A couple with ties to a firm that’s been awarded hundreds of millions in Medicaid transportation contracts over the years has driven more than $300,000 combined into the campaign coffers of former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and current Gov. Kathy Hochul, records reviewed by The Post reveal.
Critics say the donations are a textbook case of Albany’s pay-to-play culture that allows bidders and contractors to give massive campaign contributions to the governor whose agencies oversee them. By comparison, New York City law limits donations from bidders and contractors to the mayor and have business Big Apple agencies to $400.
The firm, Medical Answering Services, founded by president Russ Maxwell in 2004, was awarded eight contracts totaling $403.7 million by the state Health Department from 2011 through 2018. Four of the contracts don’t expire until next year.
Maxwell and his spouse, Morgan McDole, dropped $236,000 into Cuomo’s campaign coffers over those years.
The couple has also dumped more than $100,000 combined into the campaign coffers of Hochul, as governor and lieutenant governor under Cuomo — and the Hochul-controlled state Democratic Committee.
McDole, for instance, gave three contributions totaling $52,600 to Hochul over the past year — $22,600 on Jan. 8, 2021, $10,000 on Sept. 9, 2021 shortly after she became governor and $20,000 on April 24 of this year.
McDole donated another $20,000 to the Hochul-influenced state Democratic Party on April 27 of this year.
Meanwhile, Maxwell has donated $32,100 to Hochul since 2018 and $176,000 to Cuomo during his tenure. McDole donated another $60,000 to Cuomo.
“It’s a perfect example that shows how lax state campaign finance laws are,” said John Kaehny, director of the government watchdog group Reinvent Albany.
“It looks like pay to play. It destroys public trust in government. New York City government is way head of the state on this.”
Senate Elections Committee Chairman Zellnor Myrie (D-Brooklyn) passed a bill that would ban campaign contributions during a bidding process and six months after an award was given to a winning bidder. But the legislation stalled in the state Assembly.
“New York State’s purse is massive. Any bidder seeking taxpayer dollars should be free of political influence,” Myrie said.
“The proposal is about restoring trust in the bidding process that has been lacking. The current system looks like people have to give campaign donations to grease the wheels. It’s unacceptable.”
A rep for Maxwell insisted that the contractor and his spouse’s donations were not connected to the contracts his firm was awarded. The eight contracts range from $15 million to $120 million to provide transportation to Medicaid recipients in all parts of the state, including New York City, records with the comptroller’s office show.
The Health Department said Medical Answering Services was awarded another contract in the 2020-21 budget after a request for proposal was put out in accordance with state law.
Maxwell’s firm acts as a contractor or broker that works with transportation providers to pick up and drop off Medicaid recipients, meaning his company doesn’t pocket the total amount in the contract.
“Russ Maxwell has been involved in state and local politics for more than 30 years, including a run for State Assembly in 1992. He’s supported many candidates and political causes over the years,” said Maxwell spokesman Patrick McCarthy.
“Russ and his husband supported former Gov. Cuomo’s efforts to legalize gay marriage in New York, and he’s known Gov. Hochul for decades dating back to her days on the Hamburg Town Board, and as [Erie] County Clerk. Russ supports candidates for office who have a vision for New York’s future, that future is important to Russ, his family, and the hundreds of men and women who work at MAS.”
The rep also said that Maxwell has helped the state achieve savings and efficiencies in New York’s highest-in-the-nation $92.7 billion Medicaid budget, which provides publicly-funded health insurance coverage to the needy.
Prior to the first state contract award, Maxwell’s contributions were more modest. For example, he gave two contributions to gubernatorial candidate Eliot Spitzer for $1,000 and $500 in 2005.
Subsequently, Maxwell donated $25,000 to Cuomo’s campaign committee on July 9, 2012 and he continued to make fat contributions to Cuomo as more contracts were renewed or awarded.
Hochul and Cuomo, both criticized for their aggressive fundraising of people with business before the state, insisted they’re not influenced by campaign donations.
“Consistent with Governor Hochul’s commitment to maintain high ethical standards, campaign contributions have no influence on government decisions,” said Hochul’s campaign spokesman Jerrel Harvey.
Cuomo spokesman Richard Azzopardi said, “Can’t speak to how things are currently, but contracting was always done on the agency level – period. The two unmovable rules in Albany are that critics like to criticize and love reading their names in the paper.”
The Health Department said Maxwell’s firm was awarded contracts on the merits after competitive bidding — without involvement from the governor’s office.
“The Department of Health has contracted with this vendor for more than a decade to provide critical transportation services to Medicaid patients and, after a competitive bidding process, awarded this vendor a procurement authorized under the State Fiscal Year 2020-21 Budget to provide nonemergency medical transportation brokerage management services for New Yorkers enrolled in the Medicaid program,” said state Health Department spokesman Cort Ruddy.
“The procurement evaluated both technical and cost considerations as outlined in the RFP and in accordance with State Finance Law. The Executive Chamber does not provide input on procurements managed by the Department and had no involvement in the selection of the awardee.”
Hochul has faced scrutiny for renewing a state of emergency for COVID-19 for months that has suspended state purchasing rules which, the Times Union recently reported, let a rapid testing company called Digital Gadgets — led by a campaign donor — secure $637 million in no-bid business from the state Department of Health since December.
The owner of the company, Charlie Tebele, and his family, have given nearly $300,000 to Hochul as she runs for election to her post against Republican gubernatorial nominee Rep. Lee Zeldin.
Hochul has also collected hefty contributions from other other firms with business before the state — cannabis operators, film companies, casino operators and the real estate industry.
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