Kathy Clown's hiring of Contractor Gadget Jr. has got herself in hot water

NY Post 

The son of a major Kathy Hochul donor was hired by her campaign right around the time his father hosted a fundraiser for the Democratic governor — and just weeks before the dad’s company scored what’s being called a “pay-to-play” deal to sell the state $637 million in overpriced COVID-19 tests.

James Tebele, 21, has a resume that starts with a 2016 summer internship at his dad Charlie’s New Jersey-based Digital Gadgets consumer technology company, which pivoted to selling masks, gowns, sanitizer, thermometers and at-home rapid tests during the pandemic.

Now a student at New York University’s Schack Institute of Real Estate, James Tebele began working for Hochul’s campaign as a finance intern in November — and appears to have risen up the ranks, or at least pay scale, of her campaign as his dad’s fundraising for the governor increased.

On Nov. 22, Charlie Tebele — whose family has donated over $300,000 to Hochul — spent $5,150 on food, decorations and servers for a Hochul fundraiser and his wife, Nancy Tebele, also donated $18,000 to the governor’s campaign that day, the Albany Times Union first reported earlier this month.

Just four days later, Hochul suspended competitive-bidding rules for the state’s purchase of COVID-19 supplies, leading to the first of two contracts awarded to Digital Gadgets for a total of 26 million test kits.

Despite the rapid confluence of events, and her campaign’s hiring of James Tebele, Hochul has maintained that she “was not aware that this was a company that had been supportive of me” — an assertion rejected and ridiculed by her critics.

“The governor attended an in-person fundraiser hosted by the donor and hired one of his family members, but claims she was unaware of any connection. It’s laughable,” Assembly Minority Leader Will Barclay (R-Fulton) said Wednesday.

The first contract — inked on Dec. 20 — charged taxpayers $13 per test, even though Hochul’s administration had recently struck a deal to buy similar tests from another supplier for just $5 each, according to the Times Union.

Digital Gadgets charged the state an average of $12.25 per test — costing taxpayers a total of $268 million more than if officials bought the “Carestart” tests directly from the manufacturer instead of using Charlie Tebele as a middleman, the Times Union said.

 NY Post

This is not the kind of national attention most governors seek.

Congressional Republicans are vowing to probe a $637 million alleged pay-to-play scheme involving Gov. Kathy Hochul and a deep-pocketed campaign donor if they retake the House of Representatives this November.

“As a taxpayer, it really pisses me off that my governor is paying twice as much for a product that other states are and that the money is going to one of her large donors,” Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-Staten Island-Brooklyn) told The Post Thursday.

“It smells so bad,” she added.

The vow comes amid growing calls for local, state and federal officials — who have remained silent about whether they will investigate — to probe how $300,000 in campaign cash to Hochul might have helped the New Jersey-based Digital Gadgets land the no-bid contract for 52 million COVID rapid tests, a deal first revealed by the Times Union this summer.

“With your duty to enforce federal laws and ensure fair and impartial administration of justice, we ask that you use your position within the Department of Justice to promote transparency in government spending and investigate this potential kickback scheme that has defrauded taxpayers millions of dollars,” reads a Sept. 26 letter to US Attorney General Merrick Garland from GOP members of Congress including Malliotakis and Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-North Country).

 

AOC does some good

 

Queens Post

The lawmaker secured nearly $7 million in funding for 10 projects — eight of which are in Queens — as part of an omnibus bill the House passed late Wednesday night. The massive bill was passed to keep the federal government funded and open.

The funding secured by Ocasio-Cortez will support renovations at Elmhurst Hospital, multiple educational and vocational training programs, the repair of two public piers in Flushing Bay and the placement of family support counselors in two Queens high schools, among other initiatives.

“From reducing maternal mortality and youth violence, to training a new generation of green labor, I know these projects will be deeply impactful to our families throughout Queens and The Bronx,” Ocasio-Cortez said in a statement. ”

She secured $3 million for Elmhurst Hospital. The hospital will use the money to renovate its obstetrical inpatient facilities so that expectant mothers can deliver and bond with their new babies in private rooms, which Elmhurst Hospital doesn’t have.

She secured another $2 million for Chhaya Community Development Corporation, a Jackson Heights-based organization that provides housing assistance to residents primarily from the South Asian community. The money will help the nonprofit procure a bigger building for its headquarters and create a community space that will allow it to serve 3,000 more clients per year.

The congresswoman also earmarked $225,000 for Queens Community House, an organization that provides many services including offering alternative high schools for students who have either dropped out of school or fallen substantially behind in credits. The funds would be used by QCH to hire additional family support counselors to support students in two schools it operates in Corona and Elmhurst. Currently, QCH has just one counselor who supports students across five schools.

Ocasio-Cortez allocated funding for a second health care facility, in addition to Elmhurst Hospital. A local health center in Corona, Plaza Del Sol Family Health Center, will receive $96,150 to expand and upgrade its telehealth technology to serve more patients.

The lawmaker got approval on two funding requests for Sunnyside Community Services as well.

Minus one in the House

 

NY Post

Missed it by that much.

New York will lose one seat in the House of Representatives next year based on population data released by the US Census Bureau on Monday — and was just 89 residents short of keeping all of its seats.

The Empire State’s delegation will shrink from 27 to 26 as a result of the 2020 census, officials said. 

“The state of New York has experienced negative net domestic migration, meaning there were more people moving out of the state of New York over the last decade than moving into the state,” said Karen Battle, chief of the population division for the Census Bureau.

How voters’ districts will change won’t be known until August at the earliest, when more detailed census data is expected.

New York is one of seven states poised to lose a seat in the House. The others are California, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

Five states will gain one seat — Colorado, Florida, Montana, North Carolina and Oregon — while Texas will gain two.

The once-a-decade national head count determines how the 435 seats in the House are divided among the 50 states based on the population changes recorded.

Rep. Meeks gets appointed to lead foreign affairs committee

 

Queens County Politics

 Queens County Democratic Party Chairman U.S. Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-Jamaica, Laurelton, Rosedale, Cambria Heights, Saint Albans, Springfield Gardens, The Rockaways, JFK Airport) took a historic step onto the world stage earlier this month when he was elected as Chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. 

Meeks fulfilled a dream that he aspired to for years when he was elected as the first Black Chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. A product of the Civil Rights Movement and a congressman in Queens for more than 20 years, he said he hopes to bring a fresh point of view to the committee and to the country’s foreign policy priorities.  

“I’ve come from a different background, and different life experiences than many of the –– than all of the other chairs have had,” he said. 

 He plans on drawing on his nearly 30 years of experience working and legislating for Queens, first in the State Assembly then in Congress. In those three decades, he learned a lot about the world, and he’s ready to take those lessons to the international stage. Coming of political age in the crucible of Queens has exposed him to a variety of worldviews, he said. 

“The voice that I bring, I think is the voice of a person who represents Southeastern Queens and represents Queens, that is a mini U.N. in and of itself,” he said. “What I think makes the United States the greatest country in the world, we’re not monolithic –– a little bit of this a little bit of that.”

 Can't think of a more perfect pick than the most corrupt member of the House.