MONEY BAGS

‘I’m No Ogre’: Why Estée Lauder Heir Has Spent Millions to Elect Lee Zeldin

The 78-year-old millionaire insists he just wants to lower crime and see two opposing parties. His millions say otherwise.

The 78-year heir to the Estée Lauder fortune has two simple reasons for why he’s funneling more than $11 million into the effort to elect Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-NY) governor of New York: he just wants to see a balance in power and lower crime. “I’m no ogre,” Ronald Lauder told The New York Times in a sprawling profile. “It’s a question of one thing I believe in, always have. I want two parties. I want a Republican and a Democratic Party. When you have just one party, I believe things go wrong.” Lauder has spent nearly the most among state political donors on behalf of Zeldin, who Gov. Kathy Hochul believes Lauder has sponsored over a vendetta against estate taxes, according to The Times. Lauder’s efforts are not limited to Zeldin alone; he has also spent millions to block Democrats’ efforts to gerrymander the state. “There’s no way we would have succeeded on redistricting without Ronald Lauder,” former GOP Rep. John Faso told The Times.