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Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump gave at least $45,000 to the campaign of Alan Hevesi, a New York state comptroller who later went to prison for his role in a pay-to-play bribery scandal, according to a Huffington Post review of campaign finance records.
Trump’s donations coincided with a $500 million lawsuit he filed against the city of New York in the hopes of reducing his property taxes. As the city comptroller and later the state comptroller, Hevesi, a Democrat, played a role in evaluating and settling legal claims against the city of New York and its officials.
The bulk of Trump’s donations went to Hevesi’s campaign for state comptroller, a race Hevesi won in the fall of 2002. In the fall of 2003, by which point Trump had given Hevesi $35,000, the city settled Trump’s lawsuit, a decision that would have involved both the state comptroller ― i.e., Hevesi ― and the new city comptroller.
The city reduced the tax assessment for Trump’s newest building by 17 percent and awarded the building a special tax abatement. In exchange, Trump agreed to subsidize 200 units of affordable housing in the Bronx. The settlement saved Trump $97 million in taxes he didn’t have to pay, he later wrote in Trump: How To Get Rich.
Trump had donated small amounts to Hevesi during the course of Hevesi’s decades-long career as an assemblyman and a comptroller. But the tens of thousands of dollars Trump gave between July 2002 and January 2004 had no precedent, and no postscript. According to finance records, after 2004, Trump never gave to Hevesi again.
So Trump has paid to play the game. So he knows where and why you do it. Therefore, he knows where to stop it.
Perhaps most strikingly, for some Amsterdam tenants the new development offers something none had ever imagined: a chance to move up simply by crossing the street. In exchange for tax benefits and other government-sponsored financing perks, Mr. Trump and the other developers have offered hundreds of apartments to low-income renters throughout the city at huge discounts. Such programs have gained popularity across the country, as the federal government has turned away from subsidizing new public housing. The results on the booming West Side are especially dramatic: A one-bedroom unit in the new Tishman Speyer building that would normally rent for $2,800 a month, for example, is available at just $465.
Trump kind of is in a more honest way.
"There was not, and could not be, any intent or motive for the Trump Foundation to make improper payments. All contributions are reported to the IRS, and all Foundation donations are publicly disclosed," Jason Miller, senior communications director, stated. "Mr. Trump is generous both with his money and with his time. He has provided millions of dollars to fund his Foundation and a multitude of other charitable causes."
"In typical Washington Post fashion, they've gotten their facts wrong. It is the Clinton Foundation that is set up to make sure the Clintons personally enrich themselves by selling access and trading political favors," added Miller. "The Trump Foundation has no paid board, no management fees, no rent or overhead, and no family members on its payroll."
He's been pretty honest on the topics that would disgust most people.
Don't sit here and patronize me after I said everything I logically could to show I don't support your opponent.
originally posted by: Phage
a reply to: CriticalStinker
He's been pretty honest on the topics that would disgust most people.
He says things that confirm what his audience wants to hear while reinforcing that audience's fears. That isn't honest, it's populist.
As usual it seems you found a hit piece and ran with it without really looking into anything.