« The Ratner-Kruger campaign connection; one month after Atlantic Yards was announced, (brother) Michael Ratner and his wife gave $2000 each | Main | Union reps criticize Ratner's bombshell about modular construction; Markowitz issues statement of support, left with contradiction »
March 18, 2011
Bruce Ratner's late 2010 campaign contributions: $12,500 to AG candidate Schneiderman, $7500 to the Senate Republicans
Atlantic Yards Report
Michael Ratner, of course, is not the only Ratner doling out lavish campaign money.
To architect Frank Gehry, whose grasp of development politics appears (in retrospect) enormously shaky, Bruce Ratner is "politically like me" and a fellow "liberal, do-gooder."
But a look at Ratner's pattern of campaign contributions again suggests otherwise.
Would a "liberal, do-gooder" in New York State give $7500 to the New York State Senate Republican Campaign Committee, as Ratner did on 11/1/10?
Or would that donor more likely be, as I wrote in February 2008, someone who "plays hardball when it counts?"
The Schneiderman contribution
Ratner on 10/28/10 also gave $12,500 to the campaign of Democratic Attorney General candidate Eric Schneiderman, who won his race with 55 percent of the vote.
(The contribution limit in statewide elections is $37,800.)
Could that be an effort to ensure that Schneiderman not pursue a lingering investigation from the Andrew Cuomo-led AG's office into the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership's lobbying on behalf of Atlantic Yards and other projects?
Or is it just to make sure that Schneiderman takes some calls ahead of others?
Previous coverage
Last year, I noted $12,500 in contributions to Cuomo's gubernatorial campaign, $2000 to Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli's campaign, and $10,000 to New York Uprising, the clean-up-Albany project spearheaded by former New York City Mayor Ed Koch, Citizens Union Director Dick Dadey, and former New York City Parks Commissioner and New York Civic Director Henry Stern, Ratner's mentor.
NoLandGrab: The idea of Bruce Ratner supporting an effort to clean up Albany always makes us chuckle — right before we puke.
Posted by eric at March 18, 2011 12:06 PM