Campaign contributions come into question in Westchester County executive race

As Election Day nears, both candidates in the Westchester County executive race are trading allegations of accepting money in exchange for representing a company's interests. Republican challenger Rob

News 12 Staff

May 29, 2014, 11:13 PM

Updated 3,851 days ago

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As Election Day nears, both candidates in the Westchester County executive race are trading allegations of accepting money in exchange for representing a company's interests.
Republican challenger Rob Astorino was out Thursday handing out fortune cookies. The cookies were reminders of County Executive Andy Spano?s trip to China that occurred during the drawn-out Bee-Line bus strike. Astorino claims Spano's incentive to ignoring the workers demands was $23,000 in campaign contributions from firms that have the same address as Liberty Lines, the company that owns Bee-Line.
Spano's campaign denies the charge that he was protecting the profits of Liberty Lines. Also, Spano's campaign fired back at Astorino for denying he accepted money from Entergy, the company which runs Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant.
A review of Astorino?s campaign filings shows he did accept personal contributions from Entergy's spokesman Larry Gottlieb, its lobbyist, and the company president. Astorino's campaign points out those total $450 compared to Spano's acceptance of $23,000.