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| Maisano and Marcotte |
Looking at Friends of Jim Maisano financial reports, he's had a consistent, modest war chest for a while now. In 2009 he hardly raised or spent and money for his uncontested campaign. In his January 2010 filing (the most recent currently online), Maisano said he had $43,500 in the bank.
On April 9, 2010, Legislator Vito Pinto announced that he was resigning his seat representing Eastchester, Tuckahoe, and the (ahem) Democratic part of New Rochelle to take a job in the Astorino administration.
Three days later, Jim Maisano contributed $25,000 to the WRCC 21st Century Fund. This is the constituted committee that Rob Astorino used in 2009 to funnel campaign funds to the State GOP to pay for political mail. And it's the committee that this year was the unofficial fundraising arm of Sheila Marcotte's campaign for LD-10: when Marcotte held her June 9 fundraiser at Lake Isle, all those $125 checks were made out to WRCC 21C.
Is it normal for Jim Maisano to contribute more than half his reserves to the County GOP in a non-election year? Consider that he has contributed a total of only $1,125 over 5 years to the County GOP, and until 2010 had never given any money at all to the 21st Century Fund. This looks like a very targeted contribution.
But just to be fair, Marcotte did hold that June 9 fundraiser. Maybe she's a superstar and raised, all on her own, the money she needed for this campaign?
That adds up to only $13,725. But the WRCC 21C sent $37,500 to the State GOP during this time to pay for Marcotte mail (the only expenditures the State GOP had during this short window), and spent $1,800 directly on ads in the Hometown Media newspapers, for a total of $39,100. So for the WRCC 21C to cover its Marcotte debt, in addition to the June 9 fundraiser they'd need ... oh, just about $25,000.
In effect, Jim Maisano bankrolled Marcotte's special election to the tune of fourteen times the legal contribution limit of $1,750.
Two days after she was elected to sit next to Maisano on the County Board of Legislators, Marcotte attended the Maisano for Justice fundraiser at Dudley's in New Rochelle. She wrote his campaign a personal check for $150. At that rate, it'll take her an awfully long time to pay him back.
