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New York Lt. Gov. Brian Benjamin delivers remarks to NY Conference of Mayors at a winter legislative meeting in Colonie in February.
| Lori Van Buren/Times Union |
Lt. gov.'s campaign expenses show conflicts with taxpayer refunds
Records indicate former state senator used campaign cards on trips covered by taxpayers
ALBANY – On Jan. 8, 2020, then-state Sen Brian Benjamin drove to Albany for official business, left the next day, and later sought a $174, taxpayer-funded reimbursement for his traveling expenses.
That reimbursement was supposed to cover all of Benjamin's expenses for the drive to Albany and back, including gas. And in seeking the reimbursement, Benjamin signed a voucher certifying that he'd personally borne the costs of the trip.
Yet records show that on Jan. 9, 2020, the day Benjamin drove home from Albany, his state Senate campaign spent $54 at a Sunoco gas station in Lake Katrine, directly off I-87 along Benjamin’s route back to New York City.
The Times Union found a dozen instances where Benjamin submitted vouchers claiming the full, taxpayer-funded reimbursement for traveling from New York City to Albany; during those same trips, a campaign-issued debit card was used to pay for gasoline. Each time he'd sought full taxpayer reimbursement for the 12 trips, Benjamin stated he was the one bearing the costs.
Benjamin has since risen to prominence: In August, two days after she was sworn in, Gov. Kathy Hochul named Benjamin as lieutenant governor, making him second-in-line. In a state with a history of scandal, it’s not uncommon for the lieutenant governor to ascend further: David Paterson became governor when Eliot Spitzer resigned in 2007; Hochul became governor when Cuomo resigned while facing likely impeachment.
Albany politicians collecting taxpayer-funded reimbursement for costs already covered by their campaigns — known as “double-dipping” — has at times proven controversial, and was the subject of the 2006 trial of the former Assemblyman Clarence Norman. He was charged with submitting more than 70 false travel vouchers and pocketing over $3,000 in unwarranted taxpayer payments but was acquitted. In Norman’s case, all of his vehicle-related charges were covered by the Brooklyn Democratic Party he chaired.
Benjamin did personally pay for some of his car-related expenses while serving in the state Senate between 2017 and 2021. He sought and received about $11,000 in reimbursements for the drive to Albany and back over four years, and spent more than $30,000 in campaign funds on vehicle-related expenses.
Benjamin's lieutenant governor campaign did not dispute that he'd used Senate campaign funds to buy gas on Albany trips. But his campaign spokesman, Kevin Groh, said the "notion that Lt. Gov. Benjamin profited off of things like gas and car maintenance costs while in the state Senate is absurd."
"With his own money, then-state Sen. Benjamin made a down payment on his car, paid for insurance and paid for most maintenance and gas charges," Groh said.
On the dozen trips to Albany and back examined by the Times Union, Benjamin received $2,100 in mileage reimbursements; during days overlapping with those trips, his campaign made 14 gas-related payments, ranging from $50 to $69.
A graduate of Brown University and Harvard Business School, Benjamin has worked in affordable housing development. He has recently begun to face greater scrutiny, and a series of controversies have emerged.
In January 2021, when Benjamin was running unsuccessfully for New York City comptroller, The City reported that several people listed as campaign donors had never heard of him; Benjamin returned nearly two dozen donations. In November, a Harlem real estate entrepreneur was charged in an alleged scheme to illegally secure public campaign matching funds for Benjamin, who did not face charges of wrongdoing.
In March 2021, the Daily News raised questions about whether Benjamin was using campaign funds to pay personal expenses, which would be illegal. They included $6,700 Benjamin spent from his Senate campaign account on "constituent services" at a Harlem jazz club where he’d held his wedding celebration, and $1,200 at a Norfolk, Va., auto body shop, days after his father-in-law’s nearby funeral.
The Daily News also reported that Benjamin spent approximately $1,000 at a Shell gas station in Providence, R.I. Benjamin has been a trustee at Brown University since 2015, and at least two of the meeting dates lined up with the gas station expenses, though the trustee position seemed unrelated to Benjamin’s political campaign activities.
At the time, Benjamin said the spending was legally appropriate. But the state Board of Elections began investigating.
In mid-August, when Benjamin was being vetted for the lieutenant governor post, he stated on a State Police background-check form that he’d never been contacted by a "regulatory body" concerning a possible campaign finance violation or investigation. Yet by that time, both the state Board of Elections and New York City Campaign Finance Board had contacted him in their respective inquiries.
In January, after working out a deal with the Board of Elections, Benjamin repaid his state Senate campaign account nearly $26,000, including for the Virginia car repair and the Harlem jazz club. Benjamin repaid about half of the $28,000 his Senate campaign had paid for his auto lease. And Benjamin repaid his campaign about $3,500 for gas between 2017 and 2021, but $500 short of the total his campaign spent at gas stations.
"Following a thorough review of historical filings and expenditures in conjunction with the New York State Board of Elections, ... Benjamin personally refunded his Senate campaign account for certain expenditures such as car payments, all gas charges, and other related expenses," Groh said. "He has always sought to comply with relevant governmental reimbursement guidelines. Let’s be clear: This is a settled matter. There is no action needed."
But Benjamin only made the repayments after the issues were raised in the media and the Board of Elections began investigating. Before any of that occurred, Benjamin signed the dozen, certified travel vouchers seeking the taxpayer reimbursements.
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