From the NY Post:Investigators are probing whether City Council candidate Albert Baldeo listed phantom donors on his campaign filings, The Post has learned.
Baldeo, a lawyer and pal of Congressman Gregory Meeks, is the fund-raising front-runner in the nine-person race to fill the late Thomas White Jr.'s Queens City Council seat.
Baldeo's filings claim he's amassed $19,019 and loaned himself $27,000, giving him a total war chest of $46,019. He has spent $21,074.
But his donation records are rife with irregularities, including inaccurate occupations for donors, wrong addresses and outright bogus contributions.
Karlene Stewart, a disabled resident of Rochdale Village, is listed as donating $90.
"I absolutely did not give him money," Stewart told The Post, adding that Baldeo did ask her for a donation.
Most shocking is the $95 donation attributed to Christopher O'Hearn, the campaign treasurer for another candidate, Charles Bilal. Baldeo "did not ask me for a donation. I don't have a clue why I am on that list," O'Hearn told The Post. He added that he's been contacted by investigators.
The city Campaign Finance Board said it could not comment on any potential investigations.
Candidates in the race are eligible for matching taxpayer funds if they raise at least $5,000 and have 75 donors or more from the district, which includes part of Jamaica, Richmond Hill and South Ozone Park. None of the candidates in the race have yet received matching funds because of concerns surrounding the race's finances.
Baldeo's filings show 205 donors as of Oct. 1, most of them giving cash.
But 54 of the donors were listed as unemployed. And the places of business for at least a dozen were wrong -- when The Post called the businesses, no one with the donor's name worked there.
5 comments:
What do expect from a guy who would pull a gun on his opponent?
Will he ever get elected? Perhaps it's time he stopped trying.
It may be name recognition alone that gets him elected. Especially if a campaign is spread into +6 opponents.
Sounds like another corrupt politician. Birds of a feather flock together.
As to the first comment, Albert Baldeo never pulled a gun on anyone, the charges were dropped and he was cleared of any wrong doing, he was talking on a cell phone, who do think he is, Amadu Diallo?
Post a Comment