Moguls Love Governor Paterson

Governor Paterson has many admirers, but the real estate moguls that dominate the city have donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Governor.

by James R. Lindamood

It seems that it isn't just the people of NY that love the governor. Documents released recently show that much of the 3 million dollars that Governor Paterson has raised since coming to high office in March has been from the real estate industry. Of course, Governor Paterson has many admirers, but the real estate moguls that dominate the city have donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Governor. It's entirely possible that this won't have any effect at all on the city's rent prices, but then again, you never know.

In filings to the State Board of Elections, Governor Paterson's coffers show large donations from the real estate industry, which may very well hope for the Governor's support of the industry's desires for less rental and housing regulation. The Democratic State Legislature worries many of the largest developers, since the legislature is taking a long, hard look at expanding rent and price controls.

The campaign donation papers shows hundreds of thousands of dollars raised from real estate developers in the city, all paid the Governor Paterson's campaign committee. Some of the donations, made through various New York LLCs, totaled over 100,000 dollars. This, combined with the donations made from other NYC real-estate leaders, show the new Governor's popularity with the formerly contentious developers. It's not unheard of for the two groups to get along, but it's rather like a case of the cat and canary.

Of course, all politics aside, we all have the opportunity to write checks to whichever political party and candidate that we like. That's the point of the democratic system, and whether you agree with it or not, at least the good Governor isn't making campaign contributions to out of state hotels.