A new NYPIRG workup of 2013 political donations confirms what observers — and surely Gov. Cuomo’s detractors — have known or suspected for awhile: Cuomo, champion of reforming New York’s campaign finance system, was the greatest beneficiary of its high giving limits.
“Donations to [Cuomo’s] campaign committee and to the housekeeping account of the NYS Democrats – which spent millions of dollars running television advertisements featuring the governor selling New Yorkers on his agenda – accounted for 40% of the total money raised from this list of mega-donors,” the good-government group finds, per Bill “TechMagic” Mahoney.
The state committee raised more than $6 million and Cuomo 2014 clocked in at $5.24 million, according to the rundown. A million of the cash that came into the state housekeeping account comes back to a single couple, James and Marilyn Simons, and George Soros chipped in $750,000. The ever-generous Leonard Litwin gave Cuomo $375,000, and healthcare worker union 1199 SEIU routed more than $190,000 to the Working Families Party…