Gov. Andrew Cuomo received donations of $40,000 or more from at least 102 donors during the first 18 months of the 2011-14 election cycle, according to an analysis by the New York Public Interest Research Group. The donors gave a total of $5.8 million, roughly a third of the funds the governor has brought in since January. The information comes from the July periodic campaign-finance report. The filings are due this week.
The top donor was billionaire Leonard Litwin, a luxury real-estate developer whose limited liability companies have donated $250,000 to Andrew Cuomo 2014.
According to NYPIRG, several of the large donors took advantage of loopholes in the state’s campaign-finance laws by using multiple subsidiaries or limited liability companies to “give significantly more money than the state’s generous limits on individual giving,” the group said. Many of them gave near the $60,800 maximum permitted for combined primary and general election donation limits for individuals. If Cuomo doesn’t face a primary opponent in 2014, his committee will have to refund up to $19,700 per donor, NYPIRG found.
Cuomo started the reporting period with $14.4 million and received $5.8 million in contributions. The campaign spent more than $900,000 during the six-month period and ended with $19.3 million.
NYPIRG’s list doesn’t add donations by individuals to those made by their employers. It does combine separately incorporated businesses that are part of one corporate structure.
This is a link to other filers as of yesterday.
This is NYPIRG’s spreadsheet of Cuomo contributors:
