If a political mailing doesn't say who paid for it -- you probably did.

12/21/2021 07:04:00 PM

Still haven't heard from State Sen. Anna Kaplan (D-Great Neck) about who paid for her holiday greeting card mailed this week.

Anna Kaplan

But a reader pointed out that Kaplan in 2019 voted for a law later signed by then Gov. Andrew Cuomo that requires all printed communications from political committees and candidates to include a "paid for by" statement.

Here is a summary of the main section of Senate bill 4910 of 2019:

    Requires a "paid for by" statement for all political communications
    including printed, digital, visual or auditory communications. Political
    communications shall clearly print, state or speak a disclaimer state-
    ment of "Paid for by" and the name of the political committee that made

   the expenditure for such communication.  The bill exempts promotional
   items that are of nominal value and contain brief message of support
   including pens, bumper stickers, yard signs and buttons. Digital media
   which is too small to contain a disclosure statement shall be exempt if
   it contains a link to a webpage where such disclosure is prominently
   displayed.

Since Kaplan's holiday card did not contain a "paid for by" statement but did include her state senate district office as its return address along with the state senate seal, it seems likely that taxpayers paid; ie it was printed and mailed at government expense.

The only exception to the "paid for by" requirement is for electronic communications of 500 or less.

That means that Republican Hempstead Town Supervisor Don Clavin's holiday card may be in violation of the law since it was printed and mailed by his campaign committee and was not electronic communication.

Newsday's "The Point" reported that Clavin's campaign committee did not include a disclaimer because less than 500 were produced.

According to the law, anyone who knowingly fails to include the "paid for by" attribution is subject to a thousand dollar fine or the cost of the communication, whichever is greater.

However, it is up to the state Board of Elections to enforce the law, so don't expect anyone or any committee to be fined any time soon.

More interesting, Cuomo, who signed the law, followed the law even though he is no longer governor. Cuomo resigned under allegations of wrongdoing, which he has denied.

Here is Cuomo's holiday greeting. Notice the paid for attribution.