New Rochelle Mayoral candidate Yadira Ramos-Herbert
By Dan Murphy
Robert Cox, Editor of The The Talk of the Sound website has broken another story on his substack page which highlights a mysterious $60,000 transfer from the Westchester Democratic Party Committee to New Rochelle Mayoral candidate Yadira Ramos-Herbert. The story can be found at the following link: https://robertcox.substack.com/p/unprecedented-60000-dark-money-infusion?utm_source=profile&utm_medium=reader2
Ramos-Herbert is running against County Legislator Damon Maher in the democratic primary for New Rochelle Mayor on June 27. Cox goes on to characterize the $60k transfer as “dark money,” because the Westchester County Democratic Committee has not filed its required financial disclosure reports with the Board of Elections.
Maher told us that he see the $60k transfer as “money laundering” into Ramos-Herbert’s campaign. “Who doesn’t want me elected,” asked Maher. “I originally thought it was a typo, and that the correct transfer-donation was $6,000 or $600, but it was $60,000. I guess they are afraid of my campaign, and the fact that we are knocking on thousands of doors and getting our message out.”
“If I had received this type of donation, I would want to know where it came from. I don’t take donations from developers doing business with the city or with unions that have employees in the city,” said Maher, who has raised $10,000 for his campaign.
Before collecting the $60k transfer, Ramos-Herbert raised $50,000. So this mysterious transfer, from an unidentified donation to the WCDC, doubles the amount of campaign cash being used in the race for New Rochelle Mayor.
According to Cox’s reporting, the $60k transfer is by far the largest transfer from the WCDC in years. It also appears that the Ramos-Herbert campaign made an error in taking the transfer on May 18, instead of waiting until May 23. If they had waited until May 23, they would have been able to wait to report the transfer-donation until after the Democratic Primary.
Democrats we spoke to in New Rochelle who do not support Maher’s campaign for Mayor, told us that the $60k transfer is an indication that “people are worried that Maher can win the Primary.” Another Westchester democrat had a similar sentiment but said “democrats are in a panic” over the race for New Rochelle Mayor.
The maximum dollar amount that individuals can contribute to a candidate for New Rochelle Mayor is $1,300, but transfers from other campaign committees can exceed that amount. So while this transfer may be legal, “this is not how democrats win elections, in Westchester or anywhere,” said another county democrat.
No comment yet from Suzanne Berger, Westchester County Democratic Chair, or any prominent Westchester Democrat. We hear that other news reporters in Westchester are on this story.
Kudos to Bob Cox and his reporting. If anyone knows where the $60,000 donation and then transfer came from, let us know.
Another Westchester progressive asked, “is this how progressive democrats are winning elections in Westchester now? By grabbing money from anyone, anywhere?”
