Corporate Accountabilty - No Welfare for NY Stock Exchange

THE city is paying $1 million a month in rent on a near-empty apartment building as part of the stalled deal to keep the New York Stock Exchange in lower Manhattan, The Post has learned. (for full story)

NYC Postpones Vote on $950 Million Bond Sale for NYSE; Deal Seems to have Collapsed

Nov. 9, 2001-- City officials have postponed indefinitely a vote authorizing the sale of $950 million of bonds to help finance the construction of a new New York Stock Exchange after the NYSE's chairman, Richard Grasso, said the project may no longer be viable due to the potential terrorist threat. He said the NYSE was talking with the city about moving into a rebuilt World Trade Center.

Last month Grasso called moving to New Jersey out of the question. He has also said the NYSE is looking into decentralizing operations to assure it could continue to function in an emergency. The terrorist attack caused the NYSE to shut down for a week. ``A 900-foot tower post-Sept. 11 is not a saleable transaction,'' Grasso said. ``If we continued to build on that site, it will not be the tallest tower in lower Manhattan. We have to see what the city's plans are to rebuild in ground zero.''

Consumer advocate Ralph Nader and other activists had denounced the NYSE project as ``corporate welfare.'' With the city now facing a $4 billion budget deficit in 2003, opposition to the project has increased in recent weeks. Jose Ithier, the Bronx's economic development director and a member of the IDA, said he may not vote in favor of the bonds. Also, some real estate officials said the prospects for the project are worse with the economy slowing and the city's office vacancy rate at a three-year high. New York hasn't been able to find a developer willing to take on the 1.2 million square-foot tower portion of the project, nor has it been able to find a tenant willing to commit to that space. (from David Levitt at Bloombery News Service)

See testimony by the campaign at the October 26 hearing on the plan.

See the news release from the May 25, 2001 Corporate Welfare Carnival at NYSE. (see 2, 3, 4 photos).

See also the growing list of groups opposed to the deal.

Read the new report by the City's Independent Budget Office faulting the City's Economic Development Corporation for lax oversight of corporate welfare. Read the news release of June 6 calling upon Governor Pataki and Comptroller McCall to disclose the secret agreement for the NYSE deal. See news release from the June 21 rally at Federal Hall against the deal.

Tell President Bush not to repeal federal rule against corporate welfare for companies that violate environmental, labor and civil rights laws.

THE DEAL

The State and New York City have agreed to provide a $1.1 billion subsidy to the New York Stock Exchange to build a new trading floor across the street from the current facility. The deal involves buying a whole city block for as much as $450 million; providing $480 million in grants to build a new 650,000 square-foot trading complex; and, an additional $160 million in tax breaks and low-cost electricity.

What is the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE)?

The New York Stock Exchange is technically a nonprofit corporation with quasi-governmental regulatory authority over stock trading. However, it is in fact "owned" by 1,366 large companies with gross revenues of $245 billion in 2000 and after-tax profits of $13 billion - a 30% increase from last year.

A seat on the NYSE presently costs $1.7 million. NYSE has announced plans to convert itself to a for-profit company and raise capital by selling shares of stock in itself.

Members of the Board of Directors include David H. Komansky (head of Merrill Lynch), Carl McCall (State Comptroller), Leon Panetta (Clinton White House Chief of Staff) and the head of AOL (Stephen Case).

Why are Taxpayers Subsidizing NYSE?

The $1.1 billion subsidy package for NYSE is the largest and latest example of what is wrong with New York's corporate welfare programs. Companies just threaten to leave for New Jersey and Mayor Giuliani and Governor Pataki are willing to throw our tax dollars at them; this is known as corporate blackmail. As former State Senator Franz Leichter stated "The Mayor is playing Santa Claus with the city's treasury...on the dubious proposition that the stock exchange would have moved to Jersey City. And all this has been done without any public debate."

Neither the City nor the State government has established that NYSE was at serious risk of leaving NYC. In addition, the City and State over the last decade has already given major subsidies to most of the major security firms that are part of NYSE; why would these companies, who allegedly are committed to stay in NYC, allow the NYSE to depart?

Who Has Approved this Deal?

This deal was put together by Governor Pataki and Mayor Giuliani behind closed doors. The Governor used a legal device known as a Message of Necessity to push through legislation without prior notice or public review to authorize bond financing for this project. The City Council will not be required to vote on the $930 million on the outright giveaways or the $160 million in tax breaks or discounted electricity. Instead, little known agencies controlled by the Mayor and Governor with their appointed supporters, such as the Empire State Development Corporation, give our money away with no public oversight.

What are We Getting for our $1.1 Billion in Corporate Welfare Giveaway?

That is a good question. There are no contractual requirements related to the number of jobs to be created or retained, or conditions attached to receiving the money. As New York City Council Member Steve DiBrienza has said: "The Giuliani administration is full of hard-nosed negotiators, but they're softies for any company that says it might leave. We need to establish standards by which recipients must prove to taxpayers they are worthy of these subsidies. They should prove they actually retain or create living-wage jobs for New Yorkers."

Are Their Better Ways to Spend our $1.1 Billion?

The City and State are giving away public funds to subsidize the NYSE for something they were going to do anyway. Such subsidies come at the expense of pressing public needs such as affordable housing, education, mass transit, restoring library hours, environmental protection, AIDS, community gardens, health care, or anti-poverty programs. 182 babies are born into poverty in New York City each day; one out every three children in NYC live in poverty. Three out of every five our the City's school children are in overcrowded school buildings, and nearly half of all city elementary and middle school students are reading below grade level.

Community Leaders Call on City and State Leaders to
Pull the Plug on $1.1 Billion Corporate Welfare Package
for the NY Stock Exchange

June 21 Rally at NYSE

Several dozen community, labor, environmental and religious groups called today for city and state officials, including Mayor Giuliani and Governor Pataki, to put a halt to the record $1.1 billion corporate welfare deal to build a new trading for the New York Stock Exchange.

The Campaign for Corporate Accountability also called for reforms of the city, state and federal level to ensure that the billions spent on economic development actually create living wage jobs, particularly in low and middle income communities.

"Billions in city subsidies - drawn from taxpayer dollars - should be used to create living wage jobs and to invest in the infrastructure of the city - public housing, schools, transportation, hospitals...Giving it to the wealthiest institutions in the city such as the NY Stock Exchange constitutes an inexcusable theft from working and poor New Yorkers," stated Rabbi Michael Feinberg, Executive Director of the Greater NY Labor-Religion Coalition.

"Wall Street is extremely important to New York's economy, but that doesn't mean taxpayers should build the stock exchange a billion dollar trading floor. There are much better uses for the city's limited economic development funds, and it's highly unlikely that NYSE would actually move to New Jersey. Besides, the city has already provided hundreds of millions of dollars in tax breaks to dozens of the securities firms that make up the stock exchange. Shouldn't that be enough to guarantee that securities industry jobs will stay in New York?," stated Jonathan Bowles, Research Director for the Center for an Urban Future.

"Throwing $1.1 billion as the New York Stock Exchange would rank as one of the most foolish public policy decisions in the city's checkered history. Tragi-comedy may play well on Broadway, but it doesn't belong on Wall Street, especially not with City Hall and the State Capitol as the underwriters. State legislators can't pass a state budget or adopt an equitable funding formula for our schools, but they were able to agree in less than 24 hours that it was okay to turn over a billion dollars in public subsidies to the stock exchange, the world wide symbol of free-market capitalism. It is hard to imagine a less deserving candidate for a government subsidy," stated Mark Dunlea, an organizer with the Campaign for Corporate Accountability.

Last year the 1,366 member companies of NYSE had gross revenues of $245 billion and after-tax profits of $13 billion - a 30% increase from the prior year. A "seat" on the NYSE presently sells for $1.7 million. Board members include State Comptroller Carl McCall, former Clinton White House Chief of Staff Leon Panetta and the head of American on Line.

Dunlea said that the state's Congressional delegation should listen to the Federal Reserve Bank in Minneapolis and put a halt to the "game of corporate blackmail and smokestack chasing" where states and local governments bid against one another not to create jobs but to relocate existing jobs from community to community. Dunlea also called for the state legislature to pass the Corporate Disclosure and Taxpayer Protection Act (A7291 - Luster) to require standardized disclosure, reporting and performance standards for economic development projects.

Also speaking at the rally were representatives of the several hundred tenants at historic 45 Wall Street who will be evicted through the city's eminent domain powers to make room for the new trading floor, as well as an office tower that will be one of the thirty tallest buildings in the city.

"Politicians are providing public funds to a private endeavor that will make some of the world's wealthiest individuals even wealthier, while seeking to evict 435 families just a year after the building was converted to provide housing. Their efforts to disrupt the lives of tenants has been downright criminal and the failure of the four major Mayoral candidates to oppose this is appalling," stated Ray Fleischhacker, a tenant and attorney who is suing over the project.

"It is irresponsible and wrong to use taxpayer dollars to contribute to 'displacement' in New York City. As last night's Rent Guidelines Board meeting showed, the forces of displacement are crushing middle and low income New Yorkers. $1.1 billion will be better served in addressing the housing and education crises in our city," stated Kwong Hui, an immigrant rights organizer and City Council candidate.

The three Green Party candidates for Mayor all spoke against the corporate welfare subsidy.

Other speakers at the rally included Barbara Whitted, a member of Community Voices Heard (welfare rights group). Musical performers included Christian Dozer, Joe Hoover, and Michael Duby, along with the Corporate Welfare Soup Kitchen performers.

What Can We Do?

It is time for the City Council and State Legislature to seriously evaluate whether it is worth it to continue to give away billions of dollars of corporate welfare and subsidies each year while other urgent social needs are not being met. We should end the practice of using corporate welfare dollars to provide subsidies to individuals firms, a game of "smoke stack" chasing where individual communities and states use our tax dollars to bid against each other; the next result is not job creation but job relocation, with tax dollars be used to increase the profits for private companies.

At present, there is little public oversight of the corporate welfare process. At a minimum, the State should enact legislation (Assembly bill 7291) to require enforceable, contractual commitments related to job creation and retention; standardized reporting requirements as to the welfare recipients actual job performance; recovery of funds from companies that fail to meet their commitments; and, standards related to the wages paid by such companies and a requirement that they comply with environmental, labor and civil rights laws. All too often corporate welfare is provided to companies that lay off workers, shift jobs out of the state or country, break laws, fail to pay local taxes, or pay less than living wages.

Write a Letter Today

Letters can be written to elected officials as well as representatives of the New York State Exchange.

Dear Governor Pataki (State Capitol, Albany NY 12222) and Mayor Giuliani (City Hall, New York NY 10007)

We are writing to urge you to immediately cancel the outrageous proposed subsidy package for the New York Stock Exchange, estimated to cost New Yorkers as much as $1.1 billion or more.

It is hard to imagine a less deserving candidate for government subsidy than the New York Stock Exchange, the world symbol of free-market capitalism. If in fact the NYSE needs a new facility, it should have no trouble raising funds to construct one, or drawing on the immense wealth of its member and listed firms. The New York Stock Exchange is an important institution which belongs in New York, but it needs New York as much as New York needs it. With or without subsidies, the NYSE is not going anywhere. Don't give in to NYSE's attempt at corporate blackmail in demanding subsidies by threatening to move to New Jersey.

The billion-dollar-plus subsidy you plan to shower on the stock exchange is a waste of taxpayer monies. We have urgent unmet needs in the areas of education, health care, transportation, infrastructure maintenance, genuine community development and much more. New York State maintains a child poverty rate of nearly 25 percent. Don't you think a billion dollars might be better invested in the future if spent on guaranteeing food, clothing, shelter, education and healthcare for these children?

This is a bad deal for New York, representing nothing more than the transfer of wealth from taxpayers to the Wall Street elite.

We also urge you to pass state legislation (A7291) to enact standards for the award of corporate welfare and economic development funds in our state.

Mr. Richard Grasso
President and CEO
New York Stock Exchange, Inc.
11 Wall Street
New York, NY 10005

Dear Richard Grasso:

We are writing to urge you to immediately to withdraw from the proposed arrangement by which New York state and city intend to confer as much as $1.1 billion or more in subsidies and benefits on the New York Stock Exchange.

Even the New York Stock Exchange -- perhaps above all, the NYSE, the epitome of global capitalism -- should respect some limits. Why should taxpayers in New York or any other city or state pay for a new trading floor? What possible public purpose is involved? Why should taxpayers
support such an initiative rather than well-endowed NYSE member or listed companies?

Perhaps your daily commute and everyday routine isolates you from the brutal poverty that grips New York. Perhaps, at least until recently, you've been blinded to the rampant poverty by the klieg lights shining on this or that IPO (Initial Public Offering). Do you know that approximately one in three children in New York City lives in poverty -- nearly double the national child poverty rate? Or that, according to the Citizens Committee for Children of New York, 182 babies are born into poverty in New York City every day? That nearly half of all New York city elementary and middle school students are reading below grade level, and that three out of five schoolchildren are in overcrowded school buildings, according to the Citizens Committee for Children? Do you think perhaps these shameful statistics suggest demands on public financing that are more pressing than satisfying your desire for the spectacle of a new trading floor?

If you in fact refuse to withdraw from the deal, and persist with this looting of the public treasury, you should expect not only ongoing public scrutiny, but a heightened level of public expectation. The taxpayers, for example, will have an interest in ensuring that their monies are not used to improperly line private pockets. If you refuse to withdraw from the deal, will you agree now that, if the NYSE ever converts to a for-profit corporation during its subsidized lease term with New York public agencies, you will return the value of the subsidy now conferred upon the NYSE in the guise of a not-for-profit corporation? Will you amend the Letter of Intent with New York City, and other relevant contractual documents, to reflect such a pledge from the NYSE?

The taxpayers also have an interest in knowing what exactly they are supporting in the NYSE deal, and on what terms. Will you release all materials and documents relating to the negotiation of the subsidy deal and memorializing its terms and conditions, as well as the existing architectural plans?

A representative group of us would like to meet with you to discuss these matters. We look forward to your timely response.

Sample Letter to the Editor

Dear Editor:

The proposed $1.1 billion public subsidy - or corporate welfare - to build a new trading floor for the New York Stock Exchange(NYSE) on Wall Street needs to be rejected. Unfortunately, the deal is not being put to a public referendum The only state approval that was needed was rushed through a day by Governor Pataki last year, using a legal device know as a Message of Necessity to evade even the minimal three days ofpublic review constitutionally mandated before a bill can be passed.

The proposed deal for NYSE would be four times larger than any previous corporate welfare deal in the city's history. Yet the City refuses to provide copies of its agreement with the Stock Exchange. Taxpayers have no idea as to what contractual requirements, if any, related to job creation or retention have been agreed to. Nor has the City provided any evidence that the $1.1 billion in public subsidies is needed to keep the Stock Exchange from moving to New Jersey. Indeed the existing evidence is that if the Stock Exchange was to move at all, it would look to relocate within the City.

Mayor Guilaini and Governor Pataki, who have put together this deal, need to put a halt to it. State Comptroller Carl McCall, a member of the Board of Directors of NYSE, needs to take action to protect taxpayers. State and local elected officials also need to step in to ensure accountability for what taxpayers will receive for their $1.1 billion. There are clearly more important pressing needs for public expenditures in NYC than building an opulent work space for the "owners" of the Stock Exchange. The 1,366 owners of seats on the Stock Exchange had gross revenues of $245 billion in 2000 and after-tax profits of $13 billion - a 30% increase from last year.

The Campaign for Corporate Accountability is supporting a comprehensive corporate welfare reform bill recently submitted by State Assemblymember Martin Luster (D - Tompkins). All too often corporate welfare is provided to companies that lay off workers, shift jobs out of the state or country, break laws, fail to pay local taxes, or pay less than living wages. Assembly bill 7291 would require: enforceable, contractual commitments related to job creation and retention; standardized reporting requirements as to the welfare recipients actual job performance; recovery of funds from companies that fail to meet their commitments; and, standards related to the wages paid by such companies and a requirement that they comply with environmental, labor and civil rights laws.

It is also time for a public debate as to whether the existing recipients of corporate welfare in New York have done a good enough job on job creation to justifiy continuing to provide $2.6 billion a year in state and local tax subsidies to companies in the name of economic development.

Testimony at Public hearing before the New York City Industrial Development Agency (IDA) concerning the proposed subsidy for the New York Stock Exchange
October 26, 2001

My name is Mark Dunlea and I am an attorney with the Campaign for Corporate Accountability. The Campaign is a statewide coalition of several dozen community, religious and environmental organizations who advocate for increased corporate accountability to ensure that jobs are actually created with the billions of dollars spent annually by New York City, New York State and local authorities in the name of economic development.

The proposed $1.1 billion corporate welfare package for the New York Stock Exchange would be four times larger than any previous corporate welfare deal in the city's history.

I note that the Campaign for Corporate Accountability, beginning in May of 2001, has submitted formal Freedom of Information requests to the NYC EDC, Mayor Guiliani, Governor Pataki, NYS Division of Budget, and the NYS Comptroller for a copy of the letter of agreement between the various city and state bodies and the New York State Exchange. It has yet to be provided. We have also requested information as to the number of jobs that will be created and retained by this project, and how such job performance will be monitored or enforced. No information has been forthcoming.

A recent report by the Independent Budget Office in New York City found that the City's Economic Development Corporation (EDC) provides "unreliable" and "inconsistent" information relating to the tax breaks it provides. The poor performance of the City's EDC unfortunately is duplicated by state and local development authorities throughout New York

The Campaign for Corporate Accountability is supporting a comprehensive corporate welfare reform bill recently submitted by State Assemblymember Martin Luster (D - Tompkins). All too often corporate welfare is provided to companies that lay off workers, shift jobs out of the state or country, break laws, fail to pay local taxes, or pay less than living wages. Assembly bill 7291 would require: enforceable, contractual commitments related to job creation and retention; standardized reporting requirements as to the welfare recipients actual job performance; recovery of funds from companies that fail to meet their commitments; and, standards related to the wages paid by such companies and a requirement that they comply with environmental, labor and civil rights laws.

It is incredible that in light of the horrific attacks on September 11, 2001, which destroyed the World Trade Center and the surrounding neighborhoods, that Governor Pataki, Mayor Guiliani, the NYC Economic Development Corporation, NYC Industrial Development Agency, NYS State Legislature, Port Authority of NY-NJ, and the Empire State Development Corporation would persist in trying to push through the largest corporate welfare subsidy in New York City history. The deal will cost an already-strained city budget millions of dollars every year for the next twenty years as money is allocated to pay off the interest on the bond debt (a total of $490 million in interest on $950 million in bonds.)

We have repeatedly stated that the effort by the Governor and the Public Authorities Control Board to pay for the state's $215 million share of the cost of this project through the annual allocation of a settlement from the Port Authority related to leases payments from the Port Authority for the World Trade Center violates the State Constitution and Finance Law since it has not been approved by the State Legislature.

I urge the NYC Economic Development Corporation and our elected officials to immediately put an end to this project, and begin anew. A deal that was bad for the taxpayers of New York City before September 11 has become only worse since then. How could the Mayor and the Governor seek to destroy existing office space in the financial district at a time when firms are scrambling to find replacement space from the destruction of September 11, including moving to New Jersey? It would be a mistake to demolish 1.7 million square feet of sound office space, when so many companies have been displaced and are in need of temporary or long-term space to eventually build 1.3 million square feet of office space. The new property will take at least five years to construct, and when it is done, it will be tax-exempt for fifty years. This means the city will lose the revenue it currently gets from the tax-paying tenants of the buildings at the proposed site.

It is equally disturbing that at the city and national level that the Democrats and Republicans are using the tragedy of September 11 to push through massive corporate welfare subsidies at a time when many low and moderate income families are struggling to support themselves. Have you no shame?

In light of the destruction of September 11, it is arguable that there is role for public subsidies to assist the financial community in rebuilding in downtown Manhattan. However, this particular project should be scrapped, and instead be integrated into a comprehensive rebuilding package not just for the financial community but for the entire City of New York which has been negatively impacted. If there is to be any public subsidy to help the world's richest companies build a new trading floor, it is inconceivable that this would not be integrated into the reconstruction of the World Trade Center.

I believe that any public subsidies related to rebuilding following the September 11 destruction of the World Trade Center should include a memorial to those killed, including those who sacrificed their lives in an effort to save others. The Greens would also like to see the rebuilding include the creation of a permanent Peace Institute on the site of the World Trade Center to assist the City, Country and World in the healing process and guiding us to build a world based on peace and justice, not the maximization of profits for the benefits of few that is represented by the proposed project being considered today.

I urge the EDC to ensure that all sectors of our diverse community be brought together to produce a comprehensive plan for reconstructing the wider financial district and our entire city. Unfortunately, to date the process of decision-making around economic development subsidy deals, the NYSE in particular, has not had the benefit of input from a broad spectrum of community members. Most New Yorkers know few details about what would be the largest subsidy deal in New York State. Broad participation in the plans for economic reconstruction of New York will be a key element in the overall healing of our beloved city.

It is hard to imagine a less deserving candidate for a government subsidy than the New York Stock Exchange, the world wide symbol of free-market capitalism. Last year the 1,366 member companies of NYSE had gross revenues of $245 billion and after-tax profits of $13 billion - a 30% increase from the prior year. If in fact the NYSE needs a new facility, it should have no trouble raising funds to construct one, or drawing on the immense wealth of its member and listed firms. It is time to put an end to the practice of companies using the threat of a possible relocation to force City and state officials to bid against one another to provide the largest economic development package. Such Economic development shifts rather than increases the overall number jobs, instead merely resulting in an improvement in the companies' profit margin. The New York Stock Exchange is an important institution which belongs in New York, but it needs New York as much as New York needs it. It would be unpatriotic, indeed un-American, for the NYSE to move out of NYC following the terrorist attack.

The billion-dollar-plus subsidy you plan to shower on the stock exchange is an inexcusable appropriation and waste of taxpayer monies. Even before September 11, we had urgent unmet needs in the areas of education, health care, hunger, homelessness, transportation, infrastructure maintenance, genuine community development and much more. This situation only got worse after September 11. New York State maintains a child poverty rate of nearly 25 percent. Don't you think a billion dollars might be better invested in the future if spent on guaranteeing food, clothing, shelter, education and healthcare for these children?

This is a bad deal for New York, representing nothing more than the transfer of wealth from taxpayers to the Wall Street elite. It is also time for the City and State to re-evaluate its overall economic development program, ensuring that funds are invested in the communities that most need it and that companies deliver on their promises to actually create and retain living wage jobs.

Groups Say No to $1 Billion Welfare Deal
for New York State Exchange

Corporate Welfare Carnival Demand
Greater Accountability for Public Subsidies

May 25

Opponents of the proposed $1.1 billion package to provide public subsidies to build a new trading floor for the New York Stock Exchange held a Corporate Welfare Carnival today on Wall Street in front of the Exchange.

A growing number of human service, environmental, religious and labor organizations are calling upon the Governor and Mayor to put a halt to the largest welfare subsidy in city history and reinvest the funds in programs to deal with hunger, homelessness, housing, education, AIDS, environment, jobs, child care and other pressing needs.

"Corporate welfare is out of control in America and this is an appalling example. At a time when many urgent social needs are neglected and lines at soup kitchens continue to grow, including with children, the Governor and Mayor want to give away more than a billion dollars to build a new palace to the buying and selling of companies. This is corporate black mail, with politicians stumbling over themselves to throw money at companies whenever they threaten to move," stated Dunlea, an organizer with the Campaign for Corporate Accountability.

The Carnival included a graveyard of broken promises by corporate welfare recipients; the corporate welfare shell game, Bust the Balloon and Win a Subsidy, and Bowling for Welfare Dollars.

The growing list of groups who have called for a halt to the billion-dollar giveaway to the Stock Exchange include City Project, Community Voices Heard, NYC Labor-Religion Coalition, West Side Campaign Against Hunger, Citizens Environmental Coalition, Save the Earth, Brooklyn Greens, Lower East Side Greens, United for a Fair Economy, Center for an Urban Future, Urban Justice Center, National Employment Law Project, Fifth Avenue Committee, Community Food Resource Center, Alliance for Democracy, NYS Greens, North American Coalition for Christianity and Ecology, Third Wave, Jews for Racial & Economic Justice, Association for Neighborhood Housing and Development, Metropolitan Council on Housing, Goddard Riverside Community Center, Bronx Greens, LI Progressive Coalition.

The corporate welfare carnival at the Stock Exchange was put together by Citizens Environmental Coalition and the Labor and Environmental Network and debuted two weeks ago at the State Capitol.

"Corporate welfare is often used to subsidize companies that harm the environment. Corporate welfare is at the heart of the fight over the refinancing of the state Superfund program to clean up toxic waste sites. Environmentalists want to increase the fees of corporate polluters to raise funds to clean up toxic sites in a timely fashion with stronger cleanup and liability standards; Pataki and his corporate backers want to go in the opposite direction. While we would divert corporate welfare dollars to funding for environmental protection such as clean air and water, at a minimum we need to ensure that no public subsidies go to corporate polluters," stated Anne Rabe, Executive Director of Citizens Environmental Coalition.

The groups are pushing for a comprehensive corporate welfare reform bill recently submitted by State Assemblymember Martin Luster (D - Tompkins). Assembly bill 7291 would require: enforceable, contractual commitments related to job creation and retention; standardized reporting requirements as to the welfare recipients actual job performance; recovery of funds from companies that fail to meet their commitments; and, standards related to the wages paid by such companies and a requirement that they comply with environmental, labor and civil rights laws. All too often corporate welfare is provided to companies that lay off workers, shift jobs out of the state or country, break laws, fail to pay local taxes, or pay less than living wages.

The Campaign has filed a formal Freedom of Information (FOI) request to obtain the still secret Letter of Intent between the City and Stock Exchange to determine what promises related to job creation and standards are being agreed to, if any. The groups would also like to see a public referendum on whether voters what to support such an enormous public subsidy.

While the New York Stock Exchange is technically a nonprofit corporation, it is in fact "owned" by 1,366 large companies with gross revenues of $245 billion in 2000 and after-tax profits of $13 billion - a 30% increase from last year. A "seat" on the NYSE presently sells for $1.7 million. Board members include State Comptroller Carl McCall, former Clinton White House Chief of Staff Leon Panetta and the head of American on Line. NYSE has announced plans to convert itself to a for-profit company and raise capital by selling shares of stock in itself.

Many observers are skeptical that a looming June 30th deadline will be met to find a developer for a tower to be built above the new trading floor.

Opponents of Billion Dollar Public Subsidy for NY Stock Exchange Call Upon Pataki and McCall to Come Clean

June 5, 2001

The Campaign for Corporate Accountability today called upon Governor George Pataki and State Comptroller Carl McCall to release the Letter of Intent detailing the proposed agreement to provide up to $1.1 billion in State and New York City funds, tax breaks and low-cost energy to build a new trading for the New York Stock Exchange.

Requests by the media and taxpayer advocates to the New York City Economic Development Corporation for a copy of the agreement have been refused.

Governor Pataki last June used a Message of Necessity to ram through without public review special state legislation to enable the NYS Urban Development Corporation and the NYC Industrial Development Agency to provide financing for the project, including the issuance of bonds. The legislation waived many of the existing State and City legal requirements regarding approval of such project, including land use procedures. The law also authorized the Mayor of NYC to enter into agreements to finance the project.

Carl McCall is an individual member of the Board of Directors of the New York Stock Exchange.

"The Governor and Mayor Giuliani have a long history of handing out public funds to their favorite companies in the name of economic development, so their unwillingness to protect taxpayers in this situation is not surprising but still unacceptable. The Governor even installed his main fundraiser to manage the State's pipeline of public subsidies. Carl McCall however in the past has been willing to question whether taxpayers are actually receiving the promised jobs from these economic development handouts. In this situation, he appears to have a potential conflict of interest, serving on the Board of an institution whose owners make money from the decisions made by the Comptroller related to his management of the state's pension funds and bonding. Many of those owners also make campaign contributions. Now he is on the receiving end of a $1.1 billion dollar public subsidy and he should ensure that a copy of this agreement is made public as soon as possible," stated Mark Dunlea, an organizer with the Campaign for Corporate Accountability.

Say No to Bush

Oppose Corporate Welfare for Irresponsible, Lawbreaking Contracting Companies

The Bush administration is trying to repeal a contractor responsibility rule designed to ensure that taxpayer-funded projects are awarded to responsible companies, not chronic lawbreakers.

The rule under attack would require that before awarding a federal contract, agencies must take into account a company's record of complying with the law,
including laws designed to protect workers, civil rights, clean air and clean water.

The Bush administration wants to repeal this rule and allow businesses with egregious records of violating the law to get taxpayer dollars.

From now until July 6 members of the public can submit comments to the Bush
administration agency that issues federal contractor rules.

Please go to www.corporateoutlaws.org to tell the Bush Administration how you feel about our tax dollars going to contractors that have an irresponsible record and have broken the law.

Go to for Public Citizen's testimony in opposition to the Bush administrations attempt to overturn this rule.

NYC Paying $1M a month to Keep NYS Deal Alive

By DAVID SEIFMAN

March 2, 2002 --
INSIDE CITY HALL THE city is paying $1 million a month in rent on a near-empty apartment building as part of the stalled deal to keep the New York Stock Exchange in lower Manhattan, The Post has learned. (for full story)

Only 10 of 435 tenants remain at 45 Wall St., which Rockrose Development Corp. began vacating in February 2001 to make way for a new 50,000-square- foot trading floor and 900-foot high office tower. Then came Sept. 11. Suddenly, the $1.1 billion plan crafted by the Giuliani administration to relocate the exchange across from its present headquarters was in doubt.

Stock Exchange chairman Richard Grasso announced on Nov. 8 that the tower wouldn't work. He's now meeting with aides to Mayor Bloomberg to revise the deal. "The Bloomberg administration is currently examining the agreement in hopes of making an expeditious decision," said Lynn Rasic, a spokeswoman for the city's Economic Development Corp. Meanwhile, the city is obligated to keep paying the entire rent roll at 45 Wall St. - except for the few occupied apartments - until there's a decision. With units going for $2,000 to $6,000, the tab for the city is $11 million and counting.

That doesn't include another $5.5 million doled out in tenant relocation assistance. "It was always calculated as part of the cost," insisted one city official.

Richard Allen, one of 10 holdout tenants, said he's bewildered by the arrangement. "This is a deal made in hell for the taxpayers of New York City," he said. Published reports said the city has contracted to buy 45 Wall St. for $160 million, along with three other nearby buildings. Under the original plan, three of the four buildings, including 45 Wall St., were to have been torn down to make way for the new NYSE headquarters. There are escape clauses in the agreement if the exchange deal falls apart.

But the city isn't off the hook to Rockrose. It'll have to keep paying $1 million a month for 15 more months, or until 45 Wall St. is 95 percent rented, if the purchase isn't completed. Perhaps at that point, someone will offer move-in incentives to new tenants

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Say No to $1.1 Billion in Corporate Welfare for the NY Stock Exchange

Say No to
$1.1 Billion in Corporate Welfare for the NY Stock Exchange