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October 25, 2011
From Brooklyn Office, Mixing Clout and Charity
The New York Times
by Liz Robbins and Alison Leigh Cowan
What's front-page news to The Times is something that most of us have known for a long time — something is rotten in Brooklyn (Borough Hall).
When one of the biggest real estate developments in Brooklyn was stalled two years ago, its owner turned to the city government for help, seeking $20 million in financing. Nearly 50 projects were applying for a small number of aid packages at the time, but this one, City Point, had a prominent supporter.
“The future of Downtown Brooklyn depends on it,” Marty Markowitz, the Brooklyn borough president, declared.
City Point received the financing, and around the same time, the lead developer on the project, Acadia Realty, gave $50,000 to a charity run by Mr. Markowitz. The donation was one of a series that Acadia has made to Mr. Markowitz’s charities since 2005, totaling more than $300,000, city records and interviews show.
New York City has adopted some of the strictest rules in the nation to curb the influence of money in politics. Donors with business before it are all but barred from contributing to officials in the city’s campaign finance system.
Yet in recent years, Mr. Markowitz has found another way to tap into those donors. He has established a network of four charities that has reaped at least $20 million since 2003, and probably more, according to interviews and an analysis of city records.
...The donors to the nonprofit groups range from huge corporations like Wal-Mart and TD Bank to local entrepreneurs, but they usually have one thing in common: They have a stake in city legislation, real estate projects, zoning disputes and other Brooklyn issues.
But everything's kosher, according to Marty.
“I know the difference between right and wrong, and ethical and nonethical,” Mr. Markowitz said. “I am not pitching them to give me money, and me in turn give them anything.”
Here's how the game works.
Mr. Markowitz was once an outspoken critic of Wal-Mart’s effort to open in the city, contending that the company treated its workers poorly and would harm local businesses.
In 2008, Mr. Markowitz recommended approval of the zoning resolution for a retailer in East New York, Brooklyn, preferably a supermarket, but only on the condition that Wal-Mart could not be the retailer unless it changed its employment practices. He even demanded that the developer promise in writing to prohibit Wal-Mart.
Last spring, Wal-Mart executives donated $150,000 to the Martin Luther King Jr. concerts, a Markowitz group, and met with Mr. Markowitz.
Soon after, Mr. Markowitz softened his criticism of Wal-Mart, saying its executives convinced him that the company had improved its labor practices. He added that shoppers were now going to Wal-Mart on Long Island. “It doesn’t make sense to me how we keep Wal-Mart out of Brooklyn,” he said.
Both Wal-Mart and Mr. Markowitz said the donations were unrelated to Mr. Markowitz’s views on Wal-Mart’s expansion to Brooklyn.
Union leaders, who have long opposed Wal-Mart in New York and elsewhere, disagreed.
“When somebody changes their mind after a corporation has come in and given a large donation, it is seen as an example of everything that people are disgusted with in politics,” said Patrick Purcell, the assistant to the president of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 1500.
NoLandGrab: Disgusted, indeed.
Posted by eric at October 25, 2011 12:16 PM