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Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park FAQ, timeline, and infographics (pinned post)

Campaign contributions: Ratner gave to AG Schneiderman (after BUILD closed), Kings County Democrats

There wasn't a lot Atlantic Yards-related, actually, in the latest six-month campaign disclosures filed this week by candidates in New York city and state.

But a search of the database brought one contribution from the latest period and two I didn't notice last year. On 11/18/12, developer Bruce Ratner gave $5000 to Attorney General Eric  Schneiderman's 2014 re-election campaign.

That happened to be just a few weeks after the closing of Community Benefits Agreement signatory BUILD (Brooklyn United for Innovative Local Development), which had been the subject of a complaint to the Attorney General. (There's been no reported action on the complaint.)

Was there a connection? Who knows--Ratner was already giving to the AG. In May 2012, the developer also gave $5000 to Schneiderman's 2014 re-election campaign.

Earlier, in October 2010, Ratner gave $12,500 to Schneiderman's campaign that year. (Did that have any impact on the AG's unwillingness to pursue--or even talk about--an investigation of the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership?)


Giving to Lopez

And in June 2012, Ratner gave $4000 to the Kings County Democratic County Committee, then headed by County Chair Vito Lopez. He was succeeded in September by Frank Seddio, after harassment charges surfaced against Lopez.

Another relation

Ratner's wife Pamela Lipkin, who has sometimes contributed on behalf of her husband's interests, gave $4950 to Democrat Bill Thompson's mayoral campaign. Is she truly a fan of Thompson? Dunno.


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