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NY hotel industry showers Gov. Kathy

Hochul with campaign cash following
bailout plan
By Carl Campanile and Zach Williams October 23, 2022 8:35pm Updated

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New York’s hotel industry doesn’t seem to have any
61,634
reservations about Gov. Kathy Hochul — showering her
campaign in donations after she delivered a massive post-
bailout .
The powerful hotel workers union and owners have directed
donations totaling in the six figures to the Democratic
incumbent’s re-election bid since she steered a big chunk of
her $450 million tourism revival program to the pandemic- Kim Kardashian splurges at In-N-Out
after 42nd birthday party gets derailed
avaged industry last fall, a Post review of campaign records
reveals.
45,300
A key element of the recovery plan included a 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 Princeton student's family says key
details of her death are being withheld
Hochul. The Hotel Trades Council was also one of the first major unions to endorse Hochul’s bid against from them
Republican challenger Rep. Lee Zeldin.

A political action committee that includes the local hotel workers union, UNITE HERE , donated $50,000 to 37,706
Hochul on June 22.

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Gov. Kathy Hochul received six figures worth of donations from hotel union workers and owners.
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The Tisch family, which owns the Loews Corporation and Loews Regency hotel on Park Avenue, donated more than
$250,000.
AP/Seth Wenig

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.
Brad Pitt meets with F1 team bosses
Hotel owners and other industry players also showered Hochul with campaign dough. amid star-studded US Grand Prix

The Tisch family, which owns the Loews Corporation and Loews Regency hotel on Park Avenue, Cardi B slams Madonna: ‘Icons’
donated more than $250,000. CEO James Tisch, hotels chairman Jonathan Tisch and hotels become ‘disappointments’
president Alex Tisch maxed out by donating $69,700 each to Hochul. Other family members gave
at least $65,000. Behind Boris Johnson’s stay at
Dominican Republic resort Casa de
Campo
Dan Tishman, of Tishman Construction and Realty and his wife, Sheryl, donated $69,700 each to
Hochul, or a combined $139,400.
See All

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. Video
Gramercy Park Hotel owner Ian Schrager, meanwhile, gave $10,000 to the governor’s campaign. Disturbing video captures man run
over by car after falling in NYC street
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 contract award.

Her millions of dollars in donations include contributions from casino operators and real estate interests
vying for three new downstate gaming licenses and developments.

Tyler Morse, the CEO and Managing Partner of MCR, gave $60,700 in contributions to Gov. Hochul.
Getty Images for Hotel Association

GOP gubernatorial rival Zeldin charged that the generous donations from hoteliers and unions following
Hochul propping the industry is another example 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.

“On November 8th, New Yorkers are going to clean up Albany by cleaning house and electing a new
governor.”

Hochul’s office defended her actions to revive the struggling hotel and tourism sectors, and brushed off
concerns about the subsequent campaign donations.

The TWA Terminal Hotel is owned by Morse, who donated to the New York governor.
Robert Miller

“To support struggling businesses and workers in the hard-hit tourism and hospitality sector, which was
New York’s third-largest industry prior to the pandemic and generated more than $100 billion a year in
economic impact, Governor Hochul launched a multi-pronged recovery package to bring back tourism and
bring back those good-paying jobs, as part of our comprehensive efforts to support hardworking New
Yorkers and deliver New York’s economic comeback,” Hochul spokeswoman Hazel Crampton-Hays said
in a statement.

She added, “Since taking office, Governor Hochul has been laser-focused on building New York’s
economy back stronger than ever, and under the Governor’s leadership, unemployment is at the lowest
rate since the pandemic, we’ve added over 360,000 private sector jobs in the last year, and New York
secured a $100 billion project from Micron creating up to 50,000 jobs — the largest economic
development project in our state’s history.”

Hotel Trades Council spokesman Austin Shaffran defended the union’s donations to Hochul after she
helped workers laid off during the COVID-19 pandemic, and boasted that HTC was one of the first major
unions to back the Democrat’s re-election.

Gramercy Park Hotel owner Ian Schrager gave $10,000 to the governor’s campaign.
Natan Dvir

“The recovery funds that Governor Hochul announced was a lifeline that kept these tens of thousands of
workers off of the poverty line. I mean, without it, you would have, you know, tens of thousands more
working families that had already been out of work for almost two years. without any financial assistance
whatsoever,” Shaffran told the Post Sunday.

“So it was a critical moment when the governor announced that source of funding for an industry I’ll

remind you that saw upwards of 90% unemployment,” he added.

He said HTC and its members have “done anything within our power and under the law to help Gov.
Hochul get elected and they’re going to continue to do so because she’s delivered for working families
during the most challenging moment.”

185 What do you think? Post a comment.

Shaffran emphasized that HTC had no role in other donations given to Hochul by the parent union
representing hotel workers nationwide, United Here, as they operate independently.

The union spokesman insisted there was no quid pro quo, noting that the donations to Hochul came after
the governor announced the recovery fund and following the HTC endorsement of her.

Individual campaign contributors, including Schrager, Morse, Tishman and James Tisch had no immediate
comment.

Filed under campaign contributions Coronavirus in NY gramercy park hotel hotels

ian schrager jonathan tisch kathy hochul lee zeldin loews regency unions 10/23/22

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