Despite Attacks, Candidates Still Take Real Estate Donations

NEW YORK CITY-Despite being on the receiving end of some harsh sound bites on the campaign trail, mayoral candidates have not been bashful about accepting donations from the real estate industry.

Of the approximately $30 million in individual contributions raised in the mayoral race as of late August, candidates for mayor of the City of New York had collected at least $2.2 million from real estate executives and industry employees, according to an analysis by The New York Times.

Christine C. Quinn collected the most of all Democratic candidates with at least $716,700 from the real estate sector. Anthony Weiner came in at $643,550, according to the New York Times analysis. William C. Thompson Jr., had collected $299,000; followed by Bill de Blasio with $215,300; and John Liu with $141,800. Among the Republican candidates, Joseph J. Lhota had raised at least $118,500 from the real estate industry, followed by John A. Catsimatidis, who has garnered $3,000, and George T. McDonald, who has collected $1,465 from those engaged in real estate.

“Candidates are using this particular issue as a way of distancing themselves from the Bloomberg administration,” Costas Panagopoulos, a political scientist at Fordham University, said of the Democratic field's actions regarding real estate political donations. “There is a difference between the kinds of things you have to say and do to win elections, and the kinds of things you have to say and do to attract campaign donations.” See story in the New York Times.