The Point: Spending right and left
The headquarters of the Suffolk Police Benevolent Association in Brentwood. Credit: Daniel Goodrich
Even the end of an election season couldn’t stop the political spending habits of the Suffolk County Police Benevolent Association PAC.
The group logged big political contributions to opposite ends of the party spectrum: $35,000 to the Suffolk GOP and $25,000 to the county Democratic Committee, according to state campaign finance filings covering the period since the November election.
The political action committee also contributed $4,000 to the Suffolk Conservative Chairman’s Club, and $2,500 to the county Conservative Party.
The group tends to have plenty of money to spread around for political purposes, with big chunks coming from union members’ paychecks, a practice about which a Newsday investigation has raised legal questions.
The PAC’s January filings show an end-of-period balance of nearly $170,000. State filings for the separate PBA-led Long Island Law Enforcement Foundation show its own January balance of $140,576, also after a period of spending heavily on local races.
It’s not unusual for the PBA to support Democrats and Republicans — the PAC’s postelection filings show small contributions to both State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli and gubernatorial candidate Lee Zeldin, for example. But the five-figure donations directly to the parties after a flip in party control of the county legislature suggest some sense of maintaining relations or hedging one’s bets.
Asked about the reason for and timing of the big contributions, PBA 2nd vice president Louis Civello said in an email that "the Suffolk County PBA makes contributions in support of law enforcement regardless of the calendar or party affiliation. We will continue to do so in the interest of public safety."
Mark Chiusano is a member of the Newsday editorial board.
