In March, the Ithaca Voice reported that New York State Senator Lea Webb had received free legal services from the Legal Aid Society of Mid-New York, which represented her in a foreclosure case. Webb, who represents the 52nd district, had helped the nonprofit obtain state funding. The district includes Tompkins and Cortland counties and parts of Broome County.
After a government watchdog group expressed concerns over a potential conflict of interest, Webb said she would reimburse the nonprofit for the services she received.
WSKG’s Ithaca area reporter Aurora Berry spoke with the Ithaca Voice reporter Gabriel Levin and Managing Editor Jimmy Jordan about their reporting.
This transcript has been edited for clarity.
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Aurora Berry: First of all, can you break down what services Senator Webb received from the Legal Aid Society of Mid-New York and why that sparked concerns from this watchdog group?
Gabriel Levin: So Ithaca State Senator Lea Webb had been facing foreclosure on her Binghamton-area home after missing several mortgage payments last year. After a New Jersey-based mortgage lender sued her in October 2025, Webb turned to the Legal Aid Society of Mid-New York. That's a nonprofit law firm that she had steered $30,000 in state funding to in January 2024. So you have a situation in which a sitting state senator has secured tens of thousands of dollars in state funding, and has vowed to fight for more, for a group that went on to represent her in court for free.
The watchdog group Reinvent Albany told me that this arrangement could be considered a gift, and they called it a “big appearance problem.”
AB: In a statement to WSKG’s Binghamton reporter Celia Clarke, Webb's office said “Senator Webb takes this matter seriously. Legal Aid accepts housing cases like these based on merit, not income. Nevertheless, she intends to reimburse the organization for the legal services she received.”
It was also described as a “difficult and emotional situation.” What has Webb told the [Ithaca Voice] about why she was able to get free legal services from this organization and why she needed those services in the first place?
GL: So, Webb previously did say that her foreclosure case was caused by financial struggles brought on by a costly family medical situation. But again, we don't know the specifics of Webb's financial situation. But she didn't appear to fit the description found in this nonprofit law firm's materials of people who would generally qualify for these sorts of services.
So, last month, when I wrote this story, the nonprofit law firm's website said its services are generally available, free of charge, to those whose household income is up to 25% above the federal poverty line.
The website still encouraged those earning “slightly higher” than the federal poverty guidelines to apply, but now the website has since been updated to say that usually one's household income must be at or below 200% of the federal poverty level to be eligible for the group’s services. So that's a big update, but even then, Webb earns far more than that, and the group services appear to be aimed at low or moderate income residents.
AB: Has Webb detailed how she'll determine how much to pay back and when she's going to do that?
GL: After I reached out to Webb, her office told me in a statement, as they told you, that she intends to reimburse the nonprofit law firm for the legal services she received. But when I followed up to ask for a timeline or the specific amount she plans to pay, I didn't get any response.
AB: To turn to the Legal Aid Society of Mid-New York, in a statement to WSKG’s Celia Clarke, they wouldn't comment directly on this case, but they wrote: “When a homeowner presents with a meritorious defense or a viable path to rehabilitate their mortgage, we accept those cases through our standard intake process, which we apply consistently and without regard to a client's identity or profession.”
They also said there's a shortage of attorneys in the region who take foreclosure cases. But the statement also said they'd be reviewing their internal policies, and that they take concerns seriously. What have you heard from this nonprofit about why they chose to take this case on?
GL: So, before publishing the story, I called Webb's lawyer with the Legal Aid Society of Mid-New York. That lawyer, his name is Sean Rush, he declined to comment, and he referred all questions to the group's Interim Executive Director, Christina Riley. And Riley did not respond to my request for comment when I emailed her.
Jimmy Jordan: Just to touch on something else: I think the fact that Lea Webb decided that it was the right thing to do to return this money after this came to light does tell us something about how she considered the action, or at least the optics around it.
GL: And just one other thing I wanted to add: the [Legal Aid Society of Mid-New York] talks about being at, around, or above the federal poverty threshold. I want to give readers the numbers so they understand what that means in context. They updated, recently, their policy, as I said, to be 200 percent of the federal poverty guidelines. But still, New York state lawmakers’ pay is more than four times above the U.S. poverty threshold set by the Department of Health and Human Services this year, for a family of four. That’s $33,000. Meanwhile, the U.S. Census Bureau estimates that about one in five residents of Johnson City—that’s the village where Webb’s four-bedroom house is located—live in poverty, and that the median household income there, in 2024, was just over $56,000. Again, Webb’s salary is $142,000. So the full sale price of Webb’s house when she took out a federally-backed mortgage in December 2024, was more than twice the median home value in Broome County, at the time, according to data from Zillow. So I know those are a lot of numbers I just ran through, but I just want to put this all in context, because critics, including and especially the Broome County Republican Party, have questioned whether Webb was eligible for these services at all in the first place.
AB: And it also seems like the expert from the watchdog group you spoke about, Reinvent Albany, was largely concerned with the “perception of a conflict of interest.” Can you explain why this expert argued that even the perception of a conflict of interest like this can be a problem, especially when a candidate is running for reelection?
GL: So, I'll let them speak for themselves. This is what Rachel Fauss—she's a senior policy advisor at Reinvent Albany—told me, she said “regardless of any sympathy you could have for her as a private individual going through something difficult, she's a public official. She gave a grant to this organization, and is now getting a private benefit from them.” So what Fauss was trying to explain, and went on to explain in our interview, is that even the perception of a conflict of interest can harm the public's trust in government, and so that's why Fauss said matters like these are really that important.
AB: Where do y'all go from here? What has this made you think about for your reporting in the future?
JJ: Well, I would like to see, you know, some evidence, or, you know, just confirm that the money was returned. That, I think [that] is a sensible step. And, I think just keeping an eye on any other potential issues that could ever crop up. I mean, you know, this isn't unique to Lea Webb, you know, reporters and the public should be keeping an eye on our elected officials, for things like conflicts of interests, keeping everybody honest and doing the duty they promised to follow through on when they got elected.
AB: That was Managing Editor of the Ithaca Voice Jimmy Jordan and reporter Gabriel Levin.