Thor And Trump Help Fill Markowitz's Campaign Coffers

Reports by the city's Campaign Finance Board indicate that developer Thor Equities and Donald Trump have donated contributions to Marty Markowitz future campaign which has so far raised more than 400,000. Though Markowitz is listed as running 'undeclared', he is probably eying the Mayoral race.

Potential candidates for the wide-open 2009 races for mayor, controller and public advocate are aggressively raising money, reported the New York Daily News.

A discussion has started at the Coney Island USA bulletin board (The valuable source for Coney buzz), where frequent poster Switchback writes:

Looks like Sitt is so desperate that he is now contributing to political campaigns in hopes that he can get someone to change their mind

In another post, Switcback wrote:

Just because a politician accepts donations does not mean they are in anyone's pocket. Most of the time they do not even bother to check who they are taking donations from. Markowitz already publicly stated that he was against Thor's plans, so if he does a complete 360 after getting a large donation from Thor then that would only result in a massive investigation and possible jail time.

The money he is raising is most likely for a run at being the next Mayor. It would make more sense for Thor to donate to a candidate who would back their rezoning plan rather then someone who has publicly declared they will do anything to save the amusement zone. At this point though no such candidate exists, so all Thor can do is send donations to every politician hoping that the one who wins will feel an obligation towards them. That is a desperate act. If they really wanted to bribe Markowitz then it would have been done under the table as other developers have done in the past. This would be just too damn obvious. The way to do it would be to set up dummy off shore companies that would donate money, not to donate directly where it would be on public record. Meanwhile, this is a big misstep on Thor's part. If Markowitz was considering allowing rezoning on Thor's property, now he has to worry about it looking like he accepted a bribe and would have changed his mind. Not too slick Sitt.

Couldn’t have said it better!

City pols makin' a dash for cash [New York Daily News]