Monsey, NY - Karben Still Controls His Large Campaign Account

Monsey, NY - Former Assemblyman Ryan Karben was an aggressive fundraiser. He had $534,000 in the bank as of January, despite being in just his fourth year in the Legislature.

That ranked him no. 4 among incumbents in the Assembly, where the bulk of officeholders carry less than a six-figure balance in their campaign accounts, a review of state records shows, that only Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, D-Manhattan ($2.7 million), Dov Hikind, D-Brooklyn ($765,000) and Vito Lopez, D-Brooklyn ($542,000) had more than Karben — and they have a combined 76 years in the Assembly.

And even though Karben resigned his Assembly seat, he still controls his campaign account. And he can do almost anything with it, state officials acknowledge. But that has some watchdog groups and legislators renewing a call to tighten the rules governing how campaign contributions can be used.