{"id":321,"date":"2005-08-05T07:08:14","date_gmt":"2005-08-05T15:08:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/wordpress\/archives\/2005\/08\/thats_an_in-kind_donation.html"},"modified":"2008-01-25T13:23:43","modified_gmt":"2008-01-25T18:23:43","slug":"thats_an_inkind","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/blog\/archives\/2005\/08\/thats_an_inkind.html","title":{"rendered":"That’s An In-Kind Donation"},"content":{"rendered":"

City Council candidate calls for volunteers to perform sexy Latin dance at fundraiser, gets noticed by the Daily News<\/a>:<\/p>\n

In a likely New York political first, a cash-strapped City Council candidate is planning a fund-raiser featuring “erotic dancers” – all in a bid to notch taxpayer matching funds.<\/p>\n

Victor Bernace insists there’ll be no stripping at the bash, but there will be four babes in bikinis and two studs in Speedos.<\/p>\n

The Democrat is hoping the $20-a-head burlesque at the Umbrella Lounge in upper Manhattan next month will give him a ballot-box boost.<\/p>\n

“Erotic dancing shows are very common in the [Hispanic] culture, so I don’t think it’s unusual,” said Bernace, an NYU and Harvard-educated lawyer with Cuban roots who’s making his third run for the Washington Heights seat, held by Councilman Robert Jackson.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Now before you start consulting campaign law on the matter, know that the financing guidelines are very clear:<\/p>\n

The campaign will hold an “open call” through the its Web site, www.bernace. com, for the dancers, and is seeking “volunteer” bumpers-and-grinders.<\/p>\n

That’s because Bernace says he checked with the Campaign Finance Board, and was told he can’t use campaign cash to pay for “erotic dancers.”<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The stakes are high, however — the candidate must get to a certain level to get matching funds:<\/p>\n

Bernace needs at least 75 donations from residents in the district, totalling $5,000, to qualify for Campaign Finance Board matching funds.<\/p>\n

So his publicist friend, Myra Colon, suggested throwing a “Havana Night” fund-raiser honoring his Cuban heritage.<\/p>\n

“It’s gonna be more of a sexy Latin dance versus conventional, a-bunch-of-girls-get-naked,” said Colon, adding, “Or guys, for that matter.<\/p>\n

“We are also looking at having cigars, a few other typical Cuban things – maybe even tarot card readers.”<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Then there’s this blind quote:<\/p>\n

Sources said some in Bernace’s camp want to target “middle-age, lonely men” living in the district.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And if it all sounds a little unsavory? Well then that’s just your fault, you prudish, prudish voter! Actually, it kind of sounds like Deadwood<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Asked if the event might seem a tad risque, even by New York standards, Bernace, 41, joked, “It might be unusual if you’re a white Anglo-Saxon or from Utah … [but] I don’t think there’s anything wrong with having a slightly sexy, naughty show to bring in voters and to bring in money.”<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Which is obviously exactly what’s going to happen . . . nice work, Daily News!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

City Council candidate calls for volunteers to perform sexy Latin dance at fundraiser, gets noticed by the Daily News: In a likely New York political first, a cash-strapped City Council candidate is planning a fund-raiser featuring “erotic dancers” – all in a bid to notch taxpayer matching funds. Victor Bernace insists there’ll be no stripping […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-321","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-political"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=321"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}