NY-10 Democratic candidates Carlina Rivera and Dan Goldman spar over investments in defense contractors and gun companies

A week after taking flak from Councilwoman Carlina Rivera’s congressional campaign for his extensive investment portfolio, rival Dan Goldman accused her of hypocrisy Tuesday, pointing to investments in defense contractors and gun companies that she revealed in a recent financial disclosure.

New York's 10th Congressional District candidate and NYC Councilwoman Carlina Rivera (D-Manhattan) speaks during an environmental policy forum presented by The New York League of Conservation Voters Education Fund and The Cooper Union., Tuesday, July 19, 2022, in Manhattan, New York. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer) (Mary Altaffer/)

In her disclosure, under the header “Assets and ‘unearned’ income,” Rivera listed holdings in the iShares U.S. Aerospace and Defense exchange-traded fund. According to iShares’ website, the fund includes investments in defense contractors Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman, as well as the gun manufacturers Smith & Wesson and Sturm Ruger.

“This is hypocrisy at its finest from just another typical pay-to-play politician,” Goldman’s campaign spokesman Simone Kanter said. “New Yorkers are tired of being lied to by their elected officials. NY-10 voters want someone with fresh ideas and integrity, not a bought-and-sold career politician who will say and do anything to get elected.”

Strictly speaking, Goldman’s investments are by no means politically pure either, though.

Kanter was responding in part to a broadside from Rivera’s campaign a week earlier in which one of her operatives tagged Goldman’s own investments as disqualifying him from holding office as a Democrat.

“Dan Goldman is personally profiting off of mass shootings, climate change, and Tucker Carlson,” wrote Rivera operative Evan Roth Smith on Twitter. “That precludes him from holding office [as] a Democrat. Plain and simple.”

New York's 10th Congressional District candidate Dan Goldman speaks during an environmental policy forum presented by The New York League of Conservation Voters Education Fund and The Cooper Union., Tuesday, July 19, 2022, in Manhattan, New York. (Mary Altaffer/)

Rivera’s campaign maintains that the investment she disclosed is in fact in her husband’s name and pointed to the fact that the asset is currently valued at $3,300.

Her campaign also doubled down on its criticism of Goldman’s investments, which are far more extensive.

According to disclosure forms Goldman filed with Congress, he holds stock in Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman, Chevron, Halliburton and News Corp., which oversees the right-leaning New York Post and Wall Street Journal. His disclosure form also reveals he has a line of credit with Goldman Sachs of between $25 million and $50 million.

Rivera’s camp homed in most on his investment in News Corp., which Goldman listed as up to $15,000, and his hiring of a pro-Trump campaign staffer, whom Goldman recently fired.

From the race’s outset, Goldman has touted his experience as the lead counsel in Trump’s first impeachment.

“Dan Goldman’s campaign is being funded and staffed by Trump Republicans, and like Donald Trump, Dan Goldman appears to feel enormously threatened by powerful women, to the point where he will lie about them in his pursuit of power,” Rivera spokeswoman Alyssa Cass said. “This is classic misinformation — a five-alarm fire, one might call it — from someone who has direct investments in Fox News and profits off of Tucker Carlson. It is a desperate attack against a Democratic elected official, from a desperate candidate.”

Rivera and Goldman are part of a crowded field vying to become the next representative for the 10th Congressional District, which covers lower Manhattan and part of Brooklyn. Also running in the race are Rep. Mondaire Jones (D-N.Y.), former Congresswoman Liz Holtzman and Assembly members Jo Anne Simon (D-Brooklyn) and Yuh-Line Niou (D-Manhattan).

Goldman’s campaign has maintained that he doesn’t manage his own money and that he intends to put his investments in a blind trust if elected.

“Dan does not manage his money,” a campaign spokesman said. “It is handled by a broker, and is designed to mirror the S&P 500.”