Records: Carl Paladino lends campaign another $1M

Carl Paladino has plowed another $1 million of his own money into his campaign for governor as he prepares a television advertising blitz in the final week of the election.

Paladino, the Republican nominee, has now given to his campaign more than $5.8 million of his self-described $150-million fortune in a bid to defeat Democratic rival Andrew Cuomo, according to state finance disclosure reports. The Buffalo developer says he will spend $10 million or more of his own money on the race.

The most recent loan, $1.1 million on Wednesday, will help fund a new advertising campaign, Paladino campaign manager Michael Caputo said.

"Obviously we're in the prime time for media buys," Caputo said. "Clearly anybody who wants to compete in a governor's race has to be on the air in the last two weeks. Carl Paladino is no different."

Caputo would not comment in detail about the content or placement of the ads. He said: "There's a lot that the voters want to know about Andrew Cuomo."

Paladino has produced one television ad for the general election, featuring him speaking into the camera about his plan to cut taxes and government waste.

Republican leaders have said he needs to be more visible, on television and in events across the state, as he trails badly in the polls.

"What people want to hear is, how are you going to change things," said Debbie Preston, the Broome County Republican chairwoman, who is hosting a fundraiser for Paladino Friday at noon in Binghamton. Anti-Paladino protesters are expected to appear outside the fundraiser, Preston said.

Cuomo, the state attorney general, has a war chest of nearly $19 million and has been advertising on television across the state for several weeks with multiple commercials.

Paladino's loan comes as he also is crisscrossing the state in a dash for campaign contributions; he met donors in Syracuse Wednesday and Manhattan Thursday, and on Friday heads to Binghamton.

He's raised at least $79,500 in the past three days, state filings show, much of it apparently from a Manhattan fundraiser thrown by Paladino's former rival in the primary, M. Myers Mermel, who donated $21,000 himself.

After a weeklong hiatus from retail campaigning, Paladino hits the hustings Friday with four events across upstate and western New York.

Cuomo also plans a campaign swing through the same area as he tries to meet his goal of visiting all 62 of the state's counties.