The money is being routed through a nonprofit.
The money is being routed through a nonprofit. ·  View in browser
NEWSLETTER
 
It’s unclear who exactly is bankrolling the spending of the Alliance to Protect Home Care, which spent $10.6 million last year on a public relations campaign criticizing Governor Kathy Hochul’s overhaul of a popular but pricey home care program. Photo: Ron Lach / Pexels
The money is being routed through a nonprofit — possibly running afoul of state lobbying rules.
By Chris Bragg

Governor Kathy Hochul is facing fierce opposition to her overhaul of a popular but pricey home care program that allows people with chronic medical issues to choose their own caregivers and pay them through Medicaid.

The Alliance to Protect Home Care, a social welfare nonprofit, has blitzed the airwaves with TV ads alleging that Hochul’s plan, which charges a single company with running the multibillion-dollar program, puts “lives at risk.” The group spent $10.6 million last year on a public relations campaign criticizing the move — the second-highest-spending lobbying campaign in Albany that year.

But it’s unclear who exactly is bankrolling Alliance’s spending. That’s because its donations are being routed through another nonprofit that was created on the same day as the Alliance.​​ Only the name of the nonprofit — not the individual donors — appears in the Alliance’s lobbying disclosure reports.

According to those reports, the Alliance received almost $14.2 million in donations between June and December. More than $10 million, or 75 percent, came from the separate nonprofit.

The tactic could run afoul of state lobbying rules, which are meant to curb the use of pass-through entities that obscure lobbying funders.

Recent Stories

 
 
After footage of the killing of Robert Brooks sparked national outcry, Governor Kathy Hochul promised to fully equip New York prisons with cameras. The project has stalled for years.
By Rebecca McCray and Chris Gelardi

When Jaquan Myers was sent to the Franklin Correctional Facility infirmary last summer, bleeding and hyperventilating, he knew he couldn’t do anything about the incident that landed him there.

At least three guards had pulled his hair, choked him, and smashed his face against a wall before pepper spraying him and throwing him into a van, he said. Before the assault, he’d filed grievances against one of the guards, who’d repeatedly denied him recreational time.

Myers was too terrified to file a complaint about the assault — especially because his only proof was his injuries. There were no cameras in the processing room where they beat him up or the van where they stashed him, he said, and the guards who attacked him weren’t equipped with body-worn cameras.

“Cameras make a big difference because they show both sides,” Myers told New York Focus.

Franklin Correctional Facility is one of the more than 30 New York state prisons that lack full camera coverage, according to the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, even though the agency launched a statewide prison camera program a decade ago. Around then, DOCCS also launched one of the nation’s first prison body-worn camera initiatives, but as of October, only seven of 42 facilities had body cameras for every guard on duty.

 
Advocates say the confusion around Governor Hochul’s recent comments highlights the need for a statutory standard governing collaboration with federal immigration enforcement. Photos: Governor Kathy Hochul, Immigration and Customs Enforcement / Flickr
The governor’s announcement appears to expand New York’s ability to cooperate with federal immigration authorities — but it’s not clear if the state has actually changed its policy.
By Julia Rock and Chris Gelardi

Governor Kathy Hochul sparked confusion about New York’s role in deportation operations this week when her office released a list of four broad circumstances under which state officials can collaborate with federal immigration enforcement.

Her office told Gothamist that the state may cooperate with the feds when someone is “suspected of an immigration crime” or convicted of a state-level crime — categories far more sweeping than Hochul’s past comments suggesting that the state will only help the new presidential administration deport people convicted of “serious” offenses.

Experts aren’t sure whether to interpret the list as a change in state policy. The governor’s office did not answer questions from New York Focus about whether the list represents a new policy or whether state agencies had been notified about it, but said it was in line with an existing state executive order that limits collaboration between the state and federal immigration enforcement.

 

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Staying Focused is compiled and written by Alex Arriaga
Contact Alex at alex@nysfocus.com

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