Democracy Now? Ratner Plays Hardball When It Counts
By Norman Oder. Brooklyn Downtown Star

To architect Frank Gehry, developer Bruce Ratner, whose Atlantic Yards project has allowed him to design his first arena and to "build a neighborhood practically from scratch," is a fellow "do-gooder liberal." Indeed, Ratner has a track record of philanthropy in Brooklyn, supporting institutions like the Brooklyn Academy of Music, one-offs like the Pee Wee Reese-Jackie Robinson statue in Coney Island, and even hard-luck cases, such as an African immigrant burned out of his Pacific Street house. Historically, Ratner has given to liberal causes.

Bruce isn't even the best-known liberal in his family. His older brother Michael, a distinguished lawyer, leads the Center for Constitutional Rights in its admirable effort to hold our government accountable for its off-the-radar detention center in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. He co-wrote the book "Guantánamo: What the World Should Know." John R. MacArthur, publisher of Harper's, calls him "America's most important civil libertarian."

For Bruce and Michael, however, business in Brooklyn comes first. That's why Bruce's company has required gag orders of those selling property for the Atlantic Yards project, thus clamping down on criticism and even requiring sellers to say that Forest City Ratner treated them honorably.

That's why, even though Bruce and Forest City Ratner (FCR) stopped giving political contributions years ago - apparently to dispel suspicion that the donations helped win projects - Michael and his wife Karen Ranucci, the development director of left-wing radio show "Democracy Now," stepped in to fill the breach. Though residents of Greenwich Village, they reliably wrote checks to Brooklyn candidates from the county Democratic machine. Some contributions, according to state records, even had the return address of Forest City Ratner headquarters in Brooklyn. Michael, who apparently has an office there, owns a piece of the Nets, the sports team his brother wants to bring to Brooklyn. The extended Ratner family controls FCR's parent company, Cleveland-based Forest City Enterprises.

Last month, Forest City Ratner upped the ante, breaking a practice, standing at least nine years, of not contributing to state races by delivering a formidable $58,420 check to the Democratic Assembly Campaign Committee's Housekeeping account. "We're sure this very large check has nothing to do with the ongoing legal and political battles surrounding Atlantic Yards," commented Larry Norden of the Brennan Center for Justice at the NYU School of Law, which has called the state legislature the country's most dysfunctional,

The gift sure looks like a thank-you to Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, who in December of 2006 provided a crucial vote for Atlantic Yards from his seat on the Public Authorities Control Board. And it may be a form of insurance, so that Democrats in the Assembly return Ratner's calls when it comes time for further subsidies or housing bonds.
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"Social change comes through principled opposition to the worst excesses," Michael Ratner said in a recent issue of the Columbia University alumni magazine. While the Atlantic Yards tactics cataloged here are obviously not on the level of Guantánamo, they are significant excesses. "America's foremost civil libertarian" should know better, and civic watchdogs shouldn't let Forest City Ratner off the hook.