On Jan. 13, Democratic governor candidate Congressman Tom Suozzi, held a virtual conference calling for the NYS Attorney General to investigate Governor Hochul’s misuse of taxpayer-funded state aircraft, which is in violation of State Ethics Law.
“Actions speak louder than words. The Governor has released her public schedule, only for her first 45 days in office. It turns out in the first 45 days, Governor Hochul used the taxpayer-funded state aircraft 45 times,” stated Suozzi.
Within those 45 days Hochul held 64 private events, while the number of COVID-19 cases increased.
Suozzi presented a 30-second video, a clip of Governor Hochul speaking when she first took office claiming to “focus on open, ethical governing that New Yorkers will trust.”
An article mentioned by Suozzi by the Albany Times Union states that in the first four months of office, Governor Hochul did not disclose any meetings with lobbyists.
“Meanwhile, lobbyists have disclosed over 200 meetings directly lobbying her office,” Suozzi said.
This has not halted Hochul’s efforts to raise money at a continuous pace, resulting in a collection of over $125,000 per day, according to Suozzi.
Another instance mentioned by Suozzi was when “…the governor flew from Albany to NYC. She attended a bill signing, and then she held three private events across New York City, and then out on Long Island and she flew back to Albany from MacArthur airport.”
Suozzi is concerned that during the COVID-19 surge around the holidays, Hochul “…was busy politicking and fundraising” rather than developing and initiating a comprehensive plan against the pandemic during that time.
Hochul’s staff claims that every request to use the state aircraft was reviewed by Counsel. Suozzi asked to “see those requests for use of state aircraft.”
Before Hochul took office, she was denied use of state aircraft to attend a political fundraiser in Buffalo. After Hochul became governor, she proceeded to use the taxpayer-funded state aircraft repeatedly. She has not reimbursed the state according to Suozzi.
Suozzi hopes Hochul will make good of her promise of transparency by releasing the full daily schedule from Aug. 24 to the present day as well as all requests to Counsel for use of the state aircraft and any denials of those requests including a full list of who she met with during her “private events.” Furthermore, an immediate reimbursement of taxpayers for improper travel, and for Hochul to return money for “private events” with lobbyists on any of the taxpayer-funded trips.
“As governor, I’ll ban the use of the state airplane and helicopter for any non-official event and I’m calling on Governor Hochul to do the same starting right now,” Suozzi said.
Original source can be found here.
