Big CAR keeps getting bigger.
An Astroturf group backed by the rideshare giant Uber has this year poured $8 million into supporting Gov. Hochul's controversial agenda to lower auto insurance rates at the expense of some crash victims, an astounding amount that reveals the epic lobbying push by tech and insurance giants to support her car-first policies.
The political action committee Citizens for Affordable Rates, predictably shortened to CAR, dropped the stunning sum in February and March alone, mostly in ad spending to boost Hochul, according to Board of Elections records.
The cascade of cash coincides with a near-daily onslaught of sponsored content in news outlets across the state, and video ads with professional actors giving "testimonials" boosting Hochul's efforts as she faces off against influential trial lawyers as well as skeptical state lawmakers.
"It’s clear that this is a massive national push by Uber and also industries associated with app-hire vehicles, and that’s where by far the bulk of the money is coming from," said John Kaehny, the executive of the government watchdog Reinvent Albany.
Hochul has tried to argue that insurance prices will go down by eroding the rights of crash victims to sue for damages, including by narrowing the definition of serious injury, which entitles victims to more compensation, barring people from recovering any damages if they're mostly at fault, and capping payouts for the uninsured, those committing felonies or driving impaired.
State lawmakers recently rejected Hochul's insurance legislation from their budget proposals, siding with crash victims, street safety advocates and the influential New York Trial Lawyers Association, which has been the most vocal opponent of the governor's bid. But the proposal is still alive as part of budget negotiations.
Flooding the zone
The Citizens for Affordable Rates PAC's $8 million in political spending includes nearly $6 million in television ads and more than $2 million in digital ads, along with $20,000 in "media production," and $43,500 in polling.
The group and Uber itself have sponsored POLITICO's New York Playbook newsletters and advertorials in amNY – in the latter case with an AI-generated lead image. AmNY's parent company, Schneps Media, got $80,000 from CAR for digital ads this month, per the BOE filings. (Disclosure: this reporter worked for Schneps Media in the past).
"They are relentlessly placing op-ed pieces," Kaehny said of Uber and its affiliates. “By my count, one or two every single day of the week for the last at least month."
Uber has also been trying to recruit its riders to write to their lawmakers to support Hochul's revamps, with the threat of having to raise fares if insurance costs rise — though the actual connection between those two things is unclear.
This comes despite the San Francisco-based company reporting a "record-breaking" fourth quarter of last year, boasting revenue of $1.8 billion in just those three months, thanks to more than 200 million monthly riders, "our largest and most engaged consumer base ever," as its CEO Dara Khosrowshahi put it in a recent press release.
"Uber is one of the pioneers in that kind of mobilizing their customers," said Kaehny. "They did that extensively when they entered the New York City market."
Khosrowshahi gave $48,000 to Gov. Hochul's campaign and to the state Democratic party in the last four years – the only state political donations in his name, according to Board of Elections records.
The group Keep New York Affordable has sponsored City and State's widely read morning newsletter for two weeks, and in each of them there's also an ad by Uber supporting Hochul's insurance moves.
"Onerous and outdated laws in New York State have led to rampant fraud and legal abuse, which are driving up the costs for everyone. With commonsense reform, auto insurance, goods, and more will become more affordable, while still giving adequate protection to victims of accidents [sic]," reads one such "message from Uber."
Keep New York Affordable's website states it is paid for by the group Lawsuit Reform Alliance of New York, which has registered $80,000 in lobbying expenses for "insurance and labor issues," according to state records.
Keep New York Affordable also set up a billboard truck in Albany recently, a reporter from City & State found. The mobile ad claimed that "staged crashes cost us all," even though confirmed phony collision are vanishingly rare, Streetsblog found.
Uber, CAR, the Lawsuit Reform Alliance, and the Trial Lawyers Association did not respond to requests for comment.
Acting up
CAR recently launched a new video ad plastered across social media platforms featuring "real New Yorkers" talking about their car insurance woes.
However, at least five of the six people in the video are actors, Streetsblog found. It's not that the sixth person in the ad, Joe Wille, isn't an actor, but Streetsblog could not find an acting website for him.
The confirmed actors include Joy Decker, who claims in the video and its accompanying script that she gave up her health insurance due to her auto insurance rising from $85 a month to $150. Decker has acted in commercials, TV shows and movies – including a minor role in the recent "Marty Supreme," according to her profile on the casting website Backstage. (She also claimed to have had her identity stolen ... in an ad for Stripe, the secure payment processing company. The ad appears on her actor's reel on the Internet Movie Database)
When contacted by Streetsblog, the actress declined to say if she was paid to appear in the CAR ad, and referred us to "production" without specifying the company.
"I’m not sure why you’re calling me," Decker told Streetsblog. "I suggest you call production. I can’t help you, honey. Good luck, good luck."
Two other actors from the ad also declined to say how they got involved in the commercial, but claimed they supported Hochul's cause of lowering auto insurance.
"That was not the actor in me, that was just me as a real life human being," said Kimberly Jo, who in the video sighs with relief and praying hands. "It was not an acting job." (Her Facebook page says she lives in upstate White Plains.)
An actor and volunteer firefighter who also lives upstate did not want to go into detail about how he became part of the ad, or if it was a paid gig, but said he supported lowering car insurance.
"Everything that I’ve said is exactly how I feel about insurance and about daily life," actor Brian Chan told Streetsblog.
Vinny Gomez, who is described in the video as a supermarket manager, also has a Backstage profile stating he has acted in at least one other commercial as a "Deli Man" for the company Boar's Head. Gomez did not respond to a message seeking comment.
Ditto for Andrea Robinson, whom CAR labels as a human resources manager, but who advertises herself online as a professional model and actor with credits in commercials. Robinson did not respond to a message from Streetsblog. (CAR's full ad is here.)
A spokesperson for Hochul declined to comment on groups "outside of this office," but stressed that the governor is focused on fixing an insurance system, while improving street safety, cracking down on fraud, and closing loopholes that "enrich special interests while saddling working families with skyrocketing costs."
"Gov. Hochul hears constantly from New Yorkers who struggle with skyrocketing car insurance costs and who need relief," said Sean Butler in a statement. "Any suggestion that she is working at the behest of anyone other than the millions of New Yorkers who deserve a more affordable state is absurd."
Hochul's office has in the past simply forwarded talking points from CAR to Streetsblog, which Uber had previously forwarded to the governor.
One street safety advocate and fellow actor – who was not involved in the ad –joked that at least Hochul car agenda effort was yielding more opportunities for fellow thespians.
"I think it’s great that the governor is giving work to actors and helping out our local film industry," said Charlie Todd, founder of the troupe Improv Everywhere.
Albany battle lines
The legislature is likely siding with trial lawyers because lawmakers are traditionally more closely aligned with the attorneys, said Kaehny. The association's members routinely donate to politicians and the Democratic party through the LawPAC of New York, including $79,500 so far this year, according to BOE records — but that figure is for all issues on which the PAC lobbies. Even so, it represents a tiny amount compared to CAR's $8 million.
Indeed, Hochul's cause has united powerful forces, including big business groups across the state like the Partnership for New York City and the Business Council of New York State. Government agencies are also falling in line behind the push, motivated to reduce how much they pay to settle personal injury lawsuits. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority has paid out hundreds of millions over the years in claims.
The state's chief executive has stumped for the insurance overhauls across the state, and she even abandoned her plans to roll out robotaxis in order to consolidate support for her scheme, the Times reported, but non-government actors are also dialing up the temperature, Streetsblog found.
The cash-rich war chest is the largest challenge to the state's trial lawyers, who have historically been able to call the shots in the state, according Kaehny.
"It’s King Kong versus Godzilla," said Kaehny.
Additional reporting by Gersh Kuntzman
