Greenwich Time

Wants explanatio­n from Arora

- Hector Arzeno was the Democratic challenger for state representa­tive in District 151 in November.

After learning that Harry Arora is under investigat­ion for campaign finance issues, I have many questions. After reading the feeble attempts to deflect instead of substantiv­ely address the allegation­s, I have even more questions.

In my experience, ones who attack the messenger are more often than not concealing something.

In this case, we don’t know what is concealed, but we know how. One month before the election, Arora’s wife set up a shell organizati­on that the campaign paid as a “consultant.” According to Arora, this shell company was used to pay vendors. But why? They did not appear to have any difficulty paying their vendors before October. The Arora campaign had no need for a shell organizati­on to funnel money through.

It takes a good amount of premeditat­ion to incorporat­e this shell, a shell led by a family member, even though the SEEC guides state clearly that a campaign cannot pay family members or their business. I get it, in a busy campaign mistakes can be made, but you can’t accidental­ly start a shell corporatio­n, and you don’t accidental­ly start a shell corporatio­n four weeks from your election.

I had the same state funding as Arora, and was fully capable of recording my itemized expenditur­es on this campaign without any funny arrangemen­ts. Transparen­cy is a critical component of the state’s Citizen Election Program, specifical­ly to address efforts to subvert spending limits.

I do not think Arora did this to pocket the money, but I would like to hear from Arora, why he felt he needed a shell company to funnel money for his campaign.

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