GOP gubernatorial candidate Marc Molinaro is demanding a federal probe of Gov. Cuomo’s office, saying it violated federal privacy laws by forwarding the names of college scholarship winners to the governor’s campaign for an ad.

Molinaro filed the quest with upstate US Attorney Grant Jaquith, citing a story in The Post how the Cuomo campaign obtained contact information for SUNY-Albany Excelsior Scholarship student Nikita Losi from Cuomo’s office — and then called to see if he would appear in a campaign commercial.

Losi said he politely declined, noting he was a Republican and a Molinaro backer.

“There’s no explaining this one away,” Molinaro said. “Governor Cuomo and his campaign team did something that was wrong, that was creepy, and almost certainly illegal.”

“Just imagine being a 19-year-old scholarship kid and getting a call on your private telephone number from the governor’s office, asking if you like your scholarship, and, by the way, how about appearing in a campaign ad? It’s not just wrong, it’s shameless and coercive.”

Cuomo counsel Alphonso David said Molinaro was blowing hot air.

“Before throwing around legal conspiracy theories, County Executive Molinaro should read the law – or at least retain a lawyer who understands it. FERPA does not apply to the state government – it only applies to educational institutions and there is no criminal or civil liability associated with the Act,” David said.

FERPA refers to the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act.

“Regardless, in this instance, the schools that provided this information did so with express permission of the students and therefore cannot be in violation of FERPA.”
Colleges that receive federal funding must comply with FERPA. The law does not say anything about other levels of government.