New York House Democratic candidate Cait Conley’s campaign violated law by coordinating with outside groups in a shady payment deal, according to a complaint filed with the Federal Election Commission.
Conley — who vehemently rejects the claim — is challenging two-term Republican Rep. Mike Lawlerin the Hudson Valley’s 17th District in what independent analysts consider one of the most competitive races in the country.
Andres Gil, chairman of the Putnam County Republican Party and a Lawler ally, filed the complaint against the Conley campaign, several Democratic group and a Conley spokesman at the center of it all, Jackie Rosa.
“This complaint concerns a single political operative, Jackie Rosa, who simultaneously served as a de facto communications spokesperson for the Conley Committee, was compensated by one or more outside political organizations – MD PAC and Precinct – rather than by the campaign for that work, and is tied to an entity, Precinct LLC, that the Conley Committee itself paid as a `campaign consultant,’ ” Gil wrote in his Aug. 14 complaint to the FEC.
“That combination presents two related, investigable violations of the [Federal Election Campaign] Act,” he said.
Rosa functioned as the Conley campaign’s press contact during a competitive Democratic primary earlier this year, the complaint said.
She introduced herself to a reporter as being with Conley’s team, giving on-the-record statements for stories about the campaign, arranging for a surrogate to defend the candidate and circulating an opposition memo against one of the candidate’s primary rivals, according to the missive.
“The Conley Committee did not pay for those 2026 services: its only disclosed payments to Precinct were two disbursements totaling $20,000 made in August 2025, months before the services at issue, and it reports no payment of any kind to Ms. Rosa,” the complaint said.
The payment for Rosa’s services by some other group amounts to an in-kind contribution to the Conley Committee, which would exceed the campaign contribution limits and appears to violate election law, the complaint said.
The eight-page complaint also discusses potential coordination with the Conley campaign through a common vendor.
The August 2025 payments confirm Conley’s campaign paid Precinct — and Rosa — as a paid vendor.
Coordination among outside groups is not illegal, but such coordination between an outside group and the candidate could be, the complaint said.
The Conley campaign and the Democratic groups brushed off the complaint as a desperate heave by Lawler’s team.
“This is a BS complaint from a career political operative and lobbyist who is desperately trying to hold on against a 16-year Army combat veteran to mask the hundreds of thousands he has given his own political consulting firm in kickbacks,” said Conley campaign rep Maddy Rosen.
Andrew Mamo, spokesman for The Bench,a group that supports more moderate Democrats including Conley, said, “This is a frivolous complaint from a desperate man who knows he is losing and was caught having his campaigns pay half a million dollars to the consulting firm he cofounded.”
“Mike Lawler has spent his career as an insider lobbyist, raking in cash from utility companies, big pharma and the health care giants while letting them raise prices on New York families. We follow all FEC laws and are proud of our work to send Mike back to lobbying in November.”
Rose declined to comment, as did the FEC.
The Lawler-Conley race could go either way, independent political analysts say.
The Center for Politics at the University of Virginia and The Cook Political Report recently rated the swing district contest a toss-up, while the Fox News Power Rankings moved the race from even to “Lean D.”
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