See this story at BrooklynDaily.com.
Brooklyn Daily
Republican Primary for Mayor of New York City
The Democrats have gotten most of the attention so far, but there is also a lively race in the Republican primary — one just starting to go negative. It pits two politically well-connected figures from the private sector against a longtime public servant and former banker.
JOHN CATSIMATIDIS
• Founder of Gristedes Supermarkets and the Red Apple Group real estate company.
• The 132nd richest person in America, according to Forbes. Major donor and fundraiser for Bill and Hillary Clinton, Mitt Romney, Sen. Joe Lieberman (D–Conn.), and Congressman Jerry Nadler (D–Sunset Park).
• 64 — turns 65 on Sept. 7 — married, two children.
JOE LHOTA
• Budget director and deputy mayor under the Giuliani Administration, former executive vice president of Cablevision and investment banker. Most recently worked as chairman of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
• Served as Giuliani’s liaison to the president, Congress, the governor, the state legislature, and the city council. Oversaw agreements with public employees unions.
• 59, married, one daughter.
GEORGE MCDONALD
• Founder of the Doe Fund, a philanthropy that helps homeless people find work and housing.
• Ran for Congress three times as a Democrat in 1980s. Close ally of Gov. Cuomo and Mayor Bloomberg.
• 69, married, four children.
THE CAMPAIGN
• Catsimatidis has bashed Lhota for voting to raise train and bus fares and bridge tolls as chairman of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, and for referring to Port Authority police as “mall cops.”
• Lhota struck back with a mailer slamming Catsimatidis for backing former Mayor David Dinkins over then-United States Attorney Rudy Giuliani in the 1989 mayor’s race. Giuliani has appeared in ads defending Lhota from Catsimatidis’s charges.
• McDonald, a Bloomberg supporter, has attacked Lhota for criticizing hizzoner’s response to Hurricane Sandy.