February 24, 2017

Assemblyman Matthew Titone

LOB 643
Albany, NY 12248

Assemblyman Richard Gottfried

LOB 822
Albany, NY 12248

Dear Assemblyman Titone and Assemblyman Gottfried:

Ensuring elected officials are honest, transparent, and accountable to New Yorkers is among our
top priorities. When something has the optics of being so blatantly dishonest and non-
transparent, we have a duty to hold those responsible accountable for their actions.

I write to you extremely disturbed about the most recent story that details the price of
admission in New York State.

Over a two day period, from October 29-30, 2013, Crystal Run Healthcare executives gave ten
separate $25,000 donations totaling $250,000 to Governor Cuomo. Many had not given to a New
York campaign in a decade.

I am concerned these donations set in motion the pay-to-play process for Crystal Run Healthcare
to receive $25.4 million in state funds through secret negotiations with the administration.

As detailed by Chris Bragg in the Albany Times Union, two months later, in January 2014,
Governor Cuomo proposed the Capital Restructuring Finance Program as part of the Executive
Budget proposal. This program would be used to administer grant money by the Department of
Health and the Dormitory Authority to those who submitted winning bids for health care
projects. This proposal passed in the budget in March 2014.

Bidding for the pot of $1.2 billion was set to begin in late 2014, but then was pushed to
September 2015. In March 2016, Crystal Run Healthcare was awarded the $25.4 million in
contracts for projects that had already commenced.

Either Crystal Run Healthcare executives knew, or as Chris Bragg noted, had a strong idea they
had or were going to win the competitive state bidding, or the state gave $25 million to private
projects that were already being built without the taxpayer subsidies from the program.

Theres certainly smoke here, and we need an investigation to confirm whether or not this is a
fire.
 Did the administration collude with Crystal Run Healthcare executives to pre-
determine a $25 million taxpayer-funded award that was supposed to be part of a
competitive bidding process?
Were Crystal Run Healthcare executives tipped off that the governor would be
announcing this new taxpayer-funded grant program?
Did Governor Cuomo and administration officials recommend to Crystal Run
Healthcare executives that campaign donations would increase the likelihood of
being awarded lucrative grant money?
Why did the competitive bid process get delayed nearly a year?
Did the groundbreaking of Crystal Run Healthcares new facilities have an
influence on when the bidding process would start?
Why was Crystal Run Healthcare awarded a $132 million no-bid contract from the
Department of Health in December 2015, three months prior to its next multi-
million dollar award?
What was the nature of the ten $25,000 campaign donations on October 29-30,
2013?
Why was each donation the same amount?
Did the governor or someone from the administration direct those donations to be
made?
Was money dispersed to top executives to donate as a way to evade campaign
contribution limitations?

As Chairmen of the Assembly Committee on Oversight and Assembly Committee on Health,

respectively, you have the unique power and authority to convene a hearing and, if necessary,
issue subpoenas to compel the individuals, government agencies, and organizations involved in
this most recent example of apparent corruption, bid-rigging, and pay-to-play epidemic to answer
the above questions and more. I believe it would also be appropriate to hold the meeting jointly
with any other Committee(s) as you see fit.

Fortunately, we have an opportunity, through quick and decisive action on this matter, to ensure
the governor and his administration are conducting themselves in the utmost ethical manner. I
implore you to take swift action in convening a hearing so we can determine what may have
occurred and how we can best address the problem.

Sincerely,

Steve McLaughlin
MEMBER OF ASSEMBLY
107th District

CC:
Assembly Speaker Carl E. Heastie
Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan