Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Report

Based on his record of campaign contributions, semi-retired real estate executive Bruce Ratner, like a lot of others in the field, probably didn't want insurgent Zephyr Teachout to win the Democratic nomination for Attorney General, but can live with Public Advocate Letitia James, even if she was not the first choice. Forest City New York Executive Chairman Ratner contributed $2,500 (see screenshot above) to Maloney on Sept. 13, primary day , part of the huge haul Maloney took in after real estate executives, via the Real Estate Board of New York, got the push . Maloney's big expenditures on advertising helped build name recognition and detract from Teachout, a factor in James's easy win in the Democratic primary. Giving to James And guess what: Ratner on Oct. 29 gave $10,000 (see screenshot below) to James's campaign, in which she's expected to beat Republican Keith Wofford in tomorrow's election. Consider the continued criticism of James's disse...

Nick Powell's 11/21/16 essay/report in City & State/NY Slant,  INSIDE ANDREW CUOMO’S QUESTIONABLE FRIENDSHIP WITH INDICTED NASSAU COUNTY EXECUTIVE ED MANGANO , deserves a closer look. Writes Powell: But unlike Cuomo’s relationship with Senate Republicans such as Dean Skelos (convicted last year on corruption charges) and John Flanagan, which he could at least justify under the guise of government functionality, the roots of his friendship with recently indicted Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano are far more complicated and perplexing. Mangano, along with his wife, Linda, and Oyster Bay Town Supervisor John Venditto, was charged in October with 13 counts of corruption for allegedly accepting bribes and kickbacks in exchange for funneling $437,000 in county contracts to a local restaurateur named Harendra Singh.... Mangano’s tenure as county executive has been marred by irresponsible fiscal stewardship, near blatant flouting of campaign finance laws and a pay-for-play contra...

Ok, maybe Forest City Ratner lost out on connections as the landlord for Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, and CEO MaryAnne Gilmartin underestandably criticized Trump's posture toward women. Yes, Chairman Bruce Ratner reaffirmed that the city welcomes immigrants and "black lives matter." But despite whatever personal distaste executives and staff have, the company still has lots of links--and potential links--to Trump. (Both are  "creative with the truth," too.) And Forest City answers to shareholders and the bottom line. The D'Amato & Giuliani connection Politico reports that lobbyist (Park Strategies) and former Republican senator Al D’Amato is thrilled with the victory of President-elect Donald Trump and "suggested Trump should appoint former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani as attorney general." Not only is D'Amato one of the company's lobbyists in Washington, but Giuliani and Forest City Chairman Bruce Ratner have lon...

From the Real Deal, 12/2/15,  Here’s what big NYC developers spent to keep EB-5 alive: Related, which raised $600M for Hudson Yards project through visa program, tops list : If a program gave a developer $600 million in cheap financing, how much would the developer spend fighting for its right to exist? In 2015, the Related Companies spent at least $730,000 in lobbying fees related to the viability of the EB-5 visa program, according to data from OpenSecrets.org, a website that tracks lobbying expenses and campaign finance, created by the nonprofit Center for Responsive Politics. EB-5 offers foreign investors a green card in exchange for a $500,000 minimum investment in the U.S. economy. Developers adore it because it’s a relatively cheap source of financing. Some prominent politicians, however, have said that it upends the usual immigration process and is rife with fraud and abuses. With the program up for renewal on Dec. 11, Related and other major players are shelling out big ...

From Wayne Barrett (ex-Village Voice) in the Daily News today, The wizard of Al D'Amato: The former U.S. senator and current powerhouse lobbyist has his hooks everywhere, including in new Senate boss John Flanagan : In many ways, New York state politics is Al D'Amato's world; we just live in it. And Flanagan, the state's single most powerful Republican, is no exception to that rule. Al D'Amato is nearly 78, older than Jacob Javits was in 1980, when D'Amato beat him with TV ads that attacked him for being 76 and still wanting "six more years" in the U.S. Senate. Yet, try as we might — and New Yorkers threw D'Amato out of the Senate 17 years ago — we just can't get rid of Fixer Fonz, whose booming lobbying firm now attracts $8 million a year in seduction fees, the second most of the licensed wirepullers in the state. In fact, D'Amato is everywhere, still highly visible, yet at the same time invisibly haunting crime scenes across New York...

The transactional relationship between Brooklyn developer Bruce Ratner, a self-described liberal Democrat, and political operative Al D'Amato, the former Republican Senator, is more extensive than previously reported. Yesterday I wrote about how a sequence suggests a campaign contribution from Ratner and his wife to D'Amato's Renew New York PAC, seemingly a personal kitty for D'Amato, seemed to be routed to Nassau County executive Ed Mangano, who endorsed Ratner's Nassau Coliseum deal and remains key to future negotiations. (See graphic at bottom.) I also wrote about D'Amato's city/state lobbying and federal lobbying on behalf of Ratner's Atlantic Yards project. All told, Forest City Ratner has paid D'Amato's Park Strategies more than $3 million for lobbying and consultation related to Atlantic Yards and the Nassau Coliseum.

The transactional relationship between Brooklyn developer Bruce Ratner, a self-described liberal Democrat, and political operative Al D'Amato, the former Republican Senator, is more extensive than previously reported.  Beyond the article below about a curious campaign contribution, also see description of D'Amato's city/state lobbying and federal lobbying on behalf of Ratner's Atlantic Yards project. Forest City Ratner has paid D'Amato's Park Strategies more than $3 million for lobbying and consultation related to Atlantic Yards and the Nassau Coliseum. Barclays Center developer Bruce Ratner, who last August won the nod to revamp the Nassau Coliseum, did not--according to state campaign finance records--contribute directly to the successful re-election campaign of Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano, who favored Ratner's bid over that of rival Madison Square Garden. However, it looks as if Ratner and his wife, Pam Lipkin, indirectly gave Mangano...

The transactional relationship between Brooklyn developer Bruce Ratner, a self-described liberal Democrat, and political operative Al D'Amato, the former Republican Senator, is more extensive than previously reported.  Beyond the article below about D'Amato's city/state lobbying on behalf of Ratner's Atlantic Yards project, also see coverage of   D'Amato's federal lobbying and a curious campaign contribution .   Forest City Ratner has paid D'Amato's Park Strategies more than $3 million for lobbying and consultation related to Atlantic Yards and the Nassau Coliseum. Atlantic Yards developer has spent at least $1.7 million even more to pay Park Strategies for state/city lobbying and consultation on Atlantic Yards: at least $1.7 million since 2009. It's not clear exactly what they lobbied about, but it looks like Park Strategies had a hand in Forest City's 2009 renegotiation of the deal to buy Vanderbilt Yard development rights. The includes $...

The transactional relationship between Brooklyn developer Bruce Ratner, a self-described liberal Democrat, and political operative Al D'Amato, the former Republican Senator, is more extensive than previously reported.  Beyond the article below about D'Amato's federal lobbying on behalf of Ratner's Atlantic Yards project, also see coverage of   D'Amato's city/state lobbying and a curious campaign contribution .   Forest City Ratner has paid D'Amato's Park Strategies more than $3 million for lobbying and consultation related to Atlantic Yards and the Nassau Coliseum. Nice work if you can get it. Since 2009, Brooklyn developer Forest City Ratner has paid $40,000 per quarter to its long-time federal lobbyist, Park Strategies, even though the firm, led by former Sen. Alfonse D'Amato, has reported lobbying on issues in only seven of the 21 nine quarters. Forest City has spent nearly $1.2 million on the firm for federal lobbying since 2006. In 2011, ...