A little-known Nassau Company has played a big role in many state and Nassau Republican campaigns in recent years while staying well below the radar of the public and even county Democrats.
The company, CCC Enterprises, has been paid more than $1 million by the Nassau County GOP, local Republican candidates and the state Senate Republican Campaign Committee – headed by state Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Center) – for campaign literature, mailers and printing since September 2009.
The county Republican committee alone has spent more than $150,000 with CCC since 2011, or about 15 percent of its total political spending, and the list of Nassau GOP candidates using its services is lengthy.
Skelos and state Sen. Jack Martins (R-Mineola), Nassau County Legislator Richard Nicolello (R-New Hyde Park), state Assemblyman Ed Ra (R-Franklin Square) and County Executive Ed Mangano (R-Bethpage) have all spent campaign money with CCC in their successful bids for office.
The firm has also been patronized by candidates who went on to lose their elections. Former Nassau County Legislator John Ciotti (R-North Valley Stream), who lost a 2011 race for re-election to challenger Carrie Solages (D-Elmont), and state Assembly candidate Richard Stiek (R-Port Washington), who lost his attempt in November to unseat state Assemblywoman Michelle Schimel (D-Great Neck), both used CCC Enterprises for literature during their campaigns.
Despite the firm’s extensive work for Republican political campaigns little information about CCC Enterprises is available to the public.
The firm lists its location as a private home in Deer Park on campaign filings. Such a setup is common for political print brokers – agents who act as go-betweens for campaigns and print shops.
A limited liability company named “CCC Consulting Group” is registered out of that same address to a man named Christopher Cianciulli.
CCC Consulting Group was created in August 2012, years after CCC began its operations, according to state records.
CCC has no public Web page or listed contact information; its sole records of its existence appear to be its registration with the Department of State’s corporations division and records of payments on campaign filings.
Multiple calls to the county Republican party were not returned, and Skelos could also not be reached for comment.
Stiek, a first-time candidate in the 2012 elections, identified the owner of CCC Enterprises as Cianciulli in an interview. Stiek said Cianciulli was recommended to him by Martins, but that he was not a party insider and did not know if Cianciulli had any relationships with the party leadership.
“It’s a guy who offered me a great deal on the one mailer that I did,” said Stiek. ““He was right at market value. His was a Long Island [business.]”
Cianciulli may also have a limited record of political activity, according to campaign filings. A Merrick man by that name was reimbursed $85 for postage by the North Valley Stream Republican Committee in 2009. Campaign filings also show that a man named Chris Cianciulli, with addresses in Deer Park, has given about $9,000 in political donations since 2006, including $3,200 to the North Valley Stream Republican Committee and about $1,400 to the Town of Hempstead Republican Committee.
A New York Times report from 2010 quotes a man of that name as an advisor for former County Legislator Bruce Blakeman (R-Valley Stream) in his unsuccessful U.S. Senate race against Kirsten Gillibrand.
Blank Slate Media could not independently confirm that these filings and reports refer to the same Cianciulli who owns CCC Enterprises, as Cianciulli did not return requests for comment.
Cianciulli also appears to be under the Democrats’ radar.
Nassau County Democratic leader Jay Jacobs, as well as other Democratic sources, said they were not aware of CCC Enterprises or Cianciulli’s operations.
