Kat’s political inn-$iders
Hotel industry empties pockets for gov
New York’s hotel industry doesn’t seem to have any reservations about Gov. Hochul — showering her campaign in donations after she delivered a massive post-pandemic bailout.
The powerful hotel workers’ union and owners have directed donations totaling in the six figures to the Democratic incumbent’s reelection bid since she steered a big chunk of her $450 million tourism revival program to the pandemic-ravaged industry last fall, a Post review of campaign records reveals.
A key element of the recovery plan included a $100 million Tourism Worker Recovery Fund that provided a one-time payment of $2,750 to up to 36,000 hotel workers and other tourism-industry workers whose unemployment benefits expired.
Shortly after, the unions representing hotel workers, which helped negotiate the deal, pumped $147,200 into the governor’s campaign committee, Friends for Kathy Hochul. The Hotel Trades Council was also one of the first major unions to endorse Hochul’s bid against GOP challenger Rep. Lee Zeldin.
Generous bunch
A political action committee that includes the local hotel workers union, UNITE HERE, donated $50,000 to Hochul on June 22. The Hotel Trades Council dropped another $50,000 into the coffers of a pro-Hochul super PAC, Empire State Forward, in April, bringing the hotel workers’ union-linked donations to Hochul to nearly $250,000.
Hotel owners and other industry players also showered Hochul with campaign dough.
The Tisch family, which owns the Loews Corporation and Loews Regency on Park Avenue, donated more than $250,000. CEO James Tisch, hotels chairman Jonathan Tisch and hotels president Alex Tisch maxed out by donating $69,700 each to Hochul. Other family members gave at least $65,000.
Dan Tishman of Tishman Construction and Realty and his wife, Sheryl, donated $69,700 each to Hochul, or a combined $139,400.
Tyler Morse, whose company owns the TWA hotel at JFK Airport, the Sheraton New York Times Square Hotel and the High Line Hotel, gave $60,700 in contributions to Hochul that began last December.
Gramercy Park Hotel owner Ian Schrager gave $10,000 to the governor’s campaign.
Vijay Dandapani, president and CEO of the New York City Hotel Association, donated $5,000, saying: “Gov. Hochul said she would be supportive of jobs for the hotel industry. The association wanted to support her.”
The support comes on the heels of Hochul being accused of pay-to-play politics with firms that have business before the state. New Jersey-based Digital Gadgets owner Charles Tebele and others tied to the company, for instance, gave more than $300,000 in donations and scored a no-bid contract for $637 million in COVID-19 test kits that critics claim overcharged New York taxpayers. Hochul denied donations had an impact on the selection.
‘Kickback Kathy’
Zeldin charged that the generous donations from hoteliers and unions following Hochul aiding the industry is another case of pay-to-play corruption.
“It’s no surprise there is yet another major scandal brewing after Kickback Kathy Hochul found yet another way to line her campaign coffers on the backs of hard-working New Yorkers. When Hochul was sworn in as Governor last year, she immediately decided that the only way she’d be able to raise tens of millions of dollars was by corruptly selling out access to her office,” Zeldin said.
Hochul’s office defended her actions as helping to revive the struggling hotel and tourism sectors.