NY Gov. Cuomo nixes World Series fundraisers after criticism

Published Oct. 29, 2015 11:08 a.m. ET

foxsports

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) New York's governor has canceled his $5,500-a-ticket World Series fundraisers after criticism he was exploiting the national pastime to raise campaign cash from wealthy insiders.

Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo's campaign said Thursday that the events scheduled for Games 3 and 4 at Citi Field were nixed to make more tickets available for fans given ''overwhelming demand.''

The campaign had planned to offer about 20 tickets for each of the two fundraisers.

Cuomo had faced bruising criticism from editorial writers who accused him of effectively scalping tickets and from good-government groups who said the events would allow deep-pocketed contributors to have access to Cuomo that regular New Yorkers can't obtain.

Cuomo flew to Game 1 of the series in Kansas City on Tuesday on a private plane with the Mets' owners.