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Reclaim New York

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Reclaim New York
Founded2013
FoundersRobert Mercer, Rebekah Mercer, Steven Bannon
Location
Jacqui James Varga, Rebekah Mercer, Jennifer Mercer, Leonard Leo
Websitehttps://reclaimnewyork.com/

Reclaim New York is a government watchdog group in New York State. It was founded in 2013 by hedge fund manager and computer scientist Robert Mercer, his daughter Rebekah Mercer, and Breitbart co-founder Steve Bannon, to track what they saw as excessive public spending.[1][2][3][4] They were soon joined by conservative lawyer and legal activist Leonard Leo,[5] and Bush-administration veteran Tom Basile.[6] Reclaim New York describes itself as a non-partisan good government group. Most leadership roles have been filled by individuals with connections to the Republican party or other conservative groups.[6] It has been accused by state Democrats and liberal groups of being a vehicle for the Mercers to achieve their political goals.[7][8][9][10][11][12][6] As per its tax filings, Mercer provides nearly all of Reclaim New York's funding.[8] It shared office space in New York City with data-mining firm Cambridge Analytica, which also received investments from the Mercer family.[13][14] Reclaim New York, a 501(c)(3),[15] launched a lobbying arm in 2016, the 501(c)(4) Reclaim New York Initiative.[16][17] Reclaim New York downsized its operations in 2019, which was attributed by its opponents to its lack of success in influencing state politics.[18]

Reclaim New York used a strategy of filing Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) requests for information about government spending, in order to publicize the difficulty of obtaining public documents and uncover spending it felt to be wasteful, abusive, or fraudulent. It makes these requests itself and trains citizens to make their own requests. Reclaim has been criticized[by whom?] for sowing distrust of the government and abusing the open-records civic process by intimidation.[19] In 2014, it filed 250 requests with various government groups in Long Island, and more in the rest of the state. It sued at least 11 government groups including the Elmont School District and Peekskill City School District for failing to comply with their requests.[20][21][6][22] In its suit against a village in Rockland County, the village asked that it not be required to pay Reclaim New York's legal fees, citing its wealthy donors compared to the village budget. The judge agreed what the village called the "Mercer Mercy Rule".[6]

Reclaim New York has sponsored other initiatives in the state. It opposed various bills in the state legislature[8][23] and the renaming of the Tappan Zee Bridge after Governor Mario Cuomo.[12] On Long Island, it has criticized a wind power initiative in East Hampton[24] and tax rates on Long Island.[25] It was also part of the unsuccessful effort to stop a new hospital from being built in Utica.[26][27]

As of 2024, Reclaim New York's board of directors includes:[28]

  • Jacqui James Varga: Chairman
  • Rebekah Mercer: Director and Treasurer
  • Jennifer Mercer: Secretary and Director
  • Leonard Leo: Director

References

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  1. ^ Gold, Matea (September 13, 2016). "The rise of GOP mega-donor Rebekah Mercer". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on November 14, 2016. Retrieved July 22, 2021.
  2. ^ Gregory Zuckerman; Keach Hagey; Scott Patterson; Rebecca Ballhaus (January 8, 2017). "Meet the Mercers: A Quiet Tycoon and His Daughter Become Power Brokers in Trump's Washington". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved July 22, 2021.
  3. ^ Schouten, Fredreka (March 7, 2017). "Who are mega-donors Bob and Rebekah Mercer, and why are they influential?". USA Today. Retrieved August 2, 2021.
  4. ^ Matea Gold (March 17, 2017). "The Mercers and Stephen Bannon: How a populist power base was funded and built". Washington Post. Retrieved August 2, 2021.
  5. ^ Robert O'Harrow Jr.; Shawn Boburg (May 21, 2019). "A conservative activist's behind-the-scenes campaign to remake the nation's courts". The Washington Post. Retrieved July 22, 2021.
  6. ^ a b c d e Robert Lewis (February 19, 2018). "Trump's army battles for New York". WRVO Public Media. Retrieved July 24, 2021.
  7. ^ Campbell, Jon (November 9, 2017). "How Robert Mercer impacts local battles in New York". The Journal News. Retrieved July 24, 2021.
  8. ^ a b c Galbraith, Rob (May 24, 2017). "Mercer family front groups attack universal healthcare bill in New York State". Eyes on the Ties. Retrieved July 24, 2021.[unreliable source?]
  9. ^ Lovett, Kenneth (December 30, 2018). "Reclaim New York offering supporters dinner and hotel for Albany lobbying trip". NY Daily News. Retrieved July 24, 2021.
  10. ^ Campbell, Jon (November 9, 2017). "How Robert Mercer impacts local battles in New York". The Journal News. Retrieved August 2, 2021.
  11. ^ Feldman, Victor (August 26, 2017). "'Reclaim New York': Mercer-funded, Bannon-guided campaign sows distrust of local government". The Berkshire Edge. Retrieved August 2, 2021.
  12. ^ a b Karlin, Rick (July 11, 2017). "Poll: Downstate residents dislike naming Tappan Zee bridge for Mario Cuomo". Times Union. Retrieved July 26, 2021.
  13. ^ Cunningham-Cook, Matthew (January 14, 2021). "Arizona GOP Chair Urged Violence at the Capitol. The Mercers Spent $1.5 Million Supporting Her". The Intercept. Retrieved July 24, 2021. Robert Mercer was a major investor in Cambridge Analytica, which mined data on behalf of the Trump campaign and shared office space with Mercer-funded conservative advocacy group Reclaim New York.
  14. ^ "Newly Published Cambridge Analytica Documents Show Unlawful Support for Trump in 2016". Campaign Legal Center. Retrieved March 25, 2024. emails indicate that Cambridge Analytica staff understood that they were ultimately working for the Mercers; in fact, the firm's New York office was shared with another Mercer venture, Reclaim New York. Cambridge Analytica staff also understood that Mercer-backed super PACs were expected to contract with the firm.
  15. ^ "Reclaim New York | Forest Hills, NY | Cause IQ". www.causeiq.com. Retrieved March 25, 2024.
  16. ^ "Trump's Army Battles for New York | WNYC | New York Public Radio". WNYC. Retrieved March 25, 2024. In 2016, a related organization called Reclaim New York Initiative incorporated as what's technically called a "social welfare organization." Such organizations have earned the moniker "dark money" groups because they can typically shield the names of donors from the public… It's through this entity that Reclaim does its lobbying. Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway was a founding director of Reclaim New York Initiative. Disclosure forms filed with New York state show Robert Mercer provided $70,855 in March last year to launch the lobbying unit.
  17. ^ "Reclaim New York Initiative | Forest Hills, NY | Cause IQ". www.causeiq.com. Retrieved March 25, 2024.
  18. ^ Yancey Roy (July 10, 2019). "Mercer-backed group downsizes NY operations". Newsday. Retrieved October 27, 2021.
  19. ^ Feldman, Victor (August 26, 2017). "'Reclaim New York': Mercer-funded, Bannon-guided campaign sows distrust of local government". The Berkshire Edge. Retrieved March 25, 2024. "They have taken a great tool, FOIL, and weaponized it… wanting to know how your government spends tax money is perfectly fine… They try to get as many people to file FOIL requests and overburden small school boards and municipalities. They send hundreds, if not thousands, of these requests and they know that the respondents often can't reply to all of them on time. When a school board refuses to respond, or fails to do so in the allotted 20 days, Reclaim sues them. It's a way of intimidating and crippling local governments, not actually holding them accountable."
  20. ^ Steve Smirti (June 15, 2016). "Elmont School District sued by transparency group". Nassau Herald. Retrieved July 24, 2021.
  21. ^ Higgins, Lee (November 18, 2016). "Peekskill defends against lawsuit by Reclaim New York". The Journal News. Retrieved July 24, 2021.
  22. ^ Karlin, Rick (January 2, 2018). "Groups sue after waiting months for docs related to ad campaign". Times Union. Retrieved August 2, 2021.
  23. ^ Lovett, Kenneth (December 7, 2018). "New York good government groups hail decision to tie legislative pay raises to reforms". NY Daily News. Retrieved July 24, 2021.
  24. ^ "Critics Ask: How Much for Wind Power?". East Hampton Star. June 13, 2019. Retrieved July 24, 2021.
  25. ^ Mike Xirinachs (October 14, 2015). "Reclaim New York Report: Long Island Cost Of Living 'Alarming'". CBS New York. Retrieved July 24, 2021.
  26. ^ Payne Horning (February 21, 2018). "Reclaim NY active in downtown Utica hospital debate". WRVO Public Media. Retrieved July 24, 2021.
  27. ^ Roth, Amy Neff (October 27, 2020). "Mohawk Valley Health System's downtown Utica hospital has a new completion date". Observer-Dispatch. Retrieved July 24, 2021.
  28. ^ "Reclaim New York". Retrieved July 16, 2024.
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