New Yorks COVID corruption stands out only for our leaders hypocrisy

New York’s COVID-era corruption fallout is still raining down, years after the last mask mandate expired.Former Deputy State Budget Director Sandra Beattie just got dinged a measly $5,000 fine by the pathetic state Commission on Ethics and Lobbying in Government for helping a buddy get a bite out of a fat $11 million contract to run then-Gov.Andrew Cuomo’s “Excelsior Pass” app, which did .

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something he insisted was urgently necessary.Beattie vacationed regularly at the Florida home of connected lobbyist Michael Balboni while his clients had business pending with her office; the fine is for failing to clear these trips with ethics officers or even report them.Shortly after her sunny jaunts, Beattie wedged Balboni’s firm into the Excelsior project as a consultant and lobbyist for Deloitte, its prime contractor.Over two years, Balboni pulled down $300,000 in fees, all Beattie-approved.He has since leveraged his connections into the presidency of Adelphi University, a gig that pays in the range of a million bucks a year.Balboni is “the leader best positioned to secure public-private partnerships,” announced Adelphi in May — a fine euphemism for his proven talent in leeching of taxpayer dollars into private hands.Of course, if it weren’t for self-dealing, New York state would make no deals at all.Recall how Gov.

Kathy Hochul, then just three months in office, in November 2021 declared a “state of emergency” in the name of expediting pandemic counter-measures — and proceeded to award a no-bid $637 million contract for 52 million COVID tests to Digital Gadgets, the company of Charlie Tebele, who just days before had (with relatives) shoveled $300,000 into her campaign coffers.Subscribe to our daily Post Opinion newsletter! Please provide a valid email.

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Digital Gadgets didn’t even make the tests; it ...