(HorizonPost.com) – The New York governor’s office reportedly invited White House official Tom Perez to watch the January 21 NFL divisional playoff game between the Buffalo Bills and the Kansas City Chiefs from its “I Love New York” hospitality suite at Buffalo’s Highmark Stadium, the New York Post reported.
Perez, the former Chairman of the Democratic National Committee, was named the director of intergovernmental affairs by President Biden in June 2023. Since that time, Perez has been coordinating between the White House and various Democrat governors and mayors dealing with the surge in migrants bused to blue cities from the southern border.
According to records from New York’s Empire State Development Agency (ESD), Perez was among 16 people invited to watch the game from the ESD’s hospitality suite.
Empire State Development is the state agency responsible for luring businesses to New York to boost the state’s economy. The hospitality suite is an added enticement the state uses to woo prospective business executives.
Perez, on the other hand, does not bring business to the state. However, as the White House advisor tasked with assisting states with the current crush of migrants, Perez could help secure federal funding to help New York cover the cost of the migrant crisis.
New York’s Democrat Governor Kathy Hochul and her husband Williams, a former top executive for Delaware North, Highmark Stadium’s concessionaire, frequently watch the games from the hospitality suite. However, for the divisional playoff game, the governor was holding a fundraiser in Manhattan.
Other prominent New York Democrats, including Speaker of the New York Assembly Carl Hestie and Assembly Majority Leader Crystal Peoples-Stokes, have also taken advantage of the hospitality suite during Bills games this past season, according to the report.
Speaker Hestie brought along prominent lobbyist Patrick Jenkins, a close associate of Governor Hochul.
Some of the guests listed on the report appear with an asterisk next to their names. This means that a charitable donation equal to the ticket value was made for their tickets. Tom Perez’s name did not include an asterisk.
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