Lee Zeldin

campaign-finance · 2022-01-01 · Two independent expenditure committees that spent roughly $20 million supporting Lee Zeldin's unsuccessful 2022 campaign for New York governor, Save Our State Inc. and Safe Together New York Inc. (both backed largely by billionaire Ron Lauder), were investigated by the New York State Board of Elections' Division of Election Law Enforcement (DELE) over allegations of illegal coordination with the Zeldin campaign. DELE's chief enforcement counsel found 'substantial evidence' that the groups 'knowingly and willfully coordinated with candidate Lee Zeldin, both directly and through agents, resulting in unlawful contributions,' including shared staff and reporting coordinated communications as independent expenditures. A subsequent report also indicated donors seeking anonymity, including energy-industry interests, routed contributions through the Republican Governors Association to obscure the funding source. In September 2025, shortly before a scheduled hearing, the two PACs agreed to pay a combined $900,000 civil penalty -- the largest settlement ever in a New York super PAC coordination case -- without admitting wrongdoing. Zeldin, by then the EPA Administrator, was not a party to the settlement agreement. · $900,000 civil settlement paid by the two super PACs to the New York State Board of Elections; no admission of wrongdoing; no penalty against Zeldin personally, who was not a party to the agreement.

Sources: Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) · Election Law Blog · The Hill