WASHINGTON – Nicholas A. Langworthy's campaign for Congress got a mysterious million dollars in outside aid to fund a wave of ads that helped him defeat Buffalo developer Carl P. Paladino in a Republican primary in August.
Federal records show that the American Liberty Action PAC, which was created this summer, dumped $1.04 million into the GOP primary in New York's recently redrawn 23rd District, which covers parts of suburban Buffalo and most of the Southern Tier. Those records show that most of that money went to television and digital ads and text messages attacking Paladino, long a fiery and controversial figure in GOP circles, rather than boosting Langworthy.
Yet it's impossible to say which big-money Republicans invested to keep Paladino out of Congress. Records filed with the Federal Election Commission show that the American Liberty Action PAC got its money from two "dark money" political committees that don't have to disclose their donors.
