TOP 20 STATE CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS 2013 donor
Total Donated
Largest recipient
1
SIMONS, JAMES AND MARILYN
$1,156,500.00
$1,000,000: NEW YORK STATE DEMOCRATIC COMMITTEE (HOUSEKEEPING)
2
LEONARD LITWIN
$1,013,200.00
$375,000: ANDREW CUOMO 2014, INC.
3
SOROS, GEORGE
$760,000.00
$750,000: NEW YORK STATE DEMOCRATIC COMMITTEE (HOUSEKEEPING)
4
1199
$733,500.00
$190,200: WORKING FAMILIES PARTY, INC.
5
NYSUT
$717,343.00
$102,300: NYS DEMOCRATIC ASSEMBLY CAMPAIGN COMMITTEE (DACC); NYS DEMOCRATIC SENATE CAMPAIGN COMMITTEE (NYS DSCC)
6
GNYHA
$686,388.58
$201,688.58: NEW YORK STATE DEMOCRATIC COMMITTEE (HOUSEKEEPING)
7
TRIAL LAWYERS ASSOCIATION
$578,710.00
$102,300: NYS DEMOCRATIC ASSEMBLY CAMPAIGN COMMITTEE (DACC); NYS SENATE REPUBLICAN CAMPAIGN COMMITTEE
8
TIME WARNER
$558,912.52
$175,000: NEW YORK STATE DEMOCRATIC COMMITTEE (HOUSEKEEPING)
9
EMPIRE DENTAL
$453,250.00
$100,000: NYS DEMOCRATIC ASSEMBLY CAMPAIGN COMMITTEE (DACC); NYS SENATE REPUBLICAN CAMPAIGN COMMITTEE
10
BROOKFIELD FINANCIAL AND THEIR HOLDINGS
$427,250.00
$350,000: NEW YORK STATE DEMOCRATIC COMMITTEE (HOUSEKEEPING)
11
HEALTHCARE ASSOCIATION OF NEW YORK
$427,250.00
$110,000: NYS SENATE REPUBLICAN CAMPAIGN COMMITTEE - HOUSEKEEPING
12
HOSPITALS INSURANCE COMPANY, INC
$371,500.00
$200,000: NEW YORK STATE DEMOCRATIC COMMITTEE (HOUSEKEEPING)
13
NYS CORRECTION OFFICERS PBA
$358,777.22
$60,000: NYS DEMOCRATIC ASSEMBLY CAMPAIGN COMMITTEE (DACC)
14
CABLEVISION
$354,097.60
$100,000: NEW YORK STATE DEMOCRATIC COMMITTEE (HOUSEKEEPING)
15
UNITED FEDERATION OF TEACHERS
$347,800.00
$250,000: NEW YORK STATE DEMOCRATIC COMMITTEE (HOUSEKEEPING)
16
NY HOTEL AND MOTEL TRADES COUNCIL
$329,200.00
$129,500: WORKING FAMILIES PARTY, INC
17
TISHMAN SPEYER DEVELOPMENT LLC
$318,300.00
$200,000: NEW YORK STATE DEMOCRATIC COMMITTEE (HOUSEKEEPING)
18
EXTELL DEVELOPMENT + Gary Barnett
$315,000.00
$200,000: ANDREW CUOMO 2014, INC.
19
AT&T
$309,725.00
$125,000: NEW YORK STATE DEMOCRATIC COMMITTEE (HOUSEKEEPING)
20
CORRECTION OFFICERS BENEVOLENT ASSN
$305,750.00
$55,500: NYS SENATE REPUBLICAN CAMPAIGN COMMITTEE
rank
FOR THE FULL LIST OF 2013 CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTORS GO TO WWW.NYPIRG.ORG
reform in the state. Pay-toplay is a frequently used term to describe money and politics in New York. According to a recent New York Public Interest Research Group analysis, 170 campaign contributors gave $28 million in increments of $50,000 or more to shadowy party committees and state candidates. To his credit, Gov. Andrew Cuomo included campaign reform in his budget. But then he buckled under pressure, or through calculation, during budget negotiations and disbanded his own Moreland Commission. That’s the commission that outlined Albany’s culture of corruption. In addition, he watered down his own campaign reform effort to include only a “pilot” program involving the state’s comptroller’s office. Last week was a good week for quid pro quo corruption, but not a good week for democracy. Ask yourself a simple question when you read NYPIRG’s list of political contributors: What do they want? SNT ELECTIONS
Cash Facts — The top 32 Super PAC donors, giving an average of $9.9 million each, matched the $313 million that President Barack Obama and GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney raised from all of their small donors combined (at least 3.7 million people giving less than $200 each). — Nearly 60 percent of Super PAC money came from 159 donors contributing at least $1 million. More than 93 percent of the money Super PACs raised came in contributions of at least $10,000 from just 3,318 donors, or the equivalent of 0.0011 percent of the U.S. population. — It would take 322,000 average-earning American families giving an equivalent share of their net worth to match Sheldon Adelson’s $91.8 million in Super PAC contributions. — Source: Demos
The New Times In the Media
On the March 28 edition of the Ivory Tower Half Hour on WCNY-TV, Kristi Anderson, political science professor at Syracuse University, gave an “A” to Ed Griffin-Nolan for his Sanity Fair column March 19, “Money for Nothing.” Andersen called the Sanity Fair essay at “powerful and nicely written indictment of our campaign finance system.” You can see the clip at tinyurl.com/m85kvmg; the reference is at about 23 minutes, 40 seconds. During the March 21 Ivory Tower, Andersen gave an “F” to a billboard on I-690 that shamelessly, and wrongly, claims abortions raise the risk of breast cancer. “This has been repeatedly debunked. Researchers found no link between breast cancer and either spontaneous or induced abortion,” she said. “I really hate this continuing dispersal of lies in hopes that they will stick.” Her comments drew “hear, hears” from at least two panelists. The New Times addressed this issue a year ago. The cover story April 10, 2013, was written by freelancer Renée K. Gadoua. While some opponents of abortion continue to say the link is accurate, medical experts overwhelmingly say science shows no link. As one of our sources said last year of those clinging to the misleading claim, “Don’t confuse me with the facts.” SNT
In case you missed it: A Syracuse native made history last week. Linda LeMura, provost at Le Moyne College, became the first laywoman — anywhere — to become president of a Jesuit institution of higher education. LeMura was appointed Le Moyne’s 14th president Thursday, April 3, after a unanimous vote of the college’s 33-member board of trustees. She succeeds Fred Pestello, who is leaving Le Moyne to lead St. Louis University, also a Jesuit school. During a short, emotional speech Friday morning at the college, LeMura gave a shout-out to her parents, who immigrated to the United States. “When my parents came to this country in 1950, with family in tow, of modest means, not knowing the language, who would have thought that one of their children would become the president of a Jesuit college in Syracuse, N.Y., in the United States of America?” Read the background at bit.ly/1ontne8 and watch LeMura’s speech at tinyurl.com/ mzhuzg3. SNT
syracusenewtimes.com | 04.09.14 - 04.16.14
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