BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — New York Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie faces questions about how a political committee under his control spent more than $1 million on sports-related events, including luxury suites and tickets to games involving some of the state's most popular professional sports teams.
An investigation by New York Focus found the Democratic Assembly Campaign Committee paid teams, stadiums and sports-related companies more than $1 million since Heastie became Assembly Speaker in 2015. The spending included events involving the New York Yankees, New York Mets, Buffalo Sabres, Madison Square Garden, Barclays Center and UBS Arena.
Heastie, a well-known sports fan, attended a number of those events, including a Subway Series game at Citi Field, an NBA playoff matchup at Madison Square Garden and games at Yankee Stadium.
The investigation raises questions about whether the events were primarily legitimate political fundraising activities or provided personal benefits to Heastie and other political figures.
How the committee's housekeeping fund works
The Democratic Assembly Campaign Committee's housekeeping account can accept unlimited corporate donations. However, state law restricts how that money can be spent.
Housekeeping funds are intended to pay for permanent party headquarters and staff, as well as ordinary party activities that are not specifically intended to promote individual candidates.
Spending that money on fundraising for the committee is permitted, and financial disclosure documents frequently listed fundraising as the expense code for the sports-related expenditures.
But New York Focus reporter Sam Mellins questioned whether fundraising was always the actual goal, especially considering the photos Heastie posted on social media, posing with sports stars, friends and colleagues.
"Was that the primary purpose of the events, or was it primarily for the personal benefit of the politicians and the political figures involved? I don't feel 100% confident about that," Mellins said.
State law prohibits campaign funds from being spent on purely personal expenses.
Mellins said Heastie personally benefited from attending games in luxury suites and box seats, even if there may have been a legitimate political purpose for some of the events.
Delaware North's donations and lobbying
One of the companies that provided significant support to the committee was Buffalo-based Delaware North.
The company donated luxury suite packages, including one for a Boston Celtics game Heastie attended in March. The package cost around $13,800.
At the same time, Delaware North was lobbying state lawmakers for a new tax break that was ultimately included in the state budget a few months later.
A former top state lobbying regulator, David Grandeau, told New York Focus he questioned the appropriateness of the arrangement, regardless of whether any laws were broken.
"It looks corrupt," Grandeau said. "At best, it's just business as usual. At worst, it's a bribe."
In a statement, Delaware North said it was asked to donate the suite.
"Our government affairs team and lobbyists always operate within applicable lobbying and campaign finance laws," said Glen White, Delaware North's senior director of communications.
Heastie responds to the investigation
Before the investigation was published, Mellins said Heastie, his spokesperson and the Democratic Assembly Campaign Committee did not respond to his questions.
Mellins said he reached the committee's executive director by phone, but the executive director hung up when he began asking questions.
After the story was published, Heastie responded in a lengthy social media post.
"It's called fundraising stupid," Heastie wrote. "We just spent along with candidates $16 million dollars on this election cycle. Sports games are great ways to fundraise."
New York Focus found that more than half of the sports-related spending was listed as fundraising. However, some expenditures had no memo explaining their purpose, while approximately $150,000 was listed as office expenses. Those payments included checks to the Yankees and Mets, according to Mellins.
No similar spending found among other legislative leaders
New York Focus reported it did not find similar sports-related spending by the political committees connected to the state's other legislative leaders: Senate Democratic Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, Senate Republican Leader Rob Ortt and Assembly Minority Leader Ed Ra.
7 News reached out to the Republican Assembly Campaign Committee but did not hear back.
Mellins also said he was not aware of any significant appetite among state lawmakers to change the system.
At least 23 states prohibit corporate contributions to state political campaigns, a restriction that could prevent companies from providing this type of financial support to political committees.
New York has not adopted that approach.
Read the full investigation at NYS Focus.
