Cooper boosts Democratic presidential hopeful O'Malley

Weeks after turning down a plea to raise money for Hillary Clinton, Lloyd Harbor businessman and Democratic donor Jon Cooper is co-hosting a fundraiser on June 4 for her-soon-to-be rival for the Democratic presidential nomination, Martin O'Malley.

O'Malley, the former governor of Maryland and mayor of Baltimore, has said he will make an announcement on Saturday -- and it's pretty clear he will say he is running for president in the 2016 election.

Why?

According to the invitation sent by email to me today by Cooper and his co-host, the public relations and political consultant Ali Mirza, checks to attend the June 4 fundraiser should be made out to "O'Malley for President."

The 6 to 8:30 p.m. reception will be held in the Woodbury home of Syed Akhter, and costs $100 to get in the door, $500 for a photo with O'Malley, and $1,000 and $2,700 for the VIP reception.

Cooper, a former Suffolk County legislator, made his mark in presidential politics in the 2008 election when he was the first elected official on Long Island to declare his support for Barack Obama despite the widespread New York support for Clinton.

When Clinton announced her candidacy on April 12, Cooper reacted with a "meh."

A friend persuaded him to be a fundraiser for Clinton, but Cooper quickly changed his mind because he said he couldn't think of what to say to his progressive friends and contacts to get them to contribute to her campaign.