Scandal-Plagued Andrew Cuomo to Host $10,000-Per-Ticket Fundraising Dinner
Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo will host a campaign fundraising event in New York City this month and charge $10,000 a ticket as he faces state and federal investigations into a number of scandals.
The “Summer Reception” has been scheduled for June 29, according to an invitation posted on the governor’s website.
Tickets for the event are $10,000 per person, or $15,000 per couple.
The fundraiser will be held before the July 15 deadline to disclose how much money the governor’s campaign has raised in the past six months, Bloomberg reported.
The fundraising report will give a good indication of whether Cuomo will have a chance to win a fourth term in the face of the past year’s scandals.
The Democratic governor faces state and federal investigations about the numerous allegations surrounding his under-reporting of COVID-19 deaths in his state’s elder-care facilities.
A January news release from New York Attorney General Letitia James noted that deaths in New York’s nursing homes “may have been undercounted by as much as 50 percent.”
Top Cuomo aide Melissa DeRosa told state Democrats earlier this year there was a reason the administration didn’t provide an accurate count.
DeRosa said the Cuomo administration essentially “froze” last summer when the Department of Justice asked it to provide accurate information regarding nursing home deaths, according to The New York Times.
“We were in a position where we weren’t sure if what we were going to give to the Department of Justice, or what we give to you guys, and what we start saying, was going to be used against us and we weren’t sure if there was going to be an investigation,” DeRosa told state Democrats.
The Times reported last week that the Cuomo administration had been “repeatedly overruling state health officials over a span of at least five months, according to interviews and newly unearthed documents.”
Cuomo continues to maintain he did “nothing wrong.”
Cuomo has also been the subject of multiple allegations of sexual harassment and claims by an aide that she was groped by the governor while on the job.
He also faces allegations that he mishandled construction of the Mario Cuomo Bridge and misused public resources when he wrote a $5 million leadership book.
Prior to the scandals, Cuomo had planned to run for re-election in 2022, according to Bloomberg.
A Siena College poll released last month said that 37 percent of respondents would vote to re-elect Cuomo.
If Cuomo chooses not to run, he could use the campaign funds to cover his legal bills for representation in the investigations.
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