NYT: BP Markowitz’s “Charity and Power”

An article in The New York Times, published on Monday, argues that Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz has moved projects through “the often-stalled pipeline” for Atlantic Yards developer Forest City Ratner, who has so far given $1.7 million to Markowitz’s Brooklyn-based charities.

The Times reported that’s just a part of the $20 million that the borough president has raised from developers and special interests for his four charities, Camp Brooklyn, the Martin Luther King Jr. Concert Series, the Seaside Summer Concert Series and Best of Brooklyn.

Markowitz is quoted in the article as saying that the donations to his charities “help make up for shortfalls in city financing.”

But The Times wonders if Markowitz’s politics are influenced by these big donors, citing his stalwart opposition to a Wal-Mart in Brooklyn, until the retailer donated $150,000 to Markowitz’s Martin Luther King Jr. concerts.

The article quotes union leader Patrick Purcell of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 1500, who says, “When somebody changes their mind after a corporation has come in and given a large donation, it is seen as an example of everything that people are disgusted with in politics.”

The Non-Profit Quarterly wonders if bolstering these charities could be a good campaign strategy in Markowitz’s rumored mayoral run, though.

Rick Cohen of the Quarterly wrote that Markowitz’s four charities would look like “a modest but necessary campaign strategy."