Polo Events | Polo Bash About Ponying Up For Ball
The organizer, Jen Danzi, who lives in Greenwich, said she is Ball’s friend and is helping organize the Pink Tide Project, which is a committee to help Ball’s election and developed by the group Women for Ball.
She said it has been made clear to potential donors and sponsors that the event is to help Ball. He faces a primary Sept. 14 against Somers Supervisor Mary Beth Murphy.
“Every person I have dealt with knows that it’s a fundraiser for Pink Tide Project, which is organized by Women for Ball, which is in support of Greg Ball’s campaign,” she said.
Charles Norfleet, an owner of Genesis, an organic horse feed company, said it was “crystal clear” when he became a sponsor that the event was to benefit Ball.
He said he knows Ball and “he seems like a good guy.” He added, “The polo went along perfectly with supporting a good cause.”
Other sponsors, however, were not so sure.
Barbara Zaccagnini, a Greenwich real estate agent, didn’t know the event is a political fundraiser and said she supports polo. She gave $1,500 in June to the Pink Tide Project, according to campaign finance reports.
“The reason that I’m supporting it is for the polo players. And I think that it’s a great sport,” she said.
Rich Granoff, president of R.S. Granoff Architects in Greenwich, gave $5,000 to the Pink Tide Project in June. He said he’s sponsoring the event because it is good public relations for his company, but he was aware it was benefiting the Ball committee.
“That’s not my motivation for sponsoring it,” Granoff said of backing Ball. “I don’t even really know him or what his political angle is.”
This isn’t the first time a fundraiser to benefit Ball has been tied to polo events.
The Washington Post reported in 2007 that a 2005 polo event in northern Virginia benefited a political action committee started by Ball, but that at least some attendees didn’t know that.
It’s unclear how much money the Sept. 19 event is expected to raise.
According to its campaign filing in July, the Pink Tide Project had raised $8,500 and had about $4,200 left in its account.
Danzi, an advertising representative, said she simply wants to help Ball’s candidacy. She got to know him last year, when he helped her with a polo charity event that benefited children with autism, she said.
In fact, Women for Ball and the Pink Tide Project are holding a fundraiser for Ball next week in Croton Falls to honor him for his efforts with autism, his campaign website says.
“I’m a big supporter in what he’s doing,” Danzi said. “I’d like to help him any way I can.”
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