Exclusive | Knicks owner James Dolan challenges NYC business group to grow backbone and step into governor race before its too late

Knicks owner James Dolan is calling out leaders of the city’s most influential business group for sitting out the governor’s race instead of backing Republican Bruce Blakeman – or at least advocating for a lower tax, pro-growth agenda.Dolan, who also owns Madison Square Garden, is bankrolling a pro-Blakeman political action committee over Democrat Gov.Kathy Hochul in this year’s race and he claims other business leaders are giving the incumbent a free pass.The owner expressed his frustration in an email to Rob Speyer, co-chairman of the Partnership for the City of New York, the trade group for the city’s largest and most influential employers, from Wall Street, real estate, banking, tech and sports and entertainment industries.“I have a growing concern that the Partnership and MSG may be sliding toward different paths as it relates to our respective views on the financial and political challenges we are facing both as a city and a state,” Dolan said in an Oct.12 e-letter to Rob Speyer of the real estate firm Tishman Speyer and co-chair of the Partnership’s board of directors.Dolan said there is “widespread agreement”i n the business community that Mayor Zohran Mamdani is “bad for the city” because “we all know that his plans to raise taxes are disastrous for our economy.”But he suggested the Partnership’s leadership is making things easy for Hochul, who is seeking reelection to a second full, four-year term and gave authorization for Mamdani to impose a new pied-a-terre on luxury second homes in the city.“However, this is where we diverge.

The mayor cannot raise taxes without Governor Hochul’s support,” Dolan told Speyer.“Whoever serves as New York State’s next governor is our only defense against these harmful policies for the next three years… and it is clear that, if re-elected, Governor Hochul will not hold the line.He went on to bring up the pied-a-terre tax.Morning Report delivers the latest news, videos, phot...