Reply #25: Ny: Election official: Pirro's committees taking illegal contributions [View All]

[rumpel]

By GLENN BLAIN
[e-mail]


THE JOURNAL NEWS

Original publication: August 1, 2006)

Republican attorney general candidate Jeanine Pirro's use of multiple fundraising committees has sparked a complaint to the state Board of Elections from a top Assembly Democrat.

Assemblyman Keith Wright, chairman of the Assembly Committee on Election Law, charged in a complaint to the election board that Pirro should have already closed three campaign committees she created earlier this year to compete in Independence, Conservative and Republican primaries. Pirro has already become the nominee of those parties and faces no primary challenges.

"Ms. Pirro is the clear candidate of all three parties and thus has no business having primary committees and, more to the point, collecting contributions for those committees," said Wright, a Harlem Democrat, in a letter sent late last week.

Wright also argued that some contributors gave substantial sums to multiple Pirro committees. Those contributions, when combined, exceed the $33,900 limit for an individual to give in a statewide race.

Richard Weill, a lawyer for Pirro's campaign, rejected Wright's criticism and accused him of "false and baseless accusations."

http://www.thejournalnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060801/NEWS05/608010346/1026/NEWS10