Wednesday, February 17, 2010

This is big news?

From the Daily News:

Big political contributors - particularly real estate developers - have found a way around laws that limit individual donations to candidates for governor to $50,000.

The trick is simple and legal: dole out multiple contributions through company affiliates called LLCs - limited liability corporations.

A Daily News review found developers made donations of tens of thousands of dollars over the limit to Gov. Paterson; his likely rival, state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, and top legislators.

Paterson and Cuomo have accepted similar amounts of LLC donations: Paterson got $1.8 million, Cuomo $2 million.

Not all of these contributions came in from real estate interests; some are from law firms and other businesses organized as LLCs.

Many of the development firms that make LLC donations have regular business with the state and spend millions on lobbying efforts.

1 comment:

Steve Behar said...

Full Public Financing of Elections! It's the only way to stop this stuff!