From left: Developer Larry Silverstein, Newmark Knight Frank Chairman Jeffrey Gural, Assemblyman David Weprin, Rep. Bob Turner and Gristedes owner John Catsimatidis
The loser in New York City’s special election to replace former Democratic Rep. Anthony Weiner, Democratic Assemblyman David Weprin, had more high-profile supporters from the real estate community than Republican businessman Bob Turner, the winner, although Turner’s support picked up somewhat as the race became tighter and drew to a close, according to federal campaign finance filings.
While Weprin, who had initially led in polls for the race in the 9th Congressional District, received financial support from big names such as developer Larry Silverstein, real estate executive Jeffrey Gural and property owner William Rudin, Turner, who began showing higher poll numbers at the end August and in September, received support from Gristedes owner John Catsimatidis and developer Peter Kalikow.
As the race drew closer, the Turner campaign also turned the controversy over the construction of a mosque in Lower Manhattan into a campaign issue with TV ads and campaign flyers critical of the project, while Weprin criticized Donald Trump for recording robocalls in support of Turner.
In the first cycle of Federal Election Commission for the race, from the beginning of July to the end of August, Weprin raised $450,000 altogether, compared to Turner, who raised just under $204,000.
According to the unofficial results released Sept.14 by the Board of Elections of the City of New York, Turner had won the election the day before with 46.23 percent of the vote in a district encompassing parts of Brooklyn and Queens, versus Weprin’s 42.45 percent.
In the first cycle, Weprin received many contributions at the $2,500 limit for individuals. Those top contributors included Silverstein, developer of the World Trade Center, Gural, chairman of commercial brokerage Newmark Knight Frank, David Mack, senior partner at the Mack Company, Rudin, and from both Eugene Schneur and Mo Vaughn, co-founders of Omni New York.
“I’ve known David a long time. His uncle was my attorney for many, many years and a personal friend, and I knew his father, and I thought he would do a good job in Congress and that’s why I supported him,” Gural said, adding, “The Republican agenda is ridiculous. When you have a situation like we have with such high unemployment, if you just radically cut expenses, you’re going to have even higher unemployment…Unemployment is bad for [the real estate] business.”
Mack also stated his longstanding ties to the Weprins as a reason for his financial support. “I did it for the family. David’s father, Saul Weprin, was a longtime City Councilman and a member of my temple in Jamaica Estates,” he said. “I know the whole family, David, his brothers, his mother, his father, and I wanted to do what’s right by the family.”
Jorge Madruga, executive vice president of Jackson Development Group, gave $1,500 to Weprin, while contributions of $1,000 came from Peter Hauspurg, chairman and CEO of Eastern Consolidated, James Houlihan, principal at Houlihan-Parnes Realtors and George Kaufman, president and COO of Kaufman Realty.
In the first cycle, Turner received less money from real estate pros. While he did receive $2,500 each from John Catsimadis, CEO of Red Apple, and $2,500 from Peter Kalikow, president of the Kalikow Company, the other sums Turner initially received were smaller.
“I don’t think it was about Turner or Weprin, this was about the White House. It was a signal to the White House that some of their policies toward businesses, towards Israel — people are objecting to them,” Catsimatidis said. “I told [Weprin] it wasn’t anything against him, it wasn’t about him.” Catsimatidis also noted that the race caught people’s attention outside New York.
“The sound was heard around the world [when Turner won],” he said. “This election was about three things — Israel, gays and the treatment of businesses in Washington.”
Three hundred dollars to Turner came from Martin Cottingham, managing director of Grubb & Ellis, $250 came from Mark Engel, president and CEO of Langsam Property Services, among others. But he began seeing larger support in daily filings in September before the Sept. 13 election, like $1,000 from Charles Herzka, founder of Northend Equities in Manhattan, an additional $1,000 from Cottingham and $1,000 from former Mayor Edward Koch, an outspoken supporter of Turner.
“From sitting across the fence, it appeared that Weprin had longstanding ties with the real estate community, and he just relied on those,” said O’Brien Murray, Turner’s campaign manager. Murray is a member of the Real Estate Board of New York and president of the New York University Schack Institute of Real Estate Alumni Association. “I would not view it as the real estate community was for Weprin or against Bob Turner, they were going with someone they’ve known for a long time. [Weprin] is also currently a State Assemblyman, so if you’re going to donate funds, you’re more likely to give to somebody who’s going to still be in the Assembly that you’ve known for years.”
Murray said he thought that as the real estate community gets to know Turner, they would realize that he is focused on bringing jobs to Brooklyn and Queens and growing the economy.
“Throughout the campaign [Turner] talked about the need for government spending to get under control… everybody in the real estate industry knows about profit and loss, and Bob Turner knows you can’t run a business that way…”
Towards the end of the campaign, Weprin continued to receive support as well, with an $1,000 donation from Mark Hoffer, director of new port initiatives for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, $1,500 from developer Donald Capoccia, $1,000 from Muss Development, $2,500 from Gary Barnett, president of Extell Development, $1,000 form Burton Resnick, CEO of Resnick & Sons and $2,000 from Richard LeFrak, president of the LeFrak Organization.
Regardless of the financial backing from the real estate community, it didn’t translate to enough votes for Weprin to win. Weprin wasn’t immediately available for comment.
Additional reporting provided by Katherine Clarke and Adam Fusfeld
