NY Governor Kathy Hochul has been accused of contracting for Covid rapid tests, with a prominent donor to her Gubernatorial campaign, for more than was paid for other companies’ tests. Additionally, she has declared a health emergency regarding Polio. All this while calling her competition for the Governor’s seat, Representative Lee Zeldin, an extremist.

We can imagine the conversation during the search for a candidate for Lieutenant Governor to run alongside Andrew Cuomo in 2014. “We should pick a chick. That will play well. How about Kathy Hochul? She used to be a state rep but got redistricted and now works in government relations for banks. Dear God, she is stupid with a capitol STOOP. Doesn’t matter Cuomo will run the state till he starts his run for President. We just need a seat warmer. Done deal. We’ll take Hochul.” Then, Andrew’s chickens all came home to roost and Hochul became governor in 2021. A state like New York can handle someone like the Cuomos. The state cannot be run by somebody dumber than a box of hammer. Look at Hochul’s eyes. There is nothing there. New Yorkers got rid of a tyrant for an … idiot.

Last night the NY Post reported that Kathy Hochul threw a no-bid contract to a campaign donor who more than every other test maker. I mean, it’s not her money. What does she care? From the NY Post:

Gov. Kathy Hochul had New Yorkers pay twice as much for COVID tests from a company tied to nearly $300,000 in donations to her campaign compared to other state vendors, a new report details, raising fresh concerns of alleged pay-to-play behavior ahead of the Nov. 8 election.

“Whether it was pay-to-play or total incompetence – New York taxpayers and then the federal taxpayers got massively ripped off,” John Kaehny, of the good-government group Reinvent Albany, said of the Digital Gadgets deal funded by New York taxpayers with the help of federal relief aid.

While some companies charged the state just $5 for rapid tests, the N.J.-based Digital Gadgets got as much as $13 per unit in a total of $637 million worth of no-bid deals for millions of tests as Hochul pushed schools to stay open amid the omicron wave last year, according to the Times Union

The deal was made under suspended procurement rules enabled by a state of emergency that Hochul has renewed every month since late last year.

She has renewed the procurement rules suspension every month and has now declared a new public health emergency with Polio. From the NY Times:

Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York declared a state of emergency on Friday over the growing polio outbreak, in an effort to better equip health care providers with tools to curb the spread of the sometimes disabling virus before it takes further hold in the state.

The order allows emergency service workers, midwives and pharmacists to administer the polio vaccine. The declaration also requires health care providers to send polio immunization data to New York health officials so that they can determine where in the state to target vaccination efforts.

“On polio, we simply cannot roll the dice,” Dr. Mary T. Bassett, the state health commissioner, said in a statement on Friday. “Do not wait to vaccinate.”

The first polio case in nearly a decade was identified in July in New York State. Officials said an unvaccinated man in Rockland County was infected by virus that had been shed from someone who received the oral polio vaccine, which has not been administered in the United States since 2000. The oral vaccine is safe, but contains small amounts of weakened live virus that can circulate and strengthen if communities are undervaccinated.

Kathy Hochul loves to declare health emergencies. Polio is far more serious than Covid. Please vaccinate. Lee Zeldin noticed Hochul’s propensity for health declarations:

Kathy Hochul loves declaring health emergencies, because that’s how she hoards extra self-claimed powers that allow her to award MASSIVE no-bid, ridiculously priced government contracts to her top campaign donors, going around the state’s competitive bidding laws.

— Lee Zeldin (@leezeldin) September 9, 2022

Yeah, about that donor. More from the NY Post:

It remains unclear to what extent the Hochul administration sought to negotiate down the price for 52 million tests delivered on time through two purchase orders that charged $13 and $11.50 per unit, according to documents obtained by the Times Union.

Two other companies charged the state at least several dollars less per unit though the administration has claimed those bought through Digital Gadgets are of a higher quality than those offered by other companies, which could only provide a limited volume in time for the reopening of schools amid the omicron wave.

“Because of the reliability of the tests themselves and the assurances around delivery, comparing US-made AccessBio tests to inferior quality tests that were manufactured in China is not valid,” John Gallagher, a spokesman for Digital Gadgets, said in a statement.

It remains unclear to what extent the Hochul administration sought to negotiate down the price for 52 million tests delivered on time through two purchase orders that charged $13 and $11.50 per unit, according to documents obtained by the Times Union.

Two other companies charged the state at least several dollars less per unit though the administration has claimed those bought through Digital Gadgets are of a higher quality than those offered by other companies, which could only provide a limited volume in time for the reopening of schools amid the omicron wave.

“Because of the reliability of the tests themselves and the assurances around delivery, comparing US-made AccessBio tests to inferior quality tests that were manufactured in China is not valid,” John Gallagher, a spokesman for Digital Gadgets, said in a statement.

It looks bad, really bad. But was it incompetence or pay to play? Let’s watch some video evidence. Kathy Hochul went to a health center to discuss the numbers and get her Covid booster on Friday.

Incompetence. It’s in the eyes.

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