Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz accuses rival of breaking election law
An insurgent candidate running in the Democratic primary for Queens district attorney is brazenly flouting election law, incumbent DA Melinda Katz charged in a new complaint.
One of Katz’s rivals, public defense lawyer Devian Daniels, has not filed papers with the state Board of Elections declaring her candidacy, nor has she submitted reports on the source of her campaign contributions or spending as legally required, according to the complaint from the DA’s campaign.
“Ms. Daniels has been a candidate for nomination for election as District Attorney of Queens County since at least March 2, 2023. Despite this candidacy, however, there is no record that she has registered a candidate committee with the BOE,” Katz campaign lawyer Vito Pitta wrote in the June 22 complaint filed with the BOE’s division of election law enforcement.
“A review of the BOE’s online Public Reporting System (“PRS”) reveals no current candidate committee established by Ms. Daniels,” the complaint adds.
A review of the BOE’s website by The Post showed only records from Daniels’ prior candidacy for a Queen civil judgeship last year.
Daniel has not reported campaign contributions or spending for electioneering activities that include collecting 13,000 voter signatures, nor submitted designating petitions to the New York City Board of Elections to qualify for ballot status, the complaint said.
“For sake of comparison, the other candidates seeking the Democratic nomination for election to the office of District Attorney of Queens County have expended and disclosed considerable amounts of money related to the petitioning process,” Katz’s campaign attorney wrote in the complaint.
“Katz NYS expended and disclosed a total of $80,844 in connection with the printing, collection, preparation, and submission of its designating petitions,” Pitta wrote. “Similarly, Grasso for Queens, the authorized single-candidate committee supporting the candidacy of George Grasso, expended and disclosed a total of $163,300.03 in connection with the printing, collection, preparation, and submission of its designating petitions.”
Retired NYPD first deputy commissioner and former judge George Grasso is the third candidate in the race.
The complaint also claims Daniels’ campaign is using a text message service to contact voters and has a campaign website that says it is paid for by Daniels for DA.
“Ordinarily, these types of text messaging services require the engagement of a consultant that provides the platform for text message communications, requiring payment of a fee for each text message, as well as the purchase of voter contact lists containing the contact information for the target voters,” the complaint notes.
It further alleges Daniels hasn’t reported the costs of campaign materials, posters and palm cards distributed to voters. She is also running cable TV ads.
“For sake of comparison, the other candidates seeking the Democratic nomination for election to the office of District Attorney of Queens County have expended and disclosed considerable amounts of money related to campaign literature. Katz NYS expended and disclosed a total of $23,940 for campaign literature, while Grasso for Queens expended and disclosed a total of $10,490.18,” Pitta wrote.
“We respectfully request that you investigate these issues with all due speed and rigor to ensure the confidence in the integrity of the election and campaign finance process for the people of Queens County and all New Yorkers.”
Katz, who has superior name recognition having previously served as borough president and in the state Legislature and City Council, is heavily favored to win re-election.
But she is facing challenges from both the left and the right, and surprises can sometimes occur in low-turnout primaries. Sunday is the last day of early voting and the final primary election vote is on Tuesday.
Daniels, who is black and from heavily African-American southeast Queens, recently told NY1 she wants to “end mass incarceration.”
Grasso, who has some backing from the law enforcement community, has painted Katz as being too soft on quality of life crimes like shoplifting.
The incumbent has defended her “smart-but-tough-on-crime approach” to delivering justice for Queens residents.
Mayor Eric Adams has endorsed Katz, saying she has bee a strong ally in aiding the NYPD while curbing prosecutorial abuses.
Katz, who only narrowly won her Democratic primary for DA against far-left Astoria Councilwoman Tiffany Caban in 2019, also has the backing of US Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer and top black pols in Queens including Borough President Donovan Richards, Democratic Party chairman and Congressman Greg Meeks and Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, as well as support from two dozen unions.
Queens Democratic insiders said Daniels’ candidacy is a head scratcher and suggested she was attempting to play spoiler.
Daniels, in a statement to The Post, claimed she filed the necessary documents with the elections board.
“We are working on ensuring full compliance with the Board of Elections. We encourage every Democrat in Queens to vote for change in the Democratic Primary Election,” Daniels said.
She turned her fire on Katz.
“We ran our grassroots progressive campaign to provide the voters of Queens an option between a promoter of mass incarceration and a political hack that voted for the death penalty. We did not enjoy the millions of dollars of cash from fat cats, the corrupt machine or political insiders,” Daniels said.
“This complaint by Team Katz is a mere distraction from her shortcomings, especially as it relates to communities of color. We only wish Katz showed the same interest in protecting the rights of African Americans to serve as jurors in Queens County.”
