Collins blasts Hochul for hidden wealth

Republican Congressional challenger Chris Collins has criticized incumbent Kathy Hochul for being too wealthy to represent the interests of local voters. Collins pointed to two blind trust funds set up by Hochul’s father that contain an unknown amount of money to augment Hochul’s estimated $1-2 million net worth. Ironically, Collins himself is far from poor with an estimated net worth of $25 to 112 million. He has declined to release his financial statements saying that such a release would hurt his ongoing business concerns and would disclose confidential information related to partners and investors in those businesses.

Collins’ argument that Hochul made her millions from taxpayer funded salaries is central to his contention. Collins has even made a new website to promote his views, PublicSectorMillionaire.com, which features a quiz regarding the size and source of Hochul’s wealth. “This website tells the story of the depth and history of Kathy Hochul’s reliance on taxpayer salaries and her failure to ever create even a single job,” Collins campaign manager Michael Kracker said. “Kathy Hochul attacks wealth and success achieved by small business owners like Chris Collins, but doesn’t want to acknowledge her own significant wealth that she earned on the backs of taxpayers.”