John Whitehead
Putting on the Spitz: Eliot's Brain Trust
Putting on the Spitz: Eliot’s Brain Trust
Spitzer v. Whitehead, II
"There was this big controversy with John Whitehead. He took it, he explained it, tried to explain," said Mr. Rohatyn, adding, "He understood that he'd made a mistake and we went on."-Matthew Schuerman
Whitehead: "More Advanced Age to Enjoy"
"Four-and-a-half years is a long time for a supposedly retired person of advanced age and I hope to have more advanced age to enjoy," he said at a meeting this morning.
The Governor and Mayor will choose his successor at the L.M.D.C. At the foundation, The Times said this morning that Thomas Johnson, now chairman of the executive committee who already took over many administrative duties, would succeed him. Foundation spokeswoman Lynn Rasic would not confirm that, saying that the full foundation board would vote on the new chairman at the next board meeting, scheduled for July.
-Matthew SchuermanO'Donnell and Whitehead, Cont'd
But O'Donnell's campaign manager (and son) Jack offered a partial explanation. The two were introduced, he said, by fund-raiser Robin Duke. They actually "argued" about Spitzer, with O'Donnell defending him read more »
"She said that just because things were tolerated for years doesn't mean they aren't crimes," he said.
Then Whitehead amiably promised a check; the campaign was surprised by the $5,000 sum, and then by another, unsolicited $5,000 from Whitehead that floated in several weeks later.Re-enter Gehry
The ultimate beneficiary of Governor Pataki’s $80 million gesture to Ground Zero seems to be Frank Gehry’s performing arts center, which had been put on the back burner because of its enormous price tag (rumored at more than $400 million).
John Whitehead, the chairman of both the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation and the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation, said today, “The foundation will continue its capital campaign to raise $500 million. The excess of that will go to the performing arts center. And now the governor has announced that he will pay the cost of the Snohetta building, which would have had to come out of our total.”
Previously, it was awfully vague just how much the Gehry building would have received of the $800 million that the memorial foundation hopes to raise from private sources and the L.M.D.C. Presumably, after the memorial, memorial museum, the Snohetta, and an operating endowment, not a whole lot. Instead, the performing arts center was to be left to “a second phase” (a.k.a. never).
So was Pataki’s announcement today a mea culpa for nixing the International Freedom Center? Or was it a challenge to Mayor Bloomberg to contribute some dough from the city treasury? read more »
-Matthew SchuermanWhitehead's Motives
Whitehead's explosive Wall Street Journal piece was, Whitehead writes in the piece, occasioned by "rumors in the media" about his confrontation with Spitzer. Problem is, we can't find any such rumors in print. read more »
Of course, this is quibbling. There's nothing particularly dishonorable in what has to be presumed the actual motive behind Whitehead's timing: weakening his enemy at an important point in the electoral cycle.All in the Timing
These “rumors” appear to be a single question in a December 19 interview on CNBC’s “Closing Bell” in which Maria Bartiromo asked Greenberg to confirm rumors whether Spitzer called Whitehead to say that “basically, he was upset that he wrote the op-ed supporting you.” Greenberg said he had heard that also but wouldn’t elaborate.
But the Money Honey’s question was just as tame as earlier renditions of the phone call—so why did Whitehead speak now? The New York Times mentioned in a May 6 report that the Attorney General and Whitehead had a “frank discussion” after the column ran. And in an August 8 column in The New York Sun, Brian McGuire wrote that Spitzer “is said to have responded hotly." Spitzer’s spokesman was quoted as saying that his boss called Whitehead merely to ask where he had gotten his information.
Whitehead is now the chairman of both the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation and the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation. The largest grant to the foundation announced so far--$25 million--came from the Starr Foundation, which Greenberg controls. read more »
We have a call in to Whitehead's office in case he can elaborate. Meanwhile, The New York Post reports that Republicans have joined the pile-on against Spitzer.
-Matthew SchuermanMelville Tricksters
Not long ago, the paper's images suggested that the eminent banker John Whitehead was running for an East New York City Council seat. read more »
And today, next to this story on page four, they seem to have gotten Margarita Lopez mixed up with Margarita Lopez Torres. Understandable confusion...particularly if you're in Melville.Post Mortems
“Although I understand Governor Pataki’s decision, I am disappointed that we were not able to find a way to reconcile the freedoms we hold so dear with the sanctity of the site.”
We are left wondering how it is that the Mayor considers the decision to be the Governor's alone--or rather, we don't really wonder, the Mayor's role in downtown planning was always advisory at best. But it is worth pointing out that just last week, the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation announced three meeeting to be held this week for public input.
"Through these efforts we continue our open, public process," LMDC John Whitehead said in the press release.
The press release continues: "The LMDC Board will use the public comments and feedback gathered through this public process to inform their discussions and determine how to proceed."
The Mayor and Governor once had eight appointees each to the LMDC board, but over time, they failed to fill vacancies as they were created, and right now the Mayor is down to four, while the Governor has six. So even if the Mayor wanted to see the issue through another bloody week, and wanted an open vote when the LMDC next met Oct. 6, he would be outvoted. Of course, given the Mayor's comments yesterday, perhaps the Freedom Center felt outgunned anyway. read more »
Meanwhile, The New York Post, which has been championing the center's opponents, is the only major city daily not to have the story on its web site, since it uses only AP national feeds. But we expect there may be something in the paper tomorrow.Free Money
"Charles Barron already received $78,375 from the City to ward off John Whitehead, who raised $11,305 and has not yet received any matching funds. Queens Borough President Helen Marshall already has $57,181 ready to be multiplied four-fold while her opponent hasn't filed so much as a single dollar. Other races have much the same dynamic: Majority Leader Joel Rivera has $102,491 raised, with $21,646 to receive board funds, which should help him defeat Yvette Velazquez Bennett, who thus far has raised $600; Finance Committee Chairman David Weprin of Hollis raised $420,565 with $20,751 that could be matched while challenger Celestina Akbar has raised $245." read more »
The piece has a pretty harsh take on the city's good government types, along with a key quote from the rapper sometimes known as the Big Baby Jesus: "Why would you turn down free money?"Charles Barron in Fantasyland
And in today's Newsday, Barron's fantasy comes true. In the round-up of his re-election contest with a challenger named John Whitehead, the paper runs a photo of the other John Whitehead -- former Goldman Sachs chief, Reagan deputy secretary of state, Lower Manhattan Development Corporation Chairman, and a man Liz Smith (in Newsday!) once called "chairman of the establishment." read more »
The Whitehead pictured in today's paper is a man Barron has, basically, been running against all his life.From Before the Spitzer Era, An Iconic Investment Banker
From Before the Spitzer Era, An Iconic Investment Banker
WTC Drawing Center Scratched?
Apparently the Drawing Center would rather not take up space at Ground Zero if it meant a committee of Ground Zero mournographers would censor their programming.
The Crain's report this morning comes on the heels of John Whitehead's rather surprising comment after last week's rebuilding-agency board meeting, that the agency was looking for spaces outside of Ground Zero for the cultural attractions that were originally planned for the World Trade Center site. read more » 'Freedom Center' to Be Moved Off Ground Zero?
The governor's team has been playing pretty mum in this whole flap over the Ground Zero museums, issuing stern pronouncements--but not terribly specific--about the need to be sensitive to families who'd rather have the whole "memorial quadrant" devoted to the memorial.
Then this morning, John Whitehead, chairman of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, which oversees the trade center site, said that he had been trying to find an alternative site for the International Freedom Center and the Drawing Center.
"We are looking for another place both within in the 16 acres and immediately beyond it," he said after the corporation's monthly meeting.
One point for the families.
That's sort of a big deal--the very idea the Libeskind master plan might be changed. On the other hand, he said the LMDC had found nothing so far. It could just be a way of showing the families that the governor is trying.
The governor is trying, we are sure, to find a way out of our own little culture war. read more »
- Matthew Schuerman
