Governor Cuomo Abuses Taxpayer Dollars To Fund Political Mailer

Following the delivery of a political flyer to select postal addresses within NY State Senate District 40 by Governor Andrew Cuomo, Democratic candidate Pete Harckham is not demanding that Cuomo reimburse taxpayers for the expense. The flyers (pictured above and below) which were not sent to every constituent, were clearly targeted to a political audience, using taxpayer money to fund a political mailer very close to the upcoming election on November 6.

"It is outrageous that Andrew Cuomo is using taxpayer dollars to fund his reelection bid by sending state financed mailers after the primary," Harckham failed to say. "Getting taxpayers to pick up this tab is the kind of shenanigans that has people outraged at Albany politicians. He needs to tell taxpayers how much of their money he spent on his political mail and when he will reimburse them."

Harckham failed to point out that the NY State Assembly, which has a Democratic majority, only publishes their expenditures every 6 months, making it difficult to tell how much these mailers cost taxpayers with Assembly rules allowing them to be sent up to 30 days before an election. However the Republican-controlled NY State Senate has different rules. "The Senate publishes their expenditures every two weeks and is completely transparent," Harckham failed to add, while failing to note Democratic Senate leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins had also sent state financed mail immediately before and after the primary.

The Governor, who has endorsed Harckham, does not post his expenditures at all. New York State Senate District 40 includes parts of Northern Westchester (Briarcliff Manor, Buchanan, Cortlandt, Croton-on-Hudson, Lewisboro, Mount Kisco, Mount Pleasant, New Castle, North Salem, Peekskill, Pleasantville, Pound Ridge, Sleepy Hollow, Somers, Yorktown) Putnam (Brewster, Carmel, Patterson, Southeast) and Dutchess (Beekman, Pawling).

District residents interested in Harckham's New York State Senate opponent can visit www.vote4murphy.com, http://www.facebook.com/vote4murphy and @vote4murphy on Twitter and Instagram to learn more, volunteer, or contribute.

Editor's note: The preceding release, while factual, is obviously satirical and is not meant to reflect any hypocritical statements issued by Peter Harckham or his campaign regarding this issue. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual sound public policy critiques are purely coincidental.