Cozying up to Corey
Speaker meets with loads of lobbyists
City Council Speaker Corey Johnson attended at least 52 events at which he was able to interact with nearly 70 lobbyists during his first three months in the powerful position, records show.
Of those, 37 were private sessions at which Democrat Johnson met or dined with 36 lobbyists and their clients, according to his schedules and registrations with the City Clerk’s Office. All took place between January and March this year.
Twenty talks took place in the speaker’s office, and most of his lobbyist meetings focused on real estate and labor, a Post analysis found.
“The name of the game for lobbyists is to ingratiate themselves with powerful people,” said Blair Horner of the New York Public Interest Research Group. “It does tip the scales.”
The lobbyist who got the most face time with Johnson was Chris Coffey of Tusk Strategies, a longtime Johnson friend and ally who had four meetings and dinners with him. Coffey advises Johnson and worked on his bid to become speaker.
Suri Kasirer of Kasirer LLC, the city’s most profitable lobbying firm, had three meetings with Johnson, including two sitdowns with different clients over just two hours March 12. She campaigned for Johnson to be speaker.
In June, he made former Kasirer vice president and lobbyist Jason Goldman the council’s chief-of-staff.
Lobbyists Michele de Milly and Ethan Geto bundled $32,400 in donations for Johnson’s 2017 campaign, filings show. Four days after he became speaker, de Milly and Geto had dinner with Johnson. Geto and his clients met with Johnson twice more by the end of March.
Johnson broke a pledge he made during the speaker’s race to disclose his contacts with lobbyists bimonthly. Instead, his office released three months of schedules, which The Post analyzed using lobbying registrations with the City Clerk’s Office.
Lobbyists aren’t ID’d in Johnson’s schedules, and the topic of conversation isn’t always listed.
“In his role as speaker, Corey talks with as many people as possible to make informed decisions on any given issue,” Johnson spokeswoman Jennifer Fermino said. “His decisions are based entirely on what he thinks is best for the city after taking into account all perspectives.”
Mayor de Blasio’s deputy mayors, commissioners and top aides held 136 meetings with lobbyists over just three months this spring, as The Post revealed this month.