Description
Detailed outline related to the whole foods effect.
20141110-NEWS--0001-NAT-CCI-CN_--
11/7/2014
7:37 PM
Page 1
CRAIN’S
NEW YORK BUSINESS
VOL. XXX, NO. 45
REPORT
SMALL BUSINESS
IN THE SHADOWS
Immigrant biz owners look
beyond GOP Congress
®
P. 13
WWW.CRAINSNEWYORK.COM
NOVEMBER 10-16, 2014 PRICE: $3.00
LOCAL FINDS:
Whole Foods’
“regional foragers”
identify potential
hot items, with an
eye for organic
produce and novel
goods. Pictured
here: foods made in
New York.
Mayor’s
money
circles
back
Upstate campaign
dollars collected by
de Blasio went to his
favorite consultants
BY CHRIS BRAGG
A massive fundraising effort last
month by Mayor Bill de Blasio to win
Democratic control of the state Senate
was seen as a political setback because
Republicans won a majority of seats.
But a Crain’s analysis of the money
trail shows the spending spree wasn’t a
complete loss for the mayor’s allies:
Much of the cash was circulated back
to two of Mr. de Blasio’s closest political consultants, BerlinRosen and
AKPD Media and Messaging.
“It’s an example of how obscene our
current laws are,” said Dick Dadey, executive director of good-government
group Citizens Union. “The mayor’s
See MAYOR on Page 24
buck ennis
The Whole Foods effect
0
NEWSPAPER
71486 01068
5
45
The hardest market
for NY food makers
to crack may be the
high-end grocer. But
once a product’s in,
it flies off shelves
BY LISA FICKENSCHER
Tim McCollum was determined to get his
chocolate bars into Whole Foods Markets, but
he didn’t count on spending two frustrating years
of sending emails and making hundreds of calls
and visits to individual stores in an effort that
seemed to be going nowhere.
Whole Foods “is hard to crack,” said Mr. McCollum, who founded Madécasse, a Brooklynbased company that has been producing choco-
late in Madagascar since 2008 to help the island’s
impoverished citizens.
Mr. McCollum’s persistence paid off. In
2010, the former Peace Corps volunteer coldcalled the president—a fellow Peace Corps
alumnus—of the grocer’s Whole Planet Foundation. He agreed to help open some doors.
Madécasse’s sales were just $250,000 in 2010
when it landed in Whole Foods’ Northeast outposts. Now the company’s chocolates, which sell
for $4.99 a bar, can be found in nearly all of the
END OF AN ERA
C.E. APPLEBY owned
much of Manhattan. His
heirs just cashed out. P. 3
See WHOLE FOODS on Page 22
Rocky start
for Coach’s
comeback
Move to pricier
merchandise hurts
both sales and shares
BY ADRIANNE PASQUARELLI
Change is hard. Just ask Coach Inc. In
the middle of an ambitious turnaround
strategy designed to transform the 73year-old handbag purveyor into an upscale lifestyle brand for both men and
women, sales are falling—and investors are fleeing.
“They’re in deep trouble,” said
Robin Lewis, chief executive of the
Robin Report, a retail strategy online
newsletter. “The brand has become
ubiquitous over the last 10 years with
See COACH on Page 24
11/7/2014
7:42 PM
Page 1
Rocky start for Coach comeback
Continued from Page 1
everyone in the world now owning a
Coach, so who needs it?”
Judging by the company’s revenue figures, the answer is fewer
people every day. For the first quarter ended Sept. 27, Coach’s sales
slipped 10%, to $1.04 billion, led by
a nearly 20% drop in North America. Meanwhile, the company’s stock
hit a 52-week low of $32.72 on Nov.
5, and has plummeted 43% during
the past year.
Open and shut
But what Coach needs at this
point is more time, according to
Victor Luis, who was promoted to
chief executive in January. “This is a
multiyear, multiseason transformation process,” Mr. Luis told Crain’s,
pointing out that the company has a
“five-year road map to get Coach to
best in class.”
To improve financials, the company, which generated $4.8 billion
in sales last year, has cut costs by
closing stores and trimming head
count—most recently laying off 150
in July. Mr. Luis, however, refutes
reports that the company is backing
away from its expensive deal to buy
a new headquarters now rising at
Hudson Yards, just west of Penn
Station.
“We are not re-evaluating our
deal with Hudson Yards,” he said.
“We are committed to it.”
More important, faced with in-
creasing competition and a fading
brand, Mr. Luis is fighting back.
He recently brought in a new creative director, Stuart Vevers, from
Spanish luxury house Loewe, and
asked him to craft a pricey, upscale
collection designed to appeal to
fashion’s elite group of influencers
and big spenders.
Mr. Luis also pruned flash sales,
‘I shouldn’t
pay more if
I don’t see
a reason why’
which had numbered three a week
but are expected to decrease to one
a month, and increased prices to
plump up margins.
Today, for example, bags priced
above $400 account for 30% of
Coach’s handbag sales, up from 21%
last year. And although Mr. Luis is
closing stores in North America,
he’s also opening 60 globally and
converting 150 into a new, upscale
and modernized concept with
leather fixtures, designed to entice
the luxury consumer.
“It’s about us evolving and differentiating ourselves,” he said.
Those who follow the company
on Wall Street are less sanguine.
“It remains difficult to tell when
Coach’s actions will manifest themselves in its financial results as the
brand continues to wean customers
from promotions,” Amy Noblin, a
retail analyst at William Blair &
Co., wrote in a recent report.
Nonetheless, by selling biggerticket items, Mr. Luis hopes to increase profit margins. The trick will
be persuading customers to pay up.
Many who have been buying Coach
for years have already moved on to
other labels. Margie Rice, a Charlotte, N.C., resident, started shopping for Coach bags, umbrellas, luggage and wallets in 2004, but
recently switched to Fossil when she
saw prices going up.
“I noticed that really nothing
changed in the designs of the merchandise, only the price tag,” she
said. “I didn’t feel I should pay more
if I didn’t see a reason why.”
A long haul
While some brands, like Ralph
Lauren, have started at the luxury
level and then broadened their sales
base by adding less-expensive lines,
the reverse is often more difficult.
Retail insiders agree that it will be
hard for Mr. Luis to persuade shoppers to spend more on Coach’s products because the brand is currently
associated with discount stores and
off-price outlets.
which launched
in September,has
been well received by the
fashion community. Many hailed
Mr.Vevers for invigorating
the
brand with fresh
looks, though the
apparel portion
may skew too
edgy—Mr. Vevers recently sent
AIMING FOR THE
TOP: Chief Executive
faux-fur coats in
Victor Luis hopes to
pastel hues down
make Coach “best
the runway, for
in class.”
example.
Meanwhile,
the competition
is only getting
stronger. Tory
Burch, a rival
brand
with
roughly $1 bil“When you rein back from going lion in sales, recently hired Roger
broader, you take a hit in sales over Farah, who is credited with building
the short term,” said Kosha Gada, a Ralph Lauren into a retail powerprincipal in the retail practice of house, as co-chief executive. For its
management consulting firm A.T. most recent quarter, Kate Spade
Kearney. “It’s not easy, and they’re logged a 30% increase in sales. Similarly,Michael Kors reported a quarseeing that.”
Investors typically give compa- terly revenue increase of 43%,
nies little more than two years to see though the company is downscaling
a turnaround strategy come to its sales forecast because of expected
fruition. Only one year in, Mr. Luis declines in mall traffic.
“Coach did a phenomenal job at
still has a long road ahead. Some
predict that if shares sink low marketing their brand at their price
enough, the company may get away point,and they were the only game in
from public scrutiny by going pri- town,”said Elaine Hughes,who runs
vate with the help of a private- retail-executive search firm E.A.
Hughes & Co. “Now someone’s
equity firm.
So far, Coach’s new collection, come in and it’s competition.” ?
newscom
20141110-NEWS--0024-NAT-CCI-CN_--
Mayor’s fundraising routed back to his political advisers
Both BerlinRosen and AKPD
camp essentially paid its own oper- this year also worked for a number
of other campaigns unrelated to the
ation, indirectly.”
State law prohibits individuals mayor.
Anthony Scannapieco, chairman
from giving more than $10,300 to
of the Putnam County
state Senate candidates.
Republican Party, has
But mega-donors, from
filed a complaint with the
unions to developers, can
state Board of Elections
contribute up to $103,000
DOLLARS SPENT
on AKPD Media
over the transfers and
by routing the money
and Messaging by
called the scheme “monthrough county political
three Senate
ey-laundering.”
committees, which can
campaigns
But such transfers are
then make unlimited
funded by mayor
routine in state politics,
transfers to candidates.
say those in the industry.
The mayor and his
Political parties or comteam raised hundreds of
DOLLARS SPENT
mittees often raise large
thousands of dollars in
on BerlinRosen by
amounts of money that
mid-October,
telling
a fourth Senate
are passed to candidates,
donors to cut checks to upcampaign for
and are allowed to work
state campaign accounts,
which the mayor
together, said election
the Daily News reported.
fundraised
lawyer Jerry Goldfeder.
Four upstate Democrats—
all of whom lost—received the “It’s perfectly legal,” he said.
A
de
Blasio
political
money and spent it on BerlinRosen
spokesman—who is an employee of
and AKPD.
BerlinRosen—would not address
GOP official cries foul
criticism of the methods. One of
BerlinRosen co-founder Jon- Mr. de Blasio’s Albany priorities is
athan Rosen and AKPD partner campaign-finance reform.
Susan Lerner, executive director
John del Cecato were in the small circle of advisers who guided Mr. de of government watchdog Common
Blasio’s mayoral campaign last year, Cause/NY,said the use of such loopas were Sam Nagourney and Ross holes in election law is widespread—
Offinger, reportedly two of Mr. de including by Republicans—and
Blasio’s fundraisers for the Senate goes far beyond Mr. de Blasio.
“We shouldn’t single out any one
races.They or their firms all work for
the mayor’s nonprofit lobbying entity, and we’re not suggesting that
group,Campaign for One New York. anyone should unilaterally disarm,”
said Ms. Lerner. “We need good
LISTEN to a discussion at
people who can make major donaCrainsNewYork.com/podcasts
tions to want to change the system.”
Continued from Page 1
530K
322K
24 | Crain’s New York Business | November 10, 2014
Mr. del Cecato didn’t return a request for comment.
Still, the issue is sensitive enough
that one county chairman who got
heavy payments from de Blasio
donors—before transferring the
funds to a Senate candidate—refused
to say whether the mayor’s camp told
him where to steer the money.
“I really don’t have any comment
right now on that,” Ulster Democratic leader Frank Cardinale said
last week. “I would have to think
hard about that.”
On Oct. 14, four donors gave the
Ulster Democrats more than
$364,000, and the party quickly
transferred $160,000 into the account of first-term Sen. Cecilia
Tkaczyk. Between Oct. 10 and Oct.
17, her campaign paid $155,000 for
television ads produced by AKPD.
Many of the payments went to pay
for airtime.The firm’s Mr. del Cecato was behind the famous ad featuring Dante de Blasio that fueled his
father’s meteoric rise to mayor.
Similar transactions involving
Mr. de Blasio’s consultants popped
up in three other Senate races.
On Oct. 17, a major union supporter of Mr. de Blasio donated
$100,000 to the Monroe County
Democratic Committee, whose
chairman then forwarded $60,000
to Sen. Ted O’Brien’s campaign.
(Monroe Democratic Chairman
Dave Garretson told Crain’s that
Mr. de Blasio’s team did not have
“any part whatsoever” in his committee’s decision.)
On the same day, Mr. O’Brien’s
campaign paid AKPD $40,000 for
television ads—the first and only
payment it made to AKPD, according to the latest campaignfinance filings, ranging through
late October.
Payments via Putnam
Similarly, in mid-October,
$452,000 raised by Mr. de Blasio’s
team flowed into the Putnam County Democratic Committee, whose
chairman
quickly
transferred
$433,000 to the campaigns of Senate challenger Justin Wagner and
Sen. Terry Gipson. (The Putnam
chairman told the Daily News he was
not told where to steer the money.)
On Oct. 10—five days before
the Putnam money arrived—
AKPD took in its first $95,000 payment from Mr. Gipson’s campaign.
It received $240,000 more through
Oct. 23.
The Putnam committee made its
first payment to Mr. Wagner’s campaign on Oct. 15—the same day
BerlinRosen also took in its first
$40,000 payment from Mr.Wagner.
The firm reaped another $282,000
from the candidate through Oct. 20.
A number of the donors from
whom Mr. de Blasio’s team solicited
money have interests before the city.
A bus-company magnate from
Texas who gave $100,000 to the
Putnam Democrats—and had never given in a New York election before—was the beneficiary of a $42
million city handout to private bus
companies in August. ?
CRAIN’S 40 UNDER 40
NOMINATIONS ARE OPEN
CRAIN’S IS SEEKING NEW YORK’S BEST AND BRIGHTEST executives and
entrepreneurs for our annual 40 Under 40 list. Please go to
crainsnewyork.com/40under40/nominate to submit your candidate today.
We look for overachievers from all
industries who have made a
significant contribution to their
company or organization. The
deadline for entries is Dec. 5, 2014.
Candidates must work in the five
boroughs of New York City and be no
older than 39 on the publication date,
March 30, 2015.
doc_128369550.pdf
Detailed outline related to the whole foods effect.
20141110-NEWS--0001-NAT-CCI-CN_--
11/7/2014
7:37 PM
Page 1
CRAIN’S
NEW YORK BUSINESS
VOL. XXX, NO. 45
REPORT
SMALL BUSINESS
IN THE SHADOWS
Immigrant biz owners look
beyond GOP Congress
®
P. 13
WWW.CRAINSNEWYORK.COM
NOVEMBER 10-16, 2014 PRICE: $3.00
LOCAL FINDS:
Whole Foods’
“regional foragers”
identify potential
hot items, with an
eye for organic
produce and novel
goods. Pictured
here: foods made in
New York.
Mayor’s
money
circles
back
Upstate campaign
dollars collected by
de Blasio went to his
favorite consultants
BY CHRIS BRAGG
A massive fundraising effort last
month by Mayor Bill de Blasio to win
Democratic control of the state Senate
was seen as a political setback because
Republicans won a majority of seats.
But a Crain’s analysis of the money
trail shows the spending spree wasn’t a
complete loss for the mayor’s allies:
Much of the cash was circulated back
to two of Mr. de Blasio’s closest political consultants, BerlinRosen and
AKPD Media and Messaging.
“It’s an example of how obscene our
current laws are,” said Dick Dadey, executive director of good-government
group Citizens Union. “The mayor’s
See MAYOR on Page 24
buck ennis
The Whole Foods effect
0
NEWSPAPER
71486 01068
5
45
The hardest market
for NY food makers
to crack may be the
high-end grocer. But
once a product’s in,
it flies off shelves
BY LISA FICKENSCHER
Tim McCollum was determined to get his
chocolate bars into Whole Foods Markets, but
he didn’t count on spending two frustrating years
of sending emails and making hundreds of calls
and visits to individual stores in an effort that
seemed to be going nowhere.
Whole Foods “is hard to crack,” said Mr. McCollum, who founded Madécasse, a Brooklynbased company that has been producing choco-
late in Madagascar since 2008 to help the island’s
impoverished citizens.
Mr. McCollum’s persistence paid off. In
2010, the former Peace Corps volunteer coldcalled the president—a fellow Peace Corps
alumnus—of the grocer’s Whole Planet Foundation. He agreed to help open some doors.
Madécasse’s sales were just $250,000 in 2010
when it landed in Whole Foods’ Northeast outposts. Now the company’s chocolates, which sell
for $4.99 a bar, can be found in nearly all of the
END OF AN ERA
C.E. APPLEBY owned
much of Manhattan. His
heirs just cashed out. P. 3
See WHOLE FOODS on Page 22
Rocky start
for Coach’s
comeback
Move to pricier
merchandise hurts
both sales and shares
BY ADRIANNE PASQUARELLI
Change is hard. Just ask Coach Inc. In
the middle of an ambitious turnaround
strategy designed to transform the 73year-old handbag purveyor into an upscale lifestyle brand for both men and
women, sales are falling—and investors are fleeing.
“They’re in deep trouble,” said
Robin Lewis, chief executive of the
Robin Report, a retail strategy online
newsletter. “The brand has become
ubiquitous over the last 10 years with
See COACH on Page 24
11/7/2014
7:42 PM
Page 1
Rocky start for Coach comeback
Continued from Page 1
everyone in the world now owning a
Coach, so who needs it?”
Judging by the company’s revenue figures, the answer is fewer
people every day. For the first quarter ended Sept. 27, Coach’s sales
slipped 10%, to $1.04 billion, led by
a nearly 20% drop in North America. Meanwhile, the company’s stock
hit a 52-week low of $32.72 on Nov.
5, and has plummeted 43% during
the past year.
Open and shut
But what Coach needs at this
point is more time, according to
Victor Luis, who was promoted to
chief executive in January. “This is a
multiyear, multiseason transformation process,” Mr. Luis told Crain’s,
pointing out that the company has a
“five-year road map to get Coach to
best in class.”
To improve financials, the company, which generated $4.8 billion
in sales last year, has cut costs by
closing stores and trimming head
count—most recently laying off 150
in July. Mr. Luis, however, refutes
reports that the company is backing
away from its expensive deal to buy
a new headquarters now rising at
Hudson Yards, just west of Penn
Station.
“We are not re-evaluating our
deal with Hudson Yards,” he said.
“We are committed to it.”
More important, faced with in-
creasing competition and a fading
brand, Mr. Luis is fighting back.
He recently brought in a new creative director, Stuart Vevers, from
Spanish luxury house Loewe, and
asked him to craft a pricey, upscale
collection designed to appeal to
fashion’s elite group of influencers
and big spenders.
Mr. Luis also pruned flash sales,
‘I shouldn’t
pay more if
I don’t see
a reason why’
which had numbered three a week
but are expected to decrease to one
a month, and increased prices to
plump up margins.
Today, for example, bags priced
above $400 account for 30% of
Coach’s handbag sales, up from 21%
last year. And although Mr. Luis is
closing stores in North America,
he’s also opening 60 globally and
converting 150 into a new, upscale
and modernized concept with
leather fixtures, designed to entice
the luxury consumer.
“It’s about us evolving and differentiating ourselves,” he said.
Those who follow the company
on Wall Street are less sanguine.
“It remains difficult to tell when
Coach’s actions will manifest themselves in its financial results as the
brand continues to wean customers
from promotions,” Amy Noblin, a
retail analyst at William Blair &
Co., wrote in a recent report.
Nonetheless, by selling biggerticket items, Mr. Luis hopes to increase profit margins. The trick will
be persuading customers to pay up.
Many who have been buying Coach
for years have already moved on to
other labels. Margie Rice, a Charlotte, N.C., resident, started shopping for Coach bags, umbrellas, luggage and wallets in 2004, but
recently switched to Fossil when she
saw prices going up.
“I noticed that really nothing
changed in the designs of the merchandise, only the price tag,” she
said. “I didn’t feel I should pay more
if I didn’t see a reason why.”
A long haul
While some brands, like Ralph
Lauren, have started at the luxury
level and then broadened their sales
base by adding less-expensive lines,
the reverse is often more difficult.
Retail insiders agree that it will be
hard for Mr. Luis to persuade shoppers to spend more on Coach’s products because the brand is currently
associated with discount stores and
off-price outlets.
which launched
in September,has
been well received by the
fashion community. Many hailed
Mr.Vevers for invigorating
the
brand with fresh
looks, though the
apparel portion
may skew too
edgy—Mr. Vevers recently sent
AIMING FOR THE
TOP: Chief Executive
faux-fur coats in
Victor Luis hopes to
pastel hues down
make Coach “best
the runway, for
in class.”
example.
Meanwhile,
the competition
is only getting
stronger. Tory
Burch, a rival
brand
with
roughly $1 bil“When you rein back from going lion in sales, recently hired Roger
broader, you take a hit in sales over Farah, who is credited with building
the short term,” said Kosha Gada, a Ralph Lauren into a retail powerprincipal in the retail practice of house, as co-chief executive. For its
management consulting firm A.T. most recent quarter, Kate Spade
Kearney. “It’s not easy, and they’re logged a 30% increase in sales. Similarly,Michael Kors reported a quarseeing that.”
Investors typically give compa- terly revenue increase of 43%,
nies little more than two years to see though the company is downscaling
a turnaround strategy come to its sales forecast because of expected
fruition. Only one year in, Mr. Luis declines in mall traffic.
“Coach did a phenomenal job at
still has a long road ahead. Some
predict that if shares sink low marketing their brand at their price
enough, the company may get away point,and they were the only game in
from public scrutiny by going pri- town,”said Elaine Hughes,who runs
vate with the help of a private- retail-executive search firm E.A.
Hughes & Co. “Now someone’s
equity firm.
So far, Coach’s new collection, come in and it’s competition.” ?
newscom
20141110-NEWS--0024-NAT-CCI-CN_--
Mayor’s fundraising routed back to his political advisers
Both BerlinRosen and AKPD
camp essentially paid its own oper- this year also worked for a number
of other campaigns unrelated to the
ation, indirectly.”
State law prohibits individuals mayor.
Anthony Scannapieco, chairman
from giving more than $10,300 to
of the Putnam County
state Senate candidates.
Republican Party, has
But mega-donors, from
filed a complaint with the
unions to developers, can
state Board of Elections
contribute up to $103,000
DOLLARS SPENT
on AKPD Media
over the transfers and
by routing the money
and Messaging by
called the scheme “monthrough county political
three Senate
ey-laundering.”
committees, which can
campaigns
But such transfers are
then make unlimited
funded by mayor
routine in state politics,
transfers to candidates.
say those in the industry.
The mayor and his
Political parties or comteam raised hundreds of
DOLLARS SPENT
mittees often raise large
thousands of dollars in
on BerlinRosen by
amounts of money that
mid-October,
telling
a fourth Senate
are passed to candidates,
donors to cut checks to upcampaign for
and are allowed to work
state campaign accounts,
which the mayor
together, said election
the Daily News reported.
fundraised
lawyer Jerry Goldfeder.
Four upstate Democrats—
all of whom lost—received the “It’s perfectly legal,” he said.
A
de
Blasio
political
money and spent it on BerlinRosen
spokesman—who is an employee of
and AKPD.
BerlinRosen—would not address
GOP official cries foul
criticism of the methods. One of
BerlinRosen co-founder Jon- Mr. de Blasio’s Albany priorities is
athan Rosen and AKPD partner campaign-finance reform.
Susan Lerner, executive director
John del Cecato were in the small circle of advisers who guided Mr. de of government watchdog Common
Blasio’s mayoral campaign last year, Cause/NY,said the use of such loopas were Sam Nagourney and Ross holes in election law is widespread—
Offinger, reportedly two of Mr. de including by Republicans—and
Blasio’s fundraisers for the Senate goes far beyond Mr. de Blasio.
“We shouldn’t single out any one
races.They or their firms all work for
the mayor’s nonprofit lobbying entity, and we’re not suggesting that
group,Campaign for One New York. anyone should unilaterally disarm,”
said Ms. Lerner. “We need good
LISTEN to a discussion at
people who can make major donaCrainsNewYork.com/podcasts
tions to want to change the system.”
Continued from Page 1
530K
322K
24 | Crain’s New York Business | November 10, 2014
Mr. del Cecato didn’t return a request for comment.
Still, the issue is sensitive enough
that one county chairman who got
heavy payments from de Blasio
donors—before transferring the
funds to a Senate candidate—refused
to say whether the mayor’s camp told
him where to steer the money.
“I really don’t have any comment
right now on that,” Ulster Democratic leader Frank Cardinale said
last week. “I would have to think
hard about that.”
On Oct. 14, four donors gave the
Ulster Democrats more than
$364,000, and the party quickly
transferred $160,000 into the account of first-term Sen. Cecilia
Tkaczyk. Between Oct. 10 and Oct.
17, her campaign paid $155,000 for
television ads produced by AKPD.
Many of the payments went to pay
for airtime.The firm’s Mr. del Cecato was behind the famous ad featuring Dante de Blasio that fueled his
father’s meteoric rise to mayor.
Similar transactions involving
Mr. de Blasio’s consultants popped
up in three other Senate races.
On Oct. 17, a major union supporter of Mr. de Blasio donated
$100,000 to the Monroe County
Democratic Committee, whose
chairman then forwarded $60,000
to Sen. Ted O’Brien’s campaign.
(Monroe Democratic Chairman
Dave Garretson told Crain’s that
Mr. de Blasio’s team did not have
“any part whatsoever” in his committee’s decision.)
On the same day, Mr. O’Brien’s
campaign paid AKPD $40,000 for
television ads—the first and only
payment it made to AKPD, according to the latest campaignfinance filings, ranging through
late October.
Payments via Putnam
Similarly, in mid-October,
$452,000 raised by Mr. de Blasio’s
team flowed into the Putnam County Democratic Committee, whose
chairman
quickly
transferred
$433,000 to the campaigns of Senate challenger Justin Wagner and
Sen. Terry Gipson. (The Putnam
chairman told the Daily News he was
not told where to steer the money.)
On Oct. 10—five days before
the Putnam money arrived—
AKPD took in its first $95,000 payment from Mr. Gipson’s campaign.
It received $240,000 more through
Oct. 23.
The Putnam committee made its
first payment to Mr. Wagner’s campaign on Oct. 15—the same day
BerlinRosen also took in its first
$40,000 payment from Mr.Wagner.
The firm reaped another $282,000
from the candidate through Oct. 20.
A number of the donors from
whom Mr. de Blasio’s team solicited
money have interests before the city.
A bus-company magnate from
Texas who gave $100,000 to the
Putnam Democrats—and had never given in a New York election before—was the beneficiary of a $42
million city handout to private bus
companies in August. ?
CRAIN’S 40 UNDER 40
NOMINATIONS ARE OPEN
CRAIN’S IS SEEKING NEW YORK’S BEST AND BRIGHTEST executives and
entrepreneurs for our annual 40 Under 40 list. Please go to
crainsnewyork.com/40under40/nominate to submit your candidate today.
We look for overachievers from all
industries who have made a
significant contribution to their
company or organization. The
deadline for entries is Dec. 5, 2014.
Candidates must work in the five
boroughs of New York City and be no
older than 39 on the publication date,
March 30, 2015.
doc_128369550.pdf