Andrew Cuomo denied public campaign funds amid NYC mayor bid, cites ‘technical error’
Former New York Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo faced a setback on Tuesday when New York City’s campaign finance regulators denied him nearly $3 million in publicly matched campaign funds. The denial of $2.5 million in publicly matched campaign funds came after the Cuomo campaign’s frantic efforts to rectify errors in documentation and meet the requirements for the public money.
According to a press release from the New York City Campaign Finance Board (NYCCFB), at least 20% of Cuomo’s required disclosures contained documentation errors for contributions. Additionally, the Cuomo campaign failed to meet the required threshold of total contributions, which must come from at least 1,000 different individuals, and contributors, which must amount to at least $250,000, needed to obtain the publicly matched funds.
A spokesperson for Cuomo stated that a “technical software error” had been fixed, and the necessary documentation was provided to the city’s campaign finance board. However, the campaign will not be able to receive matching funds until the next allocation period beginning on May 12.
The Cuomo campaign raised $1.5 million within 13 days of officially announcing the campaign on March 1. This included $330,000 in matchable funds from over 2,800 donors, surpassing the campaign finance board’s threshold for qualifying for matching funds by the filing deadline of March 13. Since then, the campaign has raised an additional $1 million, totaling over $2.5 million from more than 4,100 individuals.
In a similar development, incumbent Mayor Eric Adams was also denied $4.5 million in matching funds for similar reasons as Cuomo, as well as other bookkeeping and compliance mistakes. Nearly every other top mayoral candidate received payouts on Tuesday, according to Politico.
Polling from Siena College showed Cuomo as the frontrunner among Democrats, although Adams was not included in the survey results as he will be running for reelection as an Independent. Adams had faced a federal corruption investigation until the Trump administration intervened and had the case dismissed.
Despite the setbacks, both Cuomo and Adams are expected to continue their campaigns for mayor of New York City. Cuomo’s campaign is optimistic about receiving the matching funds in the next payment period, while Adams faces challenges related to compliance and bookkeeping issues.
The developments in the mayoral race highlight the importance of compliance with campaign finance regulations and the impact of errors in documentation on candidates’ ability to access public funds for their campaigns. As the race heats up, both Cuomo and Adams will need to address these issues and focus on their platforms to garner support from voters in the upcoming election.
