Cigars As Campaign Contributions? Sure, Why Not

State Senator Marty Golden accepted at least one interesting in-kind campaign donation: expensive cigars.

Campaign records show a donation receipt worth $1,237.50 of cigars from Scott Bendett, owner of a cigar shop located in Albany, according to the New York Post.

Bendett’s Habana Premium Cigars store was also was the site of an August fundraiser for Golden.

Perhaps the aficionado gifted the senator with the tobacco because the senator sponsored legislation that would “cap state cigar taxes at the lesser of $1 per smoke or 75 percent of the wholesale price.”

A spokesperson for Senator Golden stated that the cigars were given away to golfers at an outing the senator held in Kingston, NY some time ago.

In-kind donations are not unheard of, but re-gifting campaign stogies might just be a new one.