Maragos takes fundraising lead

Dan Glaun

Incumbent Nassau County Comptroller George Maragos has leaped to a fundraising lead over Democratic challenger Howard Weitzman, on the strength of a $1 million personal loan to his campaign, according to the July financial filings with the state Board of Elections.

But Weitzman has raised more from outside sources, including five figure contributions from unions and developers, the records show.

Maragos jump-started his campaign’s fundraising with a $1,001,000 loan to his campaign on July 11. He spent $53,000 during the last six months, much of that on political consulting, ending the July financial filing period with more than $1 million in the bank. 

Maragos, a resident of Great Neck, also took in $12,800 from corporations and $26,000 from political committees and limited liability corporations.

Weitzman, who had loaned his campaign $110,000 in January, raised $244,000. A local affiliate of the Service Employees International Union contributed $15,000, with other unions making smaller donations as well. 

The owners of the Chatham at North Hills, a luxury residential community in Weitzman’s home village, added $10,000 to his war chest. The former comptroller, who is attempting to retake his seat in a rematch with Maragos after losing narrowly in 2009, also drew $79,800 from political groups and limited liability companies and $27,715 from individuals and partnerships.

Weitzman spent $110,000 during the January through July reporting period, largely driven by staff payroll, fundraising expenses and a $50,000 check to the Nassau County Democratic Committee.

Both candidates received donations from interest groups or companies with financial ties to the county.

The Committee for Fair Property Taxes, a political actions committee funded by largely by tax litigation companies that contest residents’ property tax bills, gave $3,250 to Maragos. 

The group, which has given more than $250,000 since 2011 to a primarily Republican slate of candidates and committees, is largely funded by tax lawyers Fred Perry and Shalom Maidenbaum and tax reduction consultant Sean Acosta.

The county currently holds hundreds of millions of dollars in unfunded tax refund liabilities, and the Mangano administration has touted its efforts to settle residential tax refund cases and prevent the county from having to pay out more in the future. 

The county’s efforts to reform the tax refund system have faced both legal challenges and opposition from Democrats in the county Legislature opposed to taking out bonds to pay out refunds.

Weitzman took in $5,500 in corporate and limited liability company donations from the Triad Group, which administers Nassau’s worker compensation system and was the subject of a scathing report from Maragos last year. 

Maragos called for Triad’s replacement, citing cost overruns to the county in a report last September. Triad’s CEO Victoria Manes blasted Maragos’ analysis as containing “gross inaccuracies”, according to Newsday.

Manes said in a phone interview that she supported Weitzman based on his performance as comptroller prior to 2009, and declined to comment on Maragos.

“Weitzman was the comptroller of Nassau County before Mr. Maragos and had a very professional office and was very effective,” Manes said.

Weitzman also received $10,000 contributions from developer Frank Castagna and Harras, Bloom and Archer LLP. 

Maragos has spent $15,900 with strategy firm McLaughlin & Associates, which also counts County Executive Edward Mangano’s campaign as a client.

Reach reporter Dan Glaun by e-mail at dglaun@theislandnow.com, by phone at 516.307.1045 x203 or on Twitter @dglaun. Also follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/theislandnow.

Share this Article