The CEO of Garden City real estate developer Polimeni International has contributed tens of thousand of dollars to 7th District state Sen. Jack Martins’ (R) campaign using a campaign finance rule that allows limited liability companies to exceed contribution limits that apply to individuals and corporations.
Martins’ top four contributors this year are LLCs linked to vacant office buildings owned by Vincent Polimeni on Old Country Road in Garden City. 140 OCR LLC, 146 OCR LLC, 150 OCR LLC and 160 OCR LLC have all contributed the maximum $10,300 to Martins’ campaign, and are all managed by Polimeni.
The office buildings, a string of adjacent buildings opposite the Nassau County government building in Mineola, are in a state of disuse – mail sits uncollected in their lobbies, which are dusted with loose drywall. Yet their namesake LLCs gave over $41,000 total to Martins on July 10. And public records show that both the LLCs and the actual properties are owned by Polimeni.
LLCs are business structures often used to protect investors from becoming liable for the company’s debt. But because of a quirk in New York campaign finance law, they have another use: to allow their owners to contribute more to political campaigns than would otherwise be allowed.
While New York state law sets limits on the amount a candidate can receive from a single donor – $10,300 per year in the case of state Senate races – LLCs are treated as individuals with their own limits, regardless of ownership.
This means that a person or company that owns LLCs can donate up to the legal maximum through each business entity – a state of affairs that campaign finance reform advocates say neuters the effect of campaign finance laws.
“Campaign contribution limits since the scandals of the Watergate era… have been an essential bulwark against corruption of government.”, said senior counsel Adam Skaggs of the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University Law School. “The problem is that the LLC loophole… renders individual contribution limits in New York State effectively meaningless.”
“Any sophisticated political donor can find ways to give amounts that dwarf what the contribution limits are,” Skaggs continued. “What’s being done is completely legal. The problem is not with the contributors, who are simply playing by the rules – the problem is with the law.”
Martins, who was elected to the state Senate in 2010, is running for re-election against Democrat Daniel Ross, a businessesman who ran unsuccessfully last year for the positon of Manhasset-Lake Fire District commissioner. As of the most recent campaign filing, Ross had yet to raise any money for his campaign. He said this week he expected to raise $75,000 to $125,000 for his campaign.
Martins and Polimeni have had extensive dealings in the past. Martins, during his tenure as mayor of Mineola, was a key backer of Polimeni International’s Winston project – a planned residential development. The project was granted final approval by the Mineola Village Board in May – nearly two years after Martins left office to represent the 7th Senate district.
The Winston project has been viewed as a key component in the Mineola’s master plan to upgrade Mineola’s downtown district. Within walking distance of the downtown area and Mineola Long Island Rail Road station, the apartment building at 170 Jericho Turnpike is seen as a viable housing option for young professionals who would patronize local restaurants and other businesses. The Mineola Village Board followed approval of the Winston with its okay for the Churchill, a companion 36-unit building intended as a affordable apartment house for senior residents.
“Polimeni International, and its various corporate entities, abide by the letter of the law governing its campaign donations which, in turn, support candidates who embrace job creation, orderly economic growth, tax reduction and investment in public infrastructure,” wrote a spokesman for Polimeni International in a statement to the Great Neck News. “These donations are made based not on political affiliation but on individual leadership, integrity and competence.”
The Martins campaign declined to comment for this article.
Polimeni is not the only developer who has contributed money to Martins through LLCs.
LLCs registered to the New Hyde Park offices of real estate mogul Leonard Litwin’s Glenwood Management Corp., have given $32,500 to Martins this election cycle. Companies connected to Litwin have contributed more $900,000 into the upcoming state Senate elections, according to a report from the New York World.
Contributions from Litwin’s and Polimeni’s LLCs make up 14 percent of the more than $500,000 Martins has reported receiving so far in his re-election campaign.
While Polimeni has used its LLCs to support Martins, a Republican, this year, he and his company have a history of bipartisan contributions.
The developer used 140 OCR LLC to support former Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi (D) in 2009, and contributed tens of thousands through his flagship company, Polimeni International LLC, in 2008. Polimeni also contributed $5,000 through Shelvin Plaza Associated LLC to Suozzi’s 2006 primary campaign for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination, which he lost to Eliot Spitzer.
