Crains New York - May 28, 2012 - (Page 11)

OPINION B Business-friendly mayor sought usinesspeople are obsessing about who the next mayor will be. None of those likely to run has enthusiastic business support. I feel the same anxiety. Electing a business-friendly mayor is more important and more difficult now—in part because of two reforms enacted in the recent past. The first so-called reform is term limits.When they were first passed in 1993,voters were told they would bring fresh faces and The council has become a hotbed of activism advancing a union agenda—promoting living wages and mandatory sick leave and using zoning approval powers to keep out nonunion retail operators and set pay levels. Dan Cantor, head of the unionfunded Working Families Party, exulted that term limits have “done nothing but help the left. Ronald Lauder’s millions helped community organizations and labor become better represented in the council.” He’s right,and we need a strong mayor to check the council’s excesses. The second troublesome reform, in 2007, related to campaign finance. new ideas into government. Ronald Lauder, the measure’s principal backer, declared that “government here will never be the same.” I agree.The City Council is much worse now. Perhaps I’m engaging in nostalgia, but I think there were more solid citizens in the council when I worked in city government. Term limits have given special interests, particularly unions, an outsize influence on council elections. With a number of candidates contesting each seat and the difficulty most have in raising money, unions can determine the outcome by selecting candidates and throwing money and manpower behind them. TOWNSEND ALAIR It further enhanced union power at the expense of business. It added limited-liability companies and partnerships to the ban on corporate contributors. It lowered the limit on gifts from those who do business with the city, such as lobbyists and lawyers. Public-employee and other unions with a vested interest in city policy were deemed not to be doing business with the city,and their limits were unchanged. They can spend unlimited amounts in theoretically neutral getout-the-vote efforts. I don’t understand why some types of money are considered more corrupting in politics than others. If retail unions can fight nonunionized operations such as Wal-Mart with donations to council candidates, why shouldn’t retailers be allowed to do the same to protect their interests? Unless a business-friendly candidate can self-fund his campaign like Mayor Michael Bloomberg did, the odds for success are daunting. Then in 2010 came the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision,which is responsible for the vast sums of anonymous money being spent through super PACs in this year’s federal election. So now, a business-friendly candidate for mayor, with a combination of funds, including super PAC money, can be competitive. For those who find money in politics ugly and disheartening: Take some consolation in the fact that the city’s Campaign Finance Board will require disclosure of PAC donors and insist their operations not be coordinated with anyone’s campaign. Now all we need is a candidate. C O L L E C T I O N L I T I G AT I O N & J U D G M E N T E N F O R C E M E N T All types of debt collection matters and general commercial litigation, trials, and appeals. AGGRESSIVE - RESOURCEFUL - EXPERIENCED - RESPONSIVE 10 0 L A FAY E T T E S T R E E T - S U I T E 6 01 | N E W YO R K , N Y 10 013 212- 6 0 8 - 5 3 0 0 | W W W. D O R A Z I O - L A W.C O M Crain’s Real Estate Conference Seizing the Moment 2012 As the economic recovery sputters, there’s every sign that the market is digging in for a long haul. Looking on the bright side, it also means New York has become more competitive. So where can investors, developers, and landlords find growth and opportunity? JUST ANNOUNCED! David Skorton of Cornell University to Keynote Real Estate Conference. Join Crain’s and hear from David Skorton about why Cornell was intent to win the applied science and tech campus bid. Skorton will discuss the economic impact CornellNYC Tech will have on the business community and how the project will revitalize Roosevelt Island and the F train by creating a tech corridor from Manhattan to Queens. T A loyal Dem who likes private equity than 70 firms. As the numbers show, he’s been well rewarded by the bet. Year 2010 2011 2012 % of PE % return 9.7 +11.6% 10.1 +18.9% 9.6 +8.3% he private equity wars are back at the center of the presidential election, and New York provided an important window into the issue last week. State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli—loyal Democrat, best friend to unions, strong supporter of President Obama— made it clear he loves private equity firms. The comptroller announced that the state’s pension fund, which covers a million workers and retirees for the state as well as local governments outside New York City, gained about 6% overall in the fiscal year ended March 31.That pushed the total assets of the fund to $150 billion,the highest since the financial crisis struck. The gain was due in large part to the strong performance of the state’s investments in private equity firms. Mr. DiNapoli has committed about 10% of the state’s money to private equity, spreading it among no fewer GREG DAVID Last year, private equity was one of just three investment categories to beat the state’s target of a 7.5% return. % return +17.6% +9.0% +8.3% +7.5% +6.9% +1.2% -0.5% -2.4% -6.4% Category Real estate Fixed income Private equity Assumed return Domestic equities Opportunities Global equities Absolute return Non-U.S. equities The assumed return is crucial because that’s how government contribution levels are established. If the state can’t average 7.5% annually over time, the already enormous amount of state and local tax revenues contributed to the fund each year has to be increased. The Obama campaign has launched three lines of attack on GOP candidate Mitt Romney for his tenure at private equity pioneer Bain Capital.The first is that Mr. Romney has exaggerated his job-creation record.The second is that being a successful businessman does not especially qualify him to be president or even to fix the troubled economy. The most important criticism, however, is that private equity is evil, that it destroys jobs while satisfying the greed of plutocrats like Mr. Romney. That’s what Obama strategist David Axelrod said earlier this month when Newark Mayor Cory Booker dared to defend firms like Bain. I guess Mr.DiNapoli doesn’t agree with the president or he wouldn’t put so much of the public’s money into those firms.He must understand that private equity is a tool in what economists would call the “creative destruction” that capitalism thrives upon. He must not mind the greed, either.The fund paid $112 million in management fees to private equity firms for the 2011 fiscal year. There’s also one interesting omission from the list of private equity managers for the fund: Bain Capital. A spokesman for Bain told me there wasn’t anything to say beyond that it isn’t one of the fund’s managers. Hmm. PANELS: Plenary: Big Projects Revealed Pockets of Strength New Money Trail The Residential Puzzle Over the Horizon REGISTER TODAY: Visit: crainsnewyork.com/events-realestate2012 Or call: (212) 210-0739 EVENT INFORMATION: Tuesday, June 12, 2012 Signature Theatre, 480 West 42nd Street 8:00 am - 8:30 am: Networking Breakfast 8:30 am - 12:00 pm: Program Program Partner: For sponsorship information , please contact Trish Henry at thenry@crainsnewyork.com or (212) 210-0711. May 28, 2012 | Crain’s New York Business | 11 http://www.doraZIO-LAW.COM http://www.doraZIO-LAW.COM http://www.crainsnewyork.com/events-realestate2012 http://www.crainsnewyork.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Crains New York - May 28, 2012

Crains New York - May 28, 2012
Contents
Kids’ Lines Behave Badly for Retail Industry
City’s Scarcest Resource These Days? Engineers
Taxi! Follow That Cab’s Fare Increase
Nasdaq Attack the Facebook Fallout in the Markets
Bronx Retail Strip Goes From Famously Bad to Bustling
It’s the Return of the Automat
The Insider
Real Estate Deals
Opinion
For the Record
The Week on the Web
Classifieds
Taking Urban Farming to a New Level
Anne Fisher: Manufacturing Jobs Make a Comeback
Hot Jobs
Movers & Shakers: Russian Banker Shares His u.s.plans
Gael Greene: Fighting the Crowd at Primola
The Week Ahead

Crains New York - May 28, 2012