Senate Race: De Blasio At It Again But No Match For Murphy

JEFFERSON VALLEY, NY - This week's release of the 2018 July Periodic campaign finance filings by the New York State Board of Elections show incumbent Senator Terrence Murphy earned a nearly six-to-one cash advantage over his next opponents, outraising them both combined. The filings also demonstrate that Democratic candidate Robert Kesten has hitched himself to New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio's campaign team, who were previously under federal investigation, while Democratic candidate Peter Harckham fell short of expectations despite a $7000 contribution from Governor Cuomo.

Martha Ruiz Jiménez, the spokesperson for Senator Terrence Murphy's campaign said, "Senator Murphy raised almost $273,000, finishing with $418,946 in the bank. That is the most of any member of his Senate class and we are humbled by the strong showing of support and generosity from a wide variety of friends, local businesses, unions and other organizations from across the aisle."

Harckham filed with an unexciting $41,159.67 in the bank. Kesten filed with $68,988.83, with a high-burn rate that included $3,000 in payments to BerlinRosen, a firm at the center of the criminal investigation into Mayor de Blasio's campaign finance operation, first exposed by Murphy in 2014.

BerlinRosen was among the firms subpoenaed by federal prosecutors as part of the FBI investigation into how campaign funds were used in 2014 New York State Senate races. De Blasio later lost a court battle over withholding his correspondence with BerlinRosen from the media under the "agents of the city" loophole, which Senator Murphy subsequently authored and passed legislation to close.

"Senator Murphy has said it time and time again, the Hudson Valley is not for sale," Ruiz Jiménez said. "Mister Kesten's poor choice of campaign teams indicates that he is onboard with bringing back the Bill de Blasio pay-to-play corruption machine to Westchester and the Husdon Valley."

BerlinRosen's "intimate ties to the de Blasio Administration has earned it a certain guilt by association; it has been tarred by the brush of the mayor's numerous controversies," according to Capital Research Center, a non-profit which deems itself America's investigative think tank. E-mails have shown BerlinRosen uses its connection in City Hall to push the interests of its clients who have business before the City, who in turn have donated to both of the Mayor's non-profits which are also run by BerlinRosen, as well as Democratic County Committees eligible to accept donations far in excess of the local limit, who then funnel the dirty money to candidates who retain BerlinRosen's services.

Board of Elections independent enforcement counsel Risa Sugarman, who had subpoenaed BerlinRosen, called the Mayor's actions "willful and flagrant" violations of the election law, and Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance criticized de Blasio and his team for their actions, which "appear contrary to the intent and spirit of the laws."

"Senator Murphy's campaign is about restoring the trust in public service and in Albany. The last thing New Yorkers need is for Mayor de Blasio and Governor Cuomo to control all branches of our state government. The two already can't control themselves as it is and giving them full reign would be a first class disaster," Ruiz Jiménez concluded.