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Markowitz Shockingly Endorses Sen. Sampson’s Re-Election

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On the left New York State Senator John Sampson and on the right Brooklyn’s former borough president Marty Markowitz.

Brooklyn’s bigwig former borough president Marty Markowitz threw a curve ball at voters by supporting the re-election bid of indicted state Senator John Sampson. Markowitz even contributed $250 to the struggling Sampson campaign.

Markowitz now works for New York City’s tourism bureau promoting the outer boroughs. He explained to the NY Post his reason for backing a candidate who is charged with federal corruption and faces a potential 20 year prison sentence. He said simply, “You are innocent until proven guilty and we will see where the chips fall.”

In the Democratic primary next Tuesday, September 9th, both Governor Cuomo and Mayor de Blasio are putting their support behind Dell Smitherman, a political coordinator with health care workers union Local 1199.

The third candidate in the race is social services advocate Sean Henry.

Sampson is charged by the feds with embezzlement for allegedly stealing $400,000 while he worked as a court-appointed referee from a housing fund. Also, he was indicted for providing the FBI with false information regarding his financial interest in a liquor store. On top of all that, according to authorities, in 2012 Sampson was recorded trying to arrange a meeting between ex-Queens state Senator Shirley Huntley and a businessman claimed to be offering bribes to secure government contracts. Later on, Huntley was separately convicted in s corruption scam.

Sampson is being prosecuted by the office of Brooklyn US Attorney Loretta Lynch, who has called his actions “one of the most extreme examples of political hubris we have yet seen.”

Sampson insists that he is innocent. His campaign has been running on empty, with a reported balance last month of only $2,717 after lending his campaign $15,000.

The District Council 37 and the Council of Supervisors and Administrators are supporting Sampson, while most of the labor unions are backing Smitherman. According to his last filing, on hand Smitherman had $45,561.

At the end of 2013, Markowitz left office. As of July, his campaign account still contained $405,533.54. He is permitted under Board of Elections regulations, to continue to shell out as many contributions as he wants.

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