Citizens Against Government Waste Names New York Gov. Kathy Hochul May 2022 Porker of the Month

WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Today, Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) named New York Governor Kathy Hochul (D) our May 2022 Porker of the Month for forcing New York taxpayers to pay for a new Buffalo Bills stadium.

Gov. Hochul’s deal has flags all over the place. She is blindsiding New York taxpayers with an $850 million bill for a new Bills stadium that won’t even be located in Buffalo. The Bills are worth $2.27 billion and their billionaire owners, Terry and Kim Pegula, will only kick in $550 million of the $1.4 billion cost for the new stadium. Gov. Hochul claims, “it is not majority taxpayer-funded.” But that comment is a false start as taxpayers are being penalized with 60 percent of the cost. If approved by the legislature, the amount would be the largest public contribution to a professional football stadium in the United States as well as a prime example of corporate welfare.

CAGW President Tom Schatz said, “Taxpayer-funded stadiums have a long history of becoming financial boondoggles and the proposed Buffalo stadium would likely be worse than most. Bills fans still haven’t recovered from the team’s heartbreaking loss in the 2021 playoffs (or the missed field goal in Super Bowl XXV), and now Gov. Hochul wants to pour salt on the wound and encroach on their money. Taxpayers deserve better from their governor, who should be focused on fixing problems in New York and not forcing residents to fund a billionaire owner’s new stadium. Gov. Hochul is guilty of unsportsmanlike conduct with her extravagant plan. For roughing the taxpayers with the largest ever public contribution to a professional football stadium, Gov. Hochul was an easy choice for CAGW’s May Porker of the Month.”

Citizens Against Government Waste is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government. For more than two decades, Porker of the Month is a dubious honor given to lawmakers and government officials who have shown a blatant disregard for the taxpayers.