Moreau supervisor received thousands of dollars in political donations tied to Biochar project

The donations — including $1,000 from an Albany-based lobbyist working for Saratoga Biochar Solutions’ parent company — flowed to Kusnierz even as Moreau Planning Board members he helps appoint through his role as town supervisor were in the midst of reviewing the company’s controversial plans to turn sewage sludge into a new fertilizer product.

A review of state campaign finance records by The Post-Star and the Lee Enterprises Public Service Journalism Team shows that about a third of about $20,000 in political donations Kusnierz received during the 2021 election cycle, where he ran unopposed, were from people and business entities connected to Saratoga Biochar Solutions.

Those donations came from, among others, the Albany lobbying firm and the landowner of the Moreau Industrial Park site where the plant would be built.

The connected donations flowed to Kusnierz in October 2021, in the midst of Saratoga Biochar Solutions starting to occasionally appear before the Planning Board for site plan and conceptual reviews of its project.

The donations led one local resident, Craig MacEwan, to say that they “lend credence to the perception of outside influence” impacting the Saratoga Biochar project approval. The company’s plans are currently under review by state regulators and the town is subject to an ongoing lawsuit by environmental activists who are trying to squash the project.

But Kusnierz, the Republican elected town supervisor since 2018, has been adamant that he had no direct role in approving the project. For example, he pointed out that he voted to appoint two Planning Board members who eventually voted against the Saratoga Biochar Solutions project.

“As I’m sure you are aware, it is not uncommon for individuals and organizations to support candidates they like,” Kusnierz said. “It is not only outrageous, but offensive to me if someone believes I exert any influence over appointed boards in the town. They are independent bodies and rightly so.”

Kusnierz, a powerful figure in Saratoga County through his role as chairman of the county Board of Supervisors who has also been named a “rising star” by his fellow Republicans, dismissed concerns about the donations as “innuendo from my adversaries.”

However, his leadership in local politics has not been without controversy of late. The Albany Times Union reported earlier this month that county Board of Supervisors members claimed he was sidelining people who did not vote for his reelection to the chairmanship. And a Moreau Town Board member, John Donohue, said in the article that a similar dynamic was occurring at the local level. Kusnierz, meanwhile, has defended those moves to the Times Union.

Kusnierz said his goal as town supervisor has been to help the town grow economically.

“When I ran for supervisor, the industrial park had one tenant for over 25 years and I committed to being an ambassador for marketing the park, among other issues such as reducing taxes, securing grants for town projects and increasing our town’s recreational opportunities,” Kusnierz said. “All of which I continue to do successfully.”

The political donations to Kusnierz include thousands of dollars from entities connected to the owner of the plot of land where Saratoga Biochar Solutions plans to build its sludge-to-fertilizer plant.

The future site of Saratoga Biochar is owned by Moreau Industrial Park LLC, a company registered in the state of New York to D.A. Collins Construction Co. and its president and CEO Thomas Longe.

Longe and his wife, Laurie Longe, each donated $1,000 to Kusnierz on Oct. 8, 2021. So did Daniel Galusha, a member of the business partnership that owns Moreau Industrial Park LLC. Galusha signed Saratoga Biochar Solutions’ application to the New York Department of Environmental Conservation for a solid waste facility permit.

In addition, an entity called Ballard Road Development LLC donated a total of $2,500 to Kusnierz via two $1,250 donations on different dates in October 2021. The donations from Ballard Road Development are Kusnierz’ largest sum from a single entity in the 2021 cycle.

Ballard Road Development is registered to the same address as Moreau Industrial Park LLC and the D.A. Collins group of at least six construction-adjacent companies, at 269 Ballard Road in Wilton, about 12 miles south of the Moreau Industrial Park.

Ballard Road has also previously described itself as being affiliated with D.A. Collins Construction Corp.

Thomas Longe, the D.A. Collins CEO, did not respond to our requests for comment.

When asked about the donations, Kusnierz said they are a reflection of his efforts to help the industrial park.

“They own approximately half the lots in the industrial park and they support my efforts to market the park on behalf of the town,” Kusnierz said. “Who they sell their property to is up to them and does not involve me or the town.”

Robert Turner, a political science professor from Skidmore College, said the donations are a good example of the “local growth machine” that typically dominates the politics of local communities.

“It seems to be this battle between the local growth machine and the home voter coalition, with one group looking to make the land they own more valuable, and another group worried about quality of life and the long-term values of their homes and properties,” Turner said.

Turner said there’s nothing fundamentally wrong with the political donations — courts have ruled they’re a protected form of political speech. But the records give residents “a valuable piece of information” about who’s funding local politics.

“Most of the research on campaign contributions suggests that money doesn’t buy votes but it does go to people who are supportive of certain projects or interests,” Turner said.

David Carroll of Northeast Government Consulting, the Albany firm which donated the previously mentioned $1,000 to Kusnierz’ campaign, was tight-lipped when reached about the purpose of the company’s donation.

“I have no comment because I don’t even recall it,” Carroll said of the donation. “We haven’t been involved (with Northeastern Biochar Solutions) in months. It was a very short engagement.”

Saratoga Biochar Solutions’ parent company, Northeastern Biochar Solutions, paid the consulting firm $6,000 per month starting in June 2021 to lobby local and New York state government officials, including the Governor’s Office, on its behalf, according to reports filed to the state lobbying commission. Carroll, the firm’s managing director, did not respond to further written questions sent by email.

The scope of services included “government relations representation in New York State and its various towns and counties,” working with the state Legislature, regulatory agencies, and the Governor’s Office, providing strategic and political counsel relative to state and local governments, monitoring legislation related to sewer processing facilities and delivering “political intelligence in order to facilitate the achievement of business goals and objectives.”

The firm’s bimonthly reports to the state lobbying commission show lobbyists made contact with Kusnierz on behalf of the Biochar company as early as June of 2021. They also lobbied a staff member for then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo and various state lawmakers for the Biochar company. Their engagement appeared to end in March or April of 2022, according to the reports.

Ray Apy, CEO of Saratoga Biochar Solutions, declined to directly respond to a question about whether he directed his lobbyist to donate to Kusnierz to influence the approval of the project.

Instead, he said, “I have no knowledge of donations made by others and suggest that you direct your questions to those individuals or entities.”

Apy donated $500 to the Saratoga County GOP on Oct. 14, 2021.

However, he stressed that “no monetary (or other) donations were made to Supervisor Kusnierz’s election campaigns by me or my family, or my business partners, or their agents, or by my companies.”

Kusnierz has been relatively tight-lipped on the Saratoga Biochar project since its approval in August 2022 by the Moreau Planning Board. For example, when the town of Moreau was sued over the project in fall 2022, he said it was in the best interest of the town to refrain from commenting.

In August, he stressed the Town Board played no role in the project’s approval, saying it “must respect the decision of the Planning Board,” according to a report in the Albany Times Union.

However, Kusnierz also commended the Planning Board in August on its “exceptionally thorough review of this particular $45 million project,” according to the newspaper.

MacEwan, the South Glens Falls resident who is opposed to the Biochar project, said Kusnierz should have made the public aware of the donations regardless.

“Anyone who is in a politically elected position in government should disclose right up front any donations they have received from any entity that has ongoing business with the town,” MacEwan said.

MacEwan acknowledged that Kusnierz’s donations were reported to the state campaign finance system.

“But how many people go down to the Board of Elections and pull up paperwork?” MacEwan said. “It’s about being open and if you’re not, … it’s the perception you leave in the residents’ eyes.”

Harry Gutheil, Moreau’s former town supervisor who served in that role from 1996 to 2007, a fellow Republican to Kusnierz, said he would have been skeptical of accepting similar donations when he was serving in that role.

“I don’t think small towns should be lobbied and influenced,” Gutheil said. “I would have declined any contributions of any nature that could have affected my decisions.”

Gutheil also said he has become more concerned about the project the more he learns about it.

“Air quality is my biggest concern on the Biochar (project) and certainly the local impacts, traffic and possibly noise and smells,” Gutheil said.