Long Island, NY - September 21, 2016 - John De Vito, Democratic candidate for the 3rd district of New York’s State Senate, has filed a complaint with the New York Board of Elections Enforcement Counsel against the East End Republican Club for campaign finance law violations, and named his opponent Tom Croci as a board member complicit in the club’s wrongdoing.
According to figures obtained by the De Vito campaign, the East End Republican Club has donated over $45,000 to local candidates between 2001 and 2016, and has failed to file required financial disclosure reports during any of those years. According to New York State law, any political organization that transacts more than $1,000 is required to file financial disclosures.There are criminal and administrative penalties for failure to do so.
Senate Ethics Committee chairman Tom Croci is a member of the board for the East End Republican Club, and has himself received over $6,000 in contributions from the delinquent organization.
“By failing to file, the East End Republican Club keeps the public in the dark about where it receives contributions.” Said De Vito. “Senator Croci, chairman of the Senate Ethics Committee, should resign from the club board and return any contributions he has received.”
De Vito will be holding a press conference outside Senator Croci’s campaign office at 120 East Main St in Patchogue at 3pm today. He will lay out his proposal for ethics reform in Albany and call on Senator Croci to resign from the board of the East End Republican Club.
De Vito seeks to defeat freshman Senator Tom Croci (R-Islip) in a year that will feature public corruption as a key campaign issue throughout the region. John is a 25 year-old lifelong resident of Mastic Beach, and a graduate of William Floyd High School and New York University.
New York’s Third Senate District is located wholly in Suffolk County and includes the communities of Hauppauge, Central Islip, Brentwood, East Islip, Bayport, Blue Point, Patchogue, Bellport, Ronkonkoma, Medford, Shirley and Mastic Beach.