Any way you slice it, a $25 million chunk of change Gov. Cuomo funneled to a Hudson Valley health-group last year doesn’t look good. At the least, it’s more reason to keep a tight lid on taxpayer money.
The Albany Times Union reported this week that Crystal Run Healthcare got $25.4 million in state subsidies to build two facilities — in Rockland and Orange counties — though the group was “flush with cash” and already moving ahead with the projects.
In 2013, Crystal Run raised $141 million in cash for properties it sold, the paper noted; it broke ground on the new facilities in 2015. Yet six months later, Team Cuomo announced that the group would get state funding for the projects all the same.
Why subsidize Crystal Run if it wasn’t really necessary? A Cuomo aide said it was part of $1.5 billion in grants for health-care projects to boost the state’s health-care system.
Then again: The doctors and others tied to Crystal Run gave $400,000 to Cuomo campaigns since 2011. For many, it was their first donations to anyone in a decade.
Cuomo aide Rich Azzopardi denied any link between donations and Crystal Run’s funding, calling it “irresponsible” to imply otherwise. Maybe, but eight people were indicted in connection with the gov’s Buffalo Billion subsidies — so it’s reasonable to fear corruption in other giveaways.
Giving away taxpayer money certainly wins points with those who get it. But maybe it’s time the governor started thinking more about the folks the money comes from.
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