Kathy Wylde has once again landed in the space between Wall Street and New York’s left-leaning politicos – and it’s getting awkward.
The recently retired head of the Partnership for New York City – the Big Apple’s biggest business advocacy group – has been quietly urging Mayor Mamdani to mend fences with city business leaders, On The Money has learned.
The 79-year-old power broker’s major worry: The mayor’s continued friction with the business community. While Wylde has said “the city is strong and will continue to be a global commercial powerhouse regardless of who is mayor” her old organization is worried that the mayor’s socialist agenda will accelerate a stampede of big taxpayers – individuals and businesses alike – and destroy what’s left of the Big Apple economy.
That’s after Mamdani last month aired his now-infamous video shot outside billionaire Ken Griffin’s penthouse, declaring “We’re taxing the rich” as he unveiled a tax on apartments owned by out-of-state residents.
“I have been encouraging him and his team to meet with business leaders so that he can hear their concerns and understand how they can help him be successful,” Wylde told On The Money in an exclusive interview this week. “The Griffin video obviously made that more urgent.”
Wylde emphasizes that there’s “nothing official,” about her role in pushing for detente between the Marxist mayor and business leaders. She said she played no role in Mamdani’s recent meetings with the chiefs of Blackstone, UBS, JPMorgan, BofA and Goldman Sachs, which were an outgrowth of talks between the new partnership leadership and City Hall.
Still, Wylde said she is still in contact with the mayor and his people even in retirement, and spoke with Mamdani about a month ago.
“I’m not a lobbyist, just a human being,” she said. “I feel a bit responsible for Mamdani, so of course I encouraged him to meet with people.”
The responsibility part speaks to Wylde’s role as head of the partnership last year, when she put Mamdani in front of business community types so they could get to know the man who went on to win the November election.
With her departure earlier this year, the group adopted a more aggressive approach to dealing with City Hall with new president Steve Fulop.
A City Hall spokesman had no comment.
Fulop had no immediate comment, but some in the partnership’s new leadership have taken umbrage that Wylde is lurking in the background of the relationship between business leaders and Mamdani, said people with knowledge of the matter.
“Zohran is a smart guy and he is doing this outreach by himself,” this person said.
The so-called “Griffin Video” has become a case study in the mayor’s increasingly frosty relationship with business leaders. In mid April, Mamdani shot the controversial spot in front of Griffin’s apartment on Central Park South, noting that it cost $238 million. Griffin called the spot “creepy” and “frightening,” noting that his place is just a few blocks away from where the UnitedHealth CEO was murdered.
Griffin also said he will pursue a Citadel expansion not just in New York City, but in Miami, where the government offers the “American Dream and a dream of earned success, not a dream of redistributive handouts that leave people dependent on government for their lives.”
As reported, while privately expressing outrage, many business leaders are aping Wylde’s conciliatory tone in their recent private meetings with the mayor. Neither Goldman CEO David Solomon nor JPMorgan chief Jamie Dimon brought up the Griffin incident when they sat down with Mamdani earlier in the week. Dimon’s reps called the meeting with Mamdani “friendly and constructive”
“Seems to me they’re just playing the game,” one CEO of a midsized financial firm told On The Money. Said another: “They do have businesses to run, I guess.”
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