By now it is well known that Reps. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) and Ted Poe (R-Texas) urged Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner to demand Citigroup cancel its $400 million, 20-year deal to put its name on the new New York Mets ballpark in Queens. Their rationale is the $45 billion the bank received in federal aid.
It is also well known by now that six regional members of Congress countered with a letter of their own stating that they “strongly disagree” with their out-of-town colleagues on the naming of the new Shea ‘Citi Field’.
Now for the followup, which is not as well known: Federal records posted on the Web show that three of the six House members who signed the local letter — saying “it is deceitful and unreasonable to single out Citigroup for an agreement signed several years ago” — received campaign contributions in the last two election cycles from the corporation.
Rep. Steve Israel (D-Huntington) logged $6,000 from Citigroup in the 2005-6 cycle; Rep. Greg Meeks (D-Queens), $10,000 total in 2005-6 and 2006-7, and Rep. Joseph Crowley (D-Queens, Bronx), $20,000 total in the two cycles. (For the record, on Long Island, Citigroup also contributed during that period to Long Island Reps Peter King, total $1,000, and Carolyn McCarthy, total $4,500.)