Developer cash flows into Crowley campaign from shady PAC

 

THE CITY 

Elizabeth Crowley, a Democrat running for state Senate in a district that runs from Astoria to Williamsburg, has pledged not to take any money from big real estate developers.

But on Monday, NYC Forward, an independent expenditure committee running ads to support Crowley, a centrist Democrat, received $150,000 from real estate interests, campaign finance records show. 

That committee was founded this month by District Council 9, the painters’ union that’s counted Crowley as a member — and took the spotlight in initial news coverage of the group. 

But state campaign finance records show the majority of contributions to the committee so far have come from developer interests.

Those include the Real Estate Board of New York, whose campaign spending arm, “Putting New Yorkers to Work,” gave $50,000 to the pro-Crowley committee. So too did A&E Real Estate Holdings LLC, a firm with buildings across Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens.

State Board of Elections records show NYC Forward paid for $198,000 in expenses listed as “promotional” that coincided with the real estate donations. The committee has also spent $48,000 on a “social media campaign.” 

Tell The Blaz what you really think about the job he did in his two terms as Mayor of New York City

 

Bill de Blasio

When I launched my campaign for Mayor outside my home in Brooklyn in January 2013, I promised that we would take dead aim at the Tale of Two Cities.

Today, I am writing to ask for your feedback. I’d love to know what you think we did well during my time as mayor, and where you feel we came up short.

Please take 2 minutes to complete a short survey sharing your thoughts about my time as mayor.

 

After winning the primary and through my inauguration, we heard over and over that our vision for One New York was not possible.

 

When I said that we would not wait to offer free, full-day pre-K to all of New York City’s children, the New York Times said it was a noble idea that would never happen and that we were wasting our time.

 

Today, 70,000 children are enrolled in pre-K and we’ve launched 3-K for All. When I said that we would not wait to reform a broken stop-and-frisk policy in New York City, the editorials and statements from officials of that time basically said the city would fall apart the moment we got rid of the program.

 

The opposite happened. We started showing respect to our young people and we got safer. Before COVID, New York City was the safest big city in America with the lowest number of major crimes in the modern era.

When I said that we would not wait to require developers to build more affordable housing, people said they were too powerful.

 

Eight years later, we have delivered affordable housing to 275,000+ New Yorkers through the most ambitious affordable housing plan in our city’s history.

 

When Donald Trump dropped out of the Paris Agreement and his administration rolled back climate protection after climate protection, there was a lot of disappointment, but little hope about what could be done in response.

We doubled down, cutting greenhouse emissions by 17% below 2005 levels despite significant growth as a city, and committed to divesting $5 billion of NYC’s pension funds from fossil fuels.

 

When COVID hit, we were the epicenter of the crisis with an incompetent president who denied science and didn’t want to test simply because he didn’t want to see the numebrs. We didn’t have what we needed — the ventilators, the PPE, the testing labs. It was one of the most difficult moments in our city’s history.

 

But New Yorkers stepped up to protect each other, as we do. We created our own supplies to save lives. And we went from worst to first — from the epicenter to one of the safest places in America. And when the naysayers said it couldn’t be done, when cities all over dared not try, we re-opened our schools.

But we have done more:

 

We reduced pedestrian fatalities by 45% making our streets the safest since the dawn of the automobile. We achieved the city’s highest ever graduation rate and lowest dropout rate, and we launched ThriveNYC to ensure New Yorkers who need mental health support have access to it where and when they need it.

 

There is a lot to be proud of during our time, and I hope many of you are. I also understand if you believe there are places we fall short. But either way, I really want to hear from you.

We’ll be gathering replies at this link:

 

Please take 2 minutes to share your thoughts on the last eight years in New York City. We will be reviewing these results at the end of the week.

 

We still have a few weeks to go before the end of my term, and I will be working hard through the last hour. I am also very excited about what Eric Adams is going to do for our city moving forward. I’ve known Eric for a long time, and he’ll be an exceptional mayor who will take us to the next level.

But today, I look forward to hearing from you.

 

In solidarity,

Bill de Blasio

Here is a sample response, feel free to copy, paste and post too...

"NO...rather than 2 mins., I'm waiting for years to learn why you haven't done anything about collecting the near $1billion in unpaid DOB/ECB fines AND the "write off" clause in City Charter...clearly, you sold out to REBNY!"

Eric Adams shady PAC fund raising reveals connections to Schnepps Media and Brooklyn developers that once rallied behind de Blasio

Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park report

So the New York Times today has a deep dive on Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams's relationship with donors, How Eric Adams, Mayoral Candidate, Mixed Money and Political Ambition, which sounds a lot like a deep dive the Times did on his predecessor, Marty Markowitz. 10/24/11, From Brooklyn Office, Mixing Clout and Charity.

It's unfortunate that such investigations--which rely not only on significant reporting chops but access to documents that are not simply online--come so late in their administrations. (As noted below, The City and Politico previously published their own investigations.)

After all, this comes after numerous institutional endorsements of Adams, which can of course be transactional, as well as a full-throated New York Post endorsement of him, and a second-place nod from the New York Daily News. While the latter did cite his "entanglements" with those doing business, both should have had to reckon more with his record.

And it's confounding that Adams--who refused to be interviewed, a not atypical tactic for him, instead issuing a statement--claimed that "Black candidates for office are often held to a higher, unfair standard — especially those from lower-income backgrounds such as myself."

It's confounding because Markowitz got similar treatment. And it's disturbing because it wouldn't be the first time that Adams had invoked race to court supporters and resist hard questions, such as his defense of scofflaw nightclubs.

The Times details how his "fund-raising has repeatedly pushed the boundaries of campaign-finance and ethics laws," such as a fund-raiser from real estate developer David Schwartz, whose Slate Property Group, just happened to get Adams to endorse a zoning change for a project in Downtown Brooklyn.

Those advisory opinions can be strategic--Adams sometimes supports with conditions, asking for concessions (which may well be baked into proposals) rather than oppose projects, such as with the 80 Flatbush project.

But the key here is that Adams's campaign didn't properly disclose Schwartz as an in-kind contributor or an intermediary and nor did his advisory opinion "disclose his fund-raising relationship with Mr. Schwartz." The City Council later approved Slate’s rezoning.

The Slate executive was one of at least three donors receiving the borough president’s endorsement for zoning changes against the wishes of community boards. The others were also later approved by the City Council.

The Times notes that two lobbyists who influence him "sit on his nonprofit’s board, and a third was recently hired as a campaign consultant." 

And it finds his defense of his role in an Aqueduct racino contract dubious, since newly disclosed document show that bidders were invited to a fund-raiser.

Adams's One Brooklyn makes him the only one of the city’s current borough presidents with a nonprofit that raises private money, mixing of course with politics.

And while it must certify that it spends no more than 10% of funding on communications boosting Adams, he found a workaround: using the money to publicize One Brooklyn’s events and thus himself. See cover at right.

Note that that One Brooklyn publication is published by Schneps Media, which controls the lion's share of neighborhood media in Brooklyn (Brooklyn Paper, Brownstoner, Courier-Life, Caribbean Life) and the Metro/amNY, as well as other publications. Let's not expect a lot of investigative reporting from them.

And though One Brooklyn claims that it can't solicit or accept donations from anyone with a “particular matter” pending before them, "the nonprofit appears to have done so," the Times reports.

 

 As with Markowitz, the nonprofit allows donors to offer far more support than they could via campaign finance:

Jed Walentas, who runs the development firm Two Trees Management, is limited to $400 in campaign contributions per election cycle, because he is on the list of people doing business with the city. But Mr. Walentas’s family foundation has given One Brooklyn $50,000, records show. (Mr. Adams’s campaign has also received at least $24,000 from other donors solicited by or connected to Mr. Walentas.)

For his part, Mr. Adams championed a $2.7 billion streetcar plan that Mr. Walentas has promoted through a group he founded, Friends of Brooklyn Queens Connector Inc. The streetcar, Mr. Adams tweeted in 2018, “has real potential to be one of those solutions for our disconnected waterfront.” The project stalled, and Mr. Adams has recently distanced himself from it in the glare of the mayoral race.

The borough president is also in line to issue an opinion on a rezoning request for Two Trees’ next big project, River Ring, a pair of apartment and commercial towers with a waterfront park in Williamsburg

Mr. Adams, in a recent interview, said he was already “extremely impressed” with the way the Two Trees plan had taken account of rising sea levels. “This is how we need to start thinking,” he added. Mr. Walentas declined to comment.

Hmm. That reminds me somehow of what he said in 2013 about affordable housing: "We need to look at what Bruce Ratner is doing, with his great, really cutting-edge, trying to build up using pre-fab housing, can we do this throughout in the borough of Brooklyn, and can we encourage others to do that as well."

 

Mayor candidates will get more matching funds from billionaire donations to their PACs

THE CITY

 The billionaire who bought the priciest residence in the country on Central Park South is now spending some of his wealth to elect New York City’s next mayor — splitting $1 million between groups supporting Andrew Yang and Eric Adams, state records show.

Kenneth Griffin, a hedge fund manager mostly based in Chicago, stunned the city with his 2019 purchase of a $240 million Manhattan penthouse — still the most expensive home ever bought in the five boroughs.

He’s joined in backing the Adams and Yang independent expenditure groups by investor and charter school backer Daniel Loeb, who gave half a million dollars to each. Loeb has gained local notoriety for racially charged public statements.

As Politico first reported, the duo donated to the pro-Yang Comeback PAC, managed by political operative Lis Smith, who also advised Pete Buttigieg’s presidential campaign.

They also gave to Strong Leadership NYC, a super PAC that supports Adams and is led by Jenny Sedlis, who took a leave of absence from her role as the executive director of the charter schools advocacy group StudentsFirstNY.

Both Smith and Sedlis declined to comment but have said their goal is to raise $6 million apiece for their respective efforts, which under the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision can spend on candidates’ behalf but may not coordinate with their campaigns.

The spending is not subject to donation or spending limits that apply to contributions to campaigns participating in the city’s public matching-funds program.

Adams announced Tuesday that his campaign had raised nearly $11 million and would qualify for the maximum funds available to candidates through the $8-to-$1 public matching program. Yang’s campaign also said it had raised more than $10 million to qualify for the matching funds.

But such sums are rivaled by the escalating independent-expenditure arms race.

With less than five weeks before early voting begins for the election, groups allowed to raise money without limits are snowballing support from the uber-elite. Donors also include billionaire investor and progressive Democratic backer George Soros, who this week gave $1 million to ColorofChange PAC, which is supporting Maya Wiley.

Out of the eight leading mayoral candidates, only Kathryn Garcia and Dianne Morales lack independent spending groups to bankroll ad campaigns and other promotional efforts — a distinction Morales pointed out in the first official Democratic primary debate last week.

AOC's endorsement litmus test

 NY Post

Democratic socialist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said Monday she’s ready to endorse candidates running for 51 City Council seats this year — but only if they back her leftist agenda.

Candidates who want a thumbs up from the progressive Bronx firebrand must fill out an extensive questionnaire that asks if they back slashing the NYPD’s budget by $3 billion, abolishing US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and a law that would bar turning over illegal immigrants accused of crimes to federal authorities for deportation.

AOC’s Courage to Change’s PAC also asks whether they would accept campaign contributions from real estate and fossil fuel interests, law enforcement associations or PACs headed by “profit-making” entities.

“When voters see that a candidate is endorsed by Courage to Change, they know that candidate is people-funded, committed to the grassroots, and supports policies that prioritize working-class New Yorkers in the pursuit of social, economic and racial justice,” Ocasio-Cortez in a statement.

“The CTC endorsement is awarded to candidates who clearly demonstrate an unwavering commitment to change a political system that puts wealthy special interests ahead of working people. It means you have the courage to stand up to established interests, big money, and politics as usual no matter the Party. Eligible candidates don’t just talk — they have a proven movement-building track record of organizing to get the job done.”

 Why does AOC need a PAC to persuade (or induce) candidates to support her causes? And if they support some will candidates be shunned for not supporting all of them? Weird.

 

Shaun Donavan's campaign gets another million dollar allowance from his daddy

 

NY Post

 Daddy Ad-warbucks!

An independent group seeking to boost former Bloomberg and Obama insider Shaun Donovan’s flagging bid to become the next mayor of New York City has gotten $2 million so far from the candidate’s father, filings with the state Board of Elections show.

His father, Michael Donovan, made his most recent $1 million donation on March 30, according to the records. It comes roughly a month after he gave the independent group his first $1 million, on Feb. 23.

The committee, known as New Start NYC, has received just four contributions so far — and donations from Donovan’s father account for all but $30,000 of the money it has raised so far.

Donovan served as President Obama’s budget director and as a top official to then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg, working as the commissioner overseeing the Department of Housing and Preservation. 

 However, his campaign — centered on those technocratic credentials — has struggled to gain traction with polls repeatedly showing him stuck in the second tier of candidates and usually inside of the margin of error.

 Pathetic.

 

Shaun Donavan needs his daddy to make him mayor

 

 New York Times

With New York City’s mayoral primary a little more than three months away and a deadline to qualify for the city’s generous matching-funds program having just passed, pleas for donations have been in overdrive in recent days.

But in the background, another spigot of money has quietly opened for two Democratic mayoral candidates who are trailing in early polls: Raymond J. McGuire and Shaun Donovan.

An independent expenditure committee for Mr. McGuire, a former Wall Street executive, has garnered more than $3 million since Feb. 1, with more than 70 donations from business magnates, including Kenneth Langone, the billionaire co-founder of Home Depot; the art world philanthropist Agnes Gund; and the real estate developer Aby J. Rosen.

A new super PAC for Mr. Donovan, a former cabinet member in the Obama administration, in contrast, has drawn $1.02 million from just two donors — the primary benefactor being his father, Michael Donovan, an executive in the ad tech industry who donated $1 million.

In an interview, Mr. Donovan, the candidate’s father, said he was trying to “level the playing field,” particularly since some candidates began raising money before they even declared they were running for mayor.

“I can’t give very much to Shaun directly, and seeing the amount of money McGuire had raised and all these other people, I felt he needed enough to go out and compete and get the message across,” Mr. Donovan said.

 Impunity City

In other words, Shaun Donavon, a man who recently turned 55 years old and worked for Mayor Mike Bloomberg and President Obama, saw his current predicament in the mayor’s race and said:

“DADDY I WANNA BE MAYOR OF NEW YORK CITY RIGHT NOW!!!!” 

“GIMME A MILLION DOLLAAAARRRSSS!!!”

It’s not even worth going into why he’s running and why he’ll be a shit mayor just like the current shit mayor who’s been stinking up city hall for 7.3 years, but to summarize Shaunny will not to do a thing to improve the housing crisis and the continuing demolition by neglect of public housing in the five boroughs considering they never improved in his time running city housing in New York and Housing and Urban Development in the White House.

Philly based real estate lobby's PAC hedging bets on NYC Council Speaker

 

Gothamist

Ahead of the 2021 primary election in June, a prominent law firm whose lobbying arm regularly weighs in on zoning matters and housing bills has poured thousands of dollars into candidates long rumored to be contenders for the next Council Speaker.

The Cozen O'Connor Political Action Committee, created by their eponymous Philadelphia-based law firm, has so far contributed $13,275 to candidates in mayoral, comptroller, borough president, and New York City Council races, according to campaign finance records for the 2021 cycle. While the funds amount to a comparatively small sum when compared to independent expenditures, they stand among the top PACs to contribute funds to 2021 candidates so far.

Benefitting the most from the PAC are council members, including three incumbents who have been rumored to be considering a run for Council Speaker since 2018. The leader of the 51-member Council—currently Corey Johnson, who's term-limited—helps set the agenda by assigning members to all committees and prioritizing bills for a vote, including rezoning proposals in the city. (Outside Council races, the PAC also contributed to Scott Stringer.)

The Council incumbents, all elected to office in 2017, include Brooklyn's Justin Brannan, the Bronx's Rafael Salamanca Jr. (currently the council's Land Use chair), and Manhattan's Keith Powers. While Salamanca Jr. and Powers each received the maximum allowable PAC contribution of $1,000, Brannan received $750. Brannan, who chairs the Committee on Resiliency and Waterfronts, also received $500 from ACEC New York City PAC, another Cozen-tied PAC, campaign records show. Powers also received an additional $500

In a statement, Salamanca Jr. said as Land Use chair for nearly five years his record has shown that "campaign contributions have never influenced my vote." He added that he's "approved over 7000 units of 100% affordable housing, [...] mandated a 15% homeless set aside and got it passed into law" and rejected the "Southern Blvd rezoning because 90% of the empty lots were privately owned and I believed it would of led to displacement of my constituents. I’m also the lead co-sponsor of the Racial Impact Study for rezoning."

In an emailed statement, Brannan said he is not swayed by donations.

"I just voted in favor of Intro 1116-B, which Cozen lobbied strongly against," Brannan said, referring to a bill expanding the number of street vendor permits. "So no, I'm not influenced by donations. That's not how I operate."

A spokesperson for Powers reiterated as much, saying that "contributions have no bearing on any outcome or decision.”

REBNY proxy PAC gives Donovan Richards a mad dash cash advance days before election

Seagirt in Far Rockaway in Donovan Richards district

Queens Eagle

A Real Estate Board of New York-backed political action committee is spending big for Donovan Richards in the final days before the Democratic primary for Queens borough president.

Jobs for New York, a PAC founded by REBNY officials and funded by the city’s largest development firms, spent $66,411.68 on mailers and live phone calls promoting Richards, a Southeast Queens councilmember. 

“Donovan Richards has devoted his life to serving Queens County and creating economic opportunities for our families,” the mailers read. “Donovan Richards is a leader who stands on principles and convictions. Not politics.” 

The literature and phone calls, independent expenditures unaffiliated with Richards’ campaign, were purchased June 17.

In addition to promoting Richards, some of the literature goes negative. The reverse side of one mailer specifically targets Richards’ opponent Costa Constantinides, listing how the Astoria councilmember has “failed” condo and co-op owners.

“This year, we are facing the most important election of our lifetimes,” the mailer states. “Some of our leaders seem tone-deaf.”

Jobs for New York also funded live phone calls and provided scripts for operators to read to homeowners and REBNY members. A third script is labeled “Low Efficacy Absentee Chase.”

“It is clear from Council Member Richards’ lengthy track record of working to improve NYCHA, creating affordable housing and good jobs and serving as a consensus builder that he is ready to be the next Queens Borough President,” Jobs For New York said in a statement.

The Queens borough president is tasked with making advisory recommendations on land use proposals, including projects backed by major developers. In Queens, large-scale projects at Sunnyside Yards, Willets Point and the Flushing Creek Waterfront are in the works, as development continues to surge in Western Queens, Flushing and Jamaica. 

19th CD parishioner lists given to pro-Vallone PAC

The mailers get even more interesting. The Catholic Citizens Committee PAC somehow got hold of parishioner lists from the churches within the 19th CD and sent out 2 mailers to those folks: one for Peter Vallone and one for Paul Vallone.

The Catholic church is prohibited from making endorsements, so I suppose they formed a PAC to get around that.

And they wonder why people don't go to church the way they used to. The unholy alliances must stop.

Lots of outside money in council and mayoral races

From the NY Times:

With little more than a week to go before the Democratic primary for New York mayor, outside groups have poured $3 million into supporting and opposing their preferred candidates, according to the most current figures through Sunday.

The effect of those expenditures is being closely watched, because this is the first citywide election in which outside groups, like corporations and unions, have had an opportunity to spend unlimited amounts on campaigns in the wake of the United States Supreme Court’s decision in the Citizens United case.

And with the majority of candidates abiding by tight spending caps in exchange for participating in the city’s matching-fund program, any significant outside financing, especially for political ads and mailings, could make a difference.

In the race for mayor, for instance, all the major Democratic contenders are participating in the program, which allows the campaigns to spend $6.7 million in the primary.

So far, William C. Thompson Jr., a former city comptroller, has benefited from $1.55 million in outside money, making him the biggest beneficiary, by far, of such support, according to detailed records cataloged by the city’s Campaign Finance Board. Much of the money has been spent on palm cards, radio commercials and mailers, thanks to a group affiliated with the United Federation of Teachers, which has endorsed Mr. Thompson.

New York City is Not for Sale, a group of animal-rights activists and others who are vehemently opposed to the candidacy of Christine C. Quinn, the City Council speaker, have spent $774,000. They were the first outside groups to spend money on a television commercial criticizing a candidate, and many political analysts say their relentless campaign has hurt Ms. Quinn.

Ms. Quinn, in fact, is the only mayoral candidate who has been the target of outside spending.

Some of that opposition, however, may have been blunted by $657,000 from outside groups that support Ms. Quinn. Of that amount, about $610,000 has been spent on English and Spanish-language materials by a group connected with the Hotel Trades Council, which has endorsed Ms. Quinn.

Locally, we have this:

Jobs for New York, Inc.: independent expenditures of $7,755 since 8/5 opposing Chrissy Vosckerichian @electchrissy #FilingDay

— NYC Campaign Finance (@NYCCFB) September 1, 2013

Jobs for New York, Inc.: independent expenditures of $21,003 since 8/5 opposing Austin Shafran @Austin4Council #FilingDay

— NYC Campaign Finance (@NYCCFB) September 1, 2013

Jobs for New York, Inc.: independent expenditures of $16,238 since 8/5 opposing Paul Graziano @PaulGraziano19 #FilingDay

— NYC Campaign Finance (@NYCCFB) September 1, 2013

Jobs for New York, Inc.: independent expenditures of $105,885 since 8/5 supporting Paul Vallone@PaulVallone #FilingDay

— NYC Campaign Finance (@NYCCFB) September 1, 2013

Jobs for New York, Inc.: independent expenditures of $5,251 on 8/31 opposing John Ciafone #DailyFiling - http://t.co/icfNwiAo21

— NYC Campaign Finance (@NYCCFB) September 2, 2013

Jobs for New York, Inc.: independent expenditures of $24,999 since 8/5 supporting Costa Constantinides @VoteCosta #FilingDay

— NYC Campaign Finance (@NYCCFB) September 1, 2013

Planned Parenthood of NYC Political Cmte: ind expenditures of $3,895 since 8/5 supporting Melinda Katz @MelindaKatz #FilingDay

— NYC Campaign Finance (@NYCCFB) September 1, 2013

Paul Vallone says he would favor legislation that bans election spending by PACs

But has no problem benefiting from such spending now...

Why won't he denounce the mailers put out by Jobs For New York/Parkside if he, as the county candidate, had nothing to do with them? (As if County and Parkside aren't thick as thieves.)

Vallone supporters now using violent imagery against Graziano

Goodness, now we're setting other candidates on fire, Mr. Vallone?

How many times can you send out different versions of the same hit piece?

I suppose desperate candidates call for desperate measures. This is obviously a stock photo of a "family" nowhere near Queens.

So much for the "family man" Mr. Vallone purports himself to be.

Tony Avella, Chrissy Voskerichian, Paul Graziano, Austin Shafran and John Duane will be denouncing these mailers today at 12 noon at the Bayside LIRR station.

Even the Daily News has noticed. And instead of manning up, Paul Vallone denies any knowledge of the smear campaign:

“Anybody who thinks Paul Vallone’s politics and policies will be affected by a piece of mail clearly does not know him,” he said.

What? How about denouncing the mailer? Obviously, Paul Vallone isn't man enough to do that.

And FYI, from Crains:

The City Council's Progressive Caucus fired a warning shot at the Real Estate Board of New York Monday in the form of a legislative proposal to severely limit the real estate industry's ability to spend money on political campaigns.

The council should seek to close the "LLC loophole" in state campaign finance law that allows many real estate corporations to give $150,000 to independent expenditures like REBNY's "Jobs for New York" political action committee, according to a memo from Councilman Brad Lander obtained by The Insider.

Mr. Lander, who co-chairs the council's Progressive Caucus, is unlikely to find much support for his bill during an election year, with more than half of the council up for re-election and several of the Democrats running for mayor benefiting from independent expenditures on their behalf.

Hit piece sent out by Vallone supporters

The FBI didn't exactly arrest these two for betraying Queens, but whatever.
While not untrue, these 2 candidates were never implicated in any wrongdoing. This hit piece had to have come from either John Duane, Paul Graziano or Paul Vallone. Of course, it doesn't identify on which candidate's behalf it was sent.

Jobs for New York is the Real Estate Board of New York's PAC. Jobs4NY endorsed Paul Vallone.
When you have skeletons in your closet, such as being poker buddies with one of the accused, you might want to think twice about giving your blessing to literature such as this.

By the way, Paul Vallone gave one excuse to the organizers of Monday night's Bayside Historical Society event: "A client of mine passed away, and I am helping with funeral arrangements." And another excuse to the Queens Courier: "He was comforting the family of his 'good friend and mentor' Judge Joseph Risi, who had just passed away, a campaign spokesperson said."

The judge actually passed away on Saturday and his son is an attorney and likely does not require the legal services of Mr. Vallone.

Whoops.

Pro-development PAC endorses Paul Vallone

From the NY Times:

A group of real estate executives and corporate leaders, bracing for the departure of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, plans to spend up to $10 million to make sure the City Council elected this fall is friendly to business.

The organization, made up of real estate developers, property owners, banks, insurance companies, investment firms and others, has established a political action committee to direct donations to back candidates in both parties who support pro-development policies.

Called Jobs for New York, the PAC represents an aggressive new involvement in New York’s heavily regulated city elections by a major independent expenditure group. The PAC also has the support of several unions whose fortunes are tied to construction, including those representing carpenters and laborers known as mason tenders.

The effort is focused exclusively on Council races, in part because members tend to have great sway over development in their districts, but also because of the uncertainty surrounding the topsy-turvy mayoral campaign.

During his tenure, the mayor has championed a pro-development agenda, pushing dozens of rezoning measures through the Council while investing billions of dollars to nurture commercial development and affordable housing — sometimes over the objections of neighborhood residents.

The PAC effort is being spearheaded by the Real Estate Board of New York, which includes some of the most influential figures and families in the industry, including Larry A. Silverstein, the developer of the World Trade Center, Richard S. LeFrak, Daniel R. Tishman, the Speyers and the Rudins.

In an interview, Steven Spinola, the president of the real estate board, called Mr. Bloomberg’s time in City Hall a “wonderful era” and said his organization’s PAC intended to support candidates who would advance a pro-jobs, pro-development agenda similar to Mr. Bloomberg’s.

From The Real Deal:

A mere seven real estate firms — including Brookfield Office Properties, the Durst Organization and Jack Resnick & Company — donated more than half of the $5.26 million raised so far by a new political action committee backed by the Real Estate Board of New York, a review of state records by The Real Deal reveals.

Some 113 companies or individuals affiliated with 18 well-known city developers made the contributions to the PAC, called Jobs For New York, which was created to advance a pro-growth political agenda for the city, according to records filed this week with the New York State Board of Elections.

Jobs for New York has reportedly said that unions were also supporting the cause, but the donor list did not reveal any as of the latest filing in July.

Real estate firms have long fretted that once the pro-development Mayor Michael Bloomberg is out of office, a new mayor and City Council could turn away from his agenda and raise the cost of doing business in the city.

JOBS 4 NY has thus far sent out 3 mailers on behalf of Paul Vallone, none of which have to do with development, and all of which hide who they are:







The above mailer is about public safety, not development.



When you attended private school and send your kids to one as well, it's best not to try to pass yourself off as some kind of public education expert. Especially when you crib your policy positions from your opponent.



Creating good jobs, building more affordable housing and strengthening the middle class? Is that what they have been doing all these years as they destroyed jobs by pushing for conversion of M-zoned properties to residential, flooded once-affordable neighborhoods with luxury condos and chased the middle class out of NYC?  Oh, and they're also anti-landmarking. (Good luck, Broadway-Flushing.)

Vote Vallone!

Now this here is interesting. From Crains:

Austin Shafran is charging his main Democratic primary opponent, Paul Vallone, with illegally coordinating with the Jobs for New York PAC, as well as improperly reporting campaign expenditures for office rent and the purchase of voter files.

Mr. Shafran's campaign filed three complaints with the city's Campaign Finance Board, two last week and one on Monday. In the complaints, they argue that Mr. Vallone's alleged campaign finance violations should make him ineligible for public matching funds.

The charge of collusion between Mr. Vallone's campaign and the PAC is, on the surface, fairly minor, but it could be difficult for Mr. Vallone to disprove. Campaign literature paid for by Jobs for New York touting Mr. Vallone are shown to include a yellow Post-It-style sticky note with Mr. Vallone's electronic signature reading, "Sorry I missed you today, Paul," indicating the individual delivering the flier was not able to personally deliver it to a resident of the address where it was left. Identical sticky notes, which were purchased by Mr. Vallone's campaign, were affixed to the candidate's own mailers, according to photographs included in the complaints to the finance board.

The presence of the sticky notes on both Mr. Vallone's and the Jobs for New York mailers indicates that canvassers for both operations are coordinating their efforts, Mr. Shafran's campaign claims.

The more serious complaints charge that Mr. Vallone failed to adequately bill his campaign for office rent and the purchase of voter ID files. Since January, Mr. Vallone has reported spending $500 a month on office rent for his campaign, which Mr. Shafran claims is far below the market value for similar offices in the same Bayside building. Mr. Vallone's campaign, which is housed in the law firm he shares with his brother and father, would have to be a mere 127 square feet to be commensurate with the amount of money Mr. Vallone is paying in rent, Mr. Shafran claims.

In the complaint, Mr. Shafran's campaign also points out that Mr. Vallone has failed to report the purchase of a voter database that must have been necessary for canvassing and petitioning operations. While they admit there is "no direct evidence" to support this theory, Mr. Shafran's campaign notes that Mr. Vallone has been sharing "human resources" with his brother's borough president campaign, and presumes that they may be sharing voter files as well, which would be improper if the costs were not also shared.

BP candidates are in the money

From Crain's:

A political action committee funded by New York City's real estate titans has trained its focus on a rather unlikely target in 2013: the city's borough president races.

Taxpayers for an Affordable New York, which is administered by the Real Estate Board of New York, has given to three candidates in the Queens borough president's race: $3,850 to former Councilwoman Melinda Katz, $2,000 to former Queens Deputy Borough President Barry Grodenchik and $3,850 to Queens Councilman Peter Vallone Jr.

The PAC has also given $3,850 to Manhattan borough president candidate Jessica Lappin, who is a member of the City Council, and $1,000 to Brooklyn borough president frontrunner Eric Adams, who serves in the state Senate. In 2011 and 2012, the group gave $2,750 to Councilman James Vacca, who at that time was a potential candidate for Bronx borough president.

Otherwise, the PAC has only given a few scattered contributions to council campaigns, and none to citywide candidates this election cycles. A source close to the group explained its gifts to borough president candidates this way: "We make donations to candidates who share our desire for economic development."

Borough presidents review all public and private land-use projects in their boroughs that are subject to the city's Uniform Land Use Review Procedure and issue recommendations. Their opinions are not binding, but can be very influential.