Andrew Cuomo was dealt another blow by the city’s campaign finance watchdog, which dinged him another $675,000 Friday over suspicions his mayoral campaign improperly coordinated with a super PAC.
The New York City Campaign Finance Board has now denied the former governor a total of $1.3 million in public matching funds — which could hamper the frontrunner as the June 24 Democratic primary approaches and surging socialist mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani nips at his heels.
The ex-gov first lost out on around $622,000 in matching funds last month when the CBC said it believed a TV ad was created by “Fix the City” — the super PAC supporting his candidacy — in coordination with his campaign.
But the PAC continued to run the potentially off-limits ad, leading to the latest sanctions.
“Shortly after (the last CFB meeting), Fix the City reported spending an additional $675,419.75 to continue airing the same ad,” said board member Richard Davis at the Friday morning meeting.
“The board continued an investigation on this matter and, based on the findings thus far, continues to believe that the expenditure was not independent of the Cuomo campaign,” he said.
The board also opted to dock that money from Cuomo’s spending cap — reducing the amount he’s able to spend on his own campaign advertisements to around $6.7 million from nearly $8 million.
The limitation comes at possibly the worst time for Cuomo’s political comeback bid, with just over three weeks to go to the primary, and Mamdani closing the gap between the two to single digits, according to a PIX11/Emerson poll this week.
A source close to the thrice-elected Democratic gov’s team told The Post the campaign’s goal has been to “survive” the primary by banking on Cuomo’s name recognition, rather than try to mobilize a new voter base like some of the lefty candidates.
Cuomo will still receive $1.3 million in matching funds, bringing his campaign total to around $7.3 million, according to his team.
At the same time, Mamdani, who hit his fundraising max in March, has roughly $4.5 million on hand as the primary hits the final stretch.
City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, who had yet to qualify for the city’s generous one-to-eight matching funds program, received the highest payout Friday, bringing in over $2 million for her campaign.
The payment is a much-needed injection of cash into the speaker’s campaign that has been handicapped by her late entry into the crowded field of Democrats, where she has so far failed to break out.
Fellow mayoral candidate Zellnor Myrie, who initially sounded the alarm on the allegedly coordinated Cuomo ad to CFB officials last month, lauded the board’s move Friday.
“I applaud the Campaign Finance Board for heeding my calls to investigate Andrew Cuomo’s campaign finances, and fining him for breaking the rules. While this news is troubling, it is not surprising,” the state senator said of the continued probe in a statement.
Rich Azzopardi, a spokesperson for Cuomo’s camp, slammed the “unfounded position” of the board and brushed off any suggestion of financial concerns.
“We look forward to making that clear and receiving the full matching funds to which the campaign is entitled. In the meantime, our campaign’s momentum continues unabated.”
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