Both Democratic candidates for governor quietly tapped the campaign accounts of their little-known running mates over the last month to make their own war chests look bigger, The Post has learned.
Dennis Mehiel, Carl McCall’s choice for lieutenant governor, paid a combined $17,626 to four senior McCall staff members over the last month, including McCall campaign manager Allen Cappelli and spokesman Steve Greenberg.
During the same period, McCall paid them $17,574 – with Cappelli getting slightly more in wages from Mehiel than from the campaign he is actually running. Several lower-level McCall staffers were also on Mehiel’s payroll.
Greenberg yesterday said: “Carl McCall and Dennis Mehiel are running as a team to get New York moving again. Many of us work for both, and we therefore get paid by both.”
Records released yesterday also show that Cuomo’s team got a last-minute contribution from running mate Charlie King that enabled them to claim they narrowly outdid McCall.
Figures released by each campaign Friday showed that McCall raised $301,572 while Cuomo pulled in $293,285.
But on Friday night, Cuomo aides revised their numbers, saying their total was actually $10,100 higher, giving them a slight lead over McCall.