Crains New York - July 22, 2013 - (Page 6)
THE
INSIDER
by Chris Bragg
Brooklyn lawmaker’s
radio silence
newscom
A
ssemblyman
Dov Hikind
took a minute
out of his weekly radio
show recently to
promote a healthscreening event his
office was holding
with Maimonides Medical
Center, a hospital in his
Borough Park district.
“I will be there, with God’s
help, to go through these tests
myself,” Mr. Hikind said, his
voice booming through to a
heavily Orthodox Jewish
audience, which regularly
tunes in to his Saturdaynight politics program.
The longtime Brooklyn
lawmaker was not merely
doing a public service. An
advertising firm he owns
is being paid $65,000
by the hospital for promotion on
The Dov Hikind Show this year, a
hospital executive confirmed. Maimonides also lobbies the state government and Mr. Hikind.
In fact, Mr. Hikind’s company,
DYS Production, receives checks from
a number of businesses, though the
assemblyman has repeatedly failed
to disclose income from the firm, as
required. In his July filing, Mr.
Hikind listed no outside income in
2012 beyond his legislative pay of
$99,000.
After an inquiry from Crain’s,Mr.
Hikind amended his financial disclosures dating back to 2006 to reflect income from the company.
Only for last year did Mr. Hikind
have to list the approximate amount:
between $5,000 and $20,000. Public
records don’t show where the rest of
DYS Production’s revenue went.
Advertisers on his AM radio
show range from home-healthcare company At Home Solutions to
travel agency Do All Travel, according
to recordings reviewed by Crain’s.
“We sell enough advertising that
this show has become extremely
successful financially,” Mr. Hikind
told City & State in 2008. “That
makes my wife a little happier
about it.”
But the state’s Legislative Ethics
Commission would not say whether he
had ever asked if payments from advertisers that lobby him could represent a conflict of interest. His office
declined requests for comment.
Mr. Hikind’s three decades in
office give him considerable sway.
The Assembly’s assistant majority
leader, he rarely sponsors legislation
but is known for his ability to “bring
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home the pastrami,” as they say in
Mr. Hikind’s district. But the intricate web he weaves with public
funds and local nonprofits has landed him in hot water before: In 1998,
he was charged with taking bribes
from a social-services group that received state funds. Mr. Hikind was
acquitted, though the official who
paid him was convicted.
Mr. Hikind, who has spoken at
ceremonies honoring Maimonides
officials, frequently promotes the
hospital in his governmental
newsletter. Maimonides, which has
thrived as other nonprofit hospitals
have struggled financially, has touted its ties to elected officials who
help secure funding. But hospital of-
For years, Hikind
did not disclose
income from his
AM talk show
ficials said Maimonides’ payments
to Mr. Hikind’s company pose no
conflicts on their end, and that it advertises on his show to reach local
residents. Borough Park is a famously insular community.
Dick Dadey, executive director of
good-government group Citizens
Union, said it makes sense for Maimonides to buy time on Mr.Hikind’s
program.The problem is that the assemblyman repeatedly failed to
make his outside income public.
“The fact that he didn’t disclose
it raises the question of why he
didn’t,” Mr. Dadey said. “If there’s
no conflict, why not disclose it?”
In the wake of numerous scandals in state government, Gov.
Andrew Cuomo earlier this month
formed a commission to investigate
corruption. Mr. Hikind has not
been accused of wrongdoing since
his trial 15 years ago.
Other aspects of Mr.Hikind’s radio show also overlap with his public office. Political candidates have
often paid Mr. Hikind’s company,
appeared on his show and been endorsed by him. The show is cohosted and run by Dov Cohen, an
$80,000-a-year full-time aide in
Mr. Hikind’s Assembly office, and
has shared space with Mr. Hikind’s
longtime political club, the United
New York Democrats. The club often
paid the rent on the space between
2006 and 2009, but as its campaign
account was shut down in recent
years, payments were made from
Mr. Hikind’s own campaign fund to
the building’s landlord. Campaign
funds cannot be used for a candidate’s business expenses.
Borough Park insiders said Mr.
Hikind talks privately about the
money generated by the show, but
some assumed it went to charity. “It’s
really something I have no idea
about,” said Zev Brenner, a popular radio host who sells airtime on WMCA
570 for The Dov Hikind Show.
DYS is named after Mr.Hikind’s
three adult children: his daughter,
Deena,and sons, Yoni and Shmuel.The
lawmaker was in the news recently
for landing part-time jobs for his
sons in 2011 with fellow Brooklyn
Assembly members, with salaries
just high enough to entitle them to
government health care.
Two years ago, Mr. Hikind’s sonin-law, Rabin Rahmani, a doctor in his
early 30s and just off a residency and
fellowship at Maimonides, raised
eyebrows among colleagues by
landing the post of director of medical education and research at the
hospital’s gastroenterology division.
Dr. Rahmani, Deena’s husband, has
promoted the hospital as a guest on
Mr. Hikind’s radio show. A hospital
spokeswoman said Mr. Rahmani
was exceptionally qualified for his
post.
Maimonides buys four 30second spots per hourlong program
and gets “dozens” of appearances on
the show annually for its physicians,
according to Barry Ensminger, the
hospital’s vice president of external
affairs.
“The reason we advertise on the
radio show is that it’s very widely listened to in the Orthodox community,” he said. The hospital also buys
space in Orthodox Jewish publications such as Hamodia. He added
that Mr. Hikind’s show accounts for
a small part of the hospital’s advertising budget.
“It’s something we’ve been doing
for years and years,” Mr. Ensminger
said. He said the hospital’s lobbying
of Mr. Hikind is separate from its
marketing activities.
Records show that in 2011 the
hospital spent $470,000 on lobbying, including of Mr. Hikind and
the Legislature. Its Albany efforts
have been fruitful: In 2011, $13
million of its $16.7 million in government grants came from the state
Department of Health.
A Maimonides spokeswoman
said the hospital simply informs
Brooklyn lawmakers of new services and funding needs, and that its
lobbying does not single out Mr.
Hikind.
The assemblyman has supported
zoning changes that have helped
Maimonides expand over the past
decade. Some locals charge that potential dissent is headed off by hospital officials’ money, including to
Mr. Hikind’s campaign fund.
“Maimonides keeps all the elected officials happy with campaign
donations from [hospital President]
Pam Brier and her husband [Peter
Aschkenasy],” said William Handler of
the Boro-Park West Community Association. “They place advertisements in
all the local newspapers. Community groups get donations. Everybody
who could politically oppose the
hospital gets a donation.”
Meanwhile, Mr. Hikind’s radio
program is thriving. With the 2013
races for mayor and other city offices
heating up, candidates will angle for
appearances and perhaps sponsor
shows to court the Orthodox vote
and Mr. Hikind himself. The lawmaker announced on a recent show
that in August the program will
move to 620 on the AM dial and air
Wednesday evenings instead of Saturday nights. The Dov Hikind Show
is heading to prime time. Ⅲ
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