New Yorkers Call Out Malliotakis for Refusing to Return Money from Hitler-Praising Donor Carl Paladino 

Malliotakis’ Donor: Hitler “The Kind Of Leader We Need Today”

June 16, 2022

New York, NY  – On Thursday, Unrig Our Economy NYC held Rep. Nicole Malliotakis accountable for refusing to return $3800 in campaign contributions from her Hitler-praising donor Carl Paladino. In a February 2021 radio  show hosted by real estate company executive Peter Hunt, Paladino  praised Nazi leader Adolf Hitler’s ability to rouse “the crowds” and declared Hitler “the kind of leader we need today.” It’s been seven days (and counting) since Paladino’s disgraceful comments praising Hitler resurfaced. Malliotakis has thus far refused to return Paladino’s campaign contributions.

 

Unrig Our Economy NYC Campaign Director Clare Cecil said, “To be clear, ‘Adolf Hitler is the absolute wrong kind of leader we [in New York] need today,’ as is anyone who praises him. Under Hitler’s rule, the Nazis murdered six million Jews during the Holocaust and at least five million prisoners of war. If Malliotakis had any sense of shame, she would immediately condemn her donor’s vile praise of Hitler and either return or donate to charity the $3800 in campaign contributions she received from Paladino. Her continued failure to do so speaks volumes about her misplaced values and fierce determination to put her rich and powerful campaign donors ahead of her constituents, even a notorious bigot and scumbag real estate developer like Paladino.”

 

Is it too much to ask that Malliotakis or any politician refuse support from donors effusive in their praise of Hitler?

• Congressional candidate Carl Paladino said that Adolf Hitler is “the kind of leader we need today. We need somebody inspirational. We need somebody that is a doer.”
• Hitler was responsible for ending democracy in Germany and starting a war for global domination that cost the lives of between 75 and 80 million people. Under Hitler’s rule, the Nazis murdered six million Jews during the Holocaust and at least five million prisoners of war.
• Paladino is a real estate developer and candidate for office with an ugly history of making racist, sexist, and homophobic remarks.
• Paladino gave Malliotakis $2,800 in 2020 and $1,000 the year before, according to campaign finance records. “The donations in question were from the 2020 campaign, that money was spent then and the books have been closed on that campaign,” Malliotakis campaign spokesman Rob Ryan said in an email when asked whether she would return the funds.”
• However, according to the Campaign Legal Center, candidates can always cut a check to a prior contributor in the amount of an old contribution.

 

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Unrig Our Economy NYC is a local campaign to fix the rules of our economy to make it work for working people. When the middle class does well, all of us do well — which is why we’re fighting on behalf of working Americans and holding greedy and the politicians who enable them accountable.