For the average New Yorker, the economy is in shambles. However, if you happen to be connected to the New York political elite, business is booming.
Governor Kathy Hochul’s health department has awarded a stunning $637 million in no-bid contracts to a company led by one of her major donors, for the supply of junk COVID products like tests, masks, and other “medical” devices.
Hochul megadonor Charlie Tebele, who has contributed some $300,000 to her campaign, has scored major business from COVID Mania, securing some hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer funds. Before securing the money from offices controlled by his sponsored politicians, Tebele transformed his electronic device outfit (a company called Digital Gadgets) into a COVID-19 business.
The Albany Times Union reports that Tebel received “$637 million in taxpayer funds to provide the state Department of Health — an agency controlled by Hochul — with at-home COVID-19 test kits,” adding, “the huge expenditure was made without the agency conducting competitive bidding.”
New: A family donated $300K to Gov. Hochul. New York has paid the family business $637 million since the end of December. https://t.co/3Ds7rdJNDX
— Chris Bragg (@ChrisBragg1) July 19, 2022
According to OpenBookNY, the democrat megadonor has received all of the $637 million over the course of the last 7 months, over 29 separate payments.
The timing and nature of the deal gives off the stench of massive corruption in Hochul’s office.
One month prior to the no-bid contract being awarded, Hochul signed an executive order suspending “competitive bidding for certain contracts as well as the normal contract review and approval process conducted by [the New York Department of Health], which oversees state government spending,” the Times Union adds.
Tebele’s business is far from “essential,” as the company does not even manufacture the “COVID PPE” products that it supplies, which are likely made in China. It only acts as a “wholesaler,” or really, a middleman, for the goods. Before pivoting into COVID-19 as a business, his company sold electronic gadgets like hoverboards.
Under Kathy Hochul, New York has become fully committed to embracing COVID Mania. In ordering countless rounds of lockdowns and other mandates, Hochul has routinely outed herself as a power drunk authoritarian menace. Now we know she’s both corrupt and tyrannical.
