The 55-word Facebook post had a remarkably short life span, especially for one from Daniel S. Loeb, a charter school proponent and activist investor known for his acid-penned missives.
Mr. Loeb wrote this week that “hypocrites who pay fealty to powerful union thugs and bosses do more damage to people of color than anyone who has ever donned a hood,” singling out the minority leader of the State Senate, who is African-American. Mr. Loeb, a hedge fund giant and political megadonor, quickly deleted and disavowed the incendiary comment after it became public, but the damage was done.
Politicians who have long benefited from Mr. Loeb’s generosity scurried for cover and distance. And his enemies pounced.
Mayor Bill de Blasio and his wife, Chirlane McCray, called on Friday for Mr. Loeb to step down from his post as chairman of Success Academy, a major charter schools network. Democratic groups in New York and beyond pushed Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo to return the $170,000 he had raised from Mr. Loeb and his wife over the years, including at a fund-raiser two years ago at Mr. Loeb’s Hamptons home.
