EXCLUSIVE: Disgraced former senator donating thousands to House Democrat's campaign
Normally, an old boss's PAC donating to your campaign doesn't make news. It does when that boss is Al Franken.
Rep. Josh Riley (D., N.Y.) cashed a $5,000 check from his former boss’s PAC, according to campaign finance reports reviewed by the Washington Reporter. While support from a former boss is rarely news, it is when that boss resigned in disgrace amidst pressure from New York’s two Democratic senators.
Both Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand (D., N.Y.) and Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) demanded the ouster of then-Sen. Al Franken (D., Minn.) amidst a wake of sexual misconduct scandals. Riley served as Franken’s General Counsel in the Senate, and has repeatedly leaned on his former boss for campaign donations; he most recently took $5,000 from Franken’s Midwest Values PAC in the past quarter.
Riley did not respond to request for comment about whether he agrees with Schumer and Gillibrand that Franken resigning was the correct move.
One of the Republicans running against Riley, state Senator Peter Oberacker, told the Reporter that the money from Franken is just the latest problem facing Riley.
“Josh Riley is always quick to point fingers about ethics and accountability, but he needs to take a good look in the mirror,” an Oberacker campaign spokesman said. “Riley is bankrolled by a disgraced US senator, refuses to condemn racist, hateful rhetoric, and has unseemly personal investments. Peter Oberacker, like the people of New York, doesn’t just talk about values, he lives them.”
The spokesman was alluding to how Riley is a co-owner of a Washington, D.C. distillery that seemingly calls for political violence, selling items like “Fascist Tears Vodka” and advocating for “ICE [to be] crushed.”
Riley also posted repeatedly for photographs with Mile Burnett, the Democratic Party’s nominee for Mayor of Binghamton, who posted a video of himself using the n-word.
National Republicans are as eager as New York Republicans to tie Riley to his controversial former boss. “Josh Riley is lining his pockets with money from an accused sexual predator,” Maureen O’Toole, a spokeswoman at the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), told the Reporter. “It’s disgusting, unacceptable, and tells you everything you need to know about who Josh Riley is: a self-serving radical who could care less about New Yorkers.”