Kevin Thomas, former lawmaker, hired as NUMC lobbyist

Former State Sen. Kevin Thomas. Credit: Jeff Bachner

Updated April 2, 2025 5:20 pm

Daily Point

NUMC engages Mercury Public Affairs, including ex-state senator, as lobbyist

Nassau University Medical Center has engaged Mercury Public Affairs to act as its lobbyist, at a fee of $18,000 a month, The Point has learned. And the face of that effort is very familiar in Albany.

Former State Sen. Kevin Thomas, who represented the district that includes NUMC, will be one of the lobbyists specifically tasked with representing NUMC, according to records filed with the state Commission on Ethics and Lobbying in Government. Mercury’s Jan Feuerstadt will also work on NUMC’s lobbying needs, the records show.

According to the contract published on the state ethics website, NUMC entered into a contract with Mercury effective March 27. NUMC chief executive Megan Ryan and Mercury partner Thomas Doherty signed the contract on March 28.

The contract said Mercury will be tasked with "lobbying to identify funding grants and relationship building."

In addition to the monthly fee, NUMC will pay Mercury "all reasonable business expense incurred in providing the Services," according to the contract. The contract’s term lasts until May 31, but "shall automatically continue on a month-to-month basis thereafter, unless terminated by either party" with 30 days notice.

Thomas did not return calls for comment. A Mercury spokesman declined to comment. A NUMC spokesman and Ryan did not return a request for comment.

The hiring of Mercury comes as NUMC is seeking additional funding from Albany during ongoing state budget negotiations and as the hospital has criticized Gov. Kathy Hochul in mailers and on social media. NUMC has pushed back against Hochul’s attempts to tweak a clause in state law that could allow the state to place a temporary operator in public health facilities like NUMC if they are deemed to be failing. On top of that, NUMC is suing the state for $1 billion, saying the hospital is owed 20 years of funds meant for distressed hospitals.

Thomas has long-standing connections to and involvement with NUMC. In last year’s Democratic Party primary for the State Senate seat he was vacating, Thomas, like NUMC chairman Matthew Bruderman, supported former Assemb. Taylor Darling, who in turn had supported NUMC. Then-Nassau County Legis. Siela Bynoe went on to win that primary and the general election and now occupies the seat Thomas once held.

But last February, when he was still in the State Senate, Thomas told The Point that any money given to NUMC had to come with strings attached.

"There needs to be a plan here," Thomas said at the time. "We can’t just hand them over a blank check."

In March 2024, Thomas joined Ryan, then the interim chief executive, at a news conference in which they sought state funding for the hospital. At the time, Thomas supported Ryan’s request for funding but also referred to "mismanagement and financial instability" at the hospital. And he requested that the hospital accept the state Health Department’s requirements, including a full CEO search.

The hospital never completed that search, instead hiring Ryan — who has now signed the contract to bring Thomas on as a lobbyist.

— Randi F. Marshall randi.marshall@newsday.com

Pencil Point

Heavy-handed?

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Final Point

Siela Bynoe takes her fight for Hempstead schools to Albany

Freshman Siela Bynoe is not taking a backseat in budget negotiations in her first year in the State Senate.

Bynoe told The Point that she’s pushing several pieces of legislation and budgetary efforts she considers key for her district to the forefront of her caucus’ conversation as negotiations continue.

Her most significant ask: $24 million for the Hempstead school district, to fill the gap created by the high percentage of students in the district who attend charter schools, plus an additional $150,000 for a fiscal consultant to assist the district in financial planning and oversight.

Bynoe noted that to make the ask appealing to her colleagues, she has widened the scope to include other districts with more than 20% of students in charter schools — including Rochester, Buffalo, Albany and Lackawanna.

Bynoe’s strategy to try to get those funds through the Albany gauntlet began with a conversation with William Johnson, the state-appointed monitor of the Hempstead school district.

"He walked me through a formula he believed could aid not just Hempstead, but the other districts as well," Bynoe said.

Bynoe then held a series of additional meetings, with central staff, state Department of Education officials, Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, and Deputy Majority Leader Michael Gianaris.

"I pitched the idea that we would introduce this alternative aid not just to help Hempstead, but the others, too," Bynoe said.

For the districts combined, the funding need is more than $55 million.

Bynoe said that she is also focused on getting a funding boost for school libraries, which haven’t seen a funding increase since 2007, and on a bill that would start a pilot program to bring social workers into public libraries to help area residents. She’s also concentrating on transportation and infrastructure funding.

"I have some other really important things, but none of them as impactful to the district as making sure Hempstead has the ability to move forward in the upcoming school year to maintain the educational integrity for the students," said Bynoe, a former Westbury school board member.

Bynoe said that after spending time with Stewart-Cousins, she thinks the majority leader understands the need.

"I’m hopeful that we’ll be able to move it through," Bynoe said.

There’s another part of Bynoe’s strategy that’s been key to pushing her priorities forward.

"I wasn’t shy," she said.