De Blasio raked in contributions from hotel owners, developers
He lost the battle of the mayors, but his base still came through.
Although Mayor Bill de Blasio was crushed by South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg in the race to raise money for their presidential campaigns, Hizzoner pretty much cornered the market on contributions from bigwigs who rely on his administration to do business in the city, Federal Election Commission records show.
De Blasio got at least $33,600 in maximum, $2,800-a-piece donations from hotel execs led by Richard Born and Ira Drukier of BD Hotels, which boasts the largest portfolio of indie hotels in the city — and is a beneficiary of de Blasio’s crackdown on Airbnb.
Of that amount, $22,400 is tied to a limited liability company that Born, Drukier and two partners — Harry Whitlin and Rita Distenfield — set up to build a 39-story skyscraper with 350 apartments and ground-floor stores in Hell’s Kitchen.
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A separate filing Tuesday with the state Board of Elections showed that Born, Drukier and various relatives donated a combined $12,500 to de Blasio’s NY Fairness PAC.
De Blasio also received maximum donations from Triangle Equities President Lester Petracca; his wife, Tracy; son Nicholas Petracca; daughters Elise Petracca and Deborah Petracca; and Evan Petracca, his company’s COO.
Triangle is involved in two “public-private” partnerships with the city to build a $1 billion waterfront development featuring a hotel, apartment tower, stores and offices on Staten Island — and an 80-acre “resilient and sustainable community” on the Rockaway Peninsula in Queens.
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Records also link $22,400 in de Blasio contributions to Brooklyn Democratic Party counsel Frank Carone, who earlier this year was revealed to have helped broker a deal in which the city bought 17 buildings from notorious slumlords Jay and Stuart Podolsky for $173.5 million — $30 million over the appraised value.
Carone and his lawyer wife each made $2,800 contributions, as did four other lawyers and an employee at the Abrams, Fensterman firm — where Carone is the executive partner — and one lawyer’s spouse.
A spokesman for Carone called him and his wife “unwavering supporters of the mayor going back many years,” and said Carone was “proud that a Brooklyn Dem is fighting for the US presidency.”
De Blasio campaign spokeswoman Jaclyn Rothenberg said: “The campaign goes above and beyond the law and does not accept contributions from individuals on the New York City ‘doing business’ list” of vendors and lobbyists.
