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Politico
4 days ago
- Politics
- Politico
Cuomo returned 60 sketchy donations
With help from Amira McKee Andrew Cuomo's mayoral campaign immediately flagged and refunded a tranche of apparent straw donations in March — and now there's a 'law enforcement investigation' related to his campaign, according to official documents. On March 30, the Cuomo campaign reported receiving 57 separate donations from people with Chinese names who listed their occupation as 'unemployed.' Every donation came from the ZIP code 11354 in Flushing, Queens, and all the contributions came in multiples of 10, between $10 and $60. The contributions were, to put it bluntly, extremely sketchy, and carried some hallmarks of straw donations — an illegal practice where campaign contributions are made in another person's name. The campaign refunded every one of them the next day, plus three more similar contributions from people who listed their occupation as 'venerable' and shared the address of the Western Buddhist Association, a temple in Borough Park, Brooklyn. In total, the campaign gave up just $1,280, though it could have garnered up to $10,240 more in public funds if the donations were matched. One of the refunded contributions was from Chang Kuan of the Western Buddhist Association. Just three weeks after the campaign rejected the donation, Cuomo sent out a press release touting Kuan's endorsement with other faith leaders. The association didn't respond to a request for comment. It isn't clear whether those donations are under investigation. A letter from the New York City Campaign Finance Board in response to Playbook's routine Freedom of Information Law request for its communications with the Cuomo campaign suggested the existence of a probe, though. 'Some records are being withheld because they were 'compiled for law enforcement purposes and ... if disclosed, would ... interfere with law enforcement investigations....'' the letter read, quoting state law about what records are exempt from public disclosure. Cuomo spokesperson Rich Azzopardi said the campaign did the right thing, and quickly. 'It appears the correspondence being withheld relates to online contributions submitted to the campaign that were immediately flagged by our internal compliance as being improper, refunded within 24 hours, and disclosed to the CFB,' Azzopardi said in a statement. 'Subsequently, we had follow up communications with the CFB about those contributions. To the extent that there is a law enforcement review, we are neither aware of nor party to it and refer you back to CFB for any further questions.' The CFB declined to comment. And the district attorneys offices for Manhattan, Queens and Brooklyn all said they couldn't confirm or deny the existence of any related investigations. The Cuomo campaign has received scrutiny for other practices unrelated to potential straw donors. The CFB withheld some public funds from the campaign while it investigated possible coordination with pro-Cuomo super PAC Fix the City. On May 30, the board said the investigation would continue. The campaign has denied wrongdoing. The Cuomo campaign's quick action is first being reported here in Playbook just days after THE CITY reported on another instance of potential straw donors to Mayor Eric Adams' 2025 campaign. Adams has been dogged by such accusations, which featured in his federal indictment that was later dropped. He has denied knowingly taking any illegal contributions and defended his compliance team Thursday. 'We follow all rules,' he said. — Jeff Coltin From the Capitol UPROAR AT HOCHUL'S REDISTRICTING FLIRTATION: Republicans are up in arms about Gov. Kathy Hochul's comments Thursday suggesting she may move to redraw New York's congressional lines in response to Trump-led efforts to redraw the maps in GOP-dominated Texas. 'New York's State Constitution could not be more clear: mid-decade redistricting is illegal,' state GOP Chair Ed Cox said in a statement. 'Kathy Hochul and Albany Democrats are again ignoring the law as they telegraph their latest attempt to rig our elections.' On Thursday, Hochul told reporters she and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries will consider redrawing New York's maps after President Donald Trump's allies successfully pressed Texas Gov. Greg Abbott earlier this month to call for the state Legislature to hold a special session focused on redistricting. 'All's fair in love and war,' Hochul said during an unrelated event in Buffalo. 'We're following the rules. We do redistricting every 10 years. But if there's other states violating the rules and are trying to give themselves an advantage, all I'll say is, I'm going to look at it closely with Hakeem Jeffries.' POLITICO reported Thursday that House Minority Leader Jeffries' team already spoke with Hochul's office about redistricting earlier this month, following the Texas governor's announcement. Ed Ra, the ranking Republican member of the Assembly's Ways and Means committee, said in a statement that redrawing the maps 'would blatantly violate our State Constitution and undermine the work of the independent redistricting commission approved by New York voters.' — Jason Beeferman SENATE BUDGET MAN DEPARTS: The state Senate Democrats' top budget aide is departing. David Friedfel, who's served as the secretary to the Senate Finance Committee for the last five years, made the announcement on his LinkedIn page. 'After a wonderful five sessions serving as Secretary to the New York State Senate Finance Committee, I have decided it is time to take on a new role,' he wrote. 'I'm still trying to figure out what my next chapter will hold, so please reach out with any words of wisdom.' Friedfel is highly respected among Democratic state lawmakers; he's expected to stay on and help with the transition for his replacement. — Nick Reisman FROM THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL 'NOBODY CARES ABOUT EPSTEIN LIST': Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman — a potential Republican gubernatorial candidate next year — said Thursday that no one cares about the so-called Jeffrey Epstein list. '[Trump] is a guy who has gotten victory after victory after victory, and all they want to ask him is about these stupid Epstein lists,' Blakeman said. 'Nobody cares about the Epstein list except Democrats. Do your job. Do your job. Stop worrying about the Epstein list.' Blakeman made the remarks during an interview with conservative radio host Sid Rosenberg on an issue that — at least momentarily — has divided the MAGA movement. A Quinnipiac University national poll conducted earlier this month found 40 percent of Republicans approve of the Trump administration's handling of the so-called Jeffrey Epstein files, while 36 percent disapprove and 24 percent did not offer an opinion. Hochul and other Democrats have attempted to capitalize on the discord between Trump's MAGA base and the president over releasing information related to Epstein's child sex trafficking ring. 'While Bruce Blakeman broke his silence on the Epstein files, Elise Stefanik is too much of a coward and too busy enabling Trump's cover-up to come clean to New Yorkers about whether or not she wants the files to be released,' Addison Dick, the spokesperson for the Hochul-led state Democratic Party, said in a statement. 'As new revelations about Trump's close friendship with Epstein surface every day, Stefanik owes New Yorkers answers, not excuses.' Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik, also running for governor, hasn't said much on the issue — but slammed a story from The Wall Street Journal that said Trump allegedly sent a sexually suggestive letter to Epstein wishing that every day should be 'another wonderful secret.' Trump says the letter is fake. POLITICO has not independently verified its existence. Stefanik's spokesperson also slammed Democrats last week for 'desperately creating false narratives to distract from their own policy failures' and noted that the party had little focus on the issue until recently. — Jason Beeferman ZOHRAN'S NEW CAMPAIGN SQUAD: Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani announced a slate of new hires today. Maya Handa, who ran state Sen. Zellnor Myrie's campaign for mayor, is taking over as Mamdani's campaign manager. Afua Atta-Mensah, an organizer who helped lead left-leaning groups Community Change and Community Voices Heard, is joining the campaign to serve as its senior political director. And Debra Khan, who previously advised the president of the powerful service workers union 32BJ SEIU, will become the campaign's director of labor and intergovernmental affairs. Despite Mamdani's proud democratic socialist brand, he has also hired a slate of new communications staffers whose backgrounds more reflect that of Jeffries and the Democratic establishment than the left-leaning groups who played key roles early on in his campaign. — Jason Beeferman STOP HORSING AROUND: The leader of the horse carriage drivers union is threatening to sue mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa for claiming Transport Workers Union leadership is taking bribes. 'There is money under the table to the TWU leadership,' Sliwa said at an animal rights rally Wednesday at City Hall. 'I become mayor, the investigation begins. This industry will be closed. The men and women of the industry will have jobs with electrified carriages that exist in the rest of the world.' TWU International President John Samuelsen shot back in a statement shared with Playbook: 'As pathetic as it is, he has the right to run for NYC Mayor, but that muppety character in a low-budget Batman movie doesn't have the right to slander the leadership of TWU Local 100, and we will be bringing an immediate action against him for defamation.' Sliwa didn't immediately respond to a request for comment regarding Samuelsen's statement. — Jeff Coltin IN OTHER NEWS — SOCIALIST VS. INCUMBENT: The likely showdown between Mamdani and Adams shares stark similarities with Buffalo's 2021 mayoral race. (Gothamist) — GENERATION M: Gen Z New Yorkers voted for Mamdani in the primary election by a wide margin — now they're trying to convince their parents. (The New York Times) — SLIWA MEETS THE BIG BIZ LEADER: Sliwa left the red beret at home and met with Kathy Wylde, CEO of Partnership for New York City, to discuss his plans for the city. (New York Post) Missed this morning's New York Playbook? We forgive you. Read it here.
Yahoo
12-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Eric Adams loses lawsuit against local election body — and his team is thrilled
NEW YORK — A federal judge on Friday dismissed a lawsuit brought by New York City Mayor Eric Adams, who had sought to compel the release of $3.5 million in public matching funds to his reelection campaign. Despite the loss, the mayor's legal team was thrilled. In a 61-page decision, United States District Judge Nicholas Garaufis sided with the New York City Campaign Finance Board, which opted to withhold the matching funds from Adams in December. 'The court finds that the CFB provided two independent valid grounds for denying the Adams Campaign public matching funds,' Garaufis wrote in his decision. Those two reasons were: The Adams camp did not respond in a timely manner to a records request from the board and blew through a deadline to file a financial disclosure form. The Campaign Finance Board had also cited the federal bribery case against Adams that was dismissed in April at the behest of President Donald Trump's Department of Justice. Garaufis did not agree with that line of reasoning, even as he alluded to the unusual nature of the dismissal, which led a former U.S. attorney on the case to quit and the judge to suggest a bargain was struck between Adams and the Trump administration. 'The Board's attempt to shift the burden of proving his innocence to Mayor Adams is inappropriate and goes against the centuries-old American legal principle that presumes the criminal defendant's innocence until proven guilty,' Garaufis wrote in Friday's decision. That line buoyed the hopes of Adams' attorney, who suggested the campaign would be able to submit the required documentation and attain the matching funds at a future board meeting. 'We are confident now that Mayor Adams will receive matching funds and therefore be in a position to bring his record of success for working-class New Yorkers and their families for the general election this November 4th!' Frank Carone, the mayor's attorney and campaign chair, said in a statement. CFB spokesperson Timothy Hunter said the board is reviewing the decision.
Politico
14-06-2025
- Politics
- Politico
Down the homestretch, Cuomo's allies unleash millions to topple New York City mayoral rival
NEW YORK — With early voting underway in the New York City mayoral primary and polls showing a tightening race, Andrew Cuomo and his allies are beefing up their attacks on his top rival — most recently with a $5.4 million negative TV ad, according to a new campaign filing. And Saturday morning, Al Sharpton voiced support for the former governor and derided top rival Zohran Mamdani's decision to cross-endorse a white man but not a Black woman in the crowded race, which will be determined by ranked-choice voting. The latest developments underscore the heated fight to the finish between the oldest and youngest candidates vying for the Democratic nomination to oust Mayor Eric Adams. A pro-Cuomo super PAC — funded in part by donors to President Donald Trump and buoyed by $5 million from Mike Bloomberg this week — spent the seven-figure sum lambasting Mamdani, according to records the New York City Campaign Finance Board released Friday night. The new broadcast spot paints the 33-year-old democratic socialist as too radical and inexperienced to assume the complicated job of running the nation's largest city. 'I was quite open to what would be considered being a radical from a very young age,' Mamdani is shown saying in a 2020 interview, before a narrator suggests the mayoral hopeful wants to move homeless New Yorkers into the city's subway stations. 'That's cruel to the homeless and dangerous for us,' the narrator warns. In an interview with WNYC in May, Mamdani proposed using vacant retail space in subway stations as homeless outreach and service hubs. The persistence of homeless people with presumed mental illness sleeping on city subways has rattled commuters and spurred candidates to delineate plans to tackle the problem. 'It's about getting people out of the subway system, not bringing them into the subway system,' spokesperson Andrew Epstein said in response to the ad. 'To have medical professionals stationed around the system is going to make everyone's commute safer.' The narrator then says Mamdani promises to defund the police and notes the state legislator called for the NYPD to be dismantled in 2020. Mamdani pushed back against those claims in an interview Saturday. 'It's yet another example of lies that are funded by the Trump billionaires who are putting millions of dollars behind Andrew Cuomo's campaign,' he said. 'I've been clear time and time again, I am not defunding the police.' Mamdani did, in fact, tweet in favor of defunding police departments in 2020. Epstein also noted the ad shows several clips of Mamdani wearing a kurta, a common South Asian article of clothing, though the candidate usually dons a suit and tie on the campaign trail. 'There's nothing that should be scary about wearing a kurta,' Epstein said. Mamdani, who was born in Uganda to Indian parents, has sported the garment in his own ads. Candidates are limited to spending around $8 million during the primary, but Cuomo is being boosted by the largest PAC ever to get involved in a New York City election. The anti-Mamdani ad came as Cuomo, Sharpton and other Black political leaders piled on Mamdani Saturday at Sharpton's National Action Network in Harlem. Speaking to reporters, Cuomo criticized Mamdani's short legislative record. 'You want to drive a bus, you need to be trained to drive a bus. You want to operate a hot dog cart, you have to get a permit,' Cuomo said. 'Only mayor of New York, no experience necessary? … You can go from five employees and the next day we put you in the seat and you run 300,000? We've had inexperienced mayors before. They've failed.' Sharpton expressed support for the former governor while deriding Mamdani's decision to tell his supporters to rank candidate Brad Lander second, instead of City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams. Lander and Mamdani cross endorsed Friday, in a nod to the relatively new ranked-choice voting system that allows New Yorkers to pick up to five candidates in order of preference. 'They say that Mamdani and Lander endorsed each other, so against the Black woman,' Sharpton said. 'Something about that politics ain't progressive to me.' A source with knowledge of discussion between the two camps said Mamdani had sought a cross endorsement with Adams over weeks of discussions. The state lawmaker also encouraged supporters to donate to her campaign ahead of a crucial fundraising deadline last month. No deal came of the talks. A person with knowledge of Adams' campaign strategy said the Council speaker has been courted by multiple candidates, but only recently began airing ads and is still finalizing her ranked-choice voting strategy. Meanwhile Mamdani dropped six figures on his own ad seeking to counter criticisms of his public safety platform. During his mayoral run, he has pledged to maintain NYPD's headcount. In the ad, Mamdani says he will create a Department of Community Safety that would take over responsibilities handled by officers, such as responding to mental health emergencies. The pro-Cuomo PAC has flooded the Democratic primary with $14.7 million, with no sign of abating. The super PAC, called Fix the City, reported raising $18.5 million in the latest filings with the Campaign Finance Board. 'Fix the City has and will continue to highlight why Andrew Cuomo is the mayor we need to ensure a safe and affordable city,' spokesperson Liz Benjamin said in a statement. 'We will also keep pointing out the records, positions, and deficiencies of other candidates who are intent on making the city less safe and less affordable.' Campaigns are prohibited from coordinating with the Super PACs supporting them. The city board fined Cuomo's campaign $756,994 for improperly coordinating with Fix the City over one of its broadcast ads. Jeff Coltin contributed reporting.
New York Post
30-05-2025
- Business
- New York Post
Andrew Cuomo NYC mayoral campaign dealt another blow, loses out on $1.3M total over off-limits ad from PAC
Andrew Cuomo was dealt another blow by the city's campaign finance watchdog, which dinged him another $675,000 Friday over suspicions his mayoral campaign improperly coordinated with a super PAC. The New York City Campaign Finance Board has now denied the former governor a total of $1.3 million in public matching funds — which could hamper the frontrunner as the June 24 Democratic primary approaches and surging socialist mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani nips at his heels. The ex-gov first lost out on around $622,000 in matching funds last month when the CBC said it believed a TV ad was created by 'Fix the City' — the super PAC supporting his candidacy — in coordination with his campaign. Advertisement But the PAC continued to run the potentially off-limits ad, leading to the latest sanctions. 'Shortly after (the last CFB meeting), Fix the City reported spending an additional $675,419.75 to continue airing the same ad,' said board member Richard Davis at the Friday morning meeting. 3 Former Governor Andrew Cuomo lost out on 675K, In the latest round of matching funds. Facebook/Andrew Cuomo Advertisement 'The board continued an investigation on this matter and, based on the findings thus far, continues to believe that the expenditure was not independent of the Cuomo campaign,' he said. The board also opted to dock that money from Cuomo's spending cap — reducing the amount he's able to spend on his own campaign advertisements to around $6.7 million from nearly $8 million. The limitation comes at possibly the worst time for Cuomo's political comeback bid, with just over three weeks to go to the primary, and Mamdani closing the gap between the two to single digits, according to a PIX11/Emerson poll this week. A source close to the thrice-elected Democratic gov's team told The Post the campaign's goal has been to 'survive' the primary by banking on Cuomo's name recognition, rather than try to mobilize a new voter base like some of the lefty candidates. Advertisement 3 Former Governor Andrew Cuomo's lead in the primary has been decreasing according to recent polls. Robert Miller Cuomo will still receive $1.3 million in matching funds, bringing his campaign total to around $7.3 million, according to his team. At the same time, Mamdani, who hit his fundraising max in March, has roughly $4.5 million on hand as the primary hits the final stretch. City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, who had yet to qualify for the city's generous one-to-eight matching funds program, received the highest payout Friday, bringing in over $2 million for her campaign. Advertisement The payment is a much-needed injection of cash into the speaker's campaign that has been handicapped by her late entry into the crowded field of Democrats, where she has so far failed to break out. 3 the ad by 'Fix the City' was found to have not operated independently from Cuomo's campaign. Fix The City Fellow mayoral candidate Zellnor Myrie, who initially sounded the alarm on the allegedly coordinated Cuomo ad to CFB officials last month, lauded the board's move Friday. 'I applaud the Campaign Finance Board for heeding my calls to investigate Andrew Cuomo's campaign finances, and fining him for breaking the rules. While this news is troubling, it is not surprising,' the state senator said of the continued probe in a statement. Rich Azzopardi, a spokesperson for Cuomo's camp, slammed the 'unfounded position' of the board and brushed off any suggestion of financial concerns. 'We look forward to making that clear and receiving the full matching funds to which the campaign is entitled. In the meantime, our campaign's momentum continues unabated.'
New York Times
30-05-2025
- Business
- New York Times
Cuomo Loses Another $675,000 Over Suspected Super PAC Coordination
Andrew M. Cuomo was denied another $675,000 in public matching funds on Friday, as the New York City Campaign Finance Board said it continued to believe his mayoral campaign had illicitly coordinated with a super PAC. The penalty was yet another avoidable setback for Mr. Cuomo. He has now been penalized nearly $1.3 million in total, a significant loss of public funds that could have been spent in the final weeks before the June 24 Democratic primary. The sanction came as the board doled out the final tranche of matching funds before early voting began in roughly two weeks. Public polling shows that Mr. Cuomo, the former governor of New York who resigned in scandal in 2021, continues to lead, with a handful of more liberal alternatives vying to prevent his return to office. Several of them were awarded with hundreds of thousands of dollars in matching funds on Friday, multiplying what they had raised in private contributions. The most notable recipient was Adrienne Adams, the City Council speaker and a late entrant into the race, who had yet to qualify for matching funds. Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, who is polling second behind Mr. Cuomo and has already reached the city's maximum funding limit, had urged his supporters to contribute to Ms. Adams's campaign to help her meet the funding threshold. She walked away on Friday with $2 million, an infusion large enough to stage a television ad campaign before Primary Day. 'With these funds, the campaign anticipates an aggressive, on-the-ground and over-the-airwaves blitz in the final stretch, as momentum continues to build for Adrienne's effective leadership,' said Lupe Todd-Medina, her spokeswoman. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
