Mangano raises twice as much money as Suozzi

Republican Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano raised twice as much money as Democratic rival Thomas Suozzi over the past three weeks, giving him a financial advantage as they head into the final week of their hard-fought campaign.

Mangano raised slightly more than $1 million in that period, according to records filed with the state Board of Elections. Suozzi garnered $496,000 in contributions over the same period.

Mangano fared better than Suozzi in every category of contributions, raising more from individuals ($601,000 for Mangano to $341,000 for Suozzi), corporations ($170,000 to $46,000) and political-action committees ($220,000 to $108,000).

As a result, the GOP incumbent was able to spend more money on television and radio ads than Suozzi, and has more money in the bank for the homestretch. Mangano spent $903,000 on TV and radio between Oct. 5 and 25, compared with $717,000 for the Democrat, records show.

Mangano had $621,000 in his coffers as of Friday; Suozzi had $472,000.

Some of Mangano's biggest donors include the family of Anthony Bonomo, a Manhasset chief executive of a malpractice insurer and a board member of the New York Racing Association, which gave $75,000.

Among other big donors, the family of Shalom Maidenbaum, who heads several residential tax refund companies, gave Mangano $50,000. Renew New York PAC, a political-action committee whose main donors include former Sen. Alfonse D'Amato and his family, gave the Republican $25,000.

The biggest Suozzi donor during the time period was the Dolan family, which owns controlling interest in Madison Square Garden and Cablevision. Cablevision owns Newsday. James Dolan, the chief executive of Cablevision and MSG, contributed $25,000. His parents, Charles and Helen Dolan of Oyster Bay, gave Suozzi $25,000 apiece.

Union political-action committees gave Suozzi $59,000. Other large individual donors include Perry Weitz ($25,000), a partner at Manhattan-based Weitz & Luxenberg, one of the leading trial lawyer firms and the firm that employs Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan).

Mangano spokesman Brian Nevin didn't directly respond to questions about Mangano's fundraising and spending. Instead, Nevin said: "The more than $275,000 in contributions from the Dolan family and Cablevision further highlight the conflict of interest Newsday and News 12 have in covering the race for county executive."

"We stand behind our coverage," said Newsday spokesman Paul Fleishman.

A News 12 spokesperson said: "For more than 25 years, News 12 has been providing unbiased and thorough coverage of Long Island elections. Our editorial decisions have never been influenced by our parent company."

Suozzi spokesman Jeff Guillot focused on contributions by Maidenbaum and others who represented tax refund companies, saying: "In the last three weeks, as residents were hit with higher taxes due to his mismanagement, Ed Mangano's campaign has been bankrolled by $160,000 from tax attorneys who profit from the broken assessment system."