Did 119th Assembly Candidate Bova Misrepresent Himself?

Republican Assembly candidate Dennis Bova is caught up in a discrepancy about where he 'does,' 'did' and 'does not' work. That's because media reports and social media posts from the No Hospital Downtown group state him as a Surgical Tech at Mohawk Valley Health Systems. That's not true. It turns out, Bova is an employee at Oneida Healthcare and he hasn't worked for MVHS for at least five years, according to a source at MVHS. .

Why is this relevant?

"Bova has come out aggressively against the downtown Utica location for the new MVHS hospital and when he's identified as an MVHS employee, his comments carry more weight," said WIBX's Bill Keeler during the Keeler Show on Wednesday. "When he says he and his co-workers are very much against the downtown site, it seemed like these were people that worked at one of the Utica area facilities. This would imply that he has inside information from within one of the local hospitals that helped him form his conclusion. That's deceitful," Keeler added.

One No Hospital Downtown group tweet dated October 4, 2018, twice referred to Bova as an MVHS employee, as he gave his opinion as to why the Utica site was the wrong place for the new hospital.

Wednesday morning, Bova said he was not able to call into the Keeler Show; however, he instead texted back and forth with WIBX Program Director Jeff Monaski.

Bova claims he's not against a new hospital; but, he's against it going into downtown Utica. Officials have been adamant that if the new building doesn't go downtown, the project will be canceled and the area will lose the $300 million set aside in state funds for the project. Bova claims, if elected to the Assembly, he will be able to move the hospital to the St. Lukes location on Champlain Ave. MVHS officials have told WIBX that if the downtown location were to be blocked, it would not be financially feasible for them to proceed after so much investment has been made downtown. In previous interviews, Bova has stated that's not true, although he has been unwilling to disclose how he came to that conclusion.

Bova's personal. Facebook page has his employer listed as Oneida Healthcare. He is facing off against Democrat Maryanne Buttonschaun in Tuesday's election for the 119th Assembly seat being vacated by Anthony Brindisi who is running for Congress.