamanca’s need to “attend meetings, events, and constituent engagements, particularly since Rafael” — unlike Gibson — “does not have a city-provided driver.”

There’s nothing illegal about Salamanca having two accounts. But his district leader campaign committee is not allowed to subsidize his borough president campaign, which faces a strict spending limit. While records do show certain overlaps between their spending, Salamanca’s campaign said their activities are kept strictly separated.

Take one Bronx builder, Foxy Management, run by the father-son team of Sheldon and Jeff Fox.

Salamanca directed $728,000 in discretionary funds to a 168-unit affordable housing project for seniors in the Bronx in the 2016 city budget. The developer was Foxy Management, and Jeff Fox singled out Salamanca for praise when the project broke ground a year later.

In 2018, Salamanca was named the Land Use Committee chair, which has the power to approve or deny zoning changes sought by developers. That year, he directed $500,000 more in discretionary funds to a 177-unit senior housing development in the Bronx. Again, the developer was Foxy Management, whose principal again credited Salamanca.

Jeff and Sheldon Fox have repeatedly donated the maximum allowable amount per election cycle, $250, to Salamanca’s bids for City Council, including on March 17, 2022. That same day, Salamanca filed paperwork creating the Bronx Democratic Party district leader committee — and Sheldon immediately donated $2,500 more to the new account.

In October 2022, Sheldon, Jeff, and Jeff’s wife gave a combined $10,800 more to the district leader committee. Foxy Management — which as a corporation could not donate to the city-level campaign — gave an additional $4,400.

Since Salamanca took office in 2016, Jeff and Sheldon Fox and their spouses combined have donated nearly $31,000 to his campaigns, with more than half going to Salamanca’s second campaign committee. The company did not respond to a request for comment.

There are numerous other examples of double donors.

On May 13, 2022, an official at Brooklyn-based Spigro Management LLC, as well as the wife of a company executive, cut $1,600 checks to Salamanca’s city campaign account, the maximum the two could donate for a potential borough president candidacy. On that same day, both of them — plus a third company official — each gave $4,400 checks to the district leader account.

Michael Muzyk, then-president of Baldor Speciality Foods, donated $1,600 to Salamanca’s City Council account on June 13, 2022. Salamanca’s campaign had to refund all but $250 because Muzyk is in the city’s “doing business” database.

That same day, a corporate arm of Baldor donated $4,400 to Salamanca’s district leader account. Since then, two more companies associated with Baldor have given an additional $6,000. Baldor, a Bronx-based food distribution company, has served as a vendor for New York City agencies.

In 2019, Salamanca sponsored and pushed through a property tax exemption sought by Manhattan-based Azimuth Development, as well as a zoning application allowing a 330-unit project on Bruckner Blvd. Since then, officials from Azimuth Development or their spouses have donated $6,350 to the city accounts and at least $3,000 to the state account.

Salamanca also backed the developer’s controversial effort to demolish a 150-year-old church and turn it into supportive housing. The company did not respond to questions from New York Focus.

The Salamanca campaign spokesperson, Amato, argued that Salamanca’s fundraising tactics did not undermine New York City’s low donation limits for people with business before city officials.

“Individuals who want to support Rafael’s work in the community sometimes offer contributions via business checks, which cannot be accepted by the city campaign account,” Amato said. “In those instances, if they choose to contribute separately to the District Leader account to support community events, that is their decision.”

Salamanca’s fundraising through a second campaign account is not unprecedented.

His predecessor as land use chair, former Councilmember David Greenfield, chaired the powerful committee between 2014 and 2017.

Beginning in 2013, Greenfield raised more than $300,000 through a committee set up for an unspecified state office. Like Salamanca, much of the money came from real estate developers who also donated the maximum amount to his city account.

Unlike Salamanca, however, Greenfield spent almost nothing from the haul. He did not run for city council reelection in 2017 and more than $300,000 remains in the account, unspent.