A group of real estate executives and corporate leaders, bracing for the departure of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, plans to spend up to $10 million to make sure the City Council elected this fall is friendly to business.
The organization, made up of real estate developers, property owners, banks, insurance companies, investment firms and others, has established a political action committee to direct donations to back candidates in both parties who support pro-development policies.
Called Jobs for New York, the PAC represents an aggressive new involvement in New York’s heavily regulated city elections by a major independent expenditure group. The PAC also has the support of several unions whose fortunes are tied to construction, including those representing carpenters and laborers known as mason tenders.
The effort is focused exclusively on Council races, in part because members tend to have great sway over development in their districts, but also because of the uncertainty surrounding the topsy-turvy mayoral campaign.
During his tenure, the mayor has championed a pro-development agenda, pushing dozens of rezoning measures through the Council while investing billions of dollars to nurture commercial development and affordable housing — sometimes over the objections of neighborhood residents.
The PAC effort is being spearheaded by the Real Estate Board of New York, which includes some of the most influential figures and families in the industry, including Larry A. Silverstein, the developer of the World Trade Center, Richard S. LeFrak, Daniel R. Tishman, the Speyers and the Rudins.
In an interview, Steven Spinola, the president of the real estate board, called Mr. Bloomberg’s time in City Hall a “wonderful era” and said his organization’s PAC intended to support candidates who would advance a pro-jobs, pro-development agenda similar to Mr. Bloomberg’s.
From The Real Deal:
A mere seven real estate firms — including Brookfield Office Properties, the Durst Organization and Jack Resnick & Company — donated more than half of the $5.26 million raised so far by a new political action committee backed by the Real Estate Board of New York, a review of state records by The Real Deal reveals.
Some 113 companies or individuals affiliated with 18 well-known city developers made the contributions to the PAC, called Jobs For New York, which was created to advance a pro-growth political agenda for the city, according to records filed this week with the New York State Board of Elections.
Jobs for New York has reportedly said that unions were also supporting the cause, but the donor list did not reveal any as of the latest filing in July.
Real estate firms have long fretted that once the pro-development Mayor Michael Bloomberg is out of office, a new mayor and City Council could turn away from his agenda and raise the cost of doing business in the city.
JOBS 4 NY has thus far sent out 3 mailers on behalf of Paul Vallone, none of which have to do with development, and all of which hide who they are:
The above mailer is about public safety, not development.
When you attended private school and send your kids to one as well, it's best not to try to pass yourself off as some kind of public education expert. Especially when you crib your policy positions from your opponent.
Creating good jobs, building more affordable housing and strengthening the middle class? Is that what they have been doing all these years as they destroyed jobs by pushing for conversion of M-zoned properties to residential, flooded once-affordable neighborhoods with luxury condos and chased the middle class out of NYC? Oh, and they're also anti-landmarking. (Good luck, Broadway-Flushing.)
Vote Vallone!
Now this here is interesting. From Crains:
Austin Shafran is charging his main Democratic primary opponent, Paul Vallone, with illegally coordinating with the Jobs for New York PAC, as well as improperly reporting campaign expenditures for office rent and the purchase of voter files.
Mr. Shafran's campaign filed three complaints with the city's Campaign Finance Board, two last week and one on Monday. In the complaints, they argue that Mr. Vallone's alleged campaign finance violations should make him ineligible for public matching funds.
The charge of collusion between Mr. Vallone's campaign and the PAC is, on the surface, fairly minor, but it could be difficult for Mr. Vallone to disprove. Campaign literature paid for by Jobs for New York touting Mr. Vallone are shown to include a yellow Post-It-style sticky note with Mr. Vallone's electronic signature reading, "Sorry I missed you today, Paul," indicating the individual delivering the flier was not able to personally deliver it to a resident of the address where it was left. Identical sticky notes, which were purchased by Mr. Vallone's campaign, were affixed to the candidate's own mailers, according to photographs included in the complaints to the finance board.
The presence of the sticky notes on both Mr. Vallone's and the Jobs for New York mailers indicates that canvassers for both operations are coordinating their efforts, Mr. Shafran's campaign claims.
The more serious complaints charge that Mr. Vallone failed to adequately bill his campaign for office rent and the purchase of voter ID files. Since January, Mr. Vallone has reported spending $500 a month on office rent for his campaign, which Mr. Shafran claims is far below the market value for similar offices in the same Bayside building. Mr. Vallone's campaign, which is housed in the law firm he shares with his brother and father, would have to be a mere 127 square feet to be commensurate with the amount of money Mr. Vallone is paying in rent, Mr. Shafran claims.
In the complaint, Mr. Shafran's campaign also points out that Mr. Vallone has failed to report the purchase of a voter database that must have been necessary for canvassing and petitioning operations. While they admit there is "no direct evidence" to support this theory, Mr. Shafran's campaign notes that Mr. Vallone has been sharing "human resources" with his brother's borough president campaign, and presumes that they may be sharing voter files as well, which would be improper if the costs were not also shared.
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