ALBANY — The state Democratic Party opened its war chest for an ad blitz promoting Gov. Cuomo to blunt a blistering report detailing how his administration meddled with an anti-corruption panel, records show.
The state Democratic Campaign Committee spent $281,655 for ads that began airing July 19, one day after the governor’s office learned The New York Times was going to print a lengthy story about how Cuomo aides compromised the workings of the Moreland Commission panel.
The governor himself had appointed the 25-member Moreland panel in July 2013 to root out corruption in Albany.
He pulled the plug on the panel in April, with many of its investigations incomplete.
The pro-Cuomo ads were scheduled to run July 19 to Aug. 1.
The week before — between July 11 and 17 — state Dems shelled out just $123,180 for ads.
Capital New York first reported the Democrats’ ad-spending surge.
Cuomo campaign spokesman Peter Kauffmann declined to comment on the spending spike, saying, “As a matter of policy, I don’t comment on our ad strategy.”
The governor’s staff also tried to deflect attention from the Moreland mess by working overtime to change the topic of conversation.
Between July 23, when the Times story was published, and July 25, Cuomo’s office sent out 22 press releases, the second-most in a three-day span since the administration began, according to NYPIRG government researcher Bill Mahoney.
It took five days for Cuomo to address the interference charges.
He selected a jobs announcement in Buffalo — far from the press corps in Albany and New York City — to double down on his position that the commission operated independently.