Taxpayer-funded propaganda appeared baked-in in the Big Apple as details of the mayor’s budget revealed “morally incomprehensible” spending not for “anybody’s benefit but the mayor’s.”
In recent weeks, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D) boldly claimed that he had eliminated the city’s multi-billion dollar budget deficit without foisting the burden “on the backs of working people.” While those claims were readily debunked with a close look at hidden fee increases embedded in his spending plan, Hizzoner’s executive budget also revealed over $5 million in salaries to fund his Office of Mass Engagement.
Writing for the New York Post, reporter Gabrielle Fahmy detailed, “Taxpayers are on the hook for $5.2 million to pay the swollen salaries of the information ministers in socialist New York City Zohran Mamdani’s new City Hall propaganda bureau — a staggering 175% more than first thought.”
After initially hiring for 14 positions, the office increased its projected staffing to 40 with an average salary of $125,000. Reacting to the details, Democratic political consultant Hank Sheinkopf told the Post, “This is purely politics at a time when real services are needed.”
“We have real deficits, and this mayor is spending five million dollars to put 40 political operatives on the payroll. It’s morally incomprehensible … It’s outrageous,” he added. “This isn’t for anybody’s benefit but the mayor’s.”
Within the article, Fahmy explained that the salary budget for Mamdani’s community organizer creation equated to more than the city’s Board of Corrections, Community Affairs Unit, and the Office for People with Disabilities in their entirety.
“When he announced its creation, Mamdani claimed the new office would get marginalized communities involved in city government. But so far it’s catered to the mostly white and wealthy [Democratic Socialists of America] base who put him in office,” she detailed and referenced canvassing efforts working to advance the mayor’s attempt at a rent freeze.
Upon its formation, Mamdani’s campaign hired Field Director Tascha Van Auken as commissioner.
In addition to the millions pouring into mass engagement, the mayor’s executive summary included an increase of $7 million for his own office, allotting nearly $52 million, in part to fund his communications team responsible for selling Gothamites on his socialist agenda.
This included another in Mamdani’s series of heavily-produced videos aimed at taking a victory lap on the budget deficit that claimed, “We didn’t close the gap on the backs of working people. We closed it while funding parks, libraries, safer streets, and making historic investments in public housing. Call it Pothole Politics. Call it Democratic Socialism. It’s government that delivers for the people who make this city run.”
When we came into office, we uncovered a $12 billion budget deficit.
Today, I’m proud to say we brought it down to zero.
We didn’t close the gap on the backs of working people.
We closed it while funding parks, libraries, safer streets and making historic investments in public… pic.twitter.com/TbNu6fhvjs
— Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani (@NYCMayor) May 12, 2026
As previously reported, the mayor’s office had obtained an extension for the May 1 balanced budget deadline and proposed delaying payments to pension funds as a short-term fix while also looking to Albany for help in covering the budget.
While a City Hall representative claimed to the Post that the office would not be advocating for specific outcomes, social media skeptics sounded off on potential violations.
Huh?? Propaganda offices are in the budget? Isn’t that a violation of election law, spending taxpayer money for that purpose?
— Bonnie Kane (@bkane4576) May 31, 2026
The “Office of Mass Engagement” is modeled on Obama’s OFA. The difference w/Obama’s OFA is that this office will be paid for by taxpayers. Is this even legal?
— Douglas Wood (@DWood371) May 31, 2026
Jobs promoting the “warmth of collectivism” seem to pay very well🤔
— Jeff (@Jeff_mortensen) May 31, 2026
Only in New York politics can a socialist justify a $5.2M ‘propaganda office’ while residents can’t get basic services. It’s the purest form of taxpayer abuse.
— Matthew Newgarden (@a_newgarden) May 31, 2026
Guess that’s what you get when you elect a 33 yr old Marxist from Uganda with no resume. Oopsies.
— Bonnie (@BonBee812) May 31, 2026
Native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and truth seeker, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and their dog and, when he isn't researching current events and their impacts, you'll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel.
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