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By CARA MATTHEWS
Gannett Albany Bureau

ALBANY – Democratic gubernatorial candidate Andrew Cuomo has $19.9 million on hand with four weeks to go before Election Day, according to his campaign.

Carl Paladino, a wealthy Buffalo businessman, has been loaning himself large chunks of money during the campaign and had $209,407 on hand as of Friday, when the 32-day pre-general election financial disclosure was due.

Cuomo, who had $23 million in mid-July, reported receiving $3.4 million in contributions since then and spending $7.2 million. The financial-disclosure report hadnt been filed with the state Board of Elections as of Friday evening.

Paladino, who won a GOP primary Sept. 14, has had to file more reports than Cuomo, who did not have a primary.

Loans Paladino has made to his campaign that are outstanding total $1.6 million, according to his financial disclosure form. He has pledged to spend at least $10 million of his own money on the campaign.

Paladino raised $274,368 during the reporting period of late September. That does not include any personal loans. He spent about $90,000.

Since mid-March, Paladino for the People has paid Caputo Public Relations, owned by campaign manager Michael Caputo, a total of $448,000, or nearly $70,000 a month.

Although Cuomo has nearly $20 million, he has not out-raised some previous gubernatorial candidates, the New York Public Interest Research Group found. Forty-seven months into the four-year election cycle eight years ago, now-former Gov. George Pataki had raised $42.4 million. Four years later, now-former Gov. Eliot Spitzer had brought in $40.3 million. Cuomos total is $31.3 million, and Paladinos is $3.5 million, NYPIRG said.

In the race for attorney general, Democrat Eric Schneidermans campaign has raised a total of more than $5 million, including about $312,000 in the past week. Schneiderman, a state senator from Manhattan, won a five-way Democratic primary.

Schneiderman has more than $1 million in the bank. He also has $646,665 in outstanding liabilities/loans, including $550,000 he loaned to the campaign. He received $50,000 from the Democratic Attorneys General Association, a national group.

Eric has attracted far more support and resources than his opponents to date, and despite undergoing a competitive five-way primary for most of the year, he enters the final month with plenty of resources to win this race, said James Freedland, a spokesman for Schneiderman.

His Republican opponent, Dan Donovan, reported that he raised $416,292 since July and has $444,621 on hand. Campaign spokeswoman Virginia Lam said the campaign has raised nearly $1.1 million since June.

Donovan has $111,380 in outstanding liabilities/loans, including $32,000 for polling, $15,824 for literature, and $50,000 to Moving Pictures Inc. of Staten Island for production.

Some of the high-profile contributors to Donovan, Staten Island district attorney, are former US Sen. Al DAmato, who gave $10,000, and Donald Trump, who donated $5,000.

This campaign started on Sept. 15 and despite Team Schneidermans victory lap, our fundraising in the past two weeks has been nearly even, she said.

Lam noted that 60 percent of voters in the primary didnt cast their votes for Schneiderman. And recent polls show this race to be dead even – despite the fact that the state senator has been up on air and campaigning for twice as long, she said.
In the race for state comptroller, Republican Harry Wilson has a financial edge of about $1 million over Comptroller Tom DiNapoli, a Democrat, going into the final weeks of the campaign.

Wilson raised $1.2 million and spent $1.3 million during the reporting period, which began in mid-July. Wilson spent more than $850,000 on television ads and about $185,000 on consultants. He ended the period with $2.6 million in his campaign coffers.

Wilson loaned himself millions of dollars between January and September, and he has outstanding loans of $2.75 million, his report said. The most recent loan was $500,000 Sept. 23.
Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, a Democrat, started the reporting period in mid-July with $1.8 million. He raised $364,607 and spent $752,486 million, so he has $1.4 million in his campaign coffers.

DiNapoli, a former Assembly member, was appointed to the position by the state Legislature after former Comptroller Alan Hevesi resigned. Hevesi pleaded guilty to a felony for having state workers chauffeur his wife.

Rochester Mayor Robert Duffy, Cuomos running mate for lieutenant governor, started with about $3,500 in his campaign, took in $29,500 and spent $18,755, leaving him with $14,230. Most of the money he spent during the reporting period was for airfare and other travel, hotels and campaign meetings

He launched his campaign committee in June with a $15,000 transfer from Friends of Bob Duffy, his mayoral committee. He has since transferred another $20,000.

Gannett ContentOne – Albany, NY

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