Pols’ donor gets $2M tax break from Albany

A New York City developer who is a major campaign donor placed a losing bet on an upstate racetrack — but still came out a winner when Albany granted him a $2 million tax break.

Developer Jeff Gural threatened to shut down money-losing Vernon Downs, a harness track and racino in central New York, unless the state gave him a better deal.

In the special legislative session called last week to extend mayoral control of New York City schools, Gural’s horse came in. In a separate bill, the state Senate and Assembly slashed the taxes and fees paid by Vernon Downs by $2 million.

Gov. Cuomo, who signed the measure, and lawmakers defended the bailout as a jobs saver.

“We make no apologies for helping to save 300 upstate jobs — which was also a major bipartisan priority for both the Assembly and the Senate,” said Cuomo spokesman Richard Azzopardi.

Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie (D-Bronx) said the tax relief was recommended by Republicans.

“We were successful in scaling back the original Republican proposal, which was far more generous, and in the end we were able to save 300 jobs,” said Heastie spokesman Michael Whyland.

Senate GOP spokesman Scott Reif explained, “Our only motiva- tion was to keep Vernon Downs open and protect 300 good-paying jobs in upstate New York.”

All dismissed claims they were also helping a campaign contributor.

Records show that Gural, who runs other tracks and casinos, has made more than $400,000 in campaign contributions to Cuomo, and legislators in both major parties over the past seven years.

The donations include $91,000 to Cuomo, $50,000 to the Demo- cratic Assembly Campaign Committee and $17,500 to the Senate Republican Campaign Committee.

One watchdog questioned why the government came to the rescue of a money-losing gambling joint.

“It’s absurd for the taxpayers to be bailing out gambling operations,” said John Kaehny of Reinvent Albany. “There’s sleaze factor, on top of everything else, when you have a major political donor running it. It’s the triple jackpot of bad policy and sleaze.”

But Gural defended the deal as common sense, pointing out that Vernon Downs was doing well before three casinos were allowed to open nearby.

“I employ 300 people,” Gural said. “I still give education $12 million and I pay local taxes of $2 million.”

But in 2010, when New York City’s Off-Track Betting Corp. was in bankruptcy, the state wouldn’t come to the rescue. About 1,000 jobs were lost when the nation’s largest legal bookie shut down.