A Donor’s Gift Soon Followed Clinton’s Help
By CHARLIE SAVAGE
Published: January 3, 2009
WASHINGTON — An upstate New York developer donated $100,000 to former President Bill Clinton’s foundation in November 2004, around the same time that Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton helped secure millions of dollars in federal assistance for the businessman’s mall project.
Mrs. Clinton helped enact legislation allowing the developer, Robert J. Congel, to use tax-exempt bonds to help finance the construction of the Destiny USA entertainment and shopping complex, an expansion of the Carousel Center in Syracuse.
Mrs. Clinton also helped secure a provision in a highway bill that set aside $5 million for Destiny USA roadway construction.
The bill with the tax-free bonds provision became law in October 2004, weeks before the donation, and the highway bill with the set-aside became law in August 2005, about nine months after the donation.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/04/washington/04clinton.html?_r=1LA TIMES COVERED THIS IN DECEMBER 2007:
It’s a real estate developer’s sugar-plum dream: a mega-shopping mall complete with 10 Broadway-style theaters, an indoor river, a Tuscan village and a 39-story luxury hotel sheathed in green solar panels shaped like giant blades of grass. Plus as much as $1 billion in government-backed financing, thanks in part to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Not everyone thinks the plan, known as Destiny USA and still in the early bulldozer stage, is a good idea. Many on the Syracuse City Council consider its tax breaks a waste of public money. Others fear it could damage the struggling downtown area. Others question whether all its dazzling features will ever be built.
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In the case of Destiny, she teamed up with other New York lawmakers to secure federal backing for the private investment project. And she collected tens of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from the developer and others associated with the project.
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Destiny owner Robert J. Congel, is a Republican who raised more than $200,000 for President Bush’s reelection in 2004. He and his family have given $8,000 to Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney this year. Congel has given occasionally to Democrats, often to those in a position to help his business ventures.
Congel, his family and associates affiliated with his development have donated $40,000 to Clinton’s state and national campaigns since she first ran for office in 1999.
In May, Congel co-hosted a Syracuse fundraiser for her, an event said to have raised an additional $50,000. Lobbying firms hired by Congel in connection with Destiny and other ventures also donated more than $200,000 to various Clinton campaign funds, records show.
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http://articles.latimes.com/2007/dec/10/nation/na-earmarks10CONGEL OCCASIONALLY GAVE TO DEMS TO HELP HIS BUSINESS INTERESTS. I DON'T SEE THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THIS AND WHAT BILL RICHARDSON DID. FUNNY HOW THE MEDIA JUST RAN WITH RICHARDSON. PLAY TO PAY HAS TO STOP!
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