New York Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie last month took a multiday birthday trip to party with a former Dallas Cowboy in Rio de Janeiro alongside an influential lobbyist with business before the state — and neither will say who picked up the tab.
The 59-year-old powerful Bronx Democrat posted multiple Instagram pictures in the past week taking in the Marvelous City and attending a Rio “Boys In Brazil Party” event hosted by former Dallas linebacker Charles Haley on Sept. 25 — with some of the pics featuring him alongside longtime political ally and current top lobbyist Patrick Jenkins.
Online packages for such an international jaunt to the fun-filled South American city start around $3,000 per person and can reach as high as $4,299 — not even including airfare.
“New York State’s ethics laws require both public servants and lobbyists to follow strict gift rules that limit gifts at $15 total,” said Rachael Fauss, senior policy adviser with the government watchdog group Reinvent Albany, to The Post in a statement.
“We hope that ethics rules are being followed by both parties, particularly given the apparent cost of this trip.”
The New York State Commission on Ethics and Lobbying in Government State says on its website, “State officers and employees generally are prohibited from soliciting or accepting gifts of more than ‘nominal value’ from individuals and entities that do business with the State.
But it also says there are several exceptions to this prohibition, including involving gifts for personal friends — as long as “that the relationship is not being used as a pretext to give an otherwise impermissible gift.”
Heastie and Jenkins’ relationship have been close for decades. The pair were college roommates at SUNY Stony Brook.
Jenkins’ modest lobbying skyrocketed into a multimillion-dollar operation alongside Heastie’s rise through Albany’s ranks, with the consultant repping deep-pocketed and influential groups such as the New York Trial Lawyers Association, Sports Betting Alliance and Google.
Heastie and Jenkins did not respond to multiple Post requests for comment about whether the lobbyist or any of his clients picked up the tab for the assembly’s most powerful Democrat.
Heastie previously refused to comment or answer questions about ethics concerns about a romantic relationship he had with lobbyist Rebecca Lamorte.
The State Commission on Ethics and Lobbying in Government, which enforces the Empire State’s lobbying laws, did not respond to a Post request for comment.
