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March 13, 2011
The Sunday Krugerpalooza
Insights into the relationship between State Senator Carl Kruger, lobbyist John Lipsky and developer Forest City Ratner continue.
New York Daily News, Crooked Carl Kruger wallowed in Albany's corrupt pork-barrel slush-fund ways
An FBI listening device showed just how much money an individual lawmaker can control - and just how routinely a legislator can dole it out, without accountability or sound judgment, to special friends.
This particular transaction unfolded in December, when Kruger fielded a call from Forest City Ratner honcho Bruce Bender - a client of lobbyist Richard Lipsky, who had allegedly bribed Kruger for help on other matters.
Bender was seeking an amazing $15 million: $9 million for a bridge related to his company's Atlantic Yards project, $2 million for a retail center in Mill Basin and $4 million to renovate a skating rink in Prospect Park.
As it happens, Bender's wife sits on the board of the Prospect Park Alliance.
Kruger laments that he has but $4 million to offer and asks, "What do you want done?" adding, "I guess the park. F--- the bridge."
But Bender prods Kruger for more. You're the Finance Committee chairman, he says. Can't you squeeze something additional out of Senate Democratic leader John Sampson?
Kruger replies that other community groups "would take $10,000 and kiss somebody's a--."
Crain's New York, Lobbyist Richard Lipsky's downfall
In the 1990s, lobbyist Richard Lipsky fought ferociously on behalf of small business owners against building a Pathmark supermarket in East Harlem, and, a decade later, against a Walmart store on Staten Island. But the underdog narrative that ran through his three-decade career became muddied more recently as signs emerged that Mr. Lipsky was following the money rather than his principles.
Forest City Ratner hired him in 2006 for its $5 billion Atlantic Yards megaproject in Brooklyn, and a related corporate entity snagged him to pave the way for an East Harlem shopping mall whose anchor is a Target superstore. Those moves were widely attributed to the developer's desire to prevent Mr. Lipsky from stirring up and advocating for the little guys, his traditional constituency.
He aligned himself with four rogue legislators who upended the Democrats' tenuous hold on the Senate in 2009. And he recently signed on with the Committee to Save New York, a big-business alliance backing Gov. Andrew Cuomo's fiscally conservative agenda.
“He was serving far too many masters,” said a Democratic operative. “You could purchase his position on an issue.”
...
It isn't clear when his relationship with Mr. Kruger developed, but observers suspect their ties solidified around 2006, when Mr. Lipsky signed on with Forest City Ratner. Its executive vice president for government affairs, Bruce Bender, has known Mr. Kruger for decades.
New York Post, Kruger's political favor
State Sen. Carl Kruger -- who is facing federal corruption charges in an alleged pay-to-play scheme -- used his political muscle to hold up a Bloomberg administration project in Brooklyn at least three years to benefit a favored developer also highlighted in the embattled pol’s criminal complaint, the Post has learned.
At issue is a 15-acre city project that includes a new retail center in Mill Basin, built by developer Forest City Ratner. The project, along Flatbush Avenue, is also supposed to hold a Cadillac car dealership. The site currently houses a Toys-R-Us store. Tim Wiencis/Splash News
Kruger (D-Brooklyn) sent former Deputy Mayor Robert Lieber a scathing letter in January 2008 threatening to sue the city because it wanted to begin the mandatory public review process on the dealership’s portion of the project, without FCR’s part.
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“He cost the city three years it can’t get back on a project that already faces a lot of opposition,“ said one city official.
Kruger and Bruce Bender, a vice president for government relations at FCR, are longtime allies who both got their starts in Southern Brooklyn’s Thomas Jefferson Democratic Club.
According to the complaint, Bender in December asked Kruger for $11 million in state funds for two FCR projects in Brooklyn – the Mill Basin project and Atlantic Yards – and another $4 million to renovate a Prospect Park skating rink near Bender’s Park Slope home.
Talk of the Sound, Lobbyist for Forest City Ratner, New Rochelle's Echo Bay Developer, Indicted for Bribing Elected Officials in Brooklyn
Richard Lipsky, a lobbyist employed by Forest City Ratner, has been indicted on allegations of paying bribes to New York State Sen. Carl Kruger (D-Brooklyn). Vice President of Governmental Affairs and Public Relations Bruce Bender is also identified in the complaint for his role in seek funds from Kruger last December for three projects -- $9 million for a bridge related to the Atlantic Yards project; $2 million for the Mill Basin retail development in Brooklyn; and $4 million for a skating rink in Prospect Park. Mr. Bender’s wife, Amy Bender, is on the board of the Prospect Park Alliance, the park’s fund-raising group.
Referred to in the charging document as "a significant real estate development firm ("Real Estate Developer #1")", Forest City employed Richard Lipsky up until Wednesday when the developer terminated the relationship.
Forest City Ratner is the developer behind the Echo Bay Development project in New Rochelle which recently received an extension of a Memorandum of Understanding. Mayor Noam Bramson aggressively pushed through the M.O.U. after a series of secret meetings with City officials and refusing to allow public comment on a revised development plan. Bramson has received thousands of dollars in campaign donations from the Ratner family. Bramson also receives tens of thousands of dollars a year in payments from Rep. Nita Lowey (D-NY) who has, in turn, also received funds from the Ratner family. Bramson has been the most vocal proponent for the Forest City Ratner plan to develop Echo Bay.
Posted by steve at March 13, 2011 10:08 PM