“It’s incredibly puzzling and questionable that Alison Esposito isn’t paying any campaign staff. At the very best, she’s fudging numbers and pushing expenses to try and make her first report look better than it is. At worst, she’s flaunting campaign finance laws and her staff is getting paid off the books or under the table in a way that would be blatantly illegal.”
Times Union: Esposito campaign did not pay staffers for at least 3 months, per FEC filings
Timmy Facciola
4/10/24
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ALBANY — On Oct. 10, Alison Esposito, a former Republican candidate for lieutenant governor, announced she was running for Congress in New York’s 18th Congressional District against incumbent Democratic U.S. Rep. Pat Ryan.
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But according to her most recently available campaign finance records, Esposito did not pay anyone on her campaign in the three months after launching it last year. From October through December, she does not have any payroll entries in the itemized disbursements she filed with the Federal Election Commission, where candidates must report how they spend campaign funds.
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Ben Weiner, Esposito’s campaign manager, accepted his position in October, according to a post on his LinkedIn page, and fielded press inquiries from the Times Union that month. Esposito’s campaign also has a communications director, Clay Sutton.
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It is not known if Esposito’s staff is being paid now. Her campaign did not respond to multiple requests for comment. When reached by phone this week, Esposito asked a Times Union reporter to send her communications team another inquiry and then hung up. Her team did not respond to additional inquiries.
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It would not be illegal for Esposito’s campaign to rely on volunteers, and most campaigns do so at various levels. But experts said it’s far less common for high-ranking staff to not be paid.
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“Whether or not staff is paid directly from a campaign or through a third party, candidates have an obligation to file payroll disbursements in accordance with existing federal laws,” Susan Lerner, Common Cause New York’s executive director, said. “Voters expect and deserve transparency from the individuals competing to represent them.”
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For the fourth quarter of 2023, Ryan listed more than $288,000 in disbursements, nearly half of which went toward payroll, payroll taxes and fees, and health care stipends. By comparison, Esposito listed $52,000, with no payroll entries. Last quarter, 97 percent of the financial support Esposito received came from donors outside the district, including Long Island, New York City, Westchester County and Florida.
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In addition to the lack of payroll entries, Esposito received multiple donations from a staffer, according to campaign finance records. Across the final quarter of 2023, Weiner, her campaign manager, donated more than $240 to the campaign: On Oct. 10, he donated $1; on Oct. 12, he donated $1.04; on Dec. 20, he donated $40; and on Dec. 28, he donated $200, according to campaign filings.
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Among her itemized disbursements, Esposito spent more than $5,000 on airline and Amtrak tickets, $2,715 on campaign attire (she frequently wears a custom Team Esposito Vineyard Vines vest on the trail), and $225 at Lure Fish House in Westlake Village, Calif.
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Ryan is the only freshman Democrat facing a Republican challenger in New York this cycle. The former Ulster County executive and decorated combat veteran raised $750,000 in the final quarter of 2023. On April 4, he announced raising more than $900,000 in the first three months of this year. He is approaching November with more than $4 million in his campaign account.
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