Questions raised about Frank Seddio campaign spending

In February 2024, the campaign committee for city Board of Election member Frank Seddio shelled out $5,000 to a Norwalk, Conn. artist for a portrait of Seddio himself now hanging in Brooklyn Surrogate’s Court, campaign finance records show. Last month, the committee made a second payment of $4,200.

Several years before that, in 2018 and 2019, Friends of Frank Seddio spent $20,300 on elaborate Christmas displays from a Brooklyn company to decorate the exterior of Seddio’s office building on Flatlands Ave.

The portrait and the holiday decorations headline a list of some $175,000 in expenditures by Friends of Frank Seddio and the Kings County Democratic County Committee when Seddio was leading it that raise questions, either because they could be seen as benefitting Seddio personally or lack required information, based on a Daily News review of campaign finance records.

The expenditures in question, made between 2012 and 2024, fall into two broad categories – a series of specific purchases totaling $94,824.33, either with no listed purpose or explanation as required by law or vague justifications for the expenditure. The second totals $77,576.12 in payments by the Kings County committee via Signature Bank that have no listed purpose or explanation.

Under New York State Election Law Section 14-130, campaign funds “shall not be converted to personal use unrelated to a political campaign or the holding of a public office or party position.” A specific purpose code and explanation must be provided when campaign organization spending is reported to state election authorities.

Susan Lerner, executive director of Common Cause New York, called the expenditures “problematic. “

“These are more than just a random mistake. There seems to be a substantial number of charges that don’t seem to have any business being justified as campaign expenses,” she said.

“These seem to be personal costs charged to a campaign account. That’s always problematic, but it’s particularly problematic when someone who is doing that is also an election commissioner. It’s the fox guarding the henhouse.”

The painting and its genesis out of campaign funds are also intriguing because Seddio served only a brief stint in Surrogate’s Court in 2006 and 2007 but as a political power in Brooklyn has great influence over the selection of the borough’s judges who he also appears in front of as a lawyer.

“The biggest question is why should there be a painting of him in Surrogate’s Court at all,” said Bryan Maygers, a spokesman for the reform-minded New Kings Democrats. “It seems to be making real this idea that he is this looming power over the entire judicial process in Brooklyn. And on the funding itself, that’s not what campaign committee funds should be used for. Someone who is a Board of Election member should certainly know that.”

In an interview, Seddio insisted all of the expenses were legitimate campaign outlays and contributions to charitable organizations.

On the portrait, he said other judges told him it was a “perfectly acceptable expense.” “It’s not a personal expense, it’s a public expense,” he said. “I am a former surrogate of Kings County and I was asked to provide a portrait to hang in the court.”

As for the expenditures which had no purpose or explanation listed in the campaign finance records, he said, “I’ve never been made aware of that. If we’re made aware of them we will address. I’ve never been made aware of it.” Seddio went on to say he would have his accountant call The News. The accountant, Joseph Del Prete, did not reply to a phone message.

Seddio described the Christmas decorations as a standard campaign promotion. “If I am running in that district, and people see that, that’s a public announcement of my campaign, besides the fact they give thousands of people enjoyment a year,” he said.

“You must really have a hard-on for me or whoever gave you this stuff,” Seddio said, adding, “You guys, the Daily News have to be the biggest ass—-s in America. The Daily News has never given Brooklyn a fair break about anything … or the fact we pick the best judges in the City of New York, including the selection of best election commissioner in the Board of Elections which happens to be me.”

 A fixture in Brooklyn politics

Seddio, 78, has long been a fixture of Brooklyn Democratic party politics. He remains a district leader in the borough’s 59th Assembly District.

Seddio rose to chair of the county Democratic party more than a decade ago after perennial leader Vito Lopez, an assemblyman, stepped down in August 2012 following a probe that found Lopez sexually harassed two staffers.

Seddio, the longtime head of the Thomas Jefferson political club, the oldest Democratic Party club in the state was an assemblyman for six years  and later a surrogate court judge for less than two years.

He quit the bench in 2007 during an inquiry by the state Commission on Judicial Conduct which found he used $17,500 in campaign funds to renovate the political club, according to previous reports.  His departure ended the inquiry, the reports said.

Seddio stepped down from the leadership of the county committee in 2020 amid questions about finances. The New York Post reported at the time the organization was $226,000 in debt including $50,000 owed to Seddio. It had just $40,000 its accounts.

Then earlier this year, Seddio was tapped by the City Council’s democratic party members in a unanimous vote for a city Board of Elections slot, records show. His nomination was put forward by Council Member Amanda Farias Jan. 13.

Seddio’s appointment was strenuously opposed by eight local political and government groups who noted in a Dec. 5 letter the State Senate had recently passed a bill prohibiting election commissioners from being county party chairs. The bill remains pending.

“Appointing a former party boss without proper vetting and scrutiny, in the face of criticism over patronage and partisanship at the Board, would be a disservice to New York voters,” said the letter.

Questions about expenditures

Many of the expenditures that have sparked questions are items for which there is no explanation in official records.

The $9,250 portrait painted by Connecticut artist Peri Pfenninger was paid for in two installments – one for $5,000 February 2024 and a second for $4,200 in June 2025, records show. The justification in campaign finance records was given as “other.”

“It is common practice for portraits of former Kings County Surrogates to be hung in the Kings County Surrogate’s Court,” said Al Baker, a spokesman for the state Office of Court Administration.

Seddio has been long know for elaborate Christmas decorations at his office and home. In 2018 and 2019, his campaign committee paid Lou Nasti Mechanical Displays $20,300 to decorate his office on Flatlands Ave.

Campaign finance records reveal the justification was “office,” and further, “Christmas decorations, displays and new displays.”

Nasti, a beloved Brooklyn figure, passed away at age 79 in March and was remembered in a New York Times obituary. His wife confirmed the displays cited in the campaign finance records were for Seddio’s Flatlands office.

Among the other questionable expenditures:

Records show the Kings County committee spent $77,576.12 during Seddio’s tenure via Signature Bank with no purpose code or explanation listed.

The Kings County committee made a series of payments totaling $27,800 to the Brooklyn Bar Association, including $500 for “dues” in January 2013, $2,500 for “donation” and $1,200 for caterer” in December 2013 and $2,500 for “dinner tickets” in November 2014.

Seddio was named president of the Bar Association on June 9 2016.

In the interview, Seddio described expenses paid to the Bar Association, the St. John’s Alumni Association, and Knights of Columbus as “payments to charitable organizations for things like advertisements and tables at dinners.”

“All these are groups that are in my district. I promote myself as an elected official in that area,” he said.

No purpose code was listed for $2,631.25 paid to the Wythe Hotel in Brooklyn in March 2013 or a $241.36 payment to the state courts in July 2016.

The county committee paid the Brooklyn Sports Club $500 in two payments in January 2015. The justification was listed as “other.”

The county committee paid $2,418.54 to Peter Luger Steakhouse in five payments from 2013 to 2016. In two instances, the explanation was given as “other” with no further explanation. In the other three, the expense code was left blank.

Among the questionable Friends of Frank Seddio payments, it paid $1,260.73 to the state Department of Taxation and Finance in October 2016 for a “Brooklyn Bar Association Installation Event.”

The campaign committee paid $400 to Knights of Columbus in November 2017 to attend the Long Island Assembly 4th Degree of Knights of Columbus, an annual gala. It paid another $1,400 to the Knights of Columbus for ten dinner tickets and an ad in a journal on November 2019.

And the campaign committee paid St. John’s Alumni Association $1,000 for the 2018 annual alumni dinner, the records show.

“It (the material) really underscores the need for a truly professionalized election administration and not to have current or former political officials in charge of our elections,” Lerner said.

Kathleen McGrath, a spokeswoman for the state Board of Elections, declined comment. She referred The News to the state Division of Election Law Enforcement, which handles campaign finance complaints.

“As the matters cited neither pertain to the time period during which Mr. Seddio served as a Commissioner of the New York City Board of Elections nor fall within the scope of his duties in that role, we respectfully decline to comment,” said Vincent Ignizio, a spokesman for the city Board of Elections.