Maya Kornberg calls on Council Member Shahana Hanif to Denounce Support by Super PAC Solely Funded by MAHA PAC Founder, Anti-Vaxxer and Super PAC Funded by Facebook Billionaire
More Hanif Hypocrisy: After pushing false information in a recent Nation article attacking Maya Kornberg, Council Member Shahana Hanif is now accepting dark money support from a Super PAC funded exclusively by donations by Mark Gorton, an anti-vaxxer and chief supporter of RFK Jr and the Trump-RFK Jr anti-science agenda & a Super PAC funded by Facebook billionaire Dustin Moskovitz
BROOKLYN, NY — Today, Maya Kornberg, Democrat for City Council District 39, called upon incumbent Council Member Shahana Hanif to publicly denounce the tens of thousands of dollars being spent on her behalf by People for Public Space, a Super PAC solely funded by Mark Gorton, a top donor to and co-chair of RFK Jr’s presidential Super PAC. a founder of MAHA PAC and the MAHA Institute, and an avowed anti-vaxxer.
People for Public Space, the super PAC that has announced $50,000 in dark money spending to prop up the Hanif campaign and sent mail pieces spreading blatant lies about Kornberg, has been solely funded by two contributions from Limewire founder Mark Gorton totaling $320,000. Gorton is an avowed antivaxer who donated one million dollars to and co-chaired American Values 2024, the super PAC behind MAGA acolyte and Trump administration official Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s presidential campaign. Gorton co-founded both the MAHA Institute and MAHA PAC to “support [the] Trump-Kennedy health agenda”, and leads both organizations. Gorton has also donated tens of thousands of dollars to national and state committees of the Libertarian Party. Now, Gorton is the only donor to a super PAC backing Councilmember Shahana Hanif.
Abundant New York, the Super PAC wing of Open New York, has announced $100,000 in dark money spending to prop up the Hanif Campaign, embarking on a mail campaign of divisive and misleading information on Kornberg. Open New York has benefited from $3.5 million of contributions and grants from the lobbying wing of the “effective altruism” project of Facebook founder, Dustin Moskovitz, who is worth more than $17 billion dollars — so much for Council Member Hanif’s claim of “no billionaire money — ever.”
Hanif hypocritically attacked Kornberg in a recent Nation article, falsely stating that “My opponent has not once said anything about rejecting dark money” despite Kornberg explicitly saying that at the start of the campaign. Meanwhile, Hanif has been silent about accepting the massive spending from Super PACs funded by an anti-vaxxer and a Facebook billionaire.
Kornberg issued the following statement calling for Council Member Hanif to denounce Gorton-backed People for Public Space and demand that they stop flooding the 39th district with dark money:
“I was raised by scientists, so it’s especially horrifying to me that an anti-vaxxer and chief supporter of the Trump-RFK Jr. plan to defund science is pouring money behind my opponent's campaign,” said Maya Kornberg, Democratic candidate for New York City Council in Brooklyn’s District 39. “My father and grandfather both won Nobel Prizes in chemistry and medicine, respectively. I’m proud that my father is an outspoken critic of RFK Jr. And now my opponent is being propped up by Mark Gorton, a chief proponent of the Trump-Kennedy MAHA movement to defund scientific research and ban life-saving vaccinations. Equally alarming is the blatant hypocrisy of my opponent to claim “no billionaire money —ever” while failing to denounce dark money spending by a group funded by a multi-billionaire founder of Facebook.”
In January of this year, Kornberg called for all independent expenditures to forego any outside spending in the race for City Council in District 39, months before any such group began to do so. She is the only candidate in the race who has called for no outside spending.
Maya Kornberg is a new mom, advocate, author, educator, and Senior Research Fellow at the Brennan Center for Justice. She is running for New York City Council District 39 to bring a results-driven progressive approach to City Hall. Maya will fight to protect our democracy, increase childcare access, tackle the housing affordability crisis, improve our schools, build green infrastructure, and create safer streets through accountable policing. Maya has dedicated her career to making democracy work better for the people it's meant to serve, including combating political violence and creating more responsive government processes. Her work has been featured in the Washington Post, Newsweek, the Hill, and NPR. Maya has taught graduate and undergraduate political courses at NYU, Georgetown, Oxford, and American University. Maya and her spouse rent an apartment in Park Slope where they are raising their newborn son.
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