http://www.politico.com/story/2016/0...raising-217865
Ted Cruz has raised millions from New York donors
By ISAAC ARNSDORF 01/15/16 06:16 PM EST Updated 01/15/16 06:29 PM EST
Ted Cruz might say he has a problem with "New York values," but he seems happy to take New York money.
The Texas senator's swipe at Donald Trump in Thursday's debate didn't just earn the ire of the New York Daily News (whose front page today showed the Statue of Liberty giving him the finger) and New York Mayor de Blasio (who took to CNN demanding an apology) — it also might alienate the city's donors he has been carefully courting.
Cruz's campaign raised $223,750 from New Yorkers, according to finance reports available through September. Robert Mercer, the hedge fund investor who has given $11 million to a pro-Cruz super PAC and is one of his most important backers, lives on Long Island.
Those donors are not coming to his defense now.
Ian Reisner, the hotelier who, with his business partner Mati Weiderpass, hosted a Central Park South fundraiser for Cruz last year, declined to comment. So did Michael Waldorf, managing director at the hedge fund led by billionaire Republican donor John Paulson.
Squaring his conservative rhetoric with his coastal cash drives was already awkward for Cruz. At a December fundraiser at the law firm Sullivan & Cromwell in Lower Manhattan, Cruz assured a Republican gay-rights supporter that he would not make opposing same-sex marriage a top priority as president, according to a recording obtained by POLITICO.
Robert Giuffra Jr., the partner who hosted the event, didn't answer requests for comment.
POLITICO attempted to reach all of Cruz's New York City donors who gave the maximum amount to his campaign. The rest either didn't respond or their gatekeepers said they weren't interested in commenting.
“Everyone understands the values in New York City are socially liberal, pro-abortion, pro-gay marriage and focus around money and the media,” Cruz said during Thursday's debate. But the candidate's surrogates have been on the airwaves today to clarify that he didn't mean New York's values are bad, just different.
Cruz has been tapping the Big Apple's big-money scene for years: New Yorkers also gave $489,883 to his 2012 Senate campaign, according to data compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics.
Then there's Goldman Sachs, the New York-based investment bank where Cruz's wife works. (She took a leave of absence in March.) His presidential campaign has accepted $43,575 from people at the company, and his Senate campaign received $96,700, not to mention the loan from the bank that he failed to report on his Federal Election Commission disclosure form, as The New York Times revealed this week.
Read more:
http://www.politico.com/story/2016/01/ted-cruz
Cruz doesn't have any problems with New York money, just their values.
