Teach union PACs hit by Elex Board

ALBANY — Two political action committees created by the state teachers union have been accused of violating election law while helping Senate Democrats during the 2016 election campaigns, the Daily News has learned.

State Board of Elections Chief Enforcement Counsel Risa Sugarman filed a civil complaint last week charging that the New Yorkers for a Brighter Future PAC and the Fund for Great Public Schools, a super PAC, both engaged in improper coordination with each other. Both were created by the New York State United Teachers.

By law, super PACs, also known as independent expenditure committees, can raise and spend unlimited amounts of money as long as there is no coordination with the campaigns they support.

The Sugarman complaint said election rules put in place in 2016 also prohibit political action committees from contributing to independent committees when they share operational control. The complaint said that the New Yorkers for a Brighter Future PAC improperly donated $700,000 to the union’s Fund for Great Public Schools independent expenditure committee on Nov. 2, 2016.

Top union official Andrew Pallotta, now the union president, and Melinda Person, who reported to him, shared operational control of both committees, the complaint alleged.

In one case, Orange County Democrat Chris Eachus, who lost in 2016, received the maximum donation from the teachers union’s regular PAC at the direction of Person, but then sent an email to Pallotta saying he needed an additional $50,000. Three days later, the complaint says, the Fund for Great Public Schools made a $40,835 independent expenditure on behalf of Eachus.

The probe also found the two PACs shared office space, a phone number, email servers and a letterhead.

If a hearing officer sides with Sugarman, the union’s PACs, Pallotta and Person are facing up to a combined $700,000 in fines. The union said the complaint is without merit.