GOP calls on NY AG James to probe ‘Kickback Kathy’ amid Hochul pay-to-play claims
Republicans are calling on state Attorney General Letitia James to investigate alleged pay-to-play schemes involving Gov. Kathy Hochul ahead of the Nov. 8 election.
“Kickback Kathy is the new reigning champion of the Albany cesspool of corruption,” State GOP Chair Nick Langworthy said in a statement Tuesday.
“She is brazenly selling lucrative state contracts to her donors and just because it’s likely done with a wink and a nod doesn’t make it any less criminal. She needs to be investigated and thrown out of office by the voters,” he alleged of the Democratic governor.
The Hochul campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Calls for an investigation of gubernatorial fundraising follow a growing list of media reports detailing controversial campaign contributions to Hochul ahead of the Nov. 8 election against Republican gubernatorial nominee Rep. Lee Zeldin.
Millions in state business went to Medical Answering Services, which oversees Medicaid transportation services with $52,600 in donations linked to the company flowing to her campaign, The Post reported July 31.
And a COVID-19 rapid-testing company got $637 million in no-bid contracts around the time that the family overseeing it gave nearly $300,000 to Hochul, who has raised more than $34 million in her bid for a full term in office.
Hochul has also raised eyebrows for accepting money from people seeking state support on efforts as varied as renewing liquor licenses, redeveloping the Penn Station area and bringing a casino to the West Side of Manhattan.
“How many scandals do we need in the state before we have an investigation? These unseemly and unethical actions need to end now,” Michael Henry, the GOP nominee against James, told reporters at a Tuesday press conference in Albany.
“We thought Andrew Cuomo was bad. I think we’re really getting into the big leagues now,” added GOP comptroller candidate Paul Rodriguez while joining calls for an AG probe.
Republicans are aiming to leverage the controversial campaign cash to win their first statewide election in two decades despite registered Democrats outnumbering Republicans 2-to-1 statewide.
Putting Democrats running alongside Hochul on the spot appears to be part of that effort.
“Everyone on her ticket is silent after one story after another comes out,” Henry said Tuesday about Hochul and Democratic candidates for statewide office.
Hochul and James are leading Zeldin and Henry by 14 points in the races for governor and state attorney general, according to a Siena College poll released Tuesday.
The survey also found Rodriguez and Joe Pinion – the GOP nominee against US Sen. Chuck Schumer – down by 21 points in their respective races from comptroller and Senate.
A probe of gubernatorial fundraising could help the Republicans turn things around before the November election by drawing voters’ attention to alleged corruption supposedly involving Albany Democrats.
James has conducted a series of high-profile investigations in her first term as attorney general, including a 2021 blockbuster report on alleged sexual misconduct by Gov. Andrew Cuomo that led to his resignation last August.
Her office also prosecuted former Cuomo ally Steve Pigeon, a longtime western New York powerbroker who was sentenced to one year in prison last week after pleading guilty in a bribery case.
But a spokesperson for James suggested Tuesday that she is not likely to move on the growing calls for an investigation of Hochul.
“As she has always done, the attorney general will be guided by facts and the law, not partisan politics. While we may be in the middle of campaign season, we will not respond to political calls to investigate candidates, regardless of whether they are republicans or democrats. It’s a candidate’s first amendment right to engage in political theater, but the Attorney General’s Office will not play a part in that show,” the spokesperson said in an email.
