Spitzer spends more than $2.5M on comptroller campaign

NEW YORK, Aug. 11 (UPI) -- New York City comptroller candidate Eliot Spitzer has spent more than $2.5 million on his campaign since he announced his candidacy on July 7, officials say.

In the same time period, Spitzer's opponent, Scott M. Stringer, reported expenditures of about $173,000, The New York Times reported.

Spitzer, a former governor who resigned in 2008 after admitting to hiring prostitutes, has donated about $3.7 million to his campaign so far, and most of that -- about $2 million -- has been spent on television advertising. However, his largest expenditure was $165,000 he paid to a consultant, Jonathan Trichter

"Eliot Spitzer spent more per day getting his name on the ballot than the median New York City voter makes in a year," said Audrey Gelman, a spokeswoman for Stringer.

Meanwhile, Hari Sevugan, a spokesman for Spitzer, said Stringer as "flustered" and offered no apology for the campaign's spending.

"Unlike Mr. Stringer, Eliot is not a career politician with the power and money of the political and financial establishment propping up his campaign," Sevugan said.