NYC ♡ the mayor (Pete)
$orry, Blas, you're not No. 1
He’s New York’s favorite mayor — and he lives about 700 miles away!
Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Ind., humiliated Mayor de Blasio by raising $2.35 million for his White House bid from Big Apple residents during the second quarter of 2019, his campaign revealed Tuesday.
Part of a total $24.9 million that Buttigieg raked in, the New York haul is more than twice the $1.1 million de Blasio collected nationwide campaign in since May. launching his
But de Blasio pretty much cornered the market on contributions from bigwigs who rely on his administration to do business in the city, Federal Election Com-mission records show.
Hizzoner got at least $33,600 in maximum, $2,800-a-piece donations from hotel execs led by Richard Born and Ira Drukier of BD Hotels, which is a beneficiary of de Blasio’s crackdown on Airbnb.
Of that amount, $22,400 is tied to a limited-liability company that Born, Drukier and two other partners set up to build a 39-story skyscraper in Hell’s Kitchen.
A separate filing Tuesday with the state Board of Elections showed that Born, Drukier and various relatives donated a combined $12,500 to de Blasio’s NY Fairness PAC.
De Blasio also received maximum donations from Triangle Equities President Lester Petracca; his wife, Tracy; son Nicholas Petracca; daughters Elise and Deborah Petracca; and Evan Petracca, the company’s COO.
Triangle is currently involved in two “public-private” partnerships with the city to build a $1 billion waterfront development on Staten Island — and an 80acre “resilient and sustainable community” on the Rockaway Peninsula in Queens.
Records also link $22,400 in de Blasio contributions to Brooklyn Democratic Party counsel Frank Carone, who earlier thishis year was revealed too have helped broker a deal in which the city bought 17 buildings. from notorious slumlords Jay and Stuart Podolsky for $173.5 million, $30 million over the appraised value. Carone and his wife each made $2,800 contributions, as did six other people linked to the Abrams, Fensterman firm, where Carone is executive partner.
A spokesman for Carone called him and his wife “unwavering supporters of the mayor.”
De Blasio campaign spokeswoman Jaclyn Rothenberg said: “The campaign . . . does not accept contributions from individuals on the New York City ‘doing business’ list” of vendors and lobbyists.