Political players

All politics is local, the late House Speaker Tip O’Neill famously noted, and there are few businesses where that rule of thumb is more important than real estate. After all, putting up a building in New York means wading through a thicket of government regulations — permitting, zoning, landmarking — that elected leaders may have significant sway over.

Not surprisingly, then, the city’s real estate professionals have a long history of lobbying lawmakers and donating to political campaigns; just this spring, for example, developers, landlords and unions created a new political action committee called Jobs for New York, which expects to spend $10 million on the fall City Council elections.

But industry veterans also lend their expertise to governing on the national stage. Right now, for example, Cushman & Wakefield’s Bruce Mosler and developer Don Peebles sit on the boards of national groups, help lawmakers draft legislation and advise them on a wide range of issues.

Mosler chairs a Washington-based group called Business Executives for National Security, a 31-year-old nonpartisan organization that aims to improve national security through business solutions. He also has served on the Defense Business Board, a group of business executives who advise the Department of Defense on everything from streamlining the acquisitions process to modernizing the military’s retirement system.

A member for three years, Mosler meets with the group a few times every quarter, mostly in D.C. Occasionally the group meets at Cushman’s Midtown offices to hear distinguished speakers, such as military officers who teach at the Fletcher School at Tufts.

BENS’ board includes the top leaders at investment banks, tech companies and law firms, as well as a handful of other real estate executives from New York. One is investor Andrew Borrok of Borrok Properties, who made headlines in 2007 for selling 14 Penn Plaza at 225 West 34th Street, reportedly for a profit of $250 million.

Mosler sees his work with BENS as his civic duty, not a way to further his career.

“I do it out of a sense of responsibility and patriotism,” Mosler said, noting that he got involved in BENS through Manhattan’s Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum. “I feel very strongly that our country is at a crossroads.”

Other volunteer efforts in the nation’s capital also have — at least on their surface — little to do with real estate. For example, Peebles, who is developing a hotel-condo in Tribeca, serves as vice chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, which describes itself as a nonpartisan public policy, research and educational institute dedicated to helping underserved communities.

An offshoot of the Congressional Black Caucus, the foundation will hold its 43rd annual legislative conference next month in Washington, to focus on the issues affecting the African-American community. Attendees will include U.S. Reps. Donna Edwards and Cedric Richmond, and Peebles said he would be in attendance.

Peebles, though, has political connections besides his work with the foundation and his relationships with caucus members. Both Peebles and his wife, Katrina, are ardent supporters of President Obama. They were key fundraisers in both his campaigns; in 2011, the couple even hosted the President and about 140 other of his supporters for a fund-raiser at their Washington home.

With other organizations, the D.C. tie-in to New York real estate is more obvious. Many industry executives belong to the Urban Land Institute, a Washington-based think tank focused on planning, affordable housing and transportation issues. Members include Michael Fascitelli, the former CEO of Vornado Realty Trust; Robert Ivanhoe, who chairs the global real estate practice at Greenberg Traurig; Joseph Azrack, a managing partner of Apollo Global Real Estate; and Bob Lieber, New York City’s former deputy mayor, who now works with Island Capital Group, a merchant bank. Jeff Blau, CEO of the Related Companies, is a trustee.

Ivanhoe and several others declined to comment.

Uphill battle

Trying to effect change in Washington can be an uphill battle. “You try to make a difference, but you’ve got to get to the right people,” said Neil Binder, president of New York–based residential brokerage Coldwell Banker Bellmarc. “And it can be a battle and a fight. Be prepared for a long haul.”

A decade ago, Binder, a certified public accountant, set out to fix what he considered a problem with the federal tax code: If homeowners refinance a home loan, they are only permitted to deduct the mortgage interest on the new loan, and not the interest on the loan that preceded it.

For a few years, Binder flew to Washington once a month, and took his case to then-Rep. Tom Reynolds, a Buffalo, N.Y.-area Republican sympathetic to the cause.

He also reached out to then-House Speaker Dennis Hastert, and to representatives from AARP, since older Americans are among those most affected by the tax-code provision. Binder also met with the Manhattan Institute, a center-right think tank.

The result of all this outreach was the 2003 Homeowner Refinance Fairness Act, which Binder helped draft. The bill, which would have allowed homeowners to deduct any mortgage interest, never made it out of a key legislative committee.

Another, more recent, issue near and dear to Binder’s heart that could result in some D.C. face time soon: Legislators are considering changing the lending rules stipulating that condos must have a contingency reserve equal to 10 percent of their operating budget, set aside for things like roof repairs. Fannie Mae usually won’t back loans for condo purchases unless that reserve is in place, which has scuttled many deals in recent years, Binder said. But after his past efforts fizzled, Binder said, he’ll be sitting this round out.