A New York City mayoral candidate running on a ‘green’ platform is reportedly receiving millions of dollars in donations from his father, who has three homes, a private jet and once mowed through protected wetlands in front of his home.
Shaun Donovan received a $6.8million donation from millionaire father Michael Donovan through a super PAC, making him the largest single donor in the entire mayoral race, according to the New York Post.
The pro-Shaun Donovan PAC, New Start NYC has spent $5.6 million in media ads, even as Donovan’s poll numbers remain in the single digits.
But despite pushing his green credentials in his campaign, his megadonor dad appears slightly less concerned about the planet.
Michael’s company Mediaocean was acquired by Vista Equity Partners in a $720 million deal in 2015, and one year later, Michael bought a property in the Hamptons for $18.2 million, with 11 bedrooms, 12-and-a-half bathrooms and a five-car garage.
He also owns a limestone luxury cooperative building that was once home to Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis in Manhattan and a third home in Charlottesville, Virginia that he could fly his family to on his private jet, which was recently upgraded from a Cessna Citation.
Former Housing Secretary Shaun Donovan announced his candidacy for mayor in December, but has continued to poll in the single digit, despite receiving millions of dollars from his father
Exec Michael Donovan (pictured) was cited by officials for mowing through a 75-foot wide ‘naturally vegetative wetland’ in front of his home
One year after he bought the sprawling Hamptons property, the Southampton Planning Department cited him for mowing through a 75-foot wide ‘naturally vegetative wetland’ in front of his home, according to Marin Shea, the town’s chief environmental analyst.
‘Some significant cleaning had occurred within the restricted buffer zone,’ Shea told the Post. ‘He was required to discontinue all disturbance in that area and allow that area to come back.’
Shea added that ‘Wetlands are exceptionally important in terms of wildlife habitat.’
Republican mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa said Shaun is a hypocrite for using his father’s money to help his campaign while also campaigning on a platform of addressing climate change.
In the early days of the campaign, Shaun outlined a plan in the early days of the campaign that includes building zero-emissions buildings, pooling philanthropic funding for parks and paying more attention to the historic injustices embedded in environmental risks, according to CityLimits.
‘If he wants that title, of being you know, the next ‘green mayor,’ the one that’s going to maintain our ecology, he’s going to have to denounce his dad,’ Sliwa said, adding, ‘He’s taking money that obviously was used for the reverse.’
Michael Donovan bought this Bridgehampton property in 2016 for $18.2 million, and was cited one year later for clearing a wetland in front of his house
An unnamed business associate of Michael’s told the Post: ‘Obviously he believes in the effectiveness of advertising. He believes in his son as a person. He believes in his son as a leader.’
‘He believes people don’t know his son as well as they know the other leading contenders and if he can invest heavily in marketing so people can get to know his son as well as he knows him, then they will believe he’s the right person to lead New York City,’ the associate said, adding, ‘Michael has made a lot of money, and what father doesn’t want to believe in his son?’
In the early days of the campaign, Donovan outlined a plan to address climate change, including building zero-emissions buildings and pooling philanthropic funding for parks
The associate called the amount of money Michael was spending on Shaun’s campaign just ‘a drop in the bucket’ for him.
Michael, 80, created advertising software and had a monopoly on the billing and tracking industry until his firm, Donovan Data Systems, merged with another company called Mediabank in 2011, forming the third company -Mediaocean.
‘Every major ad agency in the world uses their software,’ a business associate said.
The merger was approved by President Barack Obama’s Department of Justice when Shaun served as the secretary of Housing and Urban Development, and ‘stood to gain hundreds of millions of dollars,’ the unnamed business associate said, noting, ‘Everything was above board, but it had potential to be very awkward.’