"I have focused on the needs of northeastern Queens for almost 20 years, including the groundbreaking downzonings of almost every neighborhood in the 19th Council District which I designed," Graziano stated. "Now the residents and members of civic and homeowners associations throughout the district are supporting my grassroots candidacy, which focuses intensely on the preservation of our neighborhoods, quality-of-life issues and maintaining high educational standards for our schools in the entirety of the 19th Council District."
As part of his commitment to protecting northeastern Queens neighborhoods and running a highly ethical political campaign for City Council, Graziano has taken very few contributions from any individuals in real estate, development, finance, law or lobbying and/or other special interests and specific industries (there are a few contributors who are in these specific fields; however, in every case, it is completely incidental as they are officers or members of various civic/homeowner associations or non-profit organizations). This sets Graziano apart from his opponents, who have taken the majority of their campaign contributions from those industries who are typically looking for access to city and state government.
"With the public crisis in confidence in our political process based on corruption and the pay-to-play culture that has dominated politics in the city and state government for decades," Graziano stated, "I believe that support for a high standard of ethics reform is mandatory, especially in light of the recent arrest of Councilmember Halloran on bribery and corruption charges that have seriously harmed our own Council District."
Importantly, of 137 Contributors to Graziano's campaign, 130, or 95.6%, gave donations of $175 or less. "Small donations make up the backbone of my campaign," Graziano said, "because they represent the actual people who live in the district and other civic association leaders in and around Queens, not those individuals who would like to exploit our beautiful neighborhoods for their own personal gain. These leaders and friends who have supported me have helped my campaign more than double my initial contribution total to just shy of $20,000, and almost max out on eligible matching public funds."
This also extends to the number of contributors from the 19th Council District to Graziano's campaign: 96 out of 137, or 69.3% (one contributor is listed as not being in the district, but this is for bookkeeping purposes only). Their monetary contributions were $10,850, or 55.7% of all contributions to the campaign.
As mentioned previously, Graziano's candidacy for City Council is based upon the support from residents of the 19th Council District and beyond who are deeply involved in their neighborhoods and representative civic and homeowner associations as well as other local non-profit organizations that advocate for their respective communities.
Below is a partial list of leaders of these communities who are personally supporting Graziano in his race for City Council (civic and homeowners associations and most other non-profit organizations as a general rule do not endorse candidates) as shown through their monetary contributions to his candidacy:
Joseph Amoroso, Zoning Chair, Kissena Park Civic Association/VP, Queens Civic Congress
Maria Becce**
Peter Brancazio, President, Northeast Flushing Civic Association
Ronnie Brancazio, Corresponding Secretary, Northeast Flushing Civic Association
James Cervino, Co-Founder, Coastal Preservation Network/Member CB7
Kathryn Cervino, Co-Founder, Coastal Preservation Network
Robert Coddington, President, Douglaston and Little Neck Historical Society
Marlene Cody, Vice President, Greater Whitestone Taxpayers Civic Association
James Colasante, President, Bayside Gables Homeowners Association
Alexandria Dunne, Trustee, Bayside Historical Society
Aline Euler, Education Director, Alley Pond Environmental Center/Trustee, Bayside Historical Society
Henry Euler, 1st Vice President, Auburndale Improvement Association/Secretary, Bayside Historical Society/Member CB11
Cheshire Frager**
Kim Francis*, President, Concerned Citizens of Laurelton*
Michael Gannon, Vice President, Douglaston and Little Neck Historical Society
David Goldstein, Zoning Chair, Bayside Hills Civic Association
Sunny Hahn, Flushing activist/formerly of the New York City Commission on Human Rights.
Richard Hellenbrecht, President, Queens Civic Congress/Past Chair/Zoning Chair for CB13
Theodore Hinz, Trustee, Bayside Historical Society
David Kulick, President, Flushing on the Hill Civic Association/VP Queens Civic Congress
Denise Johnson, Vice President for Education, Bayside Historical Society
Bright Limm, Queens-wide activist within the Korean-American community
Carol Marian, Past President and Current Treasurer, Bayside Historical Society
Maryann Marinello, Trustee, Bayside Historical Society
Janet McCreesh**
Janet McEneaney, Past President, Northwest Bayside Civic Assocation/Founder, Queens Quiet Skies/Member, CB11
Donald McLoughlin, Past President, Bayside Gables Homeowners Association
Alison McKay, Director, Bayside Historical Society
Thomas McNamara, Board Member, Northeast Flushing Civic Association
Michael O'Keeffe, President, Creedmoor Civic Association
Peg Riconda, Trustee, Bayside Historical Society
Ik Hwan Rim, President, Union Street Merchants Association
Gregory Ronan, President/Water Committee Chair for the Douglas Manor Association
Andrew Rothman, Co-Chair, Aviation Committee, CB11
Jerry Rotondi, President, Committee to Save the RKO Keith's Theatre of Flushing, Inc./Co-Founder, Fort Totten Conservancy
Bambi Schimmel, Board Member, Northeast Flushing Civic Association
George Schmidt, Shore Road Committee Chair for the Douglas Manor Association
Warren Schreiber, President, Bay Terrace Community Alliance/Member, Save Flushing Meadows-Corona Park/Member, CB7
Melvin Siegel**
Wilhelm Sievers, Trustee, Douglaston and Little Neck Historical Society
Frank Toner, President, Rocky Hill Civic Association
Arthur Viviani**
Saundra Viviani**
Christina Wilkinson*, President, Newtown Historical Society/Member, Save Flushing Meadows-Corona Park
Alexandra Parsons Wolfe, Preservation Director, Society for the Preservation of Long Island Antiquities
Kevin Wolfe, Co-Founder and Past President, Douglaston and Little Neck Historical Society/Past VP, Historic Districts Council
All underlined names reside and are leaders within the 19th Council District.
* These supporters are also official volunteer staff for Graziano's campaign.
**These supporters are Presidents, Past-Presidents, Officers and/or Board Members of a homeowners association in the North Flushing area that explicitly prohibits endorsements of political candidates or reference to the association.