Going Long on Eliot Spitzer

Jul. 21, 2006

Going Long on Eliot Spitzer

INDUSTRIESFinancial Services

For a man who has made a career out of policing the financial
sector, and more than a few enemies in the process, Eliot Spitzer
has attracted a substantial amount of Wall Street money on his quest
to become New York's next governor. But the latest elections data
suggest that his strongest support within the financial sector
continues to come from executives at hedge funds rather than
investment banks or old-line securities firms.

Records released earlier this week show that Mr. Spitzer, New York's
attorney general and a Democrat, continued to add to his already
substantial campaign war chest in the first six months of 2006. He
raised $11 million in the first half of the year, while Democratic
rival Thomas R. Suozzi (who has the backing of one of Mr. Spitzer's
fiercest critics, Home Depot co-founder and former New York Stock
Exchange director Kenneth G. Langone) collected $4 million, and
Republican opponent John Faso raised $1.5 million.

To be sure, donations to Mr. Spitzer's closely watched campaign have
come from many industries and parts of the country. His latest donor
list includes Steven Spielberg (who gave $5,000) , Kentucky horse
breeder Tracy Farmer ($50,000) and Hollywood agent Ariel Emanuel,
known as the basis for "Entourage's" Ari Gold. (He has also
collected $15,000 from actor Edward Norton and $1,000 from heiress
Ivanka Trump.)

But financiers and corporate deal-makers are also represented, with
real estate developers, hedge fund mangers and fellow lawyers all
ranking among his top donors for the first half of the year.

Though, as The New York Times has pointed out, few Wall Street
financial firms have donated directly to Mr. Spitzer, Byron Trott,
the co-head of Goldman Sachs's Chicago office, and Laurence
Grafstein, a managing director at Lazard, both gave as individuals
to his campaign. More plentiful among his donor list are hedge fund
figures like George Soros's son, Robert; David Ganek of Level Global
Investors, and Henry Laufer of Renaissance Partners. Steven Rattner
of investment firm Quadrangle Group is also listed among Mr.
Spitzer's supporters.

Other high-profile entrepreneurs and executives who gave to the
campaign this year include Netscape founder Jim Clark and Henry
Silverman, the chairman of Cendant.

Also notable are the corporations that have given to Mr. Spitzer's
campaign. Both KPMG and PriceWaterhouseCooper, accounting firms that
Mr. Spitzer has scrutinized in the past, donated $12,500 each to his
campaign. And the law firm Nixon Peabody, which in the past has
donated heavily to Republican candidates in the state, gave $40,660
to the attorney general.

Below, a sampling of some of the Spitzer campaign's biggest donors
from the financial sector:

Donor Name Firm Amount
Steve Rattner Quadrangle Group $50,100
Ira Riklis Sutherland Capital Management $50,000
Robert Soros Soros Capital Management $25,000
Daniel Benton Andor Capital Management $25,000
Henry Laufer Renaissance Partners $25,000
David Kowitz Industrial Capital Partners $25,000
Laurance Grafstein Lazard $20,000
Edgar Wachenheim III Greenhaven Associates $15,000
John Kunas North Fork Bank $10,000
S.P. Wijegoonaratna Fortress Investment $10,000
David Ganek Level Global Investors $10,000

Source: New York State Board of Elections
http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/?p=5496