MAGA candidate busted with $300k in 'duplicate' donations as campaign bleeds cash: report

Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman's newest campaign-finance filing appears to count thousands of donations more than once, according to a Newsday analysis, casting doubt on how much money he has actually raised.

Neil Greenberg of Dix Hills, for example, says he and his wife each paid $1,000 to attend a Blakeman fundraiser at a Roslyn tavern in September. The report credits him with six $1,000 gifts.

"That is an error," Greenberg said.

Newsday found he's not alone. The pattern shows up across thousands of entries: one donor, one amount, one day, logged two or three times. Those possible repeats add up to more than $460,000, versus roughly $168,000 if each gift were counted once. They run from $1 gifts to checks above $5,000, and none involve companies or political committees.

The filing shows Blakeman raising about $6.3 million since mid-July, a total that includes the questioned entries, and spending upward of $10 million. His account holds just $178,000 with a month to go. Party committees supply much of his money: the state GOP gave $300,000 and the Nassau County GOP $1.6 million, bringing the county's total to more than $3 million. Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul, by comparison, reports $18.5 million on hand.

Susan Lerner of Common Cause said glitches or double entry can happen in electronic fundraising systems, but not on this scale. "That's alarming," she said, adding that it raises questions about how much cash the campaign actually has.

Campaign spokeswoman Madison Spanodemos blamed the state Board of Elections' filing system, saying the board made the campaign submit the report in several pieces because of its size, which she said caused some contributions to show up repeatedly. She said an amended report will follow. The board didn't respond to Newsday.

More than bookkeeping is at stake. Under New York's public matching program, candidates for governor who meet fundraising thresholds get six dollars in public money for each dollar of the first $250 from eligible donors, capped at $3.5 million. A single $250 gift is therefore worth an extra $1,500, and a tripled entry could draw $3,000 if the state failed to catch it. Blair Horner of the New York Public Interest Research Group said that exposure is the real danger for Blakeman.

"It could threaten to trigger a problem," Horner said.

Separately, New York Focus has reported that Blakeman's campaign sought matching funds for thousands of donations that don't qualify under program rules, including contributions from out-of-state donors.