A MAJOR developer contributed $50,000 to Mayor Giuliani’s Senate campaign just as city officials were starting to select a builder for the $727 million stock-exchange tower.
John Zuccotti, chairman of Brookfield Financial Properties, wrote the hefty check at Giuliani’s first “soft money” fund-raiser March 24, two months before the mayor’s stunning decision to quit the Senate race.
Brookfield was one of four developers selected earlier this year by the city’s Economic Development Corp. to compete for the massive New York Stock Exchange project.
Two of the developers dropped out last week, leaving Brookfield and Tishman-Speyer Properties in the running.
Peter Rosenthal of Howard Rubenstein Associates, which handles public relations for Brookfield, said Zuccotti has always been a big Giuliani fan.
“John Zuccotti believes the mayor has done an absolutely superb job in his mayoralty … and would best represent the state in the Senate,” said Rosenthal.
Zuccotti also contributed $2,000 to Giuliani last year.
But the developer, who served as first deputy mayor in the Beame administration, never before reached into his pocket for Giuliani – not in 1993, when the mayor won City Hall, and not in 1997, when he ran for re-election.
Asked about the timing of Brookfield’s hefty contribution, Rosenthal said: “That’s when they got around to giving it.”
One government source said stock-exchange executives had insisted that the competition among developers include companies listed on the exchange, such as Brookfield and Boston Properties.
But the large check allowed Zuccotti to join a chat with the mayor that was limited to 14 people who anted up at least $50,000 per couple, according to one press account.
Records show Brookfield also contributed $8,000 to the state Republican Party in June. The stock exchange tower is a joint city-state project.
Still, Brookfield has a way to go to match the competition.
Jerry Speyer of Tishman-Speyer Properties helped raise almost $120,000 for Giuliani in 1997, amid a heated contest to win development rights for the Coliseum site at Columbus Circle.
City officials insist political contributions play no role in their decisions. But businessmen aren’t so sure.
“If you’re going to do business, it doesn’t hurt to give,” said one executive. “Does it help? I don’t know. It certainly doesn’t hurt.”
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Former Police Commissioner Howard Safir is gone, but he’s left behind some unfinished business that is tying the Conflicts of Interest Board in knots.
Safir had been under scrutiny for taking a freebie trip to the Academy Awards last year.
He insists he violated no rules because his patron, former Revlon CEO George Fellows, is a friend. In any case, Safir a few months ago sent Fellows $7,100 to cover the cost.
The board’s staff has completed a report that appears to be mildly critical of Safir.
But in order to release it without a full hearing, Safir has to sign a stipulation agreeing to the findings. Firmly believing he’s done nothing wrong, Safir refuses.
That leaves the board with two options: negotiate language agreeable to Safir or press ahead with a full-scale hearing – further extending this 17-month saga.
Safir couldn’t be reached for comment.
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Public humiliation can be a powerful weapon – except when it comes to parking scofflaws.
That’s the lesson Finance Department officials learned after posting the names of 21 top scofflaws on their Web site two weeks ago.
The strategy had a successful track record. Business-tax deadbeats forked over $4.1 million after their identities were exposed in cyberspace last year.
Internet “wanted” posters put up by the city’s child-welfare agency convinced some deadbeat dads to make good on their debts.
But, so far, there are no red-faced scofflaws knocking down the door at Finance. “We haven’t heard directly from anyone,” said one city official.