Jona Rechnitz is from a famous Orthodox Jewish family in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n
New York Post<\/a>:<\/p>\n A crooked Mayor de Blasio crony testified in court Friday just how easy it was to keep Hizzoner under his thumb, describing how he just had to dangle some money and City Hall jumped to do his bidding.<\/p>\n Mayoral donor-gone-rogue Jona Rechnitz \u2014 during his second day of explosive testimony in Manhattan federal court \u2014 said de Blasio campaign staffer Ross Offinger hit him up for a $102,000 donation to help keep state Senate Democrats in office after de Blasio won the 2013 mayoral race.<\/p>\n The shady real-estate developer said he initially balked at the request, sniffing that he wasn\u2019t getting the favors he wanted from City Hall. Plus, Rechnitz said, he deserved more personal attention from his pal the mayor.<\/p>\n \u201cI told [Offinger], \u2018No, I\u2019m out on this,\u2019 \u201d testified Rechnitz, who was a cooperating witness in since-closed state and federal probes into de Blasio\u2019s fund-raising. \u201cI was frustrated that we had a lot of requests and issues on the table that weren\u2019t being attended to in a timely fashion.<\/p>\n \u201cAll you do is you come here when you need money,\u201d he said he griped to Offinger.<\/p>\n In particular, Rechnitz said, he wanted help with a slew of violations he had received because a tenant at his Madison Avenue property illegally sublet his apartment on Airbnb.<\/p>\n \u201cI paid all the violations,\u201d Rechnitz said of his tenant\u2019s illegal sublet. But he said he wanted to meet with someone in the Housing Department to explain why the violations were unfair, and had been asking Offinger \u201cfor a long time\u201d to arrange a sit-down.<\/p>\n Rechnitz said he also asked for more information from the city on an Ocean Parkway home his friend was considering selling \u2014 and his request \u201cwasn\u2019t moving quickly enough for my liking.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI was sick and tired of it,\u201d Rechnitz said. \u201cI wasn\u2019t getting the proper forum or attention that I wanted.\u201d<\/p>\n The disgraced donor said that after he refused to cough up the dough, things got moving. He soon got a personal phone call from de Blasio, Rechnitz said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe mayor told me it means a great deal to him,\u201d he said of the donation. Rechnitz said that prompted him to make the hefty contribution. \u201cOnce the mayor called me, I felt it was a personal favor to him,\u201d Rechnitz said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Jona Rechnitz is from a famous Orthodox Jewish family in Los Angeles. New York Post: A crooked Mayor de Blasio crony testified in court Friday just how easy it was to keep Hizzoner under his thumb, describing how he just … Continue reading