We're less than a month away from the NY gubernatorial election, and it seems as though Republican candidate Carl Paladino has money foremost on his mind. The multi-millionaire, worth an estimated $150 million, has been scrambling to raise more funds to compete with Andrew Cuomo through money bombs; according to his website, he's raised approximately $72,000 this past week, roughly 36 percent of what he is aiming for (he raised another $100,000 in the weeks prior). Paladino has already pledged to use $10 million of his own money as well, but many Republicans are getting nervous that he hasn't dipped into that cash yet: "Obviously, they're at a crossroads. Certainly, Mr. Paladino has represented he's going to spend at least $10 million of his own money, so I don't know why he'd wait for funds to come in unless he's not going to meet that commitment," John Jay LaValle, chairman of the Suffolk County Republican Party told BuffaloNews.
LaValle, whose county accounts for the largest Republican enrollment in the state, said that he has contacted the Paladino campaign at least three times to ask how his organization can help, but has yet to receive a response. And while his TV ads have saturated upstate NY, he's woefully neglected campaigning in NYC and downstate NY. "He's not doing all the logical things you'd think they'd be doing," like buying media time in the city and making daily campaign appearances, said one Republican strategist.
But if there's one thing Paladino prides himself on, it's that he's a fighter. Or moreover, as extrapolated from a new profile of him in BuffaloNews, he thrives on conflict, "a man who seems to love the fight, regardless of whether he wins or loses." But we all figured that out weeks ago.
