"Report: Yanks gave funds to key pols" MetroNY 04/14/06

Report: Yanks gave funds to key pols

by patrick arden / metro new york

APR 14, 2006

MANHATTAN — The New York Yankees spent $1,049,621 lobbying for a new stadium in Albany and the city since 2003, according to a report released yesterday by Common Cause/NY. Executives from the team and the YES Network also contributed $25,600 to the campaigns of city and state politicians, including $2,000 for City Council Land Use Committee Chair Melinda Katz, $500 for Finance Committee Chair David Weprin, and $9,850 for Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion.

“It’s a fascinating contrast to the West Side stadium, which saw one of the most expensive lobbying campaigns on a single issue,” said Megan Quattlebaum, associate director of Common Cause/NY. “The two sides — the Jets and Cablevision — ended up spending more than $40 million. In the Yankee Stadium debate, you have one voice. The Yankees consistently and quietly hired lobbyists and made campaign contributions on the state and city levels, but the opposition to the stadium came from community groups who couldn’t hire competing lobbyists.

“On the West Side, it was Goliath versus Goliath. The Yankee Stadium debate was more of the classic David versus Goliath.”