Cohen Turns to Former New York Pol for Queens Casino Advice
New House of York Mets possessor Steve Cohen is tapping former New House of York State Budget Director Robert Mujica for counsel inward his efforts to get a gambling casino to the region near Citi Field.
Mujica left that brand utmost November to manage the financial lapse room for the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. In fin months since he left wing his role with the say of New York, the former budget theatre director commanded $105,000 inward consulting fees from New Green Willets — a lobbying group with ties to Cohen — reports the Albany Times Union.
New William Green Willets told the newsprint that Mujica isn’t a lobbyist and that he’s only providing advice on the Queens casino effort.
New York law of nature bars former officials from lobbying the agencies for which they worked for ii years after their going date. There’s a lifetime ban on lobbying on issues on which former staffers worked during their engagement tenures. It appears as though Mujica isn’t running afoul of those guidelines, but some germ told the Times Federal that he may follow operating inwards a “gray area” as it pertains to Queens casino plan.
It’s Been Done Before in New York
Mujica wasn’t an elected official, but he was appointed past former Gov. Saint Andrew the Apostle Cuomo (D-NY) and later reappointed past Cuomo’s replacement — Kathy Hochul, also a Democrat. Mujica noted he held the state’s top of the inning budget spatial relation yearner than anyone “since the John Davison Rockefeller Administration.”
When accounting for the politicians that prescribed him and New York’s political composition, Mujica is likely a Democrat. With the rush for 3 downstate gambling casino licenses taking shape, it’s not uncommon for gaming companies to non only when lobby New York politicians and contribute to their campaigns, but employ some of them as well.
For example, former Gov. Jacques Louis David Paterson, also a Democrat, is a lobbyist for Las Vegas Sands and was the impulsive personnel slow that operator’s selection of Nassau County as a possible place for a gambling casino hotel.
Cohen and some of his secretive associates have got been dedicated contributors to Hochul and New York City Mayor Eric President Adams (D). Filings with New York’s Commission on Ethics and Lobbying inward Government indicate Cohen spent $1 one thousand thousand since the scratch line of 2023 on lobbying related to the Queens cassino pitch.
Queens Casino Faces Uphill Battle
Billionaire Cohen has the financial resources to pursue a New York City gaming license, but the Queens be after isn’t guaranteed of success. It smash a stumbling in May when New York State Sen. Jessica Ramos — a Democrat representing the communities closest to Citi Field – said she doesn’t favor legislation that would modify the parkland identification of the property on which the casino would live built.
That adjustment is necessary for any young mental synthesis on that land. Additionally, New Green Willets is one of rough a dozen entities competing for the ternion downstate permits, indicating that competition is fierce.
Recent speculation suggests ii of the licenses are likely to live awarded to MGM’s Empire City in Yonkers and Resorts World New York inwards Queens and that Las Vegas Sands and Wynn Resorts are the frontrunners for the tertiary permit.
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