Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer
Aug. 19, 2019 By Allie Griffin
It’s taken nearly 10 months and an article in the Daily News but Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer has returned a series of real estate campaign contributions as promised.
In November, Van Bramer pledged to give back between $15,000 and $20,000 to developers and landlords by January 2019, according to the Daily News. At the time, he also said that he was no longer going to accept any real estate money going forward.
He said that he’d been inspired by Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez whose policy to reject corporate money has resonated with progressives.
“I don’t want there to be any doubt in people’s minds about where my loyalties lie, and so we won’t accept anything going forward — but we’re also going to return anything we’ve raised in this [election] cycle,” Van Bramer said.
However, the News reported Saturday that he had not returned a penny.
Today, two days after the News story ran, Van Bramer tweeted photos of checks written out to the real estate firms and wrote “returned all real estate contributions mentioned” in the article and more.
This morning my campaign returned all real estate contributions mentioned in the @emma_a_whitford story. And we caught a few not mentioned that we returned as well. Inexcusable that it wasn’t done sooner but I’ve honored my pledge and we will continue to return any others found. pic.twitter.com/1pNxBoAMHa
— Jimmy Van Bramer (@JimmyVanBramer) August 19, 2019
Van Bramer had received contributions from a number of real estate firms in 2018 prior to making his pledge. These included $3,950 from John Werwaiss of Werwaiss & Co Inc. in March 2018; $1,000 from Henry Elghanayan of Rockrose Development Corp. in April 2018; $3,950 each from Kenneth and Winston Fisher of Fisher Brothers in May 2018; and $2,500 from Daniel Brodsky of the Brodsky Organization in June 2018.
In his tweet, Van Bramer said it was “inexcusable that it wasn’t done sooner but I’ve honored my pledge.”
Van Bramer has announced that he wants to be the next Queens Borough President, a position that will be vacant should Melinda Katz, the incumbent, be elected the Queens District Attorney in November.
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34 Comments
Who paid for his 50th birthday party at SIH . He even had drag queens there too .
I didn’t hear anything about Giuliani attending.
JVB sucks. How about he returns my parking spots. He can keep that money cause we all know he gives the neighborhood away. Atleast let me have a place to park. I’m tired of him. I wish he would just go away. If hes aligned with AOC that’s just insane. They deserve eachother. When I see him in the streets I’m just gonna start booo-ing him.
Sunnyside- Pay for your own parking space and quit looking for government handouts.
Van Bramer is doing a good job! He is front and center on many important issues and is able to adapt to the changing neighborhood demographics. He is well known and respected throughout Queens and the other boroughs. He has established a good standing with all kinds of people.
Jimmy… Is that you?
You must be one of his little staffers. He is as phony as they come.
Angry real estate person, is that you?
But what about Fox News? If we don’t like Van Bramer, we must be watching Fox News. Van Bramer is the guy who got $25,000 to pay for Drag Queen Story Hour while crime is going up under his nose.
Worst performing US states in education, individual wealth, salary, healthcare coverage and crime: Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Florida, South Carolina and Tennessee.
Please provide your references to this claim.
Sources: US Census, Forbes Magazine. Just do a google search.
How about JVB return to taxpayers the $6.8 million supposedly allocated for phony renovations to the Woodside Library? Fourteen months after using Dennis Walcott as a prop to boost Joe Crowley’s campaign vs. AOC and still QPL has not one iota of information about what the $6.8 million will be spent on! While he’s at it, JVB should provide an update on his personal Taj Mahal, the Hunters Point Library, which Jimmy announced with great fanfare several years ago would open in early 2017. JVB’s performance as Chair of the City Council Library Committee has been inexcusable.
Van Bramer is inspired by Ocasio-Cortez. His he kidding? Her former chief of staff, who was forced to resign, is under investigation for campaign finance violations for funneling donations. JVB thinks he is going to become Borough President by jumping on the AOC band wagon. He had better think again. He should read the comments posted to the Sunnyside Post to see what people really think of him.
Yeah the anonymous postings of Sunnyside Post. The blog that lets people like you post under aliases as many times you like.
I guess Republican Prosperity is your real name. And irony must be your middle name.
Just a concerned reader pointing out a phony using the comment section to play “mean girl” popularity games.
Little Jimmy needs shaming to follow up on his empty promises. This lightweight inconsequential man wants to be Borough President. He has as much chance as Tiffany Caban had in being District Attorney or Cynthia Nixon had in being Governor. His two high profile endorsements. At least he’ll be gone soon due to term limits.
Little minded Republicans
O how honorable of you Jimmy- but lets not use Cortez as the barometer for ethics on corporate contributions from their independent treasury. Instead she will slither over it with PAC contributions from those same corporations as i’m sure you will too. Remember Van Bramer, all that the people of Queens want are good paying jobs and safe neighborhoods something you Socialists are inept of providing.
Republicans will provide the same amount of safety as they have provided for Mississippi, Alabama, South Carolina, Tennessee, Alaska and Louisiana. All the highest crime states in US according to FBI statistics. Democrats tenure over Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Hawaii, Connecticut and Minnesota, all the lowest crime states in US according to FBI statistics.
Now would you be so kind and provided the FBI crime statistics for all the major cities in the US that have a Republican or Democrat Major?..bet you wont.
Slither-Do the research yourself.
c’mon- ya had every other static
This is not what the queens demographics represent. We are the most diverse borough for a reason. We the people of queens need real representation in our communities. Whatever, you may say or believe Queens is a borough of beautiful immigrants and I hope we have a true Queens Borough President who lives among us, not in a One Million dollar house in Sunnyside Gardens. (JVB) I hope after he loses he’s still advocating for his bike lane policies.
Queens is filled with plenty million dollar homes: Malba, Forest Hills Gardens, Jamaica Estates, Floral Park, Hunters Point, Douglaston, Little Neck etc.
EDD- You sound resentful. Jimmy the savvy investor is better at the game you Republicans claim to be the best at.
I’ve lived in Sunnyside Gardens for over 30 years, in the house that my grandparents bought in 1943 for $4,500, and I bought in 1987 for $150,000. And if it now costs more than $1 million, so what. Nothing wrong with that. The price reflects the desirability of the neighborhood. If people didn’t want to live there the price would reflect that. And if you can’t afford to live there, either move to some place you can afford, or improve your own life so that you can get a better job and afford to live where you want. Life doesn’t owe you anything. It’s what you make of it.
Now give back the big checks. These are just for show. Pocket money for him
It’s I know you’re in there.
What a crummy thing for the Daily News to do, making Jimmy return gifts right before his birthday!
Such integrity!
Van Bramer is an utter disgrace. Does he want a gold metal for 10 months of holding money? Hhahaha he’s such a joke!
he is a liar he has made more then the amount he says –