July 18,2014, 11:12 a.m.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CUOMO SPENDS MORE THAN
QUARTER BILLION TAX DOLLARS ON TV ADS
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$237.5 million Figure Revealed only After Year of FOIL Requests;
State Comptroller Audit Announcement
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Astorino Calls for Cessation of Spending in Election Season
New York–July 18…New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is spending $237.5 million — including almost $40 million in money intended for Hurricane Sandy victims — to run false television advertising, telling voters here and nationally that everything is coming up roses in New York under his administration, the campaign of New York gubernatorial candidate Rob Astorino today said.
The shocking figure, which was obtained by Gannett news after a year of effort, is $87.5 million more than what was previously thought. New York ranks 50th among states in economic outlook, according to the American Legislative Exchange Council, and it has the highest taxes in America. It was ranked the worst state in America in which to retire, and its state government is ranked the most corrupt in America by the University of Illinois.
“This is a swindle of historic proportions,” Mr. Astorino said. “Andrew Cuomo has taken more than a quarter billion dollars of taxpayer money and put it into television advertising for his own political gain. People have been locked in jail for far less than that.”
Mr. Astorino said it should be illegal for taxpayer ads like Mr. Cuomo’s to run inside New York, especially in an election year, and he called on Mr. Cuomo to halt the television campaign immediately.
“Mr. Cuomo is literally taking money from homeless New York families on Long Island, Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, and elsewhere and put it on TV for his own political gain, three months before an election. He can’t be allowed to get away with that. This is what having the most corrupt state government in America looks like.”
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