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Real Estate
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Politics
Follow the money
A breakdown of the campaign cash flowing into this year’s statewide elections
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By Hiten Samtani ov. Andrew Cuomo has raked in $42.7 million from more than 5,000 donors this election cycle. That’s compared with the $2.6 million his GOP rival Rob Astorino, the Westchester County Executive, collected from roughly 2,200 donors. (They had $35 million and $2.4 million on
Cuomo’s top real estate donors Stephen Ross (Related Companies) $145,000
Marc Holliday (SL Green Realty) $104,843
Aby Rosen (RFR Realty) $104,175
hand, respectively, as of late July.) The figures, released by the nonprofit New York Public Interest Research Group, show Cuomo largely relied on big-ticket donors. In fact, less than 1 percent of his war chest came in contributions of less than $1,000, NYPIRG found. Real estate players have, not surprisingly, donated generously to Cuomo and their pet causes.
Bill Rudin (Rudin Management) $117,500
Martin Edelman (Fisher Brothers) $105,800
Gary Barnett (Extell Development) $200,000
Ric Clark (Brookfield Asset Management) $253,000
Leonard Litwin (Glenwood Management) $1 million
Peter Kalikow (H.J. Kalikow & Company) $150,000
Richard Lefrak (LeFrak Organization) $125,000
Source: Data from NYPIRG. Donations are from the governor’s 10 most generous NYC-based supporters from the real estate industry between December 2010 and mid-July 2014.
Cuomo’s total war chest, by size of donor:
Astorino’s total war chest, by size of donor: Un-itemized: 2.47%
Less than $1,000: 0.77% $1,000 or more: 6.01% $2,600 or more: 11.86% $40,000 or more: 49.28% $10,000 or more: 32.09%
Less than $1,000: 14.02%
$40,000 or more: 16.35%
Big donors make up lion’s share of candidates’ war chests For Cuomo, more than 49 percent of the total $35 million war chest he has amassed has come from donors who have given $40,000 or more. Meanwhile, a mere 0.77 percent of his total haul has been from donors who have given less than $1,000. The picture is not quite as stark for Astorino, but nearly half of his total war chest of $2.4 million has come from those giving $10,000 or more.
$1,000 or more: 17.70%
$10,000 or more: 28.57%
$2,600 or more: 20.90%
Source: NYPIRG tally of total donations.
Genting: $984,244
Jeff Gural and Holdings: $705,400
N.Y.Gaming Association: $553,115
Casino players make big bets
In the past two years, casino companies and players have spent more than $11 million statewide on lobbying and campaign donations, according to NYPIRG’s analysis. Here are the five entities that spent the most on political donations statewide between 2012 and 2013. Source: NYPIRG report on casino interests.
42 September 2014 www.TheRealDeal.com
Nevele: $427,404
Saratoga Harness Racing Inc.: $423,200