Basking in the Lobbyist Love

With March not even over, state lawmakers and Gov. Cuomo have managed to hold 125 campaign fundraisers in Albany this year, the Times Union reports. The New York Times notes that there were nine the other night alone.

And every one of them was about getting cash from lobbyists, not the general public. Every special interest has to give when lawmakers are considering the state budget.

This is New York’s “reform” Legislature, elected on promises to clean up Albany.

At least 29 states ban fundraisers in their capitals during legislative sessions. In New York, Assemblywoman Sandy Galef ’s bill to prohibit fundraisers within 15 miles of the Capitol when the Legislature is in session has languished for years. Not that the game is Albany-exclusive. Last week, Gov. Cuomo held a hush-hush fundraiser at the St. Regis Hotel in Midtown, filling the ballroom with reps from labor unions and the cannabis, cable-TV, financial, real-estate, insurance and health-care industries — all with business before the state.

“Ideally there shouldn’t be fundraisers during budget negotiations or during the time the Legislature is in session,” notes Susan Lerner of NY Common Cause. Ideally — but this is New York. With Democrats now controlling the state Senate as well as the Assembly, it’s safe to expect some “reforms” this year — namely, ones that also happen to advantage the Democratic Party.

In that light, Cuomo has vowed to close the “LLC loophole” that allows huge donations from real-estate interests and the like — a convenient pledge for a guy who’ll likely never run another campaign in the state.

In the meantime, he’ll rake in the cash — just in case.