Two-way street Corey benefits from recipients of Council pork

Council Speaker Corey Johnson’s nascent campaign for mayor is fueled by donors already benefiting from millions in City Council pork.

Nearly $38,000 — or a tenth — of some $375,000 that Johnson raised since January came from people who work for or serve hundreds of entities that have gotten millions in discretionary funds from the Council on the speaker’s watch, an analysis of filings by the Daily News found.

Collectively, those nonprofits and groups were allocated more than $56 million in taxpayer funds during the two fiscal years since Johnson was elected speaker.

The Council doles out millions in discretionary funding to nonprofits that provide community-based services. This year, the Council gave out $67 million in such grants.

Individual Council lawmakers each get a certain pot to allocate in their districts every year, and the rest of the funding goes to nonprofits as part of initiatives focused on certain causes, like anti-poverty.

Johnson’s campaign filing reads like a who’s who of the city’s philanthropic world, with at least 70 donors on boards of various nonprofits.

Seven people with the LGBT Center in Manhattan donated $1,225 altogether, including $250 from the nonprofit’s head, Glennda Testone. A former government relations manager for the center, Chelsea Goldinger, also gave $250 and now works for Johnson’s mayoral campaign. The LGBT Center was allocated $1.45 million in Council funding the last two years.

Johnson got $4,525 from donors serving seven museums that were given $1.2 million in discretionary funding from the Council over the last two years.

The speaker’s campaign got $2,000 in contributions from people on the board of trustees at Playwrights Horizons, as well as a fund-raiser for the nonprofit theater. Playwrights Horizons has gotten $215,000 in Council funding under Johnson.

Ten donors with the Friends of the High Line gave Johnson $2,100. The group received $320,000 in Council funding the last two fiscal years.

Johnson received $2,085 in donations from members of the board of the New York City AIDS Memorial, as well as the treasurer and executive director, according to campaign filings. The memorial received $100,000 in discretionary funds this year.

“New Yorkers should have faith that decisions regarding government funding, contracts and policy are based on merit, and not on who is financially supporting candidates,” said Betsy Gotbaum, executive director of the good-government group Citizens Union. “The law is designed to limit the amount of money individuals who do business with the city can give to political candidates.”

Donors with business before the city can’t give candidates for mayor more than $400.

Johnson hasn’t officially declared his candidacy for mayor yet – but he has already imposed limits on his fund-raising.

The speaker said he won’t accept more than $250 from any single donor and vowed to decline contributions from real estate developers and employees of lobbying firms. At least $4,100 has been refunded to lobbyists, developers and others already, filings show.

Ninety-four of the donors tied to groups getting Council money gave Johnson his selfimposed max of $250.

They include Ruth Lande Shuman, the founder and president of Publicolor, a youth development program that received 421,000 in Council funds in the last two years.

Another $250 came from Alan van Capelle, the CEO of Educational Alliance, which got $287,000 in Council discretionary funding under Johnson.

Michael Schlein, the president and CEO of Accion, also gave the “max” of $250. The nonprofit received $176,855 in discretionary funding.

“Corey is the only candidate in the race with a historic selfimposed limit of $250 or less. He’s the only major candidate not taking real estate developer money, money from people at lobbying firms or corporate PAC money,” campaign spokeswoman Jennifer Fermino said.

“The Council’s budget process is member-driven and inclusive. Decisions on discretionary funding are made collaboratively with members. Corey is proud to be working to get big money out of politics and his strong grass roots support.”

One of Johnson’s predecessors, Council Speaker Christine Quinn, also raised thousands from beneficiaries of discretionary funding when she ran for mayor in 2013.

Fourteen nonprofit groups that got the biggest grants from Quinn that year had ties to campaign contributors who gave or raised more than $210,000 in support of her candidacy, The News reported.