ALBANY - Marc Molinaro, the Republican nominee for governor, says his wife's background in marketing and design made her a great fit for a job with a construction firm in Dutchess County, where he's county executive.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo suggests it's far more nefarious.

His campaign has aired a pair of television advertisements essentially calling the job a pay-off from a firm with business before Molinaro.

The job is likely to become a major point of attack for Cuomo as the Nov. 6 general election draws near.

Here's what we know about it so far and why it's become a flashpoint in the gubernatorial campaign:

The job at issue

Corinne Adams, Molinaro's wife, worked at Tinkelman Bros. Development Corp. from the summer of 2015 through earlier this year, when she left the job to focus on family and her pregnancy, according to Molinaro's campaign.

Molinaro and Adams were married in November 2015, not long after she took the job.

Adams' official title with Tinkelman, which is based in Poughkeepsie, was director of advertising and communications, according to Molinaro's state financial disclosure form.

Adams was paid about $26,500 for her work by Tinkelman Bros. in 2017, according to Molinaro's 2017 tax returns. A summary of his prior years' tax returns showed a similar joint income level in 2016.

Steven Tinkelman, managing member of the firm and its sister companies, said he hired Adams because of her skillset and background in design and communications.

She was put in charge of marketing and designing some of the firm's websites, including the website for the Van Wagner Place project in the town of Poughkeepsie (more on that later), as well as creating and maintaining a social-media presence, Tinkelman said in an interview Thursday.

Prior to joining Tinkelman Bros., Adams was director of marketing and communications for the Hudson Valley Renegades, a Class A baseball team in Dutchess County.

"I never had a marketing process before hiring Corinne," Tinkelman said. "We had people come in and ultimately we decided, 'Hey, this could be a really good idea because of her skillsets.'"

What's Cuomo's issue with it?

On Thursday, Cuomo's campaign began airing a television advertisement calling Molinaro the "worst of pay-to-play politicians," claiming it is "documented."

The alleged proof?

Cuomo's ad points to tax breaks handed down by the Dutchess County Industrial Development Agency for a Tinkelman project known as Van Wagner Place.

The $5 million mixed-use development project, a mix of apartments, restaurants and boutique shops, received sales- and property-tax breaks worth $227,276 from 2015 through 2017, according to the IDA's annual reports.

Tinkelman and his companies, meanwhile, also gave Molinaro a series of small campaign contributions, totaling about $6,800 spread out over 12 years.

Tinkelman Architecture, a sister company of Tinkelman Bros., has also done work for Dutchess County on a contract basis, with the firm receiving about $70,000 from the county from January through Aug. 31 of this year, according to county records.

Cuomo's ad, using all of that information, connects dots and suggests the entire arrangement was shady.

"Molinaro profits, taxpayers pay," the narrator in Cuomo's ad says. "You can't clean up government with dirty hands."

Tinkelman says everything was above board

Tinkelman said there was a "complete disconnect" between the tax breaks awarded by the IDA — whose members are appointed by the county legislature and approved by Molinaro — and Adams' work for his company.

The tax breaks were in the works before Adams began working for him, he said.

"Look, I run a small firm in a small community," Tinkelman said. "She came on board here before she was married to the county executive. So I'm just stunned at how this story has been manipulated. We've done a few projects for the county, and you get the work by being low bidder."

Tinkelman said the Van Wagner Place project, which is currently being expanded, has created more jobs than the 39 the company pledged to create when the tax breaks were granted.

The campaign contributions had "nothing to do with pay-to-play," Tinkelman said.

"I live in a small community and I'm an independent thinker and I support politicians on both sides of the aisle based on who's effective in their community and who aligns with my value system," he said.

Molinaro does, too

Molinaro reacted angrily last month when Cuomo's campaign first raised the issue in an attack advertisement last month, accusing the governor of unfairly taking shots at his wife.

The latest Cuomo ad says that "a member of Molinaro's immediate family" was hired by Tinkelman, dropping the prior reference to his wife.

Molinaro said his wife "earned her way of this world," accusing Cuomo of "being born on third base and attempting to convince everyone he hit a triple."

"How dare he?" Molinaro told reporters in Albany on Tuesday. "Because at the end of the day, this is a remarkable woman who got work the old-fashioned way. She went to school, she earned it and she was hired."

Speaking to reporters in Albany on Tuesday, Molinaro emphasized Adams, who is seven months pregnant, no longer works at the company.

Timing of the ad

The timing of Cuomo's most-recent ad was no coincidence.

His campaign released the ad Thursday morning, hours before Joseph Percoco — Cuomo's former most-trusted aide, campaign manager and close personal friend — was sentenced to six years in prison for taking bribes.

Percoco was convicted in March for accepting more than $300,000 from a pair of companies with business before the state. The companies' executives then leaned on him for governmental favors.

"If he wants to connect dots, let him," Molinaro said Tuesday. "No one in my administration has been found guilty of federal corruption charges."

What's next?

The issue is likely to remain a talking point of Cuomo's campaign through Election Day on Nov. 6.

State Democratic Committee Chair Byron Brown, who was appointed by Cuomo, has called for a criminal investigation of Molinaro, accusing him of orchestrating "financial schemes" that allowed his family to profit.

“There is indisputable evidence that Marc Molinaro as County Executive gave a lucrative contract to a firm that employs his spouse," Brown, the Buffalo mayor, said in a statement Friday. "It is a clear conflict of interest and a violation of the Public Officers Law."

Molinaro, meanwhile, has raised his own questions about Cuomo's partner, Sandra Lee.

Cuomo lives in Lee's home in New Castle, Westchester County, but Lee is not required to disclose her financial information because she and Cuomo aren't married.

"So if he wants to go down that road, God bless him," Molinaro said. "But I think at the end of the day, New Yorkers deserve better."

JCAMPBELL1@gannett.com

Jon Campbell is a correspondent for the USA TODAY Network's Albany Bureau.