Change in plans for Hochul trip
Sources say governor was headed to Boston fundraiser hosted by construction tycoon
Gov. Kathy Hochul was scheduled to attend a campaign fundraiser in Massachusetts on Wednesday hosted by a Boston construction magnate, John Fish, who won a lucrative contract under the governor’s predecessor that raised questions for a rival bidder, according to people with knowledge of the event.
The governor’s public schedule indicated she was traveling to Boston, but didn’t list the reason.
Fish is chairman and CEO of Boston-based Suffolk Construction Company. Fish already gave the maximum donation to Hochul of $69,700 in December, but according to her campaign, was simply “hosting (Wednesday’s) event and inviting others in his network,” not donating more.
After this story’s initial publication online Wednesday, Hochul released an updated schedule at 6:29 p.m. stating she was in New York City “and will no longer travel to Boston.” A campaign spokesman cited “scheduling complications.”
The fundraiser in Boston did not go ahead without Hochul, according to Hochul’s campaign; whether it will occur in the future is “to be determined.”
Fish was also a major donor to former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo — giving nearly $135,000 to his political fund between 2017 and 2019 — and in 2020, Suffolk Construction won a significant contract from the Cuomo administration to modernize and expand the Jamaica Armory in Queens, despite being the third lowest bidder.
Like Hochul, Cuomo long maintained that campaign donations did not impact his administration’s policy decisions.
“Contracts were always awarded on an agency level and state business or issues were not discussed at fundraisers, something that — according to what I read — appears to have changed,” said Cuomo spokesman Richard Azzopardi, apparently referring to a recent Times Union story about Hochul’s fundraising practices.
During Cuomo’s tenure, when competitive bidding was conducted for the project by the Office of General Services in 2020, Suffolk Construction’s $81.3 million bid was $7.6 million greater than the lowest bid, which came from a New Jerseybased DMD Contracting.
DMD Contracting — as well as the second lowest bidder, Brooklyn-based AWL Industries — were disqualified by the Office of General Services, which determined that their bids were “nonresponsive.”
DMD did not contest the determination. But according to documents obtained by the Times Union last year through a Freedom of Information Law request, AWL strongly protested the Cuomo administration’s determination in a 74-page submission.
AWL’S president, Robert Pavlovich, said Wednesday he’d thought about suing the Cuomo administration — but was dissuaded by business associates, who relayed that Suffolk Construction was “politically connected and gives money to Democrats.”
“And I just decided to give it up,” Pavlovich said.
In an initial protest letter to the Cuomo administration, the company noted that an in-person, pre-award meeting had been held between the company and the agency. Afterwards, OGS had sent the company an email on Sept. 3, 2020 asking for certain additional documents.
But in that email, OGS did not identify any of the alleged deficiencies that the agency would cite six days later in rejecting AWL’S bid submission.
On Sept. 9, 2020, OGS alleged that in submitting a bid, AWL had not demonstrated it had previously performed a project of the scope of its $79.8 million proposal for the Jamaica Armory redevelopment.
But AWL argued it had shown a history of completing simultaneous $75 million projects related to Superstorm Sandy recovery — and that at the pre-award meeting, OGS expressed no concerns whether AWL had performed a project of a similar size.
In rejecting the firm’s bid, OGS cited “deficiencies” in AWL’S work plan, an analysis that AWL stated was “blatantly inaccurate” and failed to properly review its submission.
OGS stated in a response later that month AWL had provided “no substantive information to change the OGS position that AWL does not sufficiently understand the proposed project.”
“OGS is thorough in its evaluation of bid responses in order to ensure that we are awarding contracts that combine quality of work with cost-effective pricing,” OGS spokeswoman Heather Groll said on Wednesday. “AWL was the second-lowest bidder from a cost standpoint, but did not meet the bid requirements.”
Suffolk Construction did not respond to requests for comment on Wednesday. According to records maintained by the state comptroller’s office, the value of Suffolk’s contract has now grown to $86.7 million after amendments made during Hochul’s governorship.
Boston magazine has twice named Fish the city’s most powerful person, according to his Wikipedia page, and according to Suffolk’s Linkedin page, the company generates $4.5 billion in annual revenue. The company has offices across the country, including New York City. He was also a major fundraiser for President Barack Obama.
Cuomo was a prolific campaign fundraiser, but never raised as much money as quickly as Hochul, who during her first five months in the governor’s office last year raised nearly $22 million. Like Cuomo, much of her fundraising has come from people with business interests before New York’s government.