Glenwood gave $500K to Cuomo-connected lobbying group

Everyone knows by now that Glenwood Management gave generously to politicians in Albany, but new evidence released as part of the corruption case against former state Sen. Dean Skelos shows the developer’s giving was even more extensive than previously reported.

In 2011, Leonard Litwin’s Glenwood gave $500,000 through 10 different entities to the “Committee to Save New York,” an advocacy group with ties to Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

The group spent $16 million total between 2011 and 2012, the largest amount spent on lobbying the state government by any firm that year. It ceased its activities in the face of new rules that would have required it to disclose its donors, Politico reported.

Cuomo initially denied any connection to the group, but later changed his tack, saying it was “wholly proper, common and necessary” to coordinate with the group and others like it.

Glenwood and Litwin had previously been reported to have contributed about $1 million to Cuomo’s re-election in 2014. They also have given $19,700 to Cuomo’s running mate Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul, as well as $450,000 to the New York State Democratic Committee.

Following the arrests of both Skelos and former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver on corruption charges, the developer significantly cut back its political giving. In the first half of 2015, the it gave just 6 percent of the amount it donated in the same period in 2014. [Politico] – Ariel Stulberg