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| Matthew McDermott |
Gov. Kathy Hochul’s latest attempt to portray herself as a ruthless crusader for honesty and efficiency is weak stuff indeed: She’s announced another move in her crackdown on unemployment cheating, seeking repayment for the $11 million burned that way in August, per a Department of Labor investigation. (The total so far this year looks to be more than $110 million).
Yes, fraud needs fighting, absolutely. But Hochul’s already wasted far more than this on ideologically-driven spending and fiscal favors.
Heck, Hochul’s actually sticking the private sector with the bill for vast (and fraud-filled) jobless payouts during the pandemic. Most other states have used their own funds (or federal relief payments) to cover these deficits. Not New York, which owes the feds $8.1 billion and entered the last budget cycle with an $11-plus billion surplus — but didn’t spend a dime on that debt. --->READ MORE HERE
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| David Dee Delgado/Getty Images |
Gov. Kathy Hochul tried to avoid blame Friday for a spiraling “pay-to-play” scandal in which one of her top political donors scored no-bid contracts that overcharged taxpayers for $637 million in COVID-19 test kits.
And she also brushed off the notion anyone in her administration should pay the price for it, telling The Post dismissively, “They did what they did.”
Asked about the recently revealed deal with Digital Gadgets of New Jersey, whose owner, Charlie Tebeble, and his relatives have contributed about $330,000 to her campaign, Hochul at first repeated her team’s talking points on the simmering scandal.
“My directive to my team was: ‘The only way we’re going to get kids back in schools is to amass as many test kits from wherever you need to get them – just go do it,'” the governor said, when asked to answer for it by The Post at an unrelated event in Lake George.
“That was my only involvement.”
New York might have saved as much as $286 million on the tests had the Hochul administration gotten a better price from the company, which the Times Union recently reported charged the state twice as much as other vendors selling the same test. --->READ MPRE HEREFollow links below to relevant/related stories and resources:
Gov. Hochul’s massive lie on rancid COVID-test deal proves she puts New Yorkers dead last
Andrea Stewart-Cousins won’t address $637 million Hochul ‘pay-to-play’ scandal
USA TODAY: Coronavirus Updates
WSJ: Coronavirus Live Updates
YAHOO NEWS: Coronavirus Live Updates
NEW YORK POST: Coronavirus The Latest
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