Pols: Won’t take ‘hood’-tainted $

ALBANY — Seven candidates for City Council speaker have signed a pledge vowing not to accept money from billionaire Daniel Loeb because of racially charged social media comments he made about a top state Senate Democratic leader.

In a since-deleted Facebook post, Loeb in July accused Senate Democratic leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, who is black, of having done “more damage to people of color than anyone who has ever donned a hood” — a reference to the Ku Klux Klan — by supporting public teacher unions over charter schools.

Citing the offensive statement, seven of the eight candidates for City Council speaker signed a pledge that several progressive groups pushed vowing not to accept money from Loeb (photo) or political action committees tied to him. The candidates are Councilmen Corey Johnson, Mark Levine, Donovan Richards, Ydanis Rodriguez, Ritchie Torres, Jimmy Van Bramer and Jumanne Williams.

An eighth speaker candidate, Robert Cornegy, who in 2014 and 2015 received a combined $4,400 from Loeb to his nowclosed district leader campaign account, did not sign. Cornegy said Sunday he was unaware that groups were supporting the pledge, but he said he would reject any money from the billionaire hedge fund manager because of his offensive comments about Stewart-Cousins.

“Anybody with that philosophy, it would be difficult to align myself with him,” Cornegy said.

Loeb is a charter school financial backer and a big political donor to pro-school choice state and city elected leaders.

The stand taken by the council speaker candidates not to accept Loeb’s money is likely only symbolic since it’s not clear how many of the candidates would have gotten donations from him in the first place.