Albany

The governor has decreed that the Hilton hotel on State Street be shunned by state agencies and their employees because of ongoing labor strife.

Andrew Cuomo's move is hard to oppose, I guess. Who wouldn't want to side with workers? Politicians, in particular, love to love the little guy, even when they spend much of their time bestowing favors on corporate donors.

But if you're a city taxpayer, there is an unfortunate wrinkle to the dispute at the Hilton: You're helping support the place.

Empire State Development, the state's economic development arm, once owned the land on which the Hilton sits, and the hotel's owners for decades benefited from a tax break that was part of a complex rent agreement with the state and city.

That deal was redone in 2011, when the city's Industrial Development Agency handed out a new and exceedingly generous tax break that saves the hotel $14.3 million over 30 years. ESD sold the land at the time.

Given the ongoing labor dispute, the state comptroller's office says it will audit the IDA and review the deal, which could be politically awkward: Mayor Kathy Sheehan, who has joined protests outside the hotel, was on the IDA board when it was approved.

But back to Cuomo: When he directs state agencies and workers away from the Hilton, where might they go instead?

The most logical alternative is the hotel on the opposite side of State Street. That's the Renaissance, which occupies the old DeWitt Clinton building.

It's another hotel that is generously supported by taxpayers.

The building and its developer, Joe Nicolla's Columbia Development, received a $4 million state grant, along with a tax-break agreement with the city IDA that saves millions.

Still with me? It gets better.

The Renaissance, you see, also happens to be connected to the state-funded Capital Center, which was built on land that Nicolla sold to the Albany County Convention Center Authority for $4 million in 2014.

That sale smells bad, in my humble opinion.

As my colleague Lauren Stanforth reported, entities tied to Columbia and Nicolla gave $200,000 to Cuomo's campaign just weeks after.

Another Nicolla entity gave $25,000 the day after we learned that an elevated walkway would connect the hotel to the convention center.

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Nicolla. Now why is that name familiar?

Oh, that's right. He and Alain Kaloyeros, former head of SUNY Poly, are facing bid-rigging charges related to land deals near the Fuller Road school. Columbia and related entities gave another $60,000 to the governor's campaign as the state-funded school was deciding where to put a dorm.

But let's keep the focus downtown.

On Monday, I asked the governor's spokesperson about Nicolla's campaign contributions and the appearance of a conflict on the Hilton decision.

"We make no apologies for standing up for working men and women, just as we're doing downstate with the IBEW strike," Rich Azzopardi said in an email, referring to the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers union. "Of all your psychotic conspiracies, this may be your silliest."

Well, then. It seems that this is a sensitive topic in the governor's office, and for good reason. The upcoming corruption trials involving Kaloyeros, Nicolla and top Cuomo aides are a looming threat to the Democrat's presidential ambitions.

They threaten to show how Albany really works — or more accurately, doesn't.

To be clear, I am not really suggesting that Cuomo is intentionally trying to help out the Renaissance by directing state agencies away from the Hilton. There are, of course, a few other hotels downtown to choose from.

But you get these sorts of sticky situations — and the questions that result — when the state bestows money on a major campaign contributor. Even legitimate and justifiable decisions can seem suspect.

(Actually, it is more likely that the governor is trying to please the Hotel and Motel Trades Council, which gave $145,300 to Cuomo campaigns between 2010 and 2016.)

Not surprisingly, the third major hotel in downtown Albany, the Hampton Inn on Chapel Street, was also built with help from state and city taxpayers. The Marriott on Holland Avenue got tax breaks, too, as did the now-shuttered 74 State "boutique" hotel.

All of this is absurd. There is no legitimate reason for taxpayers to be in the hotel business. Like retail stores, they are built to serve existing demand and do little to stimulate growth. They would exist with or without public support.

But that's economic development in New York, where nobody builds so much as a doghouse without an assist from beleaguered taxpayers. Meanwhile, large swaths of upstate continue to crumble.