Fil-Am gets $64,000 in matching funds

Edward “Ed” Santos, who is hoping to become the first Filipino-American elected to the New York City Council, was the only one among five challengers to the powerful incumbent who received matching campaign funds from the city Campaign Finance Board.

Santos, 28, a former school teacher who is hoping to represent East Harlem, received $64,438, while the two-term incumbent he’s challenging, Councilwoman Melissa Mark-Viverito, collected $87,780.

No other candidate in the six-way council race landed the extra money, according to the New York Daily News.

“The Matching funds program is a great opportunity for people like myself who want to run for office,” Santos said.

“I am not independently wealthy.”

Taxpayers pay city candidates $6 for every dollar they raise.

The cap is set at $175 per donation, which turns into $1,225 when the matching funds are added into the equation.

Mark-Viverito has a deep campaign chest who is facing only unknown opposition, yet she scored a huge taxpayer-funded bonanza, the Daily News said.

The Campaign Finance Board aims to “prevent payments to candidates facing minimal opposition,” said Campaign Finance Board spokesman Matt Sollars.

Mark-Viverito managed to persuade the board that her challengers are formidable.

She defended her payout, arguing she needs all the help she can get in order to stay in office.

Santos called the Mark-Viverito payout “unfortunate.”

“Though we agree that Melissa is the candidate most likely to win this race... the suggestion that she should take her opponents lightly and not fully compete in the city’s campaign finance system is disrespectful to our opponents,” stated a Mark-Viverito campaign spokesman.

Still, she is the clear front runner in her district, which includes East Harlem along with pockets of the South Bronx and the Upper East Side.

Mark-Viverito has raised more than $123,000 in private donations, records showed, nearly quadruple the amount in her rivals’ accounts.

Santos, son of a Filipina immigrant nanny who successfully fought deportation in the late 1980s by seeking the help of top political leaders, is running in the Democratic primary on Sept. 10.

He has worked tirelessly on issues like education, economic development and senior care.

If he wins, he will be the party’s candidate this November to represent the redrawn District 8 (El Barrio/East Harlem, Manhattan Valley and Mott Haven) in the City Council.

The Fil-Am community’s attention has shifted to Santos after the recent full-term election of Rolando Lavarro, Jr. to the City Council of Jersey City last year.

Lavarro, only 43, was unanimously elected president by his fellow City Council members.

For more information about Santos’ professional and educational background and achievements, visit www.edsantos2013.com. — Filipino Reporter