Joe Lhota keeps occupied with fundraisers

Frontrunner Joe Lhota spent the bulk of his last day before today’s primary campaigning at private events.

The former MTA chief and deputy mayor kicked off the morning at a $2,500-a-table-minimum fundraiser hosted by business titans James Tisch, Ken Langone and John Whitehead at a midtown Hilton.

More than 200 people dined on fruit salad, pastries and bagels while listening to Lhota’s pitch. Most of the donors at the breakfast have given the maximum legally allowed, $4,950, his spokeswoman said.

Opinion polls have put Lhota far in front of his nearest rival, billionaire John Catsimatidis, who funded his campaign from his grocery and oil fortune. .

One of those at the fundraiser was Manhattan attorney Thomas Broussard, who says the ascendancy in recent polls of left-leaning Bill de Blasio over more centrist Democrats like Christine Quinn and Bill Thompson gives Lhota’s candidacy special urgency.

“I think de Blasio if elected is going to be a catastrophe for the city — for all the people in the city,” said Broussard, who notes he voted for Thompson in 2009 because Mayor Mike Bloomberg voided term limits.