from NY Times:
Carl Paladino, the Republican nominee for governor of New York, portrays himself as a business-hardened outsider who would reform Albany’s corrupt and bloated bureaucracy and drive out the pay-to-play special interests. “I’m just a regular guy from Buffalo,” he says.
A look at his record as a developer shows that he has been an eager recipient of just the sort of government largess he so bitterly condemns and a generous contributor to politicians who can best do him favors.
His flourishing real estate business was stoked with tax breaks, multimillion-dollar state leases and government land giveaways. At the same time, he used his partnerships and corporations to donate nearly $500,000 to scores of elected officials, judges and candidates since 1999 — a bit more than most regular guys from Buffalo.
Mr. Paladino is the largest landowner in Buffalo, and building his empire required many local zoning variances and municipal permissions. Buffalo’s politicians, who received generous donations from him for years, were happy to help. Though he was an owner of several downtown parking lots, he won a seat on the city’s parking board, resigning in 1994 amid charges of conflicts of interest. He still serves on the board of the nonprofit corporation that manages parking lots for the city. ...........(more)
The complete piece is at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/09/opinion/09sat1.html?hpw 
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