Carl Paladino, Tea Party favorite, claims he is fiscally conservative, but his army of very well-paid aides and consultants begs to differ.
A recent analysis by NYPIRG has found that Paladino has spent nearly twice the amount of rival Andrew Cuomo this year on staffers and consultants. Paladino has reportedly spent $75,962 on salaries for workers and a staggering $730,433 for two dozen consultants. Of that $730,433, nearly $450,000 of that went to a firm which is run by Michael Caputo, Paladino’s campaign manager.
All up Paladino’s tab for salaries comes in at $806,395, which is a far cry from Cuomo’s more moderate $203,493 for salaries and $121,000 to hire six consultants. However, Paladino may yet claim the fiscally conservative title, because he has been outspent hugely by Cuomo on the overall campaign.
Cuomo has a $8.9 million tab on his campaign, most of which has gone into advertising, while Paladino weighs in at $3.8 million.
Ed Rollins, a veteran consultant for the
GOP is worried that the bloated cost of hiring consultants has left Paladino
short of change where it really matters. "What's
happening is that there's all these consultants in there getting paid enormous
sums of money and there's no money for voter contact," he commented.
Paladino has relied
primary on free media to promote his campaign, with regular, and often
controversial radio and TV appearances. However onlookers are concerned at the
lack of conventional campaign material, such as mailouts or lawn signs for
grass-roots supporters to use.
