Gov. Kathy Hochul had New Yorkers pay twice as much for COVID tests from a company tied to nearly $300,000 in donations to her campaign compared to other state vendors, a new report details, raising fresh concerns of alleged pay-to-play behavior ahead of the Nov. 8 election.
“Whether it was pay-to-play or total incompetence – New York taxpayers and then the federal taxpayers got massively ripped off,” John Kaehny, of the good-government group Reinvent Albany, said of the Digital Gadgets deal funded by New York taxpayers with the help of federal relief aid.
While some companies charged the state just $5 for rapid tests, the N.J.-based Digital Gadgets got as much as $13 per unit in a total of $637 million worth of no-bid deals for millions of tests as Hochul pushed schools to stay open amid the omicron wave last year, according to the Times Union
The deal was made under suspended procurement rules enabled by a state of emergency that Hochul has renewed every month since late last year.
Some Republicans are now calling for Hochul to come clean about the questionable purchases. --->READ MORE HERE
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Reporting from Albany reveals that Gov. Hochul gave favored insiders — a family that donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to her campaign — a sweetheart deal amounting to $637 million.
The Tebele family, which owns Digital Gadgets, a New Jersey-based fulfillment center and distributor of tech products, got a no-bid deal to provide New York State with 52 million at-home COVID tests for $13 apiece — double what others were charging.
The deal was signed the very same day that Digital Gadgets made the overpriced offer, which Hochul defends on the grounds that the firm was able to “deliver critically important tests” during the overhyped Omicron wave. She insists that the cozy relationship between her campaign and the firm’s owners was not a factor, and she “was not aware” of it at all.
If you enjoy that one, how’d you like to buy the concession rights to a stadium in Buffalo? Envelopes can be found under the nearest table.
The no-bid procurement arrangement on COVID tests would normally be totally illegal. State purchasing contracts are supposed to be transparent and subject to review before deals are struck. --->READ MORE HEREFollow links below to relevant/related stories and resources:
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