ALBANY — A family whose heavy campaign donations to Gov. Kathy Hochul have stirred controversy contributed nearly $235,000 more on Tuesday to the state Democratic Party, records show.
Charlie Tebele and his wife, Nancy, each gave $117,300 to the state Democratic Party, which is closely aligned with Hochul’s campaign and has spent millions backing her.
Charlie Tebele is the founder and CEO of Digital Gadgets LLC, a New Jersey-based distribution company that Hochul’s administration paid $637 million last winter for 52 million rapid, at-home COVID-19 tests. The campaign of U.S. Rep. Lee Zeldin, the Republican nominee for governor, has been harshly critical of the deal that he has characterized as being a “pay-to-play” scheme. He has also highlighted the no-bid purchase in a television ad and held a news conference calling for an investigation.
The Tebele family has now given $532,000 to either Hochul’s campaign or the closely aligned state Democratic Party, as well as an additional $40,000 to Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado’s campaign.
In a statement, a Digital Gadgets spokesman said that the “Tebele family continues to support moderate candidates in the face of billionaire super PACs funding election deniers and politicians who threaten our democracy.” The Tebele spokesman was referring to Zeldin, who voted against certifying the results of the 2020 presidential election, and the independent expenditure committees that have spent more than $10 million backing him this year.
Charlie Tebele has also thrown two campaign fundraisers for Hochul: one in November 2021, a month before the $637 million in deals were made; the other in April, about two weeks after the final installment of the $637 million in payments was made.
In addition, the family of real estate developer Jack Cayre — who has been listed as a “principal officer” at a related company called Digital Gadgets Medical — has given $418,000 to Hochul. A Tebele spokesman says Cayre did not benefit from the $637 million in state payments.
Charlie Tebele’s son, James Tebele, for the past year has held a position working for Hochul’s campaign fundraising staff.
The latest cash influx comes as Hochul faces a closer-than-expected race with Zeldin. Hochul has raised an unprecedented sum for her campaign since August 2021, but recently reported having about $6 million in remaining cash — similar to Zeldin’s remaining coffers. In addition, outside groups backed by conservative donors have been flooding the airwaves with ads attacking Hochul and backing Zeldin.
The maximum an individual can donate to Hochul is $69,700 and both Charlie and Nancy Tebele reached that threshold on May 18. An array of other Tebele family members then gave large amounts to Hochul, including several with no other history of donating in New York elections, and two listing the same home address in Manhattan as Charlie and Nancy. By late June, the extended family had donated $297,400.
Under state Election Law, the family can indirectly donate even more, which can then be used to fund Hochul’s efforts. A party committee, such as the state Democratic Party, can take donations from an individual up to the $117,300, then spend unlimited sums backing favored candidates. According to a campaign filing submitted Friday, the state Democratic Party has spent more than $2.3 million backing Hochul’s campaign.
In addition, party committees, including the state Democratic Party, maintain campaign “housekeeping” accounts that can take unlimited sums from donors — and won’t have to disclose those donors until January. The housekeeping funds are supposed to be used for party operations and not campaigning.
Even after a series of reforms take effect for the next statewide election in 2026 — including lower candidate donation limits and publicly funded elections — party committees will retain those outsized powers.
A series of Times Union articles have highlighted how the $637 million in rapid-test deals were rapidly struck without competitive bidding, and how Digital Gadgets charged a much higher price per test than other state vendors. California paid 45 percent less for the same brand of tests as New York purchased, buying directly from the manufacturer rather than through Digital Gadgets, a third-party distributor.
Hochul contends she did not personally authorize the deals, but did direct her staff to buy as many tests as possible to ensure children could return to school without interruption in January.
“Yes, the price turned out to be higher than California — but they didn’t buy theirs until three weeks later, right?” Hochul told the Times Union in October. “Their kids did not go back to school in Los Angeles (during the early part of January). Our kids are back in school.”
Hochul has repeatedly said that campaign donations do not influence her administration’s actions. The state Democratic Party declined comment on Thursday.
