New York Governor Kathy Hochul gave a no-bid $637,000,000 contract to a top campaign supporter after she unilaterally suspended New York’s competitive bidding law. The same day the donor offered to be the middle man for the COVID-19 tests, Hochul agreed to pay twice the price.
“Gov. Kathy Hochul maintains that when her administration paid a vendor $637 million last winter for COVID-19 tests, she was unaware the recipient was a campaign donor.
‘I was not aware that this was a company that had been supportive of me’, Hochul told reporters at a July 20th press briefing. ‘I don't keep track of that. My team, they have no idea’.
Yet a month before the Hochul administration struck the deals, records show, the company's founder threw an in-person campaign fundraiser for Hochul.
According to Hochul's campaign disclosure forms, the November 22nd fundraiser was thrown by Charlie Tebele, founder of Digital Gadgets LLC. A month later, the company would begin reaping $637 million in payments from Hochul’s administration to facilitate the purchase of 52 million at-home, rapid coronavirus tests.
The deal was enabled by Hochul's revived suspension of competitive bidding rules for the administration's purchase of COVID-19 supplies — a policy change that had also been put in place for a time by former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo. Through an emergency executive order, Hochul suspended those rules on November 26th, four days after the Tebele fundraiser.
A Hochul spokeswoman did not directly address the governor's July statement that she'd been unaware Digital Gadgets was associated with a campaign supporter.
Hazel Crampton-Hays, a spokeswoman for Hochul, said the governor ‘did not oversee the procurement process and was not involved in the day-to-day procurement decisions’.
‘She simply instructed her team to purchase as many available tests as possible to meet the tremendous need across the state, and they did exactly that to keep New Yorkers safe. As we have always said, campaign donations do not have any influence on government decisions and we reject any implication otherwise’, Crampton-Hays said.
The Tebele family has donated nearly $300,000 to Hochul’s campaign, and Tebele has thrown her two campaign fundraisers: One a month before the purchase orders were executed, and one on April 10th, two weeks after the payments were complete.
In instances involving other campaign donors, emails show Hochul has discussed state government business at fundraisers, and her campaign staff helped connect those donors with high-ranking staff in Hochul’s Executive Chamber.
Tebele's attorney told the Times Union in July that, ‘Mr. Tebele has never had a conversation about (Department of Health) business with the governor — ever’.
According to Digital Gadgets, Tebele never spoke to the Hochul campaign about providing the COVID-19 tests. Digital Gadgets, which had previously landed state contracts, became ‘aware of the need for tests based on public media reports’, according to the company.
Digital Gadgets declined to say how the company came into contact with the Hochul administration concerning the sale. Hochul's campaign declined to answer questions about any interaction between its staff or the governor with the company.
In selling the antigen tests to New York, Tebele’s company charged a far higher price per test than other vendors the state used last winter. California bought the same test Tebele was selling for a price of 45 percent less per unit.
Unlike California, which bought the AccessBio ‘Carestart’ test directly from the manufacturer, the Hochul administration bought them through Digital Gadgets, a third-party distributor that took an unspecified cut.
On November 22nd, Tebele paid $5,150 for food, decorations and wait staff for the Hochul campaign fundraising event, according to Hochul's campaign filing. Charlie Tebele’s wife, Nancy, donated $18,000 to Hochul on that date.
According her schedules, Hochul attended two ‘private events’ in the New York City area on the evening of November 22nd. During that same time period, she frequently attended government-related meetings concerning the COVID-19 pandemic. High-level staffers, including Director of State Operations Kathryn Garcia, were involved in striking the deals with Digital Gadgets.
Also in November, a younger member of the Tebele family began working as a paid intern for Hochul’s campaign fundraising staff, according to his LinkedIn profile. On December 15th, Hochul’s campaign made its first payment to James Tebele, an undergraduate student at New York University who is listed in campaign records as having the same Manhattan address as Charlie and Nancy Tebele. James Tebele was later hired to a full staff position as a campaign ‘finance associate’.
On December 16th, Hochul’s campaign received $20,000 from Leon Tebele, who is also listed as having the same Manhattan address as the couple.
Four days later, on December 20th, Charlie Tebele made an offer to sell the Hochul administration 26 million coronavirus rapid antigen test for $13 apiece — an offer the Hochul administration approved that same day”. -Chris Bragg, Times Union
I’ve no idea why on Earth people are still getting themselves tested for COVID-19. If they still feel the need to get tested, then they ought to just pay for it with their own money.
New York has a population of approximately 19 million, yet Hochul purchased 52 million test kits.
This coronavirus emergency response has had a way of bringing out the grifters and crooks. And their brazen, criminal kickback schemes have defrauded New York taxpayers to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars.
Regrettably, New York State Attorney General Letticia James is only interested in investigating Donald Trump at the moment, which means the Governor will get to put the ill-gotten $300,000 campaign contribution into use.