A Bronx legislator who collected $71,000 in public funds to run against an unknown challenger got a mild slap yesterday for loading up on nearly $20,000 worth of furniture, copiers, a fax machine, a computer and a camcorder right before his lopsided 2005 election victory.
The Campaign Finance Board fined City Councilman Larry Seabrook $500, ruling that about half the purchases were not “campaign related.”
But Seabrook, a Democrat, got to keep the entire haul, including computer equipment that makes automatic “robo-calls” to voters and could be used in future campaigns.
“Why is it fair to have public funds spent for a campaign-related purpose which is highly transitory, leaving a valuable capital asset in the hands of the candidate or the committee or whatever?” CFB chairman Fredrick Schwarz asked Seabrook at a one-hour hearing.
Seabrook’s lawyer, Larry Laufer, a former general counsel at the CFB, responded that the law covering public matching funds in effect since 2005 made no distinction about what a candidate could buy in pursuit of his election.
Well then, wondered CFB board member Dale Christensen Jr., how about if a candidate went out and picked up a Lincoln Navigator?
“There is no provision in the act for the CFB to approve or disapprove any particular campaign expenditure,” Laufer insisted.
The law has since been changed so that candidates have to justify large purchases made within two weeks of an election.
In levying the $500 fine, Schwartz said the CFB has a longstanding practice of considering “an expenditure’s timing, purpose, and enduring value” to determine if it’s campaign-related.
Documents show that Seabrook’s last-minute spending spree included $1,258 spent on furniture Nov. 7 – a day before the never-in-doubt election.
Seabrook ended up crushing Republican George Rubin, a retiree who spent no money, 87-13 percent. Seabrook raised $42,717 and received $71,000 in matching funds. The veteran Bronx legislator was one of eight council members who filed special requests for their full allotment of matching funds in 2005, even though they faced nominal opposition.
Seabrook claimed he needed the extra money because Rubin might get support from Mayor Bloomberg. Rubin later told reporters he had never spoken to the mayor.
In another action, the CFB imposed a $30,000 fine on Councilwoman Annabel Palma (D-Bronx) for accepting more contributions than allowed from Local 1199, the health-care workers’ union, and failing to report and misrepresenting its involvement in her 2003 election.