*GOP New York Gubernatorial Candidate Carl Paladino is a shady loose cannon. Vote for Andrew Cuomo!*
When Paladino the Candidate Spends, Paladino the Businessman Often Earns By DAVID M. HALBFINGER<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/h/david_m_halbfinger/index.html?inline=nyt-per> Published: October 6, 2010 - Twitter - Sign In to E-Mail <javascript:void(0);> - Print<http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/07/nyregion/07money.html?pagewanted=print> <http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/07/nyregion/07money.html?pagewanted=all> - Reprints <http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/07/nyregion/07money.html#> - Share <http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/07/nyregion/07money.html#>Close<http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/07/nyregion/07money.html#> - Linkedin <http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/07/nyregion/07money.html#> - Digg <http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/07/nyregion/07money.html#> - Mixx <http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/07/nyregion/07money.html#> - MySpace <http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/07/nyregion/07money.html#> - Yahoo! Buzz<http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/07/nyregion/07money.html#> - Permalink <http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/07/nyregion/07money.html#> - <http://www.nytimes.com/adx/bin/adx_click.html?type=goto&opzn&page=www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/nyregion&pos=Frame4A&sn2=be39a6a9/d502c4ce&sn1=9359d1fa/659afedb&camp=foxsearch2010_emailtools_1225556c_nyt5&ad=127hrs_120x60_08.25&goto=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Efoxsearchlight%2Ecom%2F127hours> If Carl P. Paladino<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/p/carl_p_paladino/index.html?inline=nyt-per>comes up short in his run for governor against Andrew M. Cuomo<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/c/andrew_m_cuomo/index.html?inline=nyt-per>, he will not have thrown his money away. At least not all of it. Of the $3.8 million that Mr. Paladino, a Republican, had spent as of Sept. 27, nearly $2 million has gone to companies he owns or controls, records show — most of it to a company he set up to produce his own television and Internet advertisements. Mr. Paladino’s campaign<http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9905E7DC1739F934A1575AC0A9669D8B63&pagewanted=1>, based in Buffalo, also houses out-of-town guests in a budget hotel he owns, leases cars from a rental agency he owns, parks cars in a garage he owns and uses the services of an accountant whose other job is at Mr. Paladino’s real estate development company. When Mr. Paladino. who has said he will spend as much as $10 million of his fortune on the race, cannot put campaign money back in his own pockets, he at least steers it to people he does business with. He buys handbills, signs and other materials from companies that lease space from him, and his campaign treasury is deposited in a bank branch that also pays him rent. Michael R. Caputo <http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/25/nyregion/25caputo.html>, the Paladino campaign manager, acknowledged that the businesses Mr. Paladino owns charged his political committee deeply discounted rates. “When we get an owner’s rate at the Staybridge Suites, it’s like a 30 percent discount,” he said, referring to one of the hotels Mr. Paladino owns. “Is being a businessman an unfair advantage? Yes, it is.” But Mr. Caputo insisted that the rates the businesses charged were not so low as to break state election law. “Carl has partners in all these businesses, and it wouldn’t be fair for him to run his campaign on the backs of his partners,” he said. “They’re in it to make money. You can see what their consternation would be if we were not paying for this stuff.” Such an approach is allowable under state election law so long as Mr. Paladino’s campaign pays a “reasonable fair-market rate,” said John Conklin, a spokesman for the State Board of Elections<http://www.elections.state.ny.us/>. But state law does not define what would be considered a sweetheart deal, Mr. Conklin said. “For our purposes, there would have to be a complaint, and we would make an assessment,” he said. “But the law makes the campaign treasurer decide what’s reasonable or fair-market value, just as the treasurer decides the value of an in-kind contribution.” Mr. Caputo said Mr. Paladino was achieving his biggest savings by producing and placing his TV commercials in-house, rather than hiring outside media consultants and media-buying firms. The new agency, Ellicott Advertising, has no full-time employees. Instead, he said, it pays a freelance media buyer a flat $6,000 a month to buy television time — rather than paying commissions for any TV spending. Aside from Mr. Paladino and his various partners, the biggest beneficiaries of his campaign spending are associates of Roger J. Stone<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/s/roger_j_stone_jr/index.html?inline=nyt-per>, the Republican political operative who helped engineer Mr. Paladino’s rise from a wealthy Buffalo gadfly into a statewide political force. In total, Mr. Stone’s associates have so far been paid about $1 million in fees. Mr. Caputo, a Stone protégé, has received nearly $450,000 since March, records show. Two companies controlled by Dianne Thorne, Mr. Stone’s secretary — D. J. Thorne Inc. and Sea-Odyssey Group L.L.C. — were paid a total of about $85,000. Two direct-mail companies based in Teaneck, N.J. — the Rutherford Group and Cornerstone Management Partners — were paid a total of about $285,000. Marc Stein, the principal in both companies, said employees of his who had done business with Mr. Stone previously brought him the Paladino work as well. Mr. Caputo, Ms. Thorne, and Cornerstone all worked last year for Truth PAC, a Stone-run committee that fought against a casino-gambling referendum in Toledo, Ohio, on behalf of MTR Gaming, which owns nearby racetracks and casinos that would have suffered from the competition. Overlap between Mr. Paladino’s vendors and Mr. Stone’s team in the Truth PAC effort was first reported by The Village Voice. Another company, Clamworks, of Wilmington, N.C., received $36,000 from Mr. Paladino. It also earned nearly $50,000 last year working for Truth PAC. Even a cameraman on the Truth PAC effort, William Rey, resurfaced on the Paladino payroll. Mr. Paladino also paid $200,000 in late August to a Virginia company, Total Direct Response, owned by a woman who was an executive at a marketing firm owned by Mr. Stone’s former wife. Mr. Caputo said the firm printed mailers for the campaign. More: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/07/nyregion/07money.html -- Together, we can change the world, one mind at a time. Have a great day, Tommy -- Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. * Read the latest breaking news, and more.
