Campaign staff for Gov. Kathy Hochul had their post-election salaries effectively covered by the hospital industry — even as its top lobbying group pursued preferential policies in her proposed state budget.

A total of 43 campaign staff began getting paid by the state Democratic Party on the same day the Greater New York Hospital Association gave $125,000 as part of nearly $1 million in gifts last year to the party’s so-called “housekeeping” account, The Buffalo News revealed Tuesday.

Good government groups say the unusual arrangement, while not illegal, shows how election law allows murky arrangements between elected officials, state parties and powerful interest groups.

“It’s just Gilded Age politics and New York’s elected government is just completely submerged by dark money and pay-to-play,” John Kaehny, executive director of Reinvent Albany, said Tuesday.

Existing rules limit contributions to elected officials, but not the housekeeping accounts that are intended to help parties and legislative campaign committees run their day-to-day expenses.

“The housekeeping account is the loophole that swallows NY’s already too weak campaign contribution limits,” Blair Horner, executive director of the New York Public Interest Research Group, said.

Not a single staffer was paid by the state Democratic Party housekeeping account last year – at least until the November election ended and money began flowing to people who worked on the Hochul campaign.

Hochul staffers made even more money from the party than the campaign itself – with the total costs increasing from roughly $250,000 a month to about $363,000 while the campaign continued paying for ex-staffer health care costs through the end of 2022, according to The Buffalo News.

State Party Chairman Jay Jacobs did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday.

He told The Buffalo News that the influx of hospital cash and outgoing payments to ex-staff was “strictly coincidental” while claiming their expertise helped with a January event even though their pay appeared to only cover through the end of 2022.

Her ex-campaign manager Brian Lenzmeier made $18,000 in his first month on the party payroll compared to the $12,100 per month he made while overseeing Hochul’s campaign in the closest gubernatorial election in a generation.

And a final $125,000 donation from the Greater New York Hospital Association arrived in party housekeeping coffers on the same day when the ex-campaign staff began getting paid from that same account.

The hospital industry meanwhile had billions of budgetary asks for the governor, who held a mystery meeting last September with a well-connected donor tied to the healthcare industry after he gave heavily to her campaign.

“Governor Hochul’s proposed budget creates a strong foundation to build upon to address the hospital community’s ever-ratcheting revenue needs,” GNYHA President Kenneth Raske said about the budget Hochul proposed Feb. 1 while outlining some issues with specific items.

GNYHA spokesman Brian Conway declined to answer questions Tuesday about why the group gave so heavily to the state party – and whether the largess was requested by the governor.

“GNYHA’s political contributions are a matter of public record,” he said in a statement.

Hochul spokeswoman Hazel Crampton-Hays denied that any favorable treatment ever resulted from the hospital industry effectively covering severance pay for dozens of her campaign staff.

“As we have always said, campaign donations do not have any influence on government decisions and we reject any implication otherwise,” Crampton-Hays said.

Hochul has faced repeated criticism over the past year for alleged pay-to-play arrangements from campaign donors as she raised a record-sized war chest while seeking a full term in office after replacing disgraced ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo in 2021.

The first female governor has vowed to remake the historically scandal-plagued state Capitol as a more transparent and ethical place though ongoing controversies about her campaign cash highlight limited progress on that front.

Real estate developers received her support in the budget process for extending the lifespan of an expiring tax credit while Hollywood donors stand to gain from her proposed expansion of a lucrative tax break.

The governor has also faced withering criticism for her administration giving a no-bid, $637 million contract for rapid tests to an NJ-based company founded by a campaign supporter whose son also got a job on her campaign.

New revelations about hospital money flowing to the state party housekeeping accounts are now fueling a new round of dismay from government watchdogs who note that existing laws and enforcement fall far short of what New Yorkers need from their state government.

“There are only a few enforcement people at the state Board of Elections and they’re hamstrung, deliberately hamstrung by rules, and there’s not very many of them to start with so there are lots and lots of laws and rules that are barely enforced, and even then they’re full of loopholes,” Kaehny said. “So the whole system is pretty revolting.”