#Lobbyists are already moving on incoming Gov. Kathy Hochul

A handful of powerful state lobbyists already appear to have their foot in the Executive Mansion, as Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul prepares to assume her new seat as governor of New York in a couple of weeks.

At least five big-shot lobbying shops, law firms and consultants started to move in on securing influence for clients with Hochul in the past couple of months — as Gov. Andrew Cuomo was under the cloud of a sexual harassment probe that culminated in his resignation earlier this week.

The five firms, which include Kasirer — which was at one time was linked to former Gov. Mario Cuomo — and Albany-based power broker Dickinson & Avella, directly lobbied Hochul as recently as May and June, the most recent period for which disclosures are available, according to the New York State Joint Commission on Public Ethics database.

Including business associations and individual companies, at least 14 organizations have directly lobbied Hochul this year, the disclosures show.

An unnamed longtime Democratic insider with ties to state leadership told CNBC that lobbyists likely began to ramp up their focus on Hochul earlier this year when the allegations against Cuomo began to heat up.

“I am sure in Albany lobbying world they raced to curry favor with Kathy Hochul, starting with the cascade of accusations earlier this year,” the unnamed insider told the outlet. “I bet that’s when her phone started going off the hook, because Albany lobbyists know when there’s about to be a sea change.”

At least six lobbying shops, law firms and consultants directly lobbied Hochul since January, the disclosures show.

That includes the New York City-based lobbying firm Kasirer, which directly lobbied Hochul on behalf of Columbia Care Inc., a medical and recreational cannabis product company that has locations in New York, New Jersey and other states.

According to Kasirer’s disclosure, the focus of their lobbying efforts was for “relationship building regarding cannabis legislation.” 

In addition to Hochul, Kasirer’s lobbying work for Columbia Care targeted members of the state Assembly and Senate, members of the New York City Council and Mayor Bill de Blasio, the disclosure shows.

Cuomo signed a bill into law in March that will legalize recreational pot use statewide. Hochul will oversee the implementation of the policy.

One of the individual Kasirer lobbyists listed on the disclosure is the firm’s founder and president, Suri Kasirer, who was part of former Gov. Mario Cuomo’s executive staff, CNBC reported.

Shenker Russo & Clark directly lobbied Hochul in January and February on behalf of the Greater New York Automobile Dealers Association on “issues of importance to auto dealers” related to state bills, another disclosure shows.

At the same time, the Albany-based law firm also lobbied Hochul on state regulatory matters related to the “titling and registration of automobiles.”

More recently, in the May and June period, Syracuse-based law firm Bond, Schoeneck & King lobbied Hochul also on behalf of the state Automobile Dealers Association over an unspecified state bill related to the “direct delivery of electric vehicles.”

That firm also directly lobbied a Cuomo staffer on the same matter, according to the disclosure.

Separately, the New York City-based government relations firm Pitta Bishop & Del Giorno lobbied Hochul in May and June on behalf of the Sandy Hook Pilots Association of New York and New Jersey.

The purpose of the lobbying, according to the disclosure, was to secure an “introductory meeting to explain pilotage in New York state ports and the role of the state in setting pilotage rates via statute.”

Dickinson & Avella, another Albany shop that represents heavy-hitter corporate clients, lobbied Hochul in May and June on behalf of Silvercup Services, which appears to be Silvercup Studios, one of the largest TV and film production studios in New York City.

The disclosure says the firm’s lobbying efforts were focused on a film tax credit.

Another disclosure from earlier in the year shows that Dickinson & Avella also lobbied Hochul, as well as members of the state Senate and Assembly, in March and April on behalf of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America.

According to the disclosure, the lobbying effort was focused on a state bill related to “STEM funding for nonpublic schools.”

And one more Albany firm, Sheridan Hohman & Associates, whose founders have ties back to the Mario Cuomo administration, according to CNBC, also lobbied Hochul in May and June on behalf of the nonprofit New York Association of Training & Employment Professionals.

The lobbying disclosure says their efforts were focused on securing “state funding” for a “workforce development initiative.”

The disclosures also showed that a variety of other businesses and trade associations — from the Business Council of Westchester and Corning Place Communications to the Callen-Lorde Community Health Center — also directly lobbied Hochul this year.

Corning Inc., the upstate-based glass manufacturing giant, also lobbied Hochul on its own behalf this year with regards to “municipal land use” related to the “Greenidge Project Discussion.”

Another firm listed as Lasky Government Affairs Inc. directly lobbied Hochul last year on behalf of the New York State Dental Association with regards to state executive order 202.6, which shuttered certain non-essential businesses during the early months of the pandemic.

Dental offices were among the first businesses to be allowed to reopen in May 2020.