NY Lawmakers Say They Are for Renters, Their Donor Base Tells Another Story

LAUGHING ALL THE WAY TO THE BANK: Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie (center) has received hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from the real estate industry. Credit: Office of the Governor, Kevin P. Coughlin.

Indypendent Staff May 7, 2019

For the past half-century, New York Democrats dominated the state Assembly while their Republican counterparts controlled the state Senate with the help of heavily gerrymandered districts. Progressive legislation routinely sailed through the Assembly only to die a quiet death in the Senate.

That arrangement ended in 2018 when a “blue wave” swept aside Senate Republicans and many of their corporate-friendly Democratic allies. The Democrats now control the Senate 39-24 and hold a whopping 107-43 advantage in the Assembly. But a funny thing happened as the Senate moved to the left. Assembly Democrats started to have second thoughts about some of their past commitments.

A universal health care plan for all New Yorkers? It needs further study. Publicly funded elections? Where could we find $100 million in a $172 billion annual state budget for such a thing? A pied-à-terre tax on the multi-million dollar second homes of the 1% that would rake in $600 million per year for public schools. Well, how do we really know if it’s their first or second homes?

Which way will Assembly Democrats go in the battle over rent law reforms? The money raked in from the real estate industry by Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie and the Democratic Assembly Campaign Committee (DACC) doesn’t bode well. Heastie and his top lieutenants who control the DACC can use this money to disburse campaign contributions to rank-and-file Democratic assembly members who fall in line and do their bidding. The ability to deliver desired outcomes to their wealthy backers then assures the leadership more generous “donations” in the future. And on it goes.

The big question: Will this top-down, money-driven version of politics prevail in Albany in 2019? Or, can the tenant movement and its allies put enough fear into wayward Democrats of being primaried in 2020 to force them to break with the landlord lobby?

NUMBERS GAME

Total real estate contribution to Democratic Assembly Campaign Committee since 2012: $1,235,079

Real estate groups donating to the DACC:

Rudin Management
Glenwood Management
Durst Organization
Time Equities
Extell Development
Realtor’s PAC
Two Trees Management
Fortis Property Group
Nixon Peabody
Brown And Weinraub
Park Strategies
Barclay Damon LLP
Heritage Realty
Brixmor Property Group
Flaum Management

Real estate groups donating to Heastie:

Extell Development Company
Goldmont Realty
Time Equities
Newmark Knight Frank
KZA Realty
Lakeland Property Partners
Mack-Cali
National Association of Realtors
Triangle Equities
Related Co
Rent Stabilization Association of NY
Sandra Erickson Real Estate
Simone Development Companies
Solow Building Co.
SL Green Realty
Makras Real Estate

Total real estate contribution to Democratic Assembly Campaign Committee since 2012: $1,235,079

Real estate groups donating to the DACC:
Rudin Management
Glenwood Management
Durst Organization
Time Equities
Extell Development
Realtor’s PAC
Two Trees Management
Fortis Property Group
Nixon Peabody
Brown And Weinraub
Park Strategies
Barclay Damon LLP
Heritage Realty
Brixmor Property Group
Flaum Management

Real estate groups donating to Heastie:
Extell Development Company
Goldmont Realty
Time Equities
Newmark Knight Frank
KZA Realty
Lakeland Property Partners
Mack-Cali
National Association of Realtors
Triangle Equities
Related Co
Rent Stabilization Association of NY
Sandra Erickson Real Estate
Simone Development Companies
Solow Building Co.
SL Green Realty
Makras Real Estate

Donations by real estate and associates to Carl Heastie
PAC 2018 Individual Contributions (2009-2018)
Real Estate $11,000 $76,900
Real Estate & Assoc $70,500 $179,610
Total $81,500 $256,510

ORGANIZING FROM THE GRASSROOTS

ESTA CASA ES TU CASA: Tenant advocates are stirring things up at the statehouse this year. There are lots of groups to plug in with. Credit: housingjusticeforall.org

The Housing Justice For All Coalition is made up of dozens of organizations. Some of the groups spans the city or the state while many others are based in neighborhoods where working class residents are being impacted by an onslaught of gentrification and displacement. Here are a few of the leading organizations. For information about all of the coalition members, see www.housingjusticeforall.org/who-we-are-1.

Met Council on Housing
Metcouncilonhousing.org

Met Council has been at the forefront of tenants rights struggles in NYC for over 50 years. It also operates a tenant hotline (212-979-0611) on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 1:30-5 pm, publishes a monthly bilingual newsletter for members and has a weekly radio show (“Housing Notebook”) on WBAI-99.5 Mondays from 7-8 pm.

New York Communities For Change
www.nycommunities.org

Emerging from the collapse of ACORN, New York Communities For Change has been building grassroots political power with low-income communities of color since 2010.

Make The Road New York
Maketheroadny.org

Make the Road has offices in Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, Long Island and Westchester County and with more than 20,000 members is the largest member-led immigrant rights organization in New York.

New York City DSA
www.socialists.nyc.org

The Democratic Socialists of America have seen their membership grow by tenfold since 2016. The NYC DSA chapter is the largest in the country with more than 5,000 members. It is active in both electoral politics and has various issue-based working groups including a Housing Working Group.

NW Bronx Community & Clergy Coalition
www.northwestbronx.org

Forged in the fires that engulfed the Bronx in mid-1970s when landlords set fires to hundreds of buildings to collect the insurance money, NWBCCC has been fighting for 45 years to make the Bronx a place where all people can thrive.

Woodside On The Move
@twitter.com/WoodsideMoves

Fighting to keep Western Queens a place where working class, immigrant families can thrive.

NY Lawmakers Say They Are for Renters, Their Donor Base Tells Another Story

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