Talk about team spirit.
State Sen. Carl Kruger — who, the feds charge, directed state money to the Atlantic Yards project, which includes a new Nets arena — took thousands of dollars in campaign cash from deep-pocketed donors connected to its developer, the team and the arena.
Nets investor Michael Ratner — a lawyer and brother of the developer, Bruce Ratner — and Michael’s wife, Karen Ranucci, each gave $2,000 to the Brooklyn Democrat’s campaign weeks before Bruce bought the team in 2004. Bruce’s company, Forest City Ratner, is also building the Brooklyn arena.
Richard Lipsky, a former Ratner lobbyist who, with Kruger, was charged by feds on March 9 in a $1 million bribery case, legally gave Kruger’s coffers $3,500 between 2003 and 2007, and Lipsky’s wife, Dorothy, gave $9,000 between 2008 and 2010, state data show.
Lipsky was caught on FBI wiretaps allegedly paying hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes to Kruger, who is charged with directing state cash to Forest City’s $4 billion Atlantic Yards project and other Lipsky clients.
Other Nets investors in the Kruger campaign-money mix were Vincent Viola, a Wall Street mogul and former chairman of the New York Mercantile Exchange, who gave $5,000 in 2009, Ahron Hersh, a former CEO of a handbag company, who gave $5,000 in 2005, and Martin Rostowsky, president of a Sunset Park electric-supply company, who gave $250 in 2004.
Hersh said the money had nothing to do with his Nets investment and everything to do with the Kruger’s passion for helping Russian Jews.
“Carl has always taken an interest. He’s been a good guy for us,” said Hersh, who is active with the outreach organization Russian American Jewish Experience.
Kruger, 61, has gone out of his way to cheer for the Atlantic Yards project in Prospect Heights, which sits well outside his South Brooklyn district.
At a public hearing in 2006, he gushed: “We’re not talking about the Nets arena. We’re not talking about Forest City Ratner . . . We’re talking about Brooklyn first. What better way can we talk about Brooklyn than bringing an arena and a first-class team to the doorstep of what is truly the capital of our world, our borough, Brooklyn?”
Critics blasted Kruger’s cozy relationships with Nets and arena backers.
“Contributors feel as if they have to make campaign gifts in order to have the support of crooked officials like Kruger,” said Dick Dadey, head of the watchdog group Citizens Union.
Michael Ratner, Viola, Lipsky and Rostowsky did not return calls for comment. Ranucci hung up the phone when Kruger’s name was mentioned. Joe DePlasco, a spokesman for Forest City Ratner, declined to comment, as did Nets spokesman Barry Baum.
Score!
Campaign donations to state Sen. Carl Kruger from contributors connected to the New Jersey Nets and the Nets’ new stadium’s developer, Forest City Ratner:
* Ahron Hersh, Nets investor – $5,000 in 2005
* Vincent Viola, Nets investor – $5,000 in 2009
* Martin Rostowsky, Nets investor – $250 in 2004
* Michael Ratner, part-owner of Nets and brother of Forest City boss Bruce Ratner – $2,000 in 2004
* Karen Ranucci, wife of Michael Ratner – $2,000 in 2004
* Richard Lipsky, Forest City lobbyist – $3,500 from 2003 to ’07
* Dorothy Lipsky, wife of Richard Lipsky – $9,000 from 2008 to ’10