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De Blasio asks for Wall St. donations

As New York City mayor, Bill de Blasio would raise their taxes — but as a candidate he’s asking for a little of their cash before the tax man cometh.

Candidate de Blasio, who is the city’s Public Advocate, is set to make his Wall Street fund-raising debut next month in a lavish event at the home of private equity titan John Howard.

The Oct. 7 affair is being co-hosted by Betsy Gotbaum, a former support of de Blasio’s primary election rival Bill Thompson and who preceded de Blasio as Public Advocate, political activist Patricia Duff, the ex-wife of financier Ron Perelman, and former Dinkins administration official and noted Democratic fund-raiser Victor Kovner.

Howard, 61, a former Bear Stearns executive, now runs Irving Place Capital, a 16-year old private equity shop that manages $4.4 billion in assets. He is known for buying and growing fashion retailers including Aeropostale.

De Blasio won the Democratic primary earlier this month defeating Wall Street favorites Christine Quinn and Bill Thompson. The 52-year old politician has said he is in favor of raising taxes on the Big Apple’s wealthiest to fund education initiatives.

De Blasio is ahead in the polls and it is never a bad idea for business executives to be early supporters of a City Hall front-runner.

The Wall Street event — where promising to raise $10,000 will get you named chair — is drawing a fair amount of interest, said one person.

“The temperature is OK” in getting prominent Wall Street Democrats to attend the dinner, the source said.

Howard, his wife, Lorna Brett, and host committee members are expected to invite Democratic power brokers, including the Blackstone Group’s Tony James and Mark Gallogly, Centerview Partners founder Blair Effron, Evercore Partners CEO Ralph Schlosstein, and Steve Rattner.

Per fund-raising laws, the most any of these deep-pocketed supporters can donate individually for the general election is $4,950.