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This week, Marc Molinaro was called out for his reckless abuse of power and various misuses of taxpayer funds.
First, news broke that not only did Molinaro work to skirt county rules to have taxpayers pay for his luxury car – at a monthly rate higher than the average one-bedroom Dutchess County apartment – but Molinaro’s reckless spending triggered a costly countywide audit that will force officials to investigate the county’s entire fleet of vehicles.
Then, a follow-up story revealed Molinaro potentially violated campaign finance rules for months after his campaign admitted they had been hiding a different campaign vehicle from the campaign’s FEC reports.
Molinaro’s pattern of recklessness was only further underscored by his history crashing multiple taxpayer-owned vehicles and improperly impersonating an emergency responder.
“Marc Molinaro has shown zero respect for the people he was elected to serve, and his flagrant abuse of taxpayer funds make him totally unqualified to represent the Hudson Valley in Congress,” said DCCC Spokesperson Nebeyatt Betre.
Read more below on Molinaro’s flagrant misuses of taxpayer money, alleged campaign finance violation, and multiple crashes in county purchased vehicles:
Hudson Valley 360: Molinaro car usage part of countywide audit
By Kate Lisa
July 30, 2022
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In early 2020, just as the coronavirus pandemic first ravaged the state, the Dutchess County Comptroller’s office flagged and prevented the buying of a new vehicle for County Executive Marcus Molinaro.
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Molinaro, the Republican nominee for the 19th Congressional District special election on Aug. 23 and the general Nov. 8 election, had attempted to purchase a new vehicle three years early under the incorrect county department.
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The Dutchess County Comptroller’s Office is auditing all assets, policies and procedures about every vehicle in the county’s fleet after the office has received increased questions about officials’ practices and payments with county-issued vehicles, Dutchess Comptroller Robin Lois said.
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Dutchess County taxpayers have paid more than $17,500 for the car’s monthly payments over the past year to lease a luxury SUV issued to Molinaro, who drives a 2021 black Chevrolet Tahoe Premier — a top-of-the-line sport utility vehicle — for $1,347.10 a month from the county’s coffers.
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A Dutchess County family’s median household income was $81,842 in 2020, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. A two-bedroom apartment in Dutchess County cost an average of $1,449 per month, and $1,260 for a one-bedroom, according to the county’s 2020 rental housing survey.
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Molinaro, 46, has driven five county-issued vehicles since becoming the seventh executive of Dutchess County on Jan. 1, 2012.
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The county executive insisted his leased 2021 Tahoe is on par with his past vehicles over the last decade as county executive, but his latest SUV is more than two times more expensive to county taxpayers each month than previous vehicles.
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Molinaro was issued a 2018 Chevy Tahoe with a five-year life and attempted to purchase the newer vehicle three years early.
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“It seems excessive and unnecessary,” Lois said of the cost of the executive’s vehicle agreement. “Particularly when compared to the rest of the county vehicles that are in use and the cost of those vehicles.”
Hudson Valley 360: Molinaro’s unreported campaign vehicle may violate FEC rules
By Kate Lisa
Aug 1, 2022
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Dutchess County Executive Marcus Molinaro is using a vehicle from a longtime supporter to campaign as the Republican candidate across the 11-county 19th Congressional District, he said, but the campaign has not filed the donation with the U.S. Federal Elections Commission as required since kicking off the bid last September.
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Instead, the campaign rents a Jeep Grand Cherokee leased to Sean Mahoney, a supporter of Molinaro’s, at a rate of $35 per day, campaign staff said.
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The FEC requires in-kind contributions, or when a supporter pays for expenses on behalf of a federal campaign, be reported in a campaign’s next full quarterly report once the contribution exceeds $200, FEC spokesman Myles Martin said.
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At $35 a day, the campaign would exceed $200 for the vehicle after six days of use. The county executive’s Marc For Us Inc. campaign officially kicked off Sept. 21, or 315 days ago, but the campaign has not included the vehicle as an expense in its past three required quarterly filings with the FEC.
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Molinaro’s campaign did not answer questions about why the campaign has not included the vehicle in its past three FEC-mandated campaign filings or how many days the campaign has rented a vehicle from Mahoney.
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Months into his first term as county executive in 2012, Molinaro was driving his county-issued vehicle in emergency mode — a 2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee at the time — when he got into an accident at 7:09 p.m. July 26, 2012 in the town of Hyde Park.
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David Vaia, then 67, of Hyde Park, was driving south on Route 9G when he saw Molinaro driving behind him with red emergency lights on, according to the Hyde Park Police Department accident report. Vaia turned on his right blinker and pulled to the right, but then attempted to turn left into a parking lot on the east side of the road. Molinaro attempted to pass on the left, causing the vehicles to collide.
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Taxpayers covered the total $5,382.78 cost of repairs to Molinaro’s initial county-issued vehicle since taking executive office: A 2012 black Jeep Grand Cherokee for all parts and labor.
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Molinaro’s second crash in his county-issued vehicle was more than twice as costly to Dutchess residents.
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Marlene Bauer, then 79, of Poughkeepsie, driving a 1991 Mercedes Benz, stopped waiting to make a left turn onto Oakdale Avenue from Parker Avenue when Molinaro, driving his 2012 Jeep, struck Bauer’s vehicle from behind before exiting the road and hitting a guide rail, according to the sheriff’s office accident report.
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Molinaro’s vehicle was repaired by Matt’s Auto Body for a total of $11,931.66.
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Molinaro’s leased 2021 Chevy Tahoe — and his past county vehicles — have a law enforcement package of emergency lights, sirens and additional window tinting installed. The county executive’s use of his 2021 Tahoe in emergency mode and past accidents with his county-issued vehicle are not part of the comptroller’s audit of the county’s vehicle fleet.
- New York state’s vehicle equipment laws ban the installation and use of unauthorized colored, rotating and/or flashing lights, excluding vehicles registered to out-of-state residents, said Peter Bucci, spokesman for the state Department of Motor Vehicles.
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