The White House stayed silent Sunday night on a Daily News investigation into developers' big-money donations to Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrión, who is President Obama's new urban policy pointman.
The News' probe of Carrión's cozy ties to developers with major Bronx construction projects provoked outrage from the politician's critics, but didn't stir a peep from the White House.
"We have no comment," White House spokesman Nick Shapiro said.
Carrión resigned Sunday as borough president to become the director of the White House Office on Urban Policy on Monday.
Richard Lipsky, a city planner in the Bronx, said The News exposed Carrión's modus operandi of putting his political coffers before the good of the community.
"Carrión's acted in such a perverse manner to really go out of his way to thwart community and small-business concerns," Lipsky charged.
The News revealed a string of construction projects pitched by developers who had donated to Carrión's campaign war chest just weeks before he approved their plans.
In one case, Boricua College contributed nearly $70,000 to Carrión during the time it was trying to win his support for a 14-story housing tower in Melrose.
Carrión has declined to answer written questions about the campaign contributions, but released a statement saying he's "proud to have such wide-ranging support" from all facets of the community.
Former west Bronx Councilman and state Sen. Israel Ruiz defended Carrión as an "honest young man."
"This is nothing new. All the way from the governor on down, everybody deals with these developers to get reelected," Ruiz said. "That's the nature of the beast, unfortunately."
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