The Plot Thickens
Since WatchingPutnamValley published its initial findings about campaign finance filings last week, more information has come to light about some of the big donors attributed to the golfing fundraiser on September 15th that netted the Putnam Valley GOP about $25,000.
To recap, that event was a joint fundraiser held for Kevin Byrne, who is running for re-election as Putnam County Executive and two Putnam Valley Republicans: legislative candidate Christian Russo and town supervisor candidate Bill Gouldman. There is no evidence that the town candidates reaped any financial benefit from the $25,050 received by the PV GOP committee during that period. The committee did, however, transfer $30,000 to Byrne's committee on the recently revised date of September 28th.
Of the largest donors to the golfing event, which was billed as one that "will benefit Putnam Valley GOP", none had previously given to the town's Republican Party. Several, however, had previous ties to Byrne and the county government. Had two of those donors contributed directly to Byrne's campaign, they would have exceeded the legal limit of $3,639.80 for individual donations. Last week Byrne's campaign was found to have violated campaign finance law in that manner and remains under investigation.
On September 11th, for example, Roderick Cassidy, whose wife is the Putnam County Historian, gave $5,000 to the Putnam Valley GOP. That sum would automatically have put him over the limit of what can be given to an individual candidate but that limit doesn't apply to a committee that supports multiple candidates. (Earlier in this election cycle, Cassidy donated $1,561 to Byrne's campaign.) Cassidy, the former general counsel to the Archdiocese of New York, is also the former chair of the Putnam County Ethics Board, where he served until his resignation last September. According to that organization's website, "the Board plays a critical role in fostering transparency, accountability, and public confidence by administering and enforcing the ethical standards set forth in the Putnam County Code."
Cassidy is not the only person with ties to the Putnam County Ethics Board who was a major donor to the Putnam Valley GOP this fall. Joseph DeMarzo, who still sits on the Ethics Board, donated $1,000 to the PV GOP on September 14th.
Among the top ten donors to the PV GOP in this period were also several with ties to Putnam County vendors. For example, Robert Stuck donated $3,500 to the Putnam Valley GOP on July 24th. He had previously donated $2,562.53 to Byrne's campaign, so, had he made a second large donation to Byrne's committee, that would have put him in violation of the individual limit. Stuck is the CEO of EMSTAR Ambulance. It was acquired by Empress Ambulance Services which is under contract to provide advanced life support services to Putnam County.
Homestyle Caterers has a food service contract with the county-owned Tilly Foster Farm and the county golf course where the fundraiser was held. It also became a significant first-time donor to the Putnam Valley GOP, with a $2,000 donation on September 4th.
Michelle Botticelli is the Director of Legal Operations and Corporate Compliance at Peckham Industries based in Brewster. On August 19th, she became another first-time donor to the Putnam Valley GOP with a $1,500 contribution. A Peckham subsidiary has a contract with Putnam County.
And then there's Hunter Felt, an account executive at cb20 in Saratoga Springs, which provides IT services to Putnam County. On August 26th, he made a $1,200 donation to the Putnam Valley GOP.
Even before this recent flurry of contributions, the Putnam Valley GOP received at least one other donation from a county contractor. On June 16th, MV Transportation made a $3,500 donation to the Putnam Valley GOP. The company, based in Dallas, operates Putnam County's paratransit system. On July 30th, Byrne held a press conference announcing that he hoped to expand the paratransit program to include towns on the western side of the county such as Putnam Valley.
Whether any of the transactions outlined here constitute a violation of campaign finance law would require further investigation. The enforcement division of the state's Board of Elections has not yet responded to questions.
Jacqueline Annabi, the treasurer of the Putnam Valley GOP who also serves as Byrne's chief of staff, says donors understood that the golfing event was to help all three candidates on the flyer: Byrne, Russo and Gouldman.
However, in an interview on August 13th, Russo, who resigned last week as treasurer of the Putnam County GOP, said he didn't need to do any more fundraising and that the golf outing was not intended for him. "I don't do my finance through Putnam Valley GOP," he said then, noting the $22,000 already in the "Friends of Christian Russo" account. (At that time, the PV GOP account held $16,332.) As of today, Russo confirmed that he has not received any funding support from the golf event. And despite lawn signs that are widely in evidence for Gouldman's campaign for Town Supervisor, he has filed "no activity" reports with the state's Board of Elections since 2023, indicating no donations, in-kind contributions or expenses for his campaign.
It could be pure coincidence that even though the golf outing was promoted as a benefit for Putnam Valley Republicans, none of those funds ended up supporting them during this period. It's also possible that the major donors to that event, virtually all of whom come from outside the town and some even from outside the county, contributed because they like to play golf, as Annabi explained in a text last week.
What does seem clear is that as a result of the PV GOP transferring $30,000 to Byrne's campaign committee, money from two donors who would not legally have been able to make such large contributions to him ended up indirectly supporting Byrne's campaign. And money from donors working for companies that have contracts with the county ended up supporting Byrne's campaign without the visibility that would have come from donating directly. And money from donors with ties to the county's Ethics Board, including one who still is a member of that board, also ended up supporting Byrne in a manner that was not easily visible. As of this writing, the Putnam Valley GOP had still not disclosed its $30,000 transfer to Byrne's committee, though Byrne's filings show it.
Historically, Byrne has demonstrated great interest in the integrity of campaign contributions. When he was a NYS assemblyman, he was twice the primary sponsor of bills that would have made certain contributions a Class D felony. For example:
Byrne's bill proposed that "any person, acting on behalf of a public officer, candidate or political committee, who solicits a contribution to a county or town committee for the benefit of a candidate to whom such direct contribution is unlawful, shall be guilty of a class D felony."
Those bills did not pass.
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