Times slams Louisiana governor for dubious charity run by wife, ignores Markowitz's use of his own charity to draw corporate donations

A front-page New York Times article March 3, headlined Wife’s Charity Offers Corporate Tie to a Governor, begins:

Louisiana’s biggest corporate players, many with long agendas before the state government, are restricted in making campaign contributions to Gov. Bobby Jindal. But they can give whatever they like to the foundation set up by his wife months after he took office.

Transpose the issue to Brooklyn, and change set up by his wife to he himself set up, and the Times might have reason to examine the work of Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz.

Missing the point

However, in a 7/16/10 article about Markowitz's concert series, headlined Bringing Fun to Brooklyn and appearing on the front page of the Weekend section, a Times music reporter barely touched on the issue:

Artists are paid for their appearances; each series has a budget of around $1.3 million, three-quarters of which comes from corporate sponsorships. But performing for a big, appreciative crowd deep in Brooklyn can be its own reward, said John Legend, who played the King series two years ago and will return to Seaside on Aug. 5.

As I wrote, that skates over that fact that corporate and foundation contributions, such as from Forest City Ratner and its foundation, mean Markowitz might be indebted to big developers like Forest City Ratner.

Those donations continue, as I pointed out this past January, with $50,000 to each of the Martin Luther King Jr. Concert Series and the Seaside Summer Concert Series.

Also, as the New York Post has pointed out, Markowitz's separate charity, Best of Brooklyn, has a record of issuing no-bid contracts.