Andrew Cuomo is in Buffalo today for a $1000-per-head fundraiser that is expected to raise $500,000 for the governor’s war chest, which at $28 million is much, much larger than that of any other gubernatorial candidate in the country. Cuomo will be met by an anti-fracking protest.
In case you are attending the fundraiser (in some capacity) and need a guide to who will be there, we have put together a list of top Cuomo donors in Erie County, based on a review of New York State campaign finance filings. The list is ranked by amount donated to Cuomo over the past four years, and should be a decent predictor of who will show up tonight. The list includes individual $1000+ donations (as opposed to corporate donations), and should be considered only a partial list at this point. Browse some of the donor’s businesses and related organizations in the interlocks tab.
It’s worth noting that one of the top power couples on the list is Margaret and Jeremy Jacobs, of the billionaire family behind concessions company Delaware North. They donated $100,000 to Cuomo in June 2010. Delaware North and the Jacobs family have come under fire recently for requesting tax breaks for the company’s new headquarters. Cuomo weighed in by placing a call to Jacobs “to assure him that his administration will do what it can to keep Delaware North in Buffalo,” according to the Buffalo News.
Perhaps the optics will keep the Jacobs family from handing Cuomo a big check this time around? Or maybe not.
In any case, there are plenty of other donors on the list. Check out the full list and see if you can spot anyone else who has benefited from Cuomo’s helping hand.