By M.L. Nestel
June 24, 2013
The gay community-board chairman running for City Council this year tried to hide his past work for corporate clients that have opposed marriage equality, The Post has learned.
Corey Johnson, 31, who is in the race for Council Speaker Christine Quinn’s seat, proudly portrays himself as a trailblazer for gay rights.
In 2000, the future Community Board 4 chairman bravely came out as a gay while he was captain of his Massachusetts high-school football team. “Corey first came to national attention in 2000 when he became a trailblazer for LGBT youth,” his campaign Web site reads.
But from 2008 to 2010, he served as director of government and community affairs at Wall Street-based real-estate firm GFI Development Co. a fact that was left off his site.
GFI and some of its brass have spent more than $30,000 backing candidates who oppose gay marriage, such as Judge Noach Dear, Assemblyman Dov Hikind, and Democratic mayoral candidate Erick Salgado.
Johnson also says he’s a champion of affordable housing. Last week, at a candidate forum, Johnson said he increased affordable housing for one of GFI’s buildings located at 470 Vanderbilt Ave. in Fort Greene.
But GFI, which develops luxury hotels, including the Ace and NoMad, was accused of being a discriminatory mortgage lender, prompting US Attorney Preet Bharara in April 2012 to file suit against it.
“I did work for them, but I no longer work for them currently,” Johnson said about GFI. His work for the firm was added to the campaign site Saturday, after The Post asked Johnson about it.
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