Another Assemblyman Was Paid by Hospital
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A hospital system that may figure in the federal corruption case against a Democratic state assemblyman, Anthony Seminerio, has for years been paying another assemblyman as a consultant, according to state financial disclosure records.
Since 2003, a Democratic state assemblyman of central Brooklyn, William Boyland, Jr., has received an unspecified amount of outside income from Brookdale University Hospital in Brownsville.
Mr. Seminerio was arrested earlier this month on charges that he used a consulting company to conceal payments for doing legislative favors for unnamed hospital executives. Brookdale is part of the MediSys Health Network, which is not named in the federal complaint but is believed to have paid Mr. Seminerio hundreds of thousands of dollars to lobby his colleagues against health care budget cuts. The complaint did not accuse any hospital of wrongdoing. Mr. Boyland has not been accused of any wrongdoing.
The MediSys network also includes the Flushing Hospital Medical Center and Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, which is in Mr. Seminerio’s district.
Financial disclosure forms have listed Mr. Boyland as a director of marketing and as a consultant to the hospital, describing his job as giving “advice on community outreach.” The public version of the forms conceals the extent of the lawmaker’s outside earnings.
The lawmaker described his role as a “patient recruiter,” saying he brought to Brookdale “patients and folks.” He declined to say how much he is paid by Brookdale and cut off the conversation abruptly when asked to explain his responsibilities at the hospital with more detail.
A spokesman for the lawmaker said Mr. Boyland, who is the son and nephew of former state assemblymen, met with tenant and senior groups to promote the services of Brookdale and said the lawmaker was employed by the hospital before taking office in a special election in 2003. The spokesman declined to say how much the lawmaker earned for his work.
The Assembly’s health committee chairman, Richard Gottfried of Manhattan, said he doesn’t recall having any conversations with Mr. Boyland concerning funding for Brookdale, which is located just south of Mr. Boyland’s district. Mr. Seminerio, he said, spoke to him often about funding for Jamaica Hospital.
