Frequent Trigger, a authorities reform group, has requested the Marketing campaign Finance Board to analyze Andrew Cuomo’s marketing campaign for what it says are potential violations of marketing campaign finance legal guidelines.
In a proper grievance on Tuesday, Susan Lerner, the chief director of the group, wrote that consulting and polling providers offered by Tusk Methods, a lobbying agency, are in-kind contributions, and that they go in opposition to strict spending limits imposed on candidates.
This comes after the Cuomo marketing campaign was final week docked a complete of $1.3 million in cash from the town’s 8-to-1 public matching funds program for suspected improper coordination between the marketing campaign and an excellent PAC.
“We believe that such an investigation will lead the board to the same conclusion that we have arrived at: the seriousness and the persistence of the violations by the Cuomo campaign demand that the campaign be required to refund all matching funds and be disqualified from receiving any further public funds,” Lerner mentioned.
The grievance comes after Politico reported that Tusk’s CEO Chris Coffey was not being paid regardless of doing intensive work on the marketing campaign.
Shontell Smith, Cuomo’s political director marketing campaign, is being paid each by the marketing campaign by Tusk, elevating issues about probably undermining “the intent of the CFB’s strict spending limits,” Lerner wrote.
Tusk bankrolled two polls, one simply earlier than Cuomo entered the race and a second shortly after. Frequent Trigger argued that these polls, which weren’t reported to the CFB, could violate marketing campaign finance guidelines.
“There is no indication that the spending for these polls, which appear to have been conducted in direct coordination with Cuomo’s campaign, have been adequately reported to the Campaign Finance Board or counted against Cuomo’s primary spending cap,” Frequent Trigger’s grievance reads.
Wealthy Azzopardi, Cuomo’s spokesperson, mentioned Lerner was trying “election interference.”
“Unfortunately for them, New Yorkers are too smart to fall for these sleazy tactics wrapped in the guise of good government,” he mentioned, including that different candidates use consultants who juggle different purchasers.
The spokesman added that persons are allowed to volunteer on campaigns with out it being thought-about a contribution.
Initially Printed: June 3, 2025 at 6:00 PM EDT
