Andrew Cuomo’s effort to return to political office as New York City Mayor took a significant blow after he was denied over $4 million in public matching funds, according to a report in the New York Post.
“Last Friday, the campaign was informed by the campaign finance board that, due to a technical software error, contributions collected on one of our vendor platforms, NGP, were missing one of the fields required by the Campaign Finance Board, and so while we met the thresholds necessary to receive matching funds, the campaign had to remedy this technical matter,” campaign spokesperson Rich Azzopardi told the outlet.
Azzopardi emphasized that the issue had since been corrected. “We have since fully addressed the software issue and have complied with all requirements and will be submitting the proper documentation to the Board within the one week grace period the board allows to remedy technical issues to receive our eligible matching funds on May 12.”
As outlined by the Post, Cuomo’s team lost out on a total of $4,174,643.75 in matching funds for $332,350 in contributions, due to the missing information. Under New York City’s system, qualifying donations from city residents are matched at an 8-to-1 ratio, up to $2,150 per donor, a measure designed to level the playing field for less wealthy candidates.
The Campaign Finance Board came to its decision early Tuesday, just days after Cuomo’s campaign scrambled to fix the problem by urging supporters via email to quickly complete and return required documentation in order to qualify for the funding, the Post said.
The subject line of the campaign’s urgent email read: “Urgent – Action Required” and highlighted the importance of immediate action. “THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT,” it said.
The message continued: “We need you to complete the form included in this additional email, TODAY IF AT ALL POSSIBLE. We apologize for the inconvenience, but it is critical that we get these forms back as soon as possible,” according to the report.
To date, Cuomo’s mayoral bid has pulled in about $2.5 million in contributions, not including the millions collected by a separate super PAC backing his run. Recent polling shows Cuomo leading in the race to unseat current Mayor Eric Adams.
{Matzav.com}