Developers With City Business Pour Into Cuomo Super PAC

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Individuals or companies either doing or trying to do business with New York City are limited to contributing $400 to a candidate during an election cycle. Developers on that list, however, are finding other ways to influence the races.

Real estate figures are among those working around contribution limits by donating to independent expenditure committees, aka New York’s version of super PACs, The City reported. The top beneficiary of individuals and companies donating to these committees has been mayoral candidate Andrew Cuomo.

RXR’s Scott Rechler — whose business before the city includes a rezoning request in Brooklyn — had most of his check written to the Cuomo campaign refunded to be brought in line with the “doing business” requirements. The next day, however, he contributed $250,000 to Fix the City, a super PAC aligned with Cuomo.

Arker Companies’ Alex Arker also donated to both Cuomo and Fix the City. A day after writing the maximum $400 check to the Cuomo campaign, Arker turned around and gave a pair of $25,000 checks to Fix the City, courtesy of his companies.

“We have no insight into what Fix The City does, and I refer questions to them,” a Cuomo spokesperson told The City.

The New York Apartment Association formed an independent expenditure committee to spend $2.5 million on ads for Cuomo. The Durst Organization and Two Trees also donated six-figure sums to Fix the City while being on the “doing business” list. Additionally, Newmark’s Barry Gosin and GFP Real Estate’s Jeffrey Gural donated $25,000 each.

Overall, Fix the City has scored nearly $2.7 million from entities with business before the city.

There’s no evidence of wrongdoing from the Cuomo campaign regarding the “doing business” contributions. But if the campaign directed its maxed-out donors to contribute to Fix the City instead, that would likely be considered coordination between the two, which is prohibited.

Cuomo’s campaign has been dinged already for such concerns. Last month, the city’s Campaign Finance Board withheld $1.3 million in matching funds due to language similarities between the Cuomo campaign and a Fix the City ad.

— Holden Walter-Warner