ICYMI: Gillen & Jeffries Rally Was Illegally Promoted With Taxpayer Funds

ICYMI: Gillen & Jeffries Rally Was Illegally Promoted With Taxpayer Funds

In case you missed it… a new complaint says that Jeffries' rally for Laura Gillen was illegally promoted with taxpayer funds.

Read more here and below.

Jeffries Rally for Top New York Congressional Challenger Was Illegally Promoted With Taxpayer Funds: Watchdog Complaint
Washington Free Beacon
October 28, 2024

A village on Long Island used taxpayer resources to promote a campaign rally headlined by House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries (D., N.Y.) in violation of local, state, and federal laws, a watchdog group alleged in a complaint Monday.

Jeffries was the headline speaker for an Oct. 17 "Get Out The Vote" rally on Long Island to support Democrats up and down the ticket, including New York Democratic congressional hopeful Laura Gillen, who is in one of the most competitive House elections this cycle. Prior to the rally, the Village of Hempstead used its taxpayer-funded social media accounts to promote the rally in posts suggesting to taxpayers the event would be a civic, nonpartisan voter registration drive staffed by the Nassau County Board of Elections. Meanwhile, the New York Democratic Party said in its own posts promoting the event that it would be a campaign rally for Gillen, Jeffries, and a slew of other New York Democrats.

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"In this country, the government at any level is simply not allowed to be involved in partisan politics-this is embodied in numerous laws at the local, state, and federal level," Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust executive director Kendra Arnold told the Free Beacon. "In this case, the event was clearly planned and carried out as a political one, and the evidence shows the government was involved from the beginning and throughout. The rally's promotion, where it was held, staffing of the event, and attendance by government employees-all indicate the violations were many and unmistakable."

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FACT in its complaint cites New York Post reporting that alleged the Village of Hempstead and its Democratic mayor, Waylyn Hobbs Jr., deceived the Nassau County Board of Elections into providing staff for the Oct. 17 rally under the false impression it would be a nonpartisan voter registration drive.

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FACT's complaint urges Village of Hempstead ethics officials to investigate and hold accountable "anyone who used government resources" to help promote the rally.

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"There was a government endorsement of a political event," the watchdog group says in the complaint. "It should alarm both Town and Village ethics officials that such a blatant violation of public trust could occur on their watch."

The Village of Hempstead did not return a request for comment.

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