Amy Goodman of WBAI radio waited for Obama on W. 12th St. last Thursday when the president hit town on a fundraising visit. Obama first stopped by the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Battery Park where 15 people paid $35,800 apiece to join him. He then headed up West St. to movie mogul Harvey Weinstein’s Bank St. townhouse for a star-studded fundraiser. In attendance were Governor Andrew Cuomo, Democratic National Committee Executive Director Patrick Gaspard (who cut his political teeth in the East Village with Rosie Mendez and Margarita Lopez), co-host Anna Wintour, Gwyneth Paltrow, Maury Povich, Connie Chung, Vera Wang, Alicia Keys and Jimmy Fallon. Pool reporter Azi Paybarah noted that as the motorcade had passed West and Bethune Sts. a man held up a hand-drawn sign reading, “U.S. Empire Out of Everywhere.” About one-sixth of the money raised will go toward Obama’s re-election campaign and the rest to the D.N.C.
