ALBANY – Gov. Kathy Hochul did not let a recusal agreement keep her from getting personally involved in secretive negotiations to extend an expiring gaming compact between the state and Seneca Nation.
A “Message of Necessity” signed by the governor allowed the state Senate to pass legislation last week giving her administration pre-approval for a deal without waiting three days as required by the state Constitution for new bills.
“The Assembly didn’t do it yet so it isn’t that much of an emergency,” explained Blair Horner, executive director of the New York Public Interest Research Group
The parliamentary maneuver appears at odds with the governor’s vow to keep her distance from the pending Seneca deal because of her ties to Delaware North, a rival of the tribe’s gaming interests that also employs her husband, Bill Hochul.
Hochul withdrew from “any and all matters relating to Delaware North” to “benefit” its interests on her first day as governor in August 2021 in a recusal agreement that designated Secretary to the Governor Karen Persichilli Keogh to handle such matters.
“I have not been able to be involved in negotiations, because I’m recused from that. My team is very involved. And I know they’re waiting for support from the legislature in time to get this completed,” Hochul told reporters on June 12 when asked about the status of negotiations with the tribe.
The policy notes that it does not prevent Hochul from exercising her required constitutional duties – like approving or vetoing bills approved by the Legislature.
However, governors have no constitutional duty to issue “Messages of Necessity” even though they can choose to do so when they believe something is important enough to skip the three-day waiting period for new bills.
“Governor Hochul has taken unprecedented steps to restore trust in government, including releasing her recusal policies, and seeks to avoid even the appearance of conflict while executing the duties that New Yorkers elected her to do,” spokeswoman Hazel Crampton-Hays said when asked how the Message of Necessity fit with her self-imposed ethics rules.
A conceptual agreement between the Seneca and her administration has attracted criticism in the last week over a lack of details of its conditions – including a possible casino for Rochester that has enraged some local pols.
“I had absolutely no opportunity to reach out to my constituents. and so I relayed the information I had to my fellow colleagues in the Assembly, and we requested that we put this on pause,” Assemblyman Harry Bronson (D-Rochester) told The Post on Thursday.
He added that the Legislature has plenty of time before the end of the year – when the current compact expires – to consider an extension when the actual terms could be publicly debated.
It also remains unclear whether the Delaware North how might benefit from a new Seneca gaming compact considering the lack of public details.
The bill sponsored by state Sen. Tim Kennedy (D-Buffalo) that passed by the state Senate by an overwhelming margin is slightly different from another bill he introduced on May 18.
“We reached an agreement in principle with the Governor’s negotiating team on June 7, which was contingent on them getting approval from the Legislature,” Seneca Nation President Rickey Armstrong, Sr. said Thursday.
“Some of the protections we sought under the earlier bill became unnecessary once the agreement in principle was reached. It is unfortunate that Rochester delegation members were not briefed on the terms agreed to by the State.”
While the first bill required a gaming compact that would uphold the current boundaries of the Seneca’s gambling territory, the second bill merely required that their future turf be “consistent” with the original deal inked two decades ago.
Despite their constitutional intent, “Messages of Necessity” are deployed fair often in Albany sausage-making for purposes like passing a state budget despite the little time for public review.
Kennedy and a state Senate spokesman did not respond to a request for comment on Thursday on why the bill was rushed through the chamber on its final day of legislative action on June 9.
