State Sen. Carl Kruger — who is facing federal corruption charges in an alleged pay-to-play scheme — used his political muscle to hold up a Bloomberg administration project in Brooklyn at least three years to benefit a favored developer also highlighted in the embattled pol’s criminal complaint, the Post has learned.
At issue is a 15-acre city project that includes a new retail center in Mill Basin, built by developer Forest City Ratner. The project, along Flatbush Avenue, is also supposed to hold a Cadillac car dealership. The site currently houses a Toys-R-Us store.
Kruger (D-Brooklyn) sent former Deputy Mayor Robert Lieber a scathing letter in January 2008 threatening to sue the city because it wanted to begin the mandatory public review process on the dealership’s portion of the project, without FCR’s part.
At the time, the car dealership plan was in jeopardy if the city didn’t move quickly, but FCR wasn’t ready to begin a public review – and was concerned that segmenting the project could hurt its plans, sources said.
“It is our intent, and the shared intent of the community and other elected officials, to commence legal action if necessary,” Kruger said in the letter.
The city ultimately gave in to Kruger’s demands, but luckily was able to save the dealership deal. Last month, the entire project’s public review finally began.
“He cost the city three years it can’t get back on a project that already faces a lot of opposition,“ said one city official.
Kruger and Bruce Bender, a vice president for government relations at FCR, are longtime allies who both got their starts in Southern Brooklyn’s Thomas Jefferson Democratic Club.
According to the complaint, Bender in December asked Kruger for $11 million in state funds for two FCR projects in Brooklyn – the Mill Basin project and Atlantic Yards – and another $4 million to renovate a Prospect Park skating rink near Bender’s Park Slope home.
Kruger later offered a total of $4.5 million, and both men agreed the money should go towards the park project. Bender’s wife is a board member for the fundraising organization Prospect Park Alliance.
Neither Bender nor FCR were charged with wrongdoing in the complaint, and a company spokesman said it shouldn’t “surprise” anyone that “the person in charge of government relations” at FCR “speaks to elected officials.”
Kruger – who is accused of trading political favors for more than $1 million in bribes the past five years – is one eight defendants charged in the corruption case. Another is well-known New York lobbyist Richard Lipsky, whose clients included FCR until the company fired him once the complaint was unsealed Thursday.