October 14, 2025

A Queens City Council candidate participating in the city’s public matching funds program has spent $12,000 in campaign funds at restaurants and more than $2,500 on gas in his second bid to unseat an incumbent.

Find out what’s happening in Queensfor free with the latest updates from Patch.

Bernard Chow says the expenses are necessary because he does not have a campaign office in his effort to oust Linda Lee, who topped him by nearly 4,000 votes in a 2023 contest to represent an eastern Queens district.

“The office is not cheap,” he told THE CITY. “That is way better than renting an office. It’s a number that works out.”

Find out what’s happening in Queensfor free with the latest updates from Patch.

Chow, who is running on the Conservative ballot line, has raised more than $19,000 for his latest campaign through mostly small-dollar donations. While 38% of contributions have come from within the district, which includes Bayside, Hollis, Queens Village and Bellerose, about 98% are from New York City addresses and were submitted to the Campaign Finance Board for matching funds.

That haul yielded more than $98,000 in matching dollars, which the Campaign Finance Board approved at its September meeting.

The city’s robust matching-funds program gives $8 in public money for every $1 raised from New York City residents up to the first $250.

Since the beginning of the year, Chow has spent more than $54,000 on his campaign, records show. Included in the list of payments to canvassers and fundraising expenses was nearly $12,000 on meals — mostly within the five boroughs but also on Long Island and in Massachusetts.

“I need to meet people and I need to talk to them so we go to restaurants all the time,” Chow said. “If you don’t even buy a coffee, people will kick you out.”

The candidate filed more than 246 food and meal claims, records reveal. Among them were more than $1,800 for meals at Congee Village, a restaurant in Flushing on March 24 and $230 at Pinocchio’s Pizza in Cambridge, MA., on April 28.

Both expenses were listed as food for volunteers.

Chow also filed for more than $720 at karaoke bars in Queens and Brooklyn, listing them as “entertainment” and “food and entertainment.”

In addition, Chow spent $2,500 on gas, records show. An online fuel calculator estimates that much on gas covers around 21,000 miles, with an average efficiency of 25 miles per gallon and $3 per gallon.

The candidate told THE CITY Thursday that the meal expenses made sense because he takes his meetings at restaurants and coffee shops since commercial rents are so expensive in the district. The gas expenses were for more than one car used by the campaign, he said.

An additional $757 on six separate car maintenance expenses — including $650 to New Complete Auto in Flushing, listed as travel — also is vital to the campaign, Chow said.

Chow traveled with his devoted volunteers — many of whom are parents — to Cambridge earlier this year on a spring break trip to visit colleges, and the gathering at a popular pizzeria near Harvard was a gift to them, he said.

“It was a celebration trip because they helped me get the Republican line,” he said, adding that the volunteers paid for the trip on their own. (Chow is only running on the Conservative party line.)

Food and beverages for campaign workers and volunteers, and travel expenses like gas and parking, are sometimes permitted as campaign expenses, according to the Campaign Finance Board.

But any expense “made to defray the normal living expenses of the candidate, immediate family of the candidate, or any other individual” is barred.

Chow said that an $80 charge for an eye exam was so he could fix his glasses.

“My lens fell off,” he added.

Lee did not respond to a call and text message seeking comment.

A spokesperson for the city’s Campaign Finance Board declined to comment specifically on the expenses. The board has a team of auditors that sift through candidates’ filings for any compliance issues that may pop up after elections.

Candidates are expected to complete their audit process between 14 and 16 months from when they submit their final disclosure statement, according to the board.

The board paid out nearly $127 million in public funds during the 2021 campaign and doled out $12.5 million in public money to city council candidates during the 2023 election cycle.

The matching-funds program was at the center of Eric Adams’s federal indictment, and the CFB is still requesting needed documentation for spending that his campaign hasn’t provided.

A former board member who spoke to THE CITY about the process on a condition of not being named said a City Council candidate might receive less scrutiny, but things like automobile expenses and food costs are generally flagged.

And although the amounts are small, they could still be probed.

“If [Chow] intends to run for office again, he’s now set a precedent of attempting to skirt the rules in a very minor way which is going to cause him to have extra scrutiny the next time,” the former board member said.

“It’s one of those funny footnotes in an environment where the top elected official in the city has refused essentially to justify millions of dollars in expenses.”

This press release was produced by The City. The views expressed here are the author’s own.