Downtown development czar John Whitehead gave a whopping $241,000 to the national Republican Party just before the Nov. 5 election, in the crucial final days of the GOP’s successful drive to win control of Congress, records show.
The Oct. 25 donation made Whitehead one of the Republican National Committee’s top donors of unregulated “soft money” in the weeks before it became illegal on Nov. 6 – and comes at a time when New York needs all the help it can get from the Republicans who now control Congress and the White House.
Appointed by Gov. Pataki as chairman of the Lower Manhattan Development Corp., Whitehead plays a key role lobbying Washington for support in rebuilding Ground Zero.
He has been a major donor for years, mostly to Republicans, and gave $100,000 to the RNC in 2000. But records show this is his biggest donation ever.
“I’ve been a regular donor to the Republican Party for the last 50 years. I don’t see anything improper about continuing to make [contributions],” Whitehead told The Post.
He said he made the donation at the request of a party official – but could not remember who asked him for the big check.
Both Whitehead and a Republican official said there is no tie between his donation and his LMDC activities.
“No one should ever assume that contributions to a political party mean anything more than support for the party and our candidates,” said RNC spokesman Kevin Sheridan.
Last March, Whitehead was forced to promise not to take part in active fund-raising on behalf of the GOP – after the Post revealed he was scheduled to head up a money-raising event downtown for the Manhattan Republicans.
Whitehead backed out of the event after critics said it was improper, since the LMDC played a role in doling out millions of dollars in contracts and aid.
Whitehead gave the Oct. 25 donation to the GOP in two chunks, of $25,000 and $216,000, as both parties were reaching out for all possible soft money before it was barred under campaign finance reform.
Democrats raised almost twice as much soft money as Republicans in the final few weeks – $15 million compared to $8.8 million, according to the Web site Political Moneyline, which tracks contributions and revealed the Whitehead donations.
The Democrats got 17 donations of over $250,000 in the final weeks.
One of four Democrats to donate more than $1 million was Charles Kushner, a New Jersey real estate executive and a board member of the Port Authority, which owns the trade center site.
Kushner is widely expected to become New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevey’s choice to be the next chairman of the PA.
The RNC’s national finance chair is Lew Eisenberg, the former director of the PA and now a board member of the LMDC.
Also at the top of the GOP soft-money donor list was the quasi-governmental mortgage company Freddie Mac.
Top donors in the final weeks before soft money became illegal on Nov. 6
REPUBLICANS:
Dawn Arnall, Ameriquest: $1 million
B. Wayne Hughes, Public Storage Inc.: $500,000
Burlington Northern & Santa Fe: $250,000
Freddie Mac: $250,000
John C. Whitehead: $241,000
DEMOCRATS:
Malini Alles, Global Investments in Women: $1 million
Charles Kushner, Kushner Cos.: $1 million
Casey Wasserman, LA Arena Football: $1 million
Ernest Willis, Arlington, Va. (retired): $1 million
Laborers Political League: $600,000
Source: Politicalmoneyline.com