A powerful union has funneled more than $700,000 in campaign donations to city lawmakers backing controversial legislation that critics say would drive up hotel rates and wreck the Big Apple’s hospitality industry, records show.
Since 2021, the Hotel & Gaming Trades Council has donated $711,428 to boost political campaigns for 15 of the 28 City Council members who’ve signed onto the bill sponsored by Manhattan Democrat Julie Menin.
The measure includes a stipulation requiring hotels to directly employ most of its workers, including housekeeping and front-desk staff. The move would likely drum up wage costs, critics said.
However, following outcry from critics, Menin amended the legislation Friday to include a carve-out ensuring hotel restaurants, bars, and nightclubs aren’t affected.
Nearly all of the money – $689,078 – was paid through the union’s political action committee, Hotel Workers for Stronger Communities, and went towards political mailers, phone calls and other campaign aid, records show.
It included $185,901 last year to help Councilman Justin Brannan (D-Brooklyn) prevail in a highly contested race over former GOP Councilman Ari Kagan, and another $113,675 in 2021 to help Brooklyn Democrat Crystal Hudson get elected.
The remaining $22,350 was paid directly through the union to the 15 council members.
“This is worse than just pay to play — it’s seek and destroy,” said an exasperated hotel owner who requested anonymity to avoid angering the union.
“They give these people tens of thousands of dollars in contributions, and now the union’s calling in their chits, but what good is it if they hurt the entire industry in the process?”
The union and its PAC also dished out another $47,000 in campaign funds to state Attorney General Letitia James and $102,000 to the city’s district attorneys, all of whom have publicly endorsed the bill.
Although the Council has enough votes to pass the bill, it lacks the 34 necessary to override a mayoral veto.
Mayor Eric Adams has yet to give an opinion on the bill, but the union was a big supporter of his 2021 mayoral campaign — giving nearly $1.1 million through its PAC for TV and digital ads, records show.
The Hotel & Gaming Trades Council declined comment.
