Mayoral hopeful defends donation
Napier: Cohoes scrapyard owner is a longtime friend
City Councilman Steve Napier, who is running for mayor, said six $1,000 contributions he received in January from entities and individuals associated with a scrap recycling business were not connected to the councilman’s earlier efforts to help that company’s owner win a 50-year lease for a city property.
The donations connected to Nathan Kelman, who owns
NH Kelman Scrap Recycling, were made roughly two months after Napier had pressed for his friend’s company to be awarded the lease. But Napier said there is no connection between his advocacy and the contributions, noting Kelman is a lifelong friend who wants to help Napier get elected.
Napier, who runs a campaign consulting business, said that after Kelman asked how he could help the councilman’s mayoral run, Napier had instructed Kelman that he could make multiple $1,000 donations — in excess of single-donor limits — by donating from his various business entities, a practice known as the “LLC loophole” that is both common and
legal in New York.
But the issue of campaign contributions is a sensitive one in Cohoes, as Napier and two other Democrats are campaigning for a June primary to defeat Mayor Shawn Morse, who was indicted last month on federal charges accusing him of misusing campaign funds, including for vacations and home repairs.
“Nate Kelman has been a good friend of mine for many years,” Napier said. “Those contributions, they would have happened regardless of if there had been any kind of city business.”
Napier further defended the contributions by saying his advocacy did not result in Kelman obtaining a long-term lease for the property, which was sold to another entity.
The $1,000 donations recorded on Jan. 11 were made by Kelman, three Kelman companies, and Kelman’s chief financial officer, Paul Franklin. When asked if the Schenectady company Tri-city Recycling, which also donated $1,000 the same day, is owned by Kelman, Napier said he didn’t know — but acknowledged that Kelman had asked some of his business associates to also contribute.
“The first obstacle is always getting people out there who will stand up and say ‘I think this is a good person,’” said Napier, who has given $8,000 to his own campaign. Napier recounted the conversation he had with Kelman after he decided to run for mayor, saying Kelman asked: “How much am I allowed to write a check for?”
“Your dad was my Little League coach, we’re going to back you 100 percent,” Napier recalled Kelman saying.
Fellow mayoral candidate Bill Keeler reported to the state Board of Elections he has loaned his campaign $5,000. Another Democratic candidate, Peter Frangie, has a campaign account but did not file financial disclosure data in January. Morse filed a January report with the state listing some expenditures between July and December, but said he took in no contributions.
Keeler said he can’t speak to what other candidates have done, but “the people of Cohoes have the right to expect that their elected officials are always acting on their behalf and not being influenced by outside money.”
The land along Whitehall Street that drew Kelman’s interest was slated to be sold to another developer. It became a topic of debate after Napier and Common Council President Christopher Briggs met with Kelman last fall to hear his pitch to gain control of the property.
In November, Napier argued at a Common Council meeting that the property should be leased to Kelman for 50 years, with Kelman providing an upfront payment to the city for $300,000, and an additional $700,000 in payments over the remainder of the release.
Napier said the money could have been used to help reopen the embattled Cohoes Community Center. He also had gone to the Cohoes Local Development Corporation meeting last year to ask that board to consider leasing the land to Kelman, according to minutes.
Kelman had said he was interested in developing the property, but never submitted formal design plans to the city.
Ultimately, the city transferred the land to the LDC, and it was sold for $190,000 to an entity called Banana Boat LLC, whose address is listed as an office in the town of Malta used by Lansing Engineering.
Napier, in advocating for Kelman, said that at the time he did not support selling the land to another purchaser, especially one whose identity was unknown.
Councilman and fellow Democrat Randy Koniowka, who wanted the land sold to the other developer, said it was unwise to give city property to a scrapyard that has logged nuisance complaints for noise and odors, as well as heavy truck traffic.
Koniowka says Napier’s advocacy for Kelman at the time “was borderline unethical.” Referencing the recent $6,000 in contributions, Koniowka said, “It was bad enough when he tried to steer the land to his friend.”
“I wasn’t trying to steer the land to my friend, I was trying to block the transfer of a piece of land when all the parties were not getting a fair shake,” Napier said. “It seemed to me that it was a bad deal. I tried to stop a bad deal ... and now there’s going to be this story that casts aspersions on my integrity over it.”
In a brief interview on Wednesday, Kelman said his political contributions to Napier were solely a function of knowing the candidate’s family his whole life.
“One had nothing to do with the other,” Kelman said. “We’re happy to see the direction (Napier) has chosen. I believe the community has really started to come together and support Mr. Napier.”