ALBANY – A perennially unsuccessful Brooklyn-based candidate for office is now running to oversee the state’s finances as comptroller — but the bean-counter wannabe couldn’t even get his latest campaign finance filing in on time.
Adem Bunkeddeko, asked about his tardy filing — which was submitted five days after the Jan. 15 deadline — claimed it was late because the state Board of Elections website went down when New York Attorney General Letitia James had trouble filing her huge disclosure report.
“From my understanding, I think they had a tough time trying to handle all of the uploads because Letita James had like 100,000,” Bunkeddeko said.
“I don’t think we were unique in our situation.”
The claim was swiftly disputed by the state.
“The campaign finance portal was never down, and no filer was prevented from filing while the disclosure report from James for NY 2026 was being uploaded,” said Kathleen McGrath, a rep for the BOE, to The Post.
Blair Horner, executive director of the New York Public Interest Group, emphasized that campaign finance rules should be followed “to the letter, not just the spirit.
“Five days late is not in the ‘mortal sin’ category, but every candidate should make sure that they’re following the rules to the letter, not just the spirit,” Horner told The Post.
“And certainly if you want to be the guy with the green eye shades, it’s even more important,” he added, noting the comptroller’s role in oversight of state finances.
Bunkeddeko, a non-profit executive who unsuccessfully ran in the Democratic primary against New York Rep. Yvette Clarke in 2018 and 2020, faces a massive uphill battle in unseating incumbent Comptroller Tom DiNapoli, who first took office in 2007.
Bunkeddeko’s campaign finance filing, posted Jan. 20, showed him raising around $120,000, far less than DiNapoli and two other Democratic primary challengers – Drew Warshaw and Raj Goyle. DiNapoli has $1.4 million on hand as of this month’s campaign finance report.
As part of his campaign, Bunkeddeko is pitching all kinds of ways to reinvest the massive state pension fund, including using the retirement fund dollars to purchase a minority share in MSG Sports, which owns the New York Knicks and Rangers basketball and hockey franchises.
“I think it’s actually a good thing for the team. It’s a good thing for the pension fund. It’s a good thing for New York,” he said of his proposal.
