Basil’s Backers: (Mainly) Charter Supporters and (Some) Real Estate Moguls
Below is a summary of all donations made to Basil Smikle (running against Bill Perkins) in the current election cycle. I’ve color-coded the donations to show donors that support DFER or charter schools (blue), and donors with a construction/real estate background (red).
Carl Campanile of the NY Post says:
…hedge fund managers and other charter-school financiers have donated about $60,000 of the $150,000 raised by Smikle.
Campanile is wrong: over $100,000 has come from hedge fund managers and charter school backers.
The Wall Street Journal concluded one of their recent articles about charter backers with this sentence:
More than half of Mr. Smikle’s contributions came from pro-charter donors, according to Mr. [Joe] Williams.
To date, Smikle has received $159,065.20 in donations. He also loaned his campaign $15,500.
From July 2010 Periodic Report:
Linda Gadsby – $1,500 – 5/17/2010 [Scholastic VP and Deputy General Counsel]
Patricia Jones – $250 – 5/27/2010
H. Dale Hemmerdinger – $1,000 – 6/1/2010
Roseann Schembri – $100 – 6/3/2010
Patricia McCabe – $250 – 6/10/2010
Werner Kramarsky – $500 – 6/15/2010
Jordan Barowitz – $200 – 6/16/2010
Godfrey Gill – $500 – 6/17/2010
Calvin Martin – $200 – 6/17/2010
Wilkey Olumide – $500 – 6/17/2010
Christine Ryan – $250 – 6/18/2010
Shara Pena – $100 – 6/18/2010
Guy Mitchell – $100 – 6/18/2010
Deborah Ferdinand – $100 – 6/18/2010
Carolyn McQueen – $100 – 6/18/2010
Sora Caetano – $100 – 6/18/2010
Cheryl Nurse – $100 – 6/18/2010
Debra Green – $100 – 6/18/2010
Gail Proto – $50 – 6/21/2010
Jon Cohen – $2,000 – 6/21/2010 [Bio]
Sheena Wright – $500 – 6/21/2010
Eric Hadar – $5,000 – 6/22/2010 [Bio]
Monica Azare – $100 – 6/23/2010
Adrienne Harris – $50 – 6/23/2010
Naima Walker-Pierce – $250 – 6/23/2010
John Sabat – $2,000 – 6/24/2010
Naje Williams – $100 – 6/28/2010
Diana Rodriguez-Lepor – $100 – 6/29/2010
Charles Ledley – $5,000 – 6/30/2010
Joel Greenblatt – $4,000 – 7/1/2010
Eric Karl Wepsic – $6,000 – 7/1/2010
Christophe Buck – $6,000 – 7/1/2010
John Petry – $6,000 – 7/1/2010
Ravenel Curry – $6,000 – 7/1/2010
Anthony Davis – $5,000 – 7/2/2010
Paul Appelbaum – $500 – 7/2/2010
Carole Pittelman – $5,000 – 7/6/2010
William Rudin – $2,500 – 7/6/2010
Eric Rudin – $2,500 – 7/6/2010
Burton Resnick – $2,500 – 7/6/2010
George Kaufman – $2,500 – 7/6/2010
Adrienne Harris – $100 – 7/6/2010
Felecia Webb – $100 – 7/6/2010
John Halaby – $1,000 – 7/6/2010
Whitney Tilson – $1,000 – 7/7/2010
Daphnee Surpris – $250 – 7/7/2010
Edward Lewis – $6,000 – 7/7/2010 [On the board of Harlem Village Academies]
Kelly Coffey – $1,000 – 7/7/2010 [One of Goldman's many Managing Directors]
Dawn Palo – $1,000 – 7/7/2010
Aaron Rosenstein – $3,000 – 7/7/2010 [Anchorage Advisors - works with Tony Davis]
Brian Zied – $1,500 – 7/7/2010
Jonathan Lewinsohn – $3,000 – 7/7/2010 [Anchorage Advisors - works with Tony Davis]
Andrew Feldstein – $6,000 – 7/7/2010 [Bio]
Rafael Mayer – $5,000 – 7/7/2010
Amy Griffin – $6,000 – 7/7/2010
Jonathan Sackler – $6,000 – 7/7/2010 [On the board of directors of Achievement First; daughter, Madeleine, directed "The Lottery"]
John Zeiler – $1,000 – 7/7/2010*
William Ackman – $6,000 – 7/7/2010
Peter Kauffmann – $250 – 7/8/2010
Jemina Bernard – $1,000 – 7/9/2010 [TFA-NY Executive Director]
Elizabeth Curry – $6,000 – 7/9/2010
John Phillips – $100 – 7/9/2010
Mary Ann Tighe – $2,000 – 7/9/2010 [Bio]
Jennifer Jones – $100 – 7/9/2010
H. Dale Hemmerdinger - $1,000 – 7/9/2010 [Bio]
Gary Coke – $1,000 – 7/9/2010
Gail Proto – $50 – 7/9/2010
Michael Novogratz – $6,000 – 7/9/2010
Tyson Phatcher – $150 – 7/10/2010
David Greenspan – $2,000 – 7/10/2010
Tashir Lee – $250 – 7/11/2010
Unit (?) – $2,855.20 – 7/11/2010
[Total individual contributions from July 2010 report: $139,305.20]
Smart Growth Construction Services – $100 – 6/17/2010
Donald Zucker Company – $5,000 – 6/29/2010
[Total corporate contributions from July 2010 report: $5,100]
Renew New York PAC – $1,000 – 5/19/2010
[Total other monetary contributions from July 2010 report: $1,000]
Krishna Collie – $500 (in-kind; fundraising event) – 7/1/2010
[Total in-kind contributions from July 2010 report: $500]
[Total outstanding liabilities/loans: $15,500]
**********
From the 2010 32 Day Pre Primary Report:
Gigi Georges – $250 – 7/22/2010
H. Dale Hemmerdinger - $2,000 – 7/23/2010
James Lefrak – $250 – 7/26/2010
David Brand – $1,000 – 7/27/2010
Christine Ryan – $250 – 7/28/2010
William Eimicke – $200 – 7/29/2010
Maxine Griffith – $200 – 8/2/2010
Steven Presser – $100 – 8/3/2010
Kayona Wall – $100 – 8/4/2010
Rafael Nieves – $100 – 8/4/2010
Paul Brown – $100 – 8/4/2010
Michelle Jackson – $100 – 8/5/2010
Richard White – $100 – 8/5/2010
Stacey Jennings – $100 – 8/5/2010
Daniel Shuchman – $1,000 – 8/5/2010 [Bio]
Thomas Doherty – $250 – 8/5/2010
Sahlu Merine – $50 – 8/5/2010
Howard Lowe – $50 – 8/5/2010
Valisha Graves – $100 – 8/6/2010
Larry Robbins – $5,000 – 8/6/2010 [On the advisory board of TFA-NY; major donor to KIPP in NY]
Gail Proto – $15 – 8/9/2010
Unit (?) – $845 – 8/9/2010
[Total individual contributions from 32 Day Pre Primary Report: $12,160]
District Council No. 9 PAC – $1,000 – 7/23/2010]
[Total other contributions from 32 Day Pre Primary Report: $1,000]
Closing balance: $104,783,38
Total raised: $174,565.20 (includes $15,500 in loans)
Total from DFER/Charter community: $101,500
Total from Construction/Real Estate community: $27,000
Note:
John Zeiler is CEO of JER Hudson Housing. JER Investors, another branch of the company, previously invested in charter school facilities, most notably the Imagine Schools. They no longer own the property used by Imagine – their share was sold to Entertainment Properties Trust a few years ago. I do not believe John had anything to do with this business deal, so I’ve only included him in the Construction/Real Estate category.
