The city’s Campaign Finance Board should pause its release of public campaign funds to former Gov. Andrew Cuomo while investigating suspected violations of eligibility rules, one Brooklyn lawmaker and good government groups charged Thursday.
Council Member Lincoln Restler and government reform groups Common Cause and Reinvent Albany urged the CFB to continue investigating Cuomo’s campaign for what it believes to be violations of campaign finance rules regarding collaboration with a super PAC supporting his candidacy in the 2025 NYC Mayor’s Race.
On May 12, the CFB ordered the release of $1.5 million in public financing to Cuomo that had been withheld from him back in April over what were called clerical errors. Simultaneously, however, the board withheld an additional $622,000 in matching funds that Cuomo would have received because of it has “reason to believe” there was “improper coordination” between his campaign and a super PAC called “Fix the City” supporting it.
Restler, a progressive who represents parts of northern Brooklyn, charged on May 15 that it was “just one of many” ways the Cuomo for Mayor campaign had allegedly violated CFB rules that determine whether campaigns are eligible to receive taxpayer funding in the form of 8-to-1 matching dollars.
“We’ve seen what happens when we allow corruption to run rampant in our campaign finance system,” said Restler, who is chair of the Council’s Governmental Operations Committee. “The Campaign Finance Board must take more proactive steps now to hold the Cuomo campaign accountable for its clear violations of our campaign finance law. We shouldn’t have to wait years after the election for investigations and audits to reveal what we already know—the release of all public funds has to stop now.”
Restler said the CFB should investigate all activities of the “Fix the City” PAC since Jan. 1. This, Restler and the groups said, would determine whether there were additional instances of “inappropriate coordination.”
In addition to a review of all matching funds to the campaign, the advocates also urged the CFB to track down “all potential intermediaries” and demand the campaign hand over relevant documents such as fundraising and credit card records.
“The Cuomo campaign is shamelessly and illegally selling access through his super PAC while expecting taxpayers to fund his direct campaign,” said Susan Lerner, executive director of Common Cause New York.
She even went so far as to call the campaign “corrupt” while urging the investigation to continue.
“Penalizing the Cuomo campaign while still giving him more than $1.5 million in taxpayer money will do nothing to stop this flagrantly corrupt behavior,” she said.
The CFB said in a statement on Monday that they “have reason to believe” that the “Fix the City” expenditure for an ad distributed on May 4 was not independent of the Cuomo campaign.
A spokesperson for the board said the panel is looking into the matter but declined to comment further.
Cuomo campaign says they’re ‘in full compliance’
Meanwhile, the Cuomo for Mayor campaign denied the allegations. Rich Azzopardi, a campaign spokesperson, told amNewYork that he and his team have operated “in full compliance” with the campaign finance laws and rules.
He added that everything on the campaign’s website “was reviewed and approved” by its legal team in advance of its publication.
“We look forward to making that clear when we respond to the board’s preliminary ruling and receive the full matching funds to which the campaign is entitled,” Azzopardi said.
He then threw political jabs at both Restler and one of Cuomo’s primary opponents, city Comptroller Brad Lander, whom Restler endorsed in the mayor’s race.
“New Yorkers know it was Andrew Cuomo who raised wages for millions of workers, passed the strongest gun violence prevention and paid family leave laws in the nation and built the Second Avenue subway, the Moynihan Train Hall and the new LaGuardia Airport — all things that actually improved people’s lives,” Azzopardi added, “and they’ll see right through this desperate and feeble attempt at election interference from this unserious, performative, Brad Lander lackey.”
