Rather Than Fight Him, Lobbying Interests Were For Cuomo
Between January and October, nearly $188 million was spent on lobbying in New York, with the biggest spending on helping Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s first-year agenda, a review by the New York Public Interest Research Group found today.
The total spending is about $26 million short of 2010’s record breaking total for the full year, but NYPIRG’s Bill Mahoney said the spending so far this year is on pace to break last year’s mark.
And the spending this year—unlike most years when lobbyists ramp up to fight a governor’s agenda and budget—this year the biggest spenders were to help Cuomo with his cost-cutting agenda.
The business-backed Committee to Save New York spent $9,767,608, mainly in ads to promote the first-term governor’s message to cut the state budget and impose a property-tax cap. 1199/SEIU GNYHA Healthcare Education Project spent $6,802,949—also on ads to promote Cuomo’s plan to overhaul Medicaid.
“I think this illustrates Governor Cuomo’s ability to get a lot of these big interests to work on his side rather than against him,” Mahoney said.
In 2010, the American Beverage Association spent $12.9 million on a campaign to defeat then-Gov. David Paterson’s proposed tax on soda.
NYSUT spent the third most so far this year, $4 million.
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