Carl Paladino, a candidate for the US House of Representatives endorsed by Republican conference chair Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y) hired a convicted pedophile to work on his campaign.
According to the New York Post, Paladino hired Joel Sartori, 63, to work as “assistant treasurer” of his campaign. Sartori was working as a controller at Ellicott Development– a development firm founded by Paladino– when he was caught accessing child porn on a company computer in 2013.
He was convicted of possessing and promoting kiddie porn in 2017 and sentenced to 10 years probation.
Paladino decided to keep him at the company after he was convicted.
“Joel has been with me for ages. He served his punishment for what he did. He’s a wonderful employee,” Paladino told the Post. “We made a decision to keep him. He did something sinful but otherwise has been a good man.”
“I don’t think this has anything to do with my campaign, my positions or abilities,” he added.
Democrats slammed Paladino for hiring a convicted pedophile to work on his campaign for Congress.
Paladino’s Democratic opponent Max Della Pia says it does not square with how Republican senators grilled Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson during her confirmation hearings about “whether or not she had been sufficiently strict or had appropriately punished” pedophiles, The Post reports.
“Carl Paladino professes to share the conservative values of his party. You may have heard the quote, ‘Integrity is not what you APPEAR to be when all eyes are on you. It is who you ARE when no one is looking,’” Della Pia added. “We know how Paladino has handled this issue with his employee, on his company’s computers, while he thought no one was looking. It will be interesting to see how he handles this issue now that he knows all eyes are on [him].”
After Democrats slammed the controversial hire, Paladino’s campaign told The Post that registration records listing Sartori as “assistant treasurer” and “custodian of records,” was a “simple error.”
“The individual is not the deputy treasurer. He is not affiliated with Mr. Paladino’s campaign,” spokesman Vish Burra told The Post.
Paladino has made headlines in recent months for suggesting that mass shootings were “false flag” operations and for saying in an interview last year that Adolf Hitler was the “kind of leader we need today.” He is also known for making racist statements in the past about former President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama.
Stefanik endorsed him soon after GOP Rep. Chris Jacobs announced he would not seek re-election in New York’s 23rd Congressional District after he came out in support of gun control. Stefanik called Paladino “a job creator and conservative outsider who will be a tireless fighter for the people of New York in our fight to put America First to save the country.”
