It’s not that you’ve hurt their feelings, Mr. Mayor: The rich are giving less to charities you control because they expect you to waste the money.
Contributions are plummeting to nonprofits like the Fund for Public Schools and the Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City.
The Wall Street Journal notes that donations to the Mayor’s Fund (run by de Blasio’s wife, Chirlane McCray) dived 63 percent, to $19 million last year from $52 million in the final year of Mike Bloomberg’s term.
At The Fund for the Public Schools, The New York Times cites a 38 percent dip, to just $18 million, from a yearly average of $29 million for the past decade.
Sure, de Blasio may annoy the 1 percent. He’s eager to raise their taxes and his “inequality” rhetoric implies their success is to blame for the woes of the poor. His backers — like the labor-allied Hedge Clippers — spend their lives bashing the rich and the “damage billionaire-driven politics inflicts on our communities.” (Huh?)
But most wealthy New Yorkers are plenty liberal, and donate generously to progressive causes. Yet how can they trust the mayor to make wise use of their gifts?
Take the drop in giving to the Fund for Public Schools.
De Blasio plainly has no serious plan to improve the schools. He’s announced a series of initiatives — “priority schools,” “renewal schools,” “focus schools,” “PROSE schools,” “Learning partners schools” — but all that ties them together is the evident belief that you can look effective by issuing lots and lots of press releases.
The mayor signed a teachers contract that reduced instructional time. And his hand-picked schools chief, Carmen Fariña, is known mainly for putting her foot in her mouth whenever she’s allowed out in public.
Why would anyone looking to truly help New York’s children trust him with a dime?
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