Civil rights attorney, Maya Wiley, who is running as a candidate to be the next mayor of New York City, has been backed by Democrats who regularly speak out against special interests and big money in politics, yet she has worked for organizations that have been bankrolled by hedge-fund billionaire George Soros for decades.
Soros has ties to Wiley that date back to the 1990s and last month he dropped $500,000 into an independent expenditure group, 1199 for Maya, that backs Wiley's City Hall campaign.
The contribution was matched dollar for dollar by 1199SEIU, an influential healthcare workers union that has endorsed Wiley.
Civil rights attorney, Maya Wiley, received a $1bn contribution into a Super PAC from hedge-fund billionaire George Soros and a healthcare workers union
Wiley has been bankrolled by hedge-fund billionaire George Soros, pictured, for decades
Wiley has presented herself as a candidate for working class people in the city
Most of the money will go towards a $1.2 million political advertising campaign in a last-ditch effort to lure voters before the Democratic primary on June 22.
PACs can raise and spend unlimited funds but cannot coordinate directly with the campaigns.
That legal distinction makes it possible for candidates to denounce independent expenditures, even as they benefit from them.
Soros is often the object of criticism by Republicans for his outsize political influence.
Wiley has been backed by Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez whose district includes the eastern part of the Bronx, portions of north-central Queens
Yet despite the influx of cash for use either directly or indirectly by her campaign, Wiley tweeted a quote last week to soliciting campaign donations.
Wiley has been endorsed by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Public Advocate Jumaane Williams who often speak out against big money influence.
'If we don't come together as a movement, we will get a New York City built by and for billionaires, and we need a city for and by working people,' said democratic socialist Ocasio-Cortez, who represents parts of Queens and the Bronx. 'So we will vote for Maya #1.'
The massive sums given by Soros to the campaign are not yet reflected on the New York City Campaign Finance Board website which tracks the flow of money in local politics.
Cortez speaks at a rally last week where she endorsed progressive candidates, including Maya Wiley, in upcoming election for city wide offices in City Hall Park
'There is the belief that billionaires are bad for society — except for when they're giving to my campaign,' Doug Muzzio, a veteran political science professor at Baruch College, told the New York Post of the hypocrisy. 'That's the logic.'
Wiley has distanced herself from her financial backers by saying she can't control who chooses to donate to her.
'I can't comment on independent expenditures because I've been very clear that I have no control over them,' she told the Post.
Wiley's links to Soros goes back to the late 1990s when she worked for The Open Society Foundations, founded Soros. The non-profit is 'the world's largest private funder of independent groups working for justice, democratic governance, and human rights,' according to its website.
A few years later, in 2002, Wiley set up the Center for Social Inclusion which looks to 'end racial inequities through structural reform.'
Despite her claiming to represent working families, Wiley's background has her working at organizations often funded through grants backed by organizations and foundations set up by George Soros
Wiley has also worked for the Tides Foundation, a progressive activist organization.
Both groups have also been backed by large grants from Soros' Open Society organization.
Wiley's links to Soros don't end there. Her longtime partner, Harlan Mandel, who is the CEO of the Media Development Investment Fund, is also another organization funded by the Open Society.
Billionaire Soros is said to have paid no income tax between 2016 and 2018, according to a recent, wide-ranging investigation on tax inequality by ProPublica.
Wiley has said she would support a bill to raise the state income tax rate to 7.01 percent for single earners making $300,000 annually, and raise it as high as 13.81 percent for those making $100 million or more.
Soros' contribution was matched dollar for dollar by 1199SEIU, an influential healthcare workers union that has endorsed Wiley
When it comes to policy, Wiley has said she would cut the police budget by $1 billion annually 'and invest those funds directly into the communities most impacted by gun violence,' according to her platform.
A Wiley campaign ad shows police driving into a crowd of Black Lives Matter protesters last year. She says in the ad that it's 'time the NYPD sees us as people who deserve to breathe,' a reference to the deaths of Eric Garner and George Floyd.
Wiley appeared to waffle last Thursday during a debate when a moderator asked whether she favored taking guns away from police officers.
'I am not prepared to make that decision in a debate,' Wiley said. A Wiley campaign spokesperson later called the question 'ridiculous' because 'no one is even discussing taking guns away from cops.'
Maya Wiley attends the Puerto Rican Day parade on Sunday
Maya Wiley is pictured stumping with Amit Singh Bagga, who is running for City Council in Sunnyside, Woodside, Long Island City on Sunday
Amid a deluge of criticism, Wiley later tried to amend her answer, insisting that she did not intend to strip cops of their service weapons.
Candidates in New York City's heavily contested Democratic mayoral primary urged people to go to the polls in the coming days as early voting kicked off this weekend.
Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams has topped some recent polls, though the 13-candidate race remains tight.
Other top contenders include 2020 presidential candidate Yang, former city sanitation commissioner Kathryn Garcia and city Comptroller Scott Stringer.
This primary is especially hard to predict because the city is debuting ranked choice voting, with voters ranking up to five candidates.
Democrats dominate in New York City, and the winner of the party's primary is considered highly likely to win the general election in November and succeed Mayor Bill de Blasio.
The Republican primary features Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa and Fernando Mateo, a restaurant owner and advocate for taxi drivers.
NYC Mayoral candidate Maya Wiley leaves her home in Brooklyn. Wiley, left her beautiful home in a very pretty area of Brooklyn as she got into an awaiting car to be taken to another campaign event
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