A group of entities located in or tied to Kiryas Joel deposited $250,000 in Gov. Andrew Cuomo's campaign account on Monday and Tuesday, less than a week after the governor vetoed two bills spawned by the Kiryas Joel annexation controversy that leaders of that community strenuously opposed, according to the financial disclosure report Cuomo's campaign filed this week.
Cuomo's haul included eight $25,000 checks from four limited liability corporations that listed the same address in Brooklyn and that appear to be connected to Mayer Hirsch, a Kiryas Joel resident and former village trustee who oversees the land development arm of Kiryas Joel's main congregation. Three of the entities that made contributions listed Hirsch's home address in Kiryas Joel when they were incorporated in 2012 and 2013.
The remaining $50,000 came in a single check from a limited liability corporation that listed the home address in Kiryas Joel of Hirsch's son, Jacob.
The disclosure of the donations has further infuriated activists who supported the bills that Cuomo vetoed, one of which would have enabled Orange County planners to recommend approval or rejection of two pending proposals to annex 507 acres or 164 acres into Kiryas Joel from the Town of Monroe. Emily Convers, chairwoman of the United Monroe citizens group, called the sudden infusion of campaign cash an obvious payment for services rendered by the governor.
"For anyone to doubt for a second who Cuomo is working for and what motivated him to veto, look no further than this blatant purchase of an elected leader," Convers said on Friday. "When those opposed to an environmental oversight bill are screaming 'anti-Semitism' and paying off the governor, it's hard not to make that assumption. It's despicable."
...
Reached on his cell phone Friday afternoon, Mayer Hirsch said he would have to look into the contributions and couldn't discuss them until Monday. Vaad Hakiryah, the landholding entity he oversees, owns almost a third of the 285 undeveloped acres included in the larger annexation request.
Can't get more blatant quid pro quo than this - Cuomo vetoes legislation that Kiryas Joel residents want vetoed because it might curtail the village's expansion, then the fellow who oversees land development for the village sends Cuomo $250,000 via eight checks from four different LLC's.
If you're like me, you don't know much about Kiryas Joel - you can read more about the village here.
Let's just say that land acquisition is a big thing for the Village of Kiryas Joel and Cuomo did them a big favor when he killed legislation that might have kept the village from expanding.
Bill Mahoney from Capital NY reported on this first and you can read his story here.
There often aren't many comments on Capital NY stories, but this one got a bunch:
RBE-Please stop the plaintive cries for Preety Boy.Just another hack LAWYER/POLITICAL OPERATIVE..You are in over your head and not living up to your moniker.
ReplyDeleteIt's actually sarcasm, not plaintiveness.
DeleteBut thanks for sharing!
Yeah. For those of us in the Hudson Valley this is an open sore of a topic. First, these orthodox communities ARE seriously problematic from educational, environmental, and civil/social perspectives. It is extraordinarily difficult to have "the conversation," especially when one is a person of the left, believes in an open, inclusive, diverse, and liberal society. Its hard because the charge of "antisemitism" is quickly and easily deployed, and tends to be a conversation killer. It also makes more liberal folk avoid the conversation entirely because we would never want to be called antisemitic.
ReplyDeleteNevertheless, there are serious issues. If a full investigation of the schools within or near these communities could ever be done, shocking things would come to light. Anyway, the most diplomatic thing to say would be that any religious group that parks itself on the fundamentalist side of things is hugely problematic and those problems can and do effect civil society at large. Period.
So, that said, about the Cuomo thing.
Duh. And its legal. Nowhere will there be any piece of evidence that records Cuomo himself saying for $x I will veto this legislation." Thats the bar. That evidence does not exist. It was not a crime according to the laws on the books. Period. And what did Cuomo really do for himself with this play? And no its not really the 6 figure bump he got....its a dependable, sizable, and active voting block. X thousands of votes in one fell swoop. That is gold in a state where primaries are decided on tens of thousands of votes, not hundreds of thousands. THATS the deal here.
And people thought Cuomo would make it to a 3rd term. Or would be primaried out. Or would lose a general. NOPE.
He'll run again, will win a primary, and will win a general. This is one of the ways he will.
As I was looking into this village last night, I discovered that EVERY student was designated "special education," which is extraordinary when you think about it.
Delete"He'll run again, will win a primary, and will win a general. This is one of the ways he will."
DeleteI'm sure his father thought the same thing in 1994 when nobody in the state new who George Pataki was.
To follow the Kiryas Joel saga, you might like to check out the Failed Messiah blog.
ReplyDeleteI started reading through it last night. Yes, very good coverage of Kiryas Joel.
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