Comptroller candidate Eliot Spitzer steered $300,000 to political consultants in the campaign’s final days to turn out minority voters and beat back surging rival Scott Stringer, campaign records show.
Spitzer’s spending spurt came as a new poll showed Stringer with his largest lead of the race, 50-43 percent.
The Spitzer campaign paid Mike Nieves — a campaign operative with deep ties to the city’s Latino communities — $111,000 over the past week.
Nieves is a confidant of Assemblyman and former Bronx Democratic Party chairman Jose Rivera and helped Rep. Charles Rangel fend off a fierce challenge from state Sen. Adriano Espaillat in last year’s Democratic primary for Congress.
The consultant has also represented clients caught up in corruption scams, notably ex-Queens state Sen. Hiram Monserrate.
Spitzer sent another $95,000 to Time for Change, a Brooklyn-based group headed Musa Moore, a pal of corrupt ex-Brooklyn Democratic leader Clarence Norman. The Post previously reported that the same group collected $70,000 from the former governor.
Tapping his real-estate fortune to finance his campaign, Spitzer is roughly outspending his rival two to one, about $10 million to $5 million.
Hofstra University political analyst Lawrence Levy said Spitzer has little choice but to buy support since he’s been shunned by most of the Democratic establishment.
“Spitzer doesn’t have an organization. He can’t rely on volunteers. If he wants people to knock on doors, he has to pay,” Levy said.
Stringer is being helped by an outside PAC, Progress NY, which has spent $622,218.
The poll issued Monday by Quinnipiac University for the first time showed Stringer reaching the 50 percent mark.
As in all previous polls, there was a sharp racial split, with Stringer grabbing white voters 65 to 31 percent while Spitzer was ahead with black voters 58 to 30 percent.
Latinos were also on Spitzer’s side, 51-44 percent.
A strong turnout in Manhattan would favor Stringer, the Manhattan borough president, while a large black turnout would boost Spitzer.
While stumping throughout the city, Spitzer conceded that the campaign has been grueling.
“It’s been a long nine weeks. A tenth week would be too much,” said the former governor, who resigned in 2008 after getting caught in a hooker scandal.
During a stop in Chinatown, Spitzer hammered home his campaign message of fighting against entrenched interests.
“I’ve stood up to Wall Street, I’ve stood up for immigrants’ rights, I’m standing up for low-wage workers,” he said.
For his part, Stringer exuded confidence at a Monday morning campaign stop at the Franklin Avenue subway stop in Crown Heights, Brooklyn.
“We’re here getting out the vote. We broke 50 percent in a poll this morning!. I couldn’t be more excited,” said Stringer, who campaigned with Assemblyman Karim Camara.