‘Warm’ pol went after ‘cold’ cash
A STATE senator who urged his constituents to keep warm during the cold snap is an adviser to a Harlem real estate firm whose tenants have repeatedly griped this winter about the lack of heat in their apartments.
Sen. Brian Benjamin serves on an advisory board for Genesis Cos., and until recently, he had been seeking a $5,000-a-month parttime consulting gig with the firm.
While the Democrat (photo inset) was angling for the payday, some of his Harlem constituents were struggling to stay warm in their Genesis-owned apartments. The firm has 18 buildings in Benjamin’s district. Since October, the city has received at least 215 complaints about Genesis apartments not having either heat, hot water or a radiator, records show. At least 46 complaints were made this month alone.
In late December, Benjamin urged his tenants in tweets to contact his office about heat-related issues. He also bragged about holding landlords accountable.
Before Benjamin won his seat in a special election in the spring, he worked as managing director at Genesis. He currently serves as an unpaid Genesis advisory board member.
Genesis filed a disclosure with the state’s Joint Commission on Public Ethics in July saying it wanted to pay Benjamin $5,000 a month as a consultant on real estate development matters. While the disclosure was filed six months ago, it’s still awaiting the approval of the state Legislative Ethics Commission.
However, Benjamin’s spokesman Neil Reilly said Tuesday that, since his election, the senator — who earns $79,500 in the state post — hasn’t taken a dime from Genesis and won’t.
Reilly declined to say when Benjamin decided to stop seeking the job.
A spokesman for WinnResidential, Genesis’ property manager, said that the firm investigates and addresses any tenant complaint within 24 hours.