Mayor Bill de Blasio’s (D., N.Y.) hometown paper had trouble finding supportive voters, even among his most generous donors.
A New York Times report Tuesday reached 35 of the 115 top donors to Fairness PAC, de Blasio’s federal fundraising vehicle. Of those, five said they planned to support him.
The PAC, created to support progressive candidates nationwide has drawn scrutiny on account of its disproportionate spending on de Blasio himself and those with ties to business interests in New York City. Of the $500,000 collected in 2018, “only a small fraction” went to other candidates, according to the Times.
The Times report describes donations made for a range of reasons, none of them an overriding interest in seeing de Blasio defeat his opponent. Two men contacted by phone explained their motives for giving:
“I’m 95 years old,” [Howard L. Gottlieb, an Illinois political donor] said. “Do you think I remember every dime that I’ve ever given to anyone, especially as insignificant as that?” He added that he had no interest in seeing Mr. de Blasio as president.
“For president? No,” he said. – read more