With less than a month remaining before Election Day, Laura Curran, the Democratic candidate for county executive, raised more campaign contributions than her Republican counterpart, Jack Martins, in the most recent filing period.
Since July 13, Curran raised $585,339, while Martins was not far behind at $533,915, according to state figures.
“Our momentum is growing because Nassau County voters are tired of paying a corruption tax to support cushy patronage jobs that go to friends and family of the elected and bloated contracts that go to the connected,” Curran said in a statement.
According to the New York State Board of Elections, Curran has raised $1,555,266 since she announced her candidacy for county executive in November 2016. Martins has raised $891,178 since he announced his candidacy in late April (Curran raised $1,116,466 in that time period).
“With a month to go, Jack Martins has all the energy and enthusiasm on his side,” E. O’Brien Murray, Martins’ campaign manager, said in a statement. “He has an unprecedented base of support from working men and women across Nassau County and a plan to get the county back on the right track.”
All that money is being used to get the message out about the candidates. Curran released a television ad last week about Martins’ political relationship with Dean Skelos, a former state Senate majority leader whose corruption conviction was recently overturned. Martins recently released an advertisement connecting Curran with New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio as part of a $1 million media buy.
The two campaigns also lobbed accusations over what the campaign money was being spent on and where it was coming from. The Curran campaign pointed out that Martins accepted donations from two officials in the Ed Mangano administration: county Attorney Carnell Foskey and Sheriff Michael Sposato. Foskey donated $250, according to the state Board of Elections and Sposato gave $375.
The Martins campaign criticized the Curran campaign for a $10,000 donation to the North Hempstead Democratic Committee, whose former chairman Gerard Terry pleaded guilty to criminal tax fraud on Sept. 25, almost a month after the donation was made.
In response, Curran campaign spokesman Philip Shulman said that Martins had more links to corrupt politicians.
“Laura is the only candidate in this race who can end the culture of corruption and give Nassau County the fresh start it deserves,” he said. “Jack Martins, on top of taking donations from top Mangano officials, did everything he could to keep Dean Skelos in power after he was arrested on federal corruption charges, and people know he will just uphold the political machine’s failed status quo.”
