Colleges and nonprofits tied to questionable campaign donations

Plus this week's cheat sheet and an Assemblyman on a hoverboard..

Good morning — It’s Saturday and welcome to the weekend

👋Timothy Fanning here with your Saturday-edition newsletter.

In today’s CapCon:

• New York nonprofits and colleges barred from making contributions have donated to candidates, political groups and PACs over the last decade.

• A few things that might have slipped by this week, including how much money guberatorial candidate spouses make.

• Let’s go back to 2004, when lawmakers passed the latest budget in modern history.

• Watch Assemblyman Clyde Vanel hoverboard into the People’s House.

Names in today’s CapCon: William E. Sanford, Jeremy Cooney, Todd Hood, Adrienne Adams, Bruce Blakeman, Jenifer Rajkumar, George E. Pataki, Clyde Vanel

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The Syracuse University Marching Band performs ahead of Gov. Kathy Hochul’s 2026 State of the State Address in January. (Lori Van Buren/Times Union)

💰These colleges and big nonprofits likely made illegal campaign donations

From Emilie Munson

Today, the name William E. Sanford graces the wall of Syracuse University’s world-class rowing center. But in 2002, the university’s longtime men’s rowing coach was running for a seat in the New York Assembly.

That September, Sanford had left the university to focus on his re-election effort. That’s when the university seems to have cut its former employee a check. It was a small donation — $125 toward the Republican’s political campaign.

But for the university, the money has broader significance. The check is one of at least nine payments made by the university to a candidate or political action committee from 2001 to 2024.

As a charitable institution known by the Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, Syracuse University is prohibited by state and federal laws from engaging in election activity, including direct or indirect support for political candidates.