By Hank Russell
Long Island Life & Politics has learned that a local official has been receiving campaign contributions from companies and industries that she oversees as part of her committee assignments.
U.S. Congresswoman Laura Gillen (D-Garden City) has accepted at least $57,000 for her reelection campaign from the automotive, aviation and transportation industries, according to data from the Federal Election Commission (FEC) that was flagged by the Republican National Committee for LILP. Gillen is currently running for reelection against Republican challenger Jeanine Driscoll.
Gillen is a member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and the House Science, Space and Technology Committee. Based on the FEC data, Gillen accepted campaign donations from the following airline and aviation companies and political action committees:
- American Airlines Inc. Its PAC donated $1,000, while the company gave $386.80.
- Delta Airlines. Its PAC gave $12,000 to Gillen’s campaign, while the company kicked in $6,030.48.
- JetBlue Airways Corporation Crewmember Good Government Group, donating 5,000.
- Southwest Airlines Pilots Association Political Action Committee, which gave $3,500.
- Airlines for America Political Action Committee, which donated $500 to Gillen’s campaign.
- Lockheed Martin Corporation Employees’ Political Action Committee, which gave $5,000 to Gillen.
- Honeywell International Inc. Technologies Public Affairs Council, donating $6,500.
- General Dynamics Corporation Political Action Committee, which gave $1.000.
- Employees of Northrop Grumman Corporation PAC, which contributed $2,500.
- L3Harris Technologies, Inc. PAC, which donated $5,000 to Gillen’s campaign.
In addition, Gillen has accepted donations from transportation and automotive corporations while sitting on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee:
- Uber Technologies, Inc. Separate Segregated Fund, which gave $5.000.
- Toyota Motor North America Inc. Political Action Committee (Toyota/Lexus PAC), which donated $3,000.
- General Motors Company Political Action Committee, which contributed $2,000 to Gillen’s campaign.
LILP also found out that Gillen has accepted $12,500 from seven out-of-state sugar cane industry PACs. According to the FEC filings, these companies came from Florida and Louisiana — two of the biggest producers of sugarcane in the nation — as well as Utah, Washington, D.C., Colorado, Minnesota and North Dakota. (New York does not have a sugarcane industry.)
While there is nothing illegal with accepting campaign contributions from such companies and PACs, there are questions as to whether accepting such donations is a conflict of interest, as a source familiar with the filings pointed out. “You have to wonder if she is on the committees as a representative of Nassau County or as a representative of these companies who are contributing to her campaign,” the source told LILP.
LILP reached out to the Gillen campaign via email, but did not hear back as of press time.