Gifts Confirm Her Goodbye To Politics

When Susan Molinari swapped the House chamber for a CBS News television studio earlier this month, the New York Republican said she did not expect ever to be a candidate again. As if to put her money where her mouth was, she virtually cleaned out her campaign fund.

Molinari gave away $251,800 in campaign funds to a variety of charities and GOP candidates and causes, according to data filed with the Federal Election Commission. In addition, she returned $5,125 to individual contributors and $14,350 to political action committees.

Most of the money, $176,000, went to charities. The biggest gifts were $40,000 to a Staten Island program for abused children, $30,000 to the New York Foundling Hospital on Staten Island, $25,000 to a campaign for children run by the Staten Island Advance newspaper and $20,000 to the Center for Animal Care and Control in New York.

Molinari gave $32,500 to the GOP House campaign committee and $10,000 to the Republican Party in Richmond County, N.Y., her home. Of the political contributions, $5,000 went to House colleagues.

Some of the money stayed in the family: $5,500 went to the campaign of her father, Staten Island Borough President Guy V. Molinari; $1,000 to the Molinari Republican Club in Staten Island; $2,000 to the campaign of her husband, Rep. Bill Paxon, R-N.Y.; and $5,000 to Paxon’s leadership PAC.

Molinari’s campaign finance report also lists a $2,000 refund to New York real estate mogul Donald Trump dated Feb. 23.