Government time

One of City Councilman Oliver Koppell’s opponents has accused him of using government resources to campaign.

Tony Cassino, the former Community Board 8 chairman, issued a press release Monday stating that one of Mr. Koppell’s council staffers sent a mass e-mail announcing the start of the councilman’s campaign. The message went out on March 5, and mentioned an event that weekend. The e-mail, to Mr. Koppell’s City Council staff and to reporters, was sent from a City Council account.

“For someone running on 40 years of experience as a politician, this looks like an amateur operation,” Mr. Cassino said. He accused Mr. Koppell of using his incumbency, and taxpayer money, to campaign.

“Quite frankly, it was a mistake,” Mr. Koppell, who served a short stint as state attorney general in the early 1990s, said Tuesday.

“Many of my staff do volunteer but not during office time … it’s embarrassing, but what can I do? I can’t change the past.”

He said he has “chastised” the staffer who sent the e-mail, and has already admonished staffers many times not to campaign from his office.

Mr. Koppell’s campaign leases office space at his wife Lorraine Coyle Koppell’s firm on Riverdale Avenue, he said, and all campaigning should be done from there.

This is part of the March 19, 2009 online edition of The Riverdale Press.

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