Suffolk Democrat accuses Rep. Lee Zeldin of campaign finance violations

A Suffolk County Democrat has filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission against Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-Shirley) alleging he illegally used funds from his State Senate campaign to aid his successful 2014 U.S. House campaign.

According to the complaint, Zeldin violated federal election law by using his state campaign to pay for ads before the primary and general election in his House race, and by using a network of state and local political party committees to transfer his State Senate campaign funds to his federal campaign.

Zeldin denied the allegations through Jennifer DiSiena, his campaign spokeswoman. She called the complaint "frivolous" and said the FEC hasn't contacted Zeldin about it.

Robin Long of Hampton Bays confirmed that last Thursday she filed the complaint, which Newsday obtained. Long resigned as Suffolk County ethics board chairwoman in June to manage the campaign of Southampton Town Board member Bridget Fleming (D-Noyac) for Suffolk County Legislature.

"There was a concern among local Democrats regarding the financing . I took a look at it. Somebody had to take the lead on it, and I felt I would," Long said in a telephone interview.

Long said she has "no ax to grind" but felt it was important for the FEC to review the questions about the Republican's campaign financing.

DiSiena, however, said, "This partisan hit piece is desperate, reckless and irresponsible, trying to connect dots off of dozens and dozens of false assumptions."

Federal election law prohibits transfer of a candidate's state campaign funds to his federal campaign committee.

Under the laws of New York and other states, corporations and labor unions can contribute to candidates for state office but federal law bars contributions to congressional or presidential candidates from federal contractors, corporations and unions.

The complaint said state campaign-finance records show that as Zeldin was running for Congress in 2014, his State Senate committee paid $3,765 for ads in publications of local groups such as Temple Beth-El of Patchogue, the Suffolk County Court Officers Association and the Bayport-Blue Point Little League.

Those payments came within 90 days of the New York primary and the general election, qualifying them as a barred in-kind contribution to his federal campaign fund and making them appear to be the result of prohibited coordination between his state and federal campaigns.

The complaint also said state campaign-finance records show that Zeldin's State Senate campaign contributed $58,000 to state and local Republican and Conservative party committees, which in turn donated $16,000 to Zeldin's federal-campaign committee. Those contributions represent illegal "reciprocal transfers" from his State Senate committee to his House campaign committee.

The complaint faces hurdles, one expert said.

"The FEC will initiate the enforcement process on the basis of this complaint, but, without more evidence, the FEC will most likely eventually dismiss the complaint as speculative," said election law attorney Brett Kappel of the Washington law firm Akerman.

He said the complaint fails to include copies of the ads, crucial to determining if a violation occurred, or any evidence of collusion among Zeldin and state and local party committees to "launder" his State Senate funds through them and then back to the federal fund.

According to the complaint, however, in 2002 the FEC entered a settlement agreement on a complaint against Rep. Phil Gingery (R-Ga.) for a series of reciprocal contributions between his State Senate campaign fund and his U.S. House campaign fund, based on the pattern of dates and amounts of the fund transfers.