Hochul’s ex-budget czar schmoozed with bigwig as his client raked in $11M in state COVID contract: report

In 2021, then Deputy Budget Director Sandra Beattie brought on Michael Balboni, a lobbyist and former appointee of then Gov. Andrew Cuomo's administration, as a "volunteer consultant" for the covid-era Empire Pass – a digital health "passport" that was outsourced, running multiple times over cost.