Blakeman sends fake pied-à-terre letters in campaign stunt

More than a month after the worst of the rocky rollout of New York City’s pied-à-terre tax, Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman’s campaign is sending some awfully official-looking “memorandums of tax assessment” to New York City homeowners, claiming those people would be subject to the city’s new tax on second homes while soliciting them for campaign donations. He appears to be treating as a potential donor list the same homeowner data he criticized New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani for releasing. 

City & State obtained pictures of the materials, which were sent to a couple in Queens. “According to our records, you own a secondary property that has been identified as subject to Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s pied-à-terre tax,” reads the letter leading the package. “Your information, including your full name and address, has been released publicly by the city’s Department of Finance.” 

The letter, labeled a “memorandum of tax assessment” in the header, does contain the necessary campaign disclosures associating it with the Blakeman campaign. “Not official government business” is printed in the header as well, and the bottom of the document includes the disclaimer “Paid for by Blakeman for New York.”

But the recipients, described as “die-hard Republican immigrants” by the source who shared the photos, were immediately panicked when they first opened their mail and saw the letter. And it wouldn’t be the first time they panicked over such a thing. 

The city publicly releases tax rolls yearly which contains information on homeowners related to their taxable properties. But the list released in July caused confusion and concern as it contained hundreds of thousands of primary residences despite purporting to detail residences that could be eligible for the second-home surcharge. In the end, the city directly contacted only 17,000 people to notify them they may need to pay the tax, meaning the vast majority of people on the public list never received official correspondence on the matter.

The source added the recipients would own only one home – their primary residence – and are not subject to the tax. “It’s bad enough Mamdani screwed up the rollout, even worse when the (gubernatorial) candidate they support sends it again and makes them panic,” the source said.

In addition to the “memorandum of tax assessment,” the package includes a separate explanation from Blakeman and a plea for campaign contributions. “I sent you this tax memorandum today because Kathy Hochul and Zohran Mamdani want you to pay a new pied-à-terre tax to fund their socialist agenda,” the letter signed by Blakeman reads. “I’m writing you as the Republican Nominee for governor of New York because on day one of my administration, I will move to ELIMINATE this ridiculous tax.”

A post script implored recipients to “join (his) team with a $50 or more contribution.” The full package of materials also included a contribution form and a return envelope addressed to Blakeman’s campaign PO box.

Republicans across New York have sought to tie their opponents closely to the democratic socialist Mamdani – and that’s especially true of Blakeman’s approach to Gov. Kathy Hochul. It’s not a new tactic, as Republicans in the past have similarly sought to link Democratic governors to New York City mayors unpopular in the suburbs. But statewide polling shows that Mamdani is still popular, and the governor hasn’t been shy about standing with the mayor in areas of agreement, such as the tax on second homes she signed. Still, the rollout of the pied-é-terre tax is not the governor’s responsibility, but the city’s – making it a bit of a reach to campaign on.

A spokesperson for Blakeman didn’t provide an answer when asked how the campaign chose the addresses to send these campaign materials to. But it likely relied on a list of 950,000 New York City residences released by the city Department of Finance of homes that may have been eligible for the second-home surcharge. The release of the information was widely panned, especially by the conservatives.

“Kathy Hochul and Zohran Mamdani owe New Yorkers a tremendous apology – for making New York even more unaffordable with another tax and then botching its rollout so badly that they published the wrong addresses on the city’s official website,” Blakeman said in a statement when reached for comment about the mailers.

Blakeman’s frequent use of artificial intelligence has garnered scrutiny in the past several months, raising questions about whether failing to disclose that use may violate election law, as they can constitute  deceptive political communication. The package sent to New York City homeowners on their face appear potentially deceptive as well, but election attorney Sarah Steiner said they are technically allowed. “Sadly, lying and misleading are not necessarily illegal,” she said in a text to City & State. “This is manipulative scaremongering.”