Report: Pols get contribution from Red Hook operator

Report: Pols get contribution from Red Hook operator New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn received $17,500 in campaign donations from members of a family that own a stevedoring company whose efforts to remain in Brooklyn she is supporting.
   The contributions, first reported in New York Post, are included in the New York City Campaign Finance Board’s Searchable Campaign Finance Database and show that the owner of American Stevedoring Inc., Sabato Catucci, his brother Ronald and two other family members each contributed $4,375 to Quinn in July. Quinn is said by the Post to be a likely mayoral candidate.
   The Post said Catucci has long been active in local politics contributing funds to members of both the Democratic and Conservative parties, including U.S. Rep. Jerrold Nadler, an advocate for the port.
   Last week, Quinn and Nadler were among the 21 politicians that sent a letter to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey urging that ASI be allowed to renew its lease on the Red Hook Container Terminal without opening the property to a requests for expressions of interest.
   The port authority had agreed in 2005 to transfer the terminal to New York City, but uproar over plans by the city’s Economic Development Corp. (EDC) to devote waterfront property to non-cargo operations such as a marina and beer garden sparked an uproar longshoremen, port advocates, and some politicians — especially since another site in Brooklyn’s Sunset Park section may not be ready for a decade.
   The port authority said it is owed back funds by ASI and is also involved in a dispute before the Federal Maritime Commission over the lease of another Brooklyn pier used for cocoa storage.