Gov vetoes lobbying transparency bill

Governor Kathy Hochul speaks at a rally in January 2023 in support of her then-chief judge nominee, Hector LaSalle. In the background, supporters hold signs paid for by opaque lobbying group Citizens for Judicial Fairness. Hochul vetoed a bill last week that would have required groups like Citizens for Judicial Fairness make their lobbying efforts a matter of public record. File photo via Hochul’s office

By Jacob Kaye

The governor late last week vetoed a bi-partisan bill created in response to lobbying efforts in support of and against her failed pick for chief judge, Hector LaSalle, earlier this year.

Governor Kathy Hochul on Friday rejected what lawmakers dubbed the “lobbying loophole” bill, which would have required detailed and public reports on lobbying done for any state office nominations, including judicial nominees.

Led by Queens State Senator Michael Gianaris, the legislation was introduced earlier this year following the contentious chief judge nomination of LaSalle. The judge’s nomination saw unprecedented and legally undisclosed lobbying efforts from both supporters and opponents of the eventual failed nominee.

In her rejection of the bill last week, Hochul said that the scope of the bill would make it too far reaching.

She also appeared to take issue with a provision in the bill that would require retroactive reporting on lobbying efforts surrounding state office nominations dating back to Jan. 1, 2023, a date that would include a vast majority of the spending made regarding LaSalle’s nomination.

At least two of the groups attempting to influence the judicial nomination process rallied alongside Hochul in support of LaSalle, who became the first chief judge nominee to be rejected by the State Senate in the history of the state earlier this year.

“This bill would broadly expand the definition of reportable lobbying to include the nomination of a person to state office or their confirmation by the State Senate,” Hochul’s veto of the bill reads. “This bill would impose significant new reporting requirements on people who might not already be reporters, retroactive January 1, 2023.”

“Additionally, this would impose implementation costs not already accounted for in the state financial plan,” she added. “Therefore, I am constrained to veto this bill.”

Gianaris, whose vocal opposition to LaSalle’s nomination sparked a wave of vows from lawmakers to vote against the nominee in the Senate, said that he plans to introduce similar legislation during the upcoming session following the bill’s veto.

"This veto is disappointing as there appears to be no good argument against this proposal and no good justification for this veto,” the Senate deputy majority leader said. “I will continue working to enact this legislation and other efforts to advance transparency and accountability.”

Speaking to the Eagle last year when the bill was introduced, Gianaris said that the legislation would shine light on an opaque process.

Governor Kathy Hochul vetoed a bill last week that would have closed a “lobbying loophole” and required that lobbying efforts made in relation to state office nominations be publicly reported. The issue arose earlier this year, during the chief judge nomination of Hector LaSalle.  File photo via Hochul’s office

“This is a gaping loophole that needs to be filled,” Gianaris, who represents a section of Northwest Queens, told the Eagle in January. “To have six figures spent trying to influence the legislature, and for the public not to be able to discover where that money is coming from is a real problem.”

But in her rejection of the bill, Hochul claimed that her administration had already taken steps to make the state’s government more transparent.

“I remain committed to working to restore trust in government and I support strengthening transparency in government operations,” her veto memo read.

LaSalle’s nomination was unique, and generated more public interest than potentially any other chief judge nomination before it.

Spending on lobbying for a chief judge nomination was virtually unprecedented, and began to raise concerns from lawmakers and good government groups primarily because there was no legal requirement to disclose who was funding the efforts.

A bulk of the lobbying around LaSalle’s nomination came from three groups, two of which were pushing for lawmakers to cast a vote in favor of making LaSalle the chief judge of the Court of Appeals.

The Court New York Deserves, a coalition of criminal justice and progressive groups, quickly expressed their opposition to LaSalle’s nomination, which they began to voice prior to his selection by the governor. Their lobbying primarily took the form of writing opinion pieces and placing them in news outlets.

They were soon joined by a number of state senators, including Gianaris, who said that they would vote against LaSalle when he came before them.

In response, two groups, Latinos for LaSalle and Citizens for Judicial Fairness, began spending on lobbying efforts to express their support for the nominee.

Latinos for LaSalle featured a number of prominent former elected officials of Latino descent and counted Luis Miranda, a political consultant and father to Broadway star Lin Manuel Miranda, and Roberto Rodriguez, a longtime lobbyist, as supporters.

Citizens for Judicial Fairness, an opaque lobbying group that, until last year, was focused exclusively on reforming Delaware's top business dispute court, began purchasing online ads that urged New Yorkers to call their senators and express their support for the nominee.

But who was behind the group wasn’t immediately clear – unlike Latinos for LaSalle and The Court New York Deserves, Citizens for Judicial Fairness did not publicly advertise its members or supporters.

The Eagle was the first to report the connection between Citizens for Judicial Fairness, which was previously called Citizens for a Pro-Business Delaware, and Tusk Strategies, a powerful New York-based lobbying firm.

An advertisement from Citizens for Judicial Fairness in support of former chief judge nominee Hector LaSalle. Screenshot via New York Daily News

The group was formed around eight years ago by the lobbying firm and the founder of New York-based translation company TransPerfect after Deleware’s Chancery Court forced a sale of the company. Around 5,000 employees of the company came on as the group’s earliest members.

Tusk Strategies lists both Citizens for Pro-Business Delaware and Citizens for Judicial Fairness under a section of its website titled “Wins,” and Citizens for Judicial Fairness is run by Chris Coffey, the CEO of Tusk Strategies.

The group reportedly spent between $75,000 and $100,000 on the campaign, none of which was reported to the state – and it didn't’ need to be.

Coffey, who spoke with the Eagle in January, declined to tell the Eagle the individuals providing financial support to Citizen for Judicial Fairness’ spending surrounding the LaSalle nomination.

However, he did share that the funds came exclusively from “three or four…Latino donors.”

Though the group ran a paid advertising campaign, it did not lobby lawmakers directly, according to Coffey.

Regardless, the group’s spending and efforts would have had to been filed with the state under the now-vetoed legislation.