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Melissa Mark-Viverito, a Mayor-Made Speaker, Sought a Member-Driven Legacy


Mayor de Blasio Speaker Mark-Viverito

(photo: William Alatriste/City Council)


Melissa Mark-Viverito, the first Latina to preside over the 51-member New York City Council, leaves office having shepherded a progressive shift in the city’s direction, in conjunction with fellow Democrat Mayor Bill de Blasio, a philosophically aligned partner in government who was the deciding factor in her winning the powerful speaker position four years ago.

As arguably the second most powerful elected official in the city, Mark-Viverito oversaw an agenda of progressivism that significantly moved the needle for causes of social justice, especially related to immigrants, workers, and the criminal justice system, many of which were close to her heart and supported by a Council dominated by progressive members. But when the needle didn’t move fast enough, there were those that said Mark-Viverito too often carried the mayor’s water. It’s a charge she disputes, as do numerous Council members that served under her as they look back at her four years at the helm.

Members broadly agree that she followed through on a promise to give rank-and-file Council members the freedom to pursue their priorities while standing firm against the mayoral administration when it mattered, and that some capitulation to the administration’s priorities was part of the high-wire balancing act that defines the speakership. While they worked together far more often than they were in opposition, it was not always clear to what extent Mark-Viverito and her members, on one hand, and de Blasio, on the other, disagreed, given that the Council speaker often kept negotiations close to the vest and declined to comment in detail as the legislative process unfolded.

Mark-Viverito and her members also rarely aired internal conflict publicly, while members appeared to know that their speaker would support them, even as she very much pursued her own policy priorities and kept a tight grip on what legislation made its way to the Council floor for a vote.

The outgoing speaker made careful decisions about when and how to criticize the mayor, preferring to hold oversight hearings than to make splashy headlines with a sharp quote. She regularly declined to comment about de Blasio’s ethics and transparency problems, instead pursuing legislation to address certain issues or allowing others more willing to be oppositional to fill the space. She mostly stayed out of de Blasio’s feud with Governor Andrew Cuomo, another fellow Democrat, though she herself has been part of some tense intra-party political battles with officials like former Assemblymember and current Manhattan Democratic Party leader Keith Wright.

Mark-Viverito assumed the speakership in January 2014 with support from an ascendant mayor, strong labor unions, and a newly empowered Progressive Caucus, bucking the traditional county party-dominated process for selecting a new speaker. The new dynamic led some to be wary of whether Mark-Viverito would be a speaker for the members of the Council or for the mayor, whose politics so closely resembled her own. After taking office, she quickly advanced internal changes at the Council that were meant to empower members, particularly the chairs of the 40-odd committees, while also maintaining sufficient control within the speaker’s office.

“The considerable thing about my leadership is that I made it a member-focused legislative body,” Mark-Viverito said, in a recent appearance on the Max & Murphy podcast hosted by Gotham Gazette and City Limits. “It wasn’t about me centralizing the power, just pushing what my agenda was…[it was about] having the members really have much more of a functional role and ownership for this institution. It belongs to all of us, it doesn’t just belong to the speaker.”

Mark-Viverito beefed up the Council staff to support members’ legislative priorities, she said, which led to greater output. Over the four years, the Council passed 714 bills under her leadership, more than any Council class before it. “I was being respectful to member priorities and the vision that they had and working with them on that...and I think that’s the way a legislative body should function,” she said.

[Listen: Max & Murphy Podcast: City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito]

The first two years of Mark-Viverito’s speakership proceeded amicably with the mayor for the most part. The Council played its part in supporting the mayor’s agenda that included universal pre-kindergarten and expanding the paid sick leave law. City spending ramped up with little opposition from the Council, which also advocated for increased spending on its own policy priorities.

“I think that from the start the speaker was a forward thinking, independent leader,” said outgoing Council Member Elizabeth Crowley, a Queens Democrat. “She brought real fairness and transparency to the Council and made the Council a better place to work, from someone who had been in the Council for five years prior to her leadership.”

An early area of disagreement was Mark-Viverito’s call for an increase in the NYPD’s headcount, which struck many as peculiar given her criticisms of police practices and the larger criminal justice system. She unsuccessfully pressed the issue in 2014, and then renewed her efforts in 2015, eventually convincing a hesitant de Blasio to back the expensive idea. The department ended up adding 1,300 new officers, a compromise among the Council, the mayor, and the NYPD.

Also in 2015, in the city’s fight against the ride-hailing service Uber, Mark-Viverito publicly chastised the mayor for presuming that the Council would do his bidding. The mayor, after giving up his effort to cap the number of new cars run by Uber and its competitors, threatened that a cap was still a tool available to him, even though it would have to be approved by the Council first. “I’m not going to allow anyone to attempt to save face at the expense of this Council,” she said at a news conference at City Hall, raising many eyebrows. “This Council decides what bills we need to discuss, what debates we will have, what will be taken off the table, what will be put on the table. No one else leads that discussion, no one else influences that discussion.”

Higher profile battles would occur later still, as de Blasio’s first term wore on towards a potential second and as the speaker’s final term wound to a close. (Mark-Viverito was early to endorse de Blasio for reelection, but, over the following months, she seemed to show more willingness to resist his politics and policies.)    

“I think first and foremost, she’s been her speaker,” said Council Member Brad Lander, in a phone interview, on whether Mark-Viverito had been the members’ speaker or the mayor’s. “She’s got a strong vision for the city and for the Council and that’s what I think has guided her. I think it’s been a really productive and fair and highly consequential and progressive speakership.”

De Blasio Mark-Viverito City Hall handshake Ed Reed Mayor's OfficeLander, who was a leading proponent for Mark-Viverito to become the speaker and was named chair of the Council’s rules committee by her, praised the internal reforms that Mark-Viverito implemented early on, which he helped write. The reforms made the Council “a more equal and inclusive body in which every member can zealously represent their community and their values, even when those are different, without fear or favor,” Lander said. Perhaps most notably, Mark-Viverito and her colleagues changed the system by which members are provided discretionary funds to disperse to nonprofits, rationalizing a process that had often been used by previous speakers to reward and punish members.

On particular issues, Lander said, Mark-Viverito facilitated legislation championed by members, such as the right to counsel for tenants in housing court, fair work-week legislation, and certain freelancer protections. The most impactful, in Lander’s view, was her successful advocacy for the closure of the Rikers Island jail complex. Mark-Viverito convened an independent commission to recommend a raft of criminal justice reforms and particularly to look at Rikers. De Blasio, who did not support the closure at first, seemed to begrudgingly accept the inevitable and announced his support just before the commission issued its report. “I believe Rikers is on a path to closure,” Lander said, “and I don’t think that would be true if [Mark-Viverito] had not been elected speaker four years ago.”

Lander noted that while the speaker often agreed and collaborated with the mayor, she was not hesitant to oppose him or break with him when her members dictated she should. For instance, when she pulled a bill she supported from consideration by the full Council that would have curbed the city’s horse carriage industry. It was a prominent campaign issue in the 2013 mayoral race and de Blasio had advocated for and promised a complete ban. But, amid discontent from members on potential compromise legislation in early 2016, the speaker stood with her colleagues.

“I think she’s been independent,” said Council Member Rory Lancman, a vocal critic of the de Blasio administration, in a November interview at City Hall. “Each speaker, just like each member, has their own political relationship with the other side of the building here. And no speaker’s going to be completely independent from the mayor or the governor or any other political actor that has influence.”

As the process to select the next speaker of the City Council has played out in the final months and weeks of 2017, de Blasio has repeatedly said how well he thinks his involvement in Mark-Viverito’s victory turned out. De Blasio captured his overall feelings in June, when announcing a final budget deal with Mark-Viverito, saying of the speaker:

“[S]he has been an extraordinary partner over the last four years. We knew each other well before we each assumed these roles. We knew that we had a lot of respect and trust for each other. We knew that we shared values. We didn’t know what it would be like to play these roles. We didn’t know what the times ahead would be or what the issues we’d face would be. But there was a core belief that if you share values, a lot of good things can happen. And many, many conversations over many years – mostly in agreement, sometimes not, but we always found a way to get to a good outcome, and with great support from all our colleagues. So from me, I can tell you I’ll be sorry when these four years are over because it has been such a great and positive partnership. As a progressive, I want to thank Melissa Mark-Viverito for helping to move this city in a new progressive direction. And the things she has championed are going to have a huge impact on this city for many years to come.”

A former Council member, who asked to remain anonymous to speak freely, served under both Mark-Viverito and former speaker Christine Quinn and said the process of Mark-Viverito’s election as speaker hampered her ability to distance herself from de Blasio. “Melissa started at a very great disadvantage, the fact that the mayor picked her to be the speaker and only because of him,” the former member said. “He made her. That hurt the whole body and it hurt her ability to really appear to be independent...because people perceived that the City Council is now a wholly owned subsidiary of the mayor. Right off the bat, that’s a bad start.”

This former member did credit Mark-Viverito for giving more leeway than Quinn to Council members to push legislation and pursue their individual agendas, while also breaking with the mayor on controversial items. But even then, the member said, there was a degree of deference. “I think Melissa did check with the mayor on everything, and even when they broke, I think they probably checked with the mayor before they broke. So I think it was a real problem,” the former member said.

On no other issue has that dynamic played out more strongly than criminal justice reform and the Council’s attempts to legislate, and regulate, the city’s police force. Two police reform bills to regulate officers’ interactions with people, collectively named The Right to Know Act, progressed slowly through the legislative process over the years despite having overwhelming support from Council members and progressive advocates. Tensions reached a head in mid-2016 when Mark-Viverito reached a compromise on administrative implementation by the NYPD of partial measures, in lieu of a full Council vote to codify the provisions into law. Advocates saw it as a backroom deal while Council members fumed over the concession to the administration and the police department.

Amended versions of the bills would ultimately pass in a divisive vote at the final full meeting of the Council on December 19, 2017, with numerous Council members and hundreds of community groups coming out in opposition to one bill sponsored by Council Member Ritchie Torres that had been, in their view, diluted to appease the NYPD and the mayor, who said he’d sign the bill given it had struck the right balance despite his skepticism about too much legislating of NYPD protocols.

Monifa Bandele, a spokesperson for Communities United for Police Reform, an advocacy coalition, said in a statement that it was “disappointing,” particularly given Mark-Viverito’s progressive credentials on police reform and accountability. “While [Mark-Viverito] was a champion on Closing Rikers, she did not show the same willingness to fight for front-end police reforms that hold the NYPD accountable and systemically change racial disparities in policing and what feeds the criminal justice system,” Bandele said. “She spent three to four years blocking the Right to Know Act, and then helped the de Blasio administration undermine the half of the legislative package of which Council Member Torres was lead sponsor.” Bandele also criticized the speaker’s push to increase the headcount of the NYPD, which Mark-Viverito had argued would help with reforms and implementation of community policing.

Council Member Torres also criticized the administrative compromise in 2016 and he told Gotham Gazette in November that Mark-Viverito had not been sufficiently independent of the mayor in that case. In a separate interview after a November 1 Crain’s New York Business breakfast forum, Torres indicated, amid praise, some dissatisfaction with the speaker’s record. “I support Melissa, I love Melissa as a person and as a speaker. I thought she has struck the right balance between decentralizing greater power to the members while at the same time maintaining the power of the speaker’s office,” he said. “There are a few moments when I felt we were excessively deferential to the mayor and I said so at the time of those controversies.”

Torres had said at the Crain’s forum -- part of his bid to become Mark-Viverito’s successor as speaker -- that the Council was prone to sideshow distractions. “Oscar Lopez, Christopher Columbus, what’s the latest sensation of the week,” he elaborated in the interview afterward. “The Health and Hospitals Corporation could disappear within the next five years. NYCHA has $17 billion worth of capital needs. Those are the things that matter, those are the things that we should be discussing.”

Torres later changed his tune somewhat, perhaps showcasing some of the mixed feelings Council members have about Mark-Viverito’s tenure and her relationships with de Blasio and her members. “She has been responsive to the needs of the members, there’s no question about it. As a member, I could not be more satisfied with the leadership that she’s given me,” Torres recently told Gotham Gazette at City Hall.

As to his earlier comments on her independence, Torres said, “I think it’s a matter of degree. We could always be more effective, we could always be more independent. But has she fundamentally been representative of the needs of the members of the institution? The answer is yes. Not perfect, but fundamentally.” When the Right to Know Act headed to a vote and many of Torres’ colleagues criticized his bill, Mark-Viverito was one of his fiercest defenders, though a number of Council members felt that Torres and Mark-Viverito had capitulated too much to the de Blasio administration. Torres’ bill did pass.

On the Max & Murphy podcast, Mark-Viverito addressed working with de Blasio, and the Council negotiating hundreds of bills with the administration, along with land use deals, budgets, and more. “I can safely say that we’ve had a good partnership and I think that there are a lot of things that I was able to move them on and they had conversations with us and maybe there’s things that they [moved] us on,” she said December 20. “But definitely it was a very productive relationship in that way. And I think that in areas where they may have had concerns about pieces of legislation, really engaging with them and talking to them and exerting ourselves, we were able to get some reconsideration on those items. And that’s in consultation with colleagues...I’m not regretful of anything.”

Mark-Viverito is leaving office proud of the way she led the Council, and not ruling out her own run for mayor down the line. It’s no surprise that even though she is term-limited she did not challenge a sitting mayor of her own party who she is largely aligned with and who helped her reach the height of her power. She’s leaving office having not only ushered in significant changes to city law, but having altered the way the Council functions and how members expect to be treated by their leader.

“Anyone that has to deal with a thousand bills over the course of a tenure is going to have to work to be tremendously balanced when you’re leading a legislative body against, at times, or in conjunction with the mayor’s administration,” said Staten Island Council Member Joe Borelli, one of only three Republicans on the City Council who, more often than not, vote against the types of progressive legislation championed by Mark-Viverito.

“I don’t think you can box her in as being either/or [the members’ speaker or the mayor’s speaker]. I’m sure her critics will say that she’s both at times when it suits their narrative,” Borelli continued. “She’s someone who wore her progressive banner very proudly and that’s certainly going to be her legacy and I think people over the next few years will view her as someone who carried the football for progressive causes a bit further, and people like me and those I represent will see her tenure in the speakership as slightly different.”

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by Samar Khurshid, senior reporter, Gotham Gazette
     

Read more by this writer.

Ben Max contributed to this article.

The 10 Best Gotham Gazette Stories of 2017


Cuomo waving

Gov. Cuomo (photo: Philip Kamrass/Governor's Office)


We recently published “The 10 Most-Read Gotham Gazette Stories of 2017” and while those pieces are all very good and deserved all of the readership they received, we also published many other strong pieces in 2017 that didn’t crack the top ten in readership, or even the top 25 or 50, necessarily.

So we’re publishing a second list -- our ten “best” stories of 2017, which include excellent pieces of journalism that showcase the type of reporting Gotham Gazette is known for: in-depth, sharp, interesting, tough, and fair. The entrants on this list are chosen by me, the executive editor, and do not overlap with the ten most-read list, even though some of those stories were certainly among our “best” of the year.

As you may know as a Gotham Gazette reader, we focus a lot of our efforts on some of the less typically exciting aspects of city and state politics and government -- this is part of our mission, which is to hold powerful people and institutions accountable, report on aspects of politics not being covered elsewhere, focus on process, voting, campaign finance, transparency, ethics, and government function.

Gotham Gazette, a publication of nonprofit, nonpartisan Citizens Union Foundation, exists to inform the public, to ensure tough but fair coverage of city and state politics, and to make sure that light is being shone on parts of government that may otherwise operate in darkness. We are there at City Council hearings and candidate forums that too often go uncovered and offer important insights into policy and budgetary decisions, government effectiveness, candidate platforms, elections, and more.

As far as I’m concerned, that’s pretty exciting.

Please do review the list below and see if there’s a story or two or three that you missed. Share one or two with your networks -- we’re on Facebook and on Twitter @GothamGazette.

If you’re not a subscriber already, you can sign up for our morning newsletter, The Eye-Opener, here, and receive it each weekday morning at about 7:30 a.m., full of the day’s top news from publications around the city and state, including the latest published by Gotham Gazette.

And, lastly before our "10 Best" list (which is not in any particular order), a reminder that we now have two weekly podcasts: “Max & Murphy on Politics” a partnership with City Limits, and “What’s The [Data] Point?” which we produce with Citizens Budget Commission. You can find both on iTunes and other podcast platforms, or on our website through the Podcasts tab on the main menu.

Gotham Gazette’s 10 ‘Best’ Stories of 2017

10. Federal Government Halts City’s Plan to Establish Private-Sector Retirement-Savings Program, May 2017, by Ben Max

9. De Blasio Says He Doesn’t Take the Subway More Because New Yorkers Don’t Want Him To, May 2017, by Samar Khurshid and Ben Max

8. Cuomo Contradicts Bharara on Prosecutors’ Role in Government Oversight, March 2017, by Rachel Silberstein

7. With Phase One Going to Trial, Cuomo’s Buffalo Investment Moves Ahead with Broken Reform Promises, December 2017, by Rachel Silberstein

6. The 'Three Men in a Room' and Millions Outside, March 2017, by Rachel Silberstein

5. Investigations into De Blasio Spurred City Reform, Renewed Calls for State Changes, April 2017, by Samar Khurshid

4. City Council Members Opt Out of Campaign Finance Program, April 2017, by Samar Khurshid

3. As Incidence Reports Rise, Officials Seek New Answers to Combat Domestic Violence, by Ben Max and Jynn Schubert

2. What About The Buses?, August 2017, by Sam Raskin

1. While Calling for CUNY Investigations, Cuomo Sought Endorsements from College Presidents, June 2017, by Felipe De La Hoz

Bonus: we’re proud of all of our election coverage from 2017, but especially of our several-part series on Mayor de Blasio’s record, which we published in the lead up to Election Day. Revisit it here:
Dissecting Mayor De Blasio's Record As He Seeks Reelection

[Read next: The 10 Most-Read Gotham Gazette Stories of 2017]

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by Ben Max, Gotham Gazette
     

Read more by this writer.

Predictions! Experts Look Ahead to 2018 in New York Politics


New Year's Eve

(photo: Edwin J. Torres/Mayoral Photo Office)


As we usually do around this time of year, Gotham Gazette asked New York politicos to look into their crystal balls for predictions for the year ahead. Below you'll find insights from elected officials, journalists, advocates, analysts, and others who are tuned in to New York politics.

We know that 2018 will be interesting given it’s a state election year, and there’s always plenty of action in New York City government, where Mayor de Blasio will begin his second term and a new City Council Speaker is about to be crowned. But what *exactly* will happen? Read below for some ideas.

Before (or after) seeing this year's predictons for 2018, revisit last year's predictions for this yearlast year's predictions for this year, and see who did well and who didn't.

The new round of political predictions, these for 2018, is below.

***Have something to add to the conversation? Tweet @GothamGazette with your prediction for 2018 in New York Politics*** And, be sure to read the latest reporting from Gotham Gazette and listen to our podcasts: Max & Murphy on Politics and What's The [Data] Point?

PREDICTIONS for 2018 in New York Politics

City Council Member Rafael Espinal
-With the recent spark of the nightlife revolution, nightlife policy will continue to dominate daytime conversation.

Assemblymember Michael Blake
-A significant criminal justice or poverty-reduction effort passes in New York state government.
-Record turnout from communities of color in a non-presidential election year.

Carol Kellermann, president, Citizens Budget Commission
-With support from the New York City business community, the MTA begins closing subway lines overnight.

Kathy Wylde, president, Partnership for New York City
-Personal income tax revenues will fall as high earners respond to the loss of state and local tax deductibility, forcing state and city government to rethink their over-reliance on the 1%.

State Senator Brian Kavanagh
-New York becomes the 38th state enact early voting, and passes other reforms that make it easier to vote.
-New York continues be a leader on common-sense laws, smart policing, and community-based strategies to prevent gun violence.
-Design-build becomes a reality in New York City, especially for the BQE reconstruction, saving taxpayers at least $113 million on that project alone — and two years of traffic delays.

Dr. Christina Greer, political science professor, Fordham University
-Cynthia Nixon will run for governor and give Governor Cuomo a surprising challenge, possibly reaching Teachout percentages.
-Mayor de Blasio will physically be in New York City roughly 75% of 2018. When not in the city he’ll be traveling to “progressive” areas to help campaign for others in 2018.
-The de Blasio-Cuomo beef will continue while millions of New Yorkers are stuck on dilapidated subways.

Rob George, New York Daily News editorial board
-#MeToo movement spills over Albany and City Hall – producing multiple resignations AND, finally, movement on the Child Victims Act.
-Andrew Cuomo gets a surprisingly strong primary challenge – perhaps fatally damaging his 2020 hopes.
-Republicans maintain control of the state Senate through the 2018 elections.

City Council Member Antonio Reynoso
-The Mayor's overall transportation policy will fall short and be a topic of crisis. The DOT Commissioner gets carte blanche moving forward to make real transportation policy.

J.C. Polanco, aide to the Assembly minority leader
-2018 will be the year of Jeff Klein. Kleinlandia (Albany) will see Klein as King of NY in a win-win agreement by which he stays as head of the IDC or becomes the Leader of both Democrat factions.
-My jefe, Assembly Minority Leader Brian Kolb, who already announced his run, will bring all other gubernatorial candidates to the table at our convention. Since an upstate-downstate ticket is the only answer to beating Cuomo, keep your eyes on City Council Member Eric Ulrich and Assemblymember Nicole Malliotakis for Lieutenant Governor.
-Since the 2021 mayoral Democratic primary started the day after the 2017 Election Day, Ruben Diaz, Jr., Scott Stringer, Letitia James, and Eric Adams will be responsible for a billion emails and a million trees in paper as they begin the constant press releases and constituent messages.

Angelo Falcón, president, National Institute for Latino Policy
-There will be a major shift in Puerto Rican politics in New York City, with the much-discussed potential retirement of South Bronx Congressional Rep. José Serrano, who has held that office since 1993. This could create an opening for a non-Latino like Michael Blake, or Puerto Ricans from different camps like Assemblymember Marcos Crespo or former City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito.
-Because he challenged Council Member Carlos Menchaca this year, Assemblymember Felix Ortiz will be primaried by forces led by Congressional Rep. Nydia Velazquez, possibly a Mexican-American from Sunset Park.
-With Melissa Mark-Viverito re-elected district leader and Diana Ayala elected to replace her in the Council, Assemblymember Robert Rodriguez can also be expected to be primaried for his East Harlem seat after unsuccessfully running against Ayala, Mark-Viverito’s preferred successor, this year.

John Raskin, executive director, Riders Alliance
Accuse me of unwarranted optimism, but I think 2018 will be the year when our transit system turns a corner and starts on the path to recovery. The stars have aligned: riders are fed up, everyone agrees it's an emergency, and most importantly, Governor Cuomo knows that he can't get away with shortchanging the transit system that he ultimately runs. The governor can lead us out of this mess. It won't be easy, but he can do it.

David Bloomfield, education professor, Brooklyn College and CUNY Graduate Center
-Ultra-Orthodox yeshivas still don't teach secular studies.
-Mayor de Blasio still doesn't desegregate schools.
-Ex-state and federal education commissioner John B. King replaces Carmen Fariña as head of city schools.

Rebecca Katz, partner, Hilltop Public Solutions
-There will be a blue wave in New York and across the country, as women run for office and vote in historic numbers, powering progressive Democrats to victory.
-New York’s Republican-held House seats will play a pivotal role as Democrats flip control of the House of Representatives along with the Senate, delivering a harsh blow to President Trump. There will be more women elected to Congress than ever before.
-Here in New York, Democrats will work out a deal to dissolve the IDC and take control of the state Senate. Governor Cuomo will try to take credit, even though he actively encouraged the formation of the IDC in the first place. Then, in November, voters will elect a majority of real Democrats to the state Senate.
-Cuomo will face a serious primary challenge, taking the shine out of his 2020 presidential hopes before the race even begins.

Jonathan Bowles, executive director, Center for an Urban Future
-Governor Cuomo’s hopes of coasting to an easy re-election are complicated by a slowing economy, rising unemployment, difficult budget choices prompted by federal funding cuts, and growing frustration with the subways in New York City.
-President Trump reacts to a downturn in the economy, and his own dismal approval ratings, by moving to pass a bipartisan infrastructure spending package. Though it adds significantly to the federal deficit, GOP members of Congress support it to boost their chances in the midterm elections.

Dr. James Parrott, director of economic and fiscal policies, Center for New York City Affairs at The New School
-As the prospect of steep federal budget cuts hurting children and the poor send shock waves across the state, Albany enacts a new measure to recapture a portion of the federal tax cut windfall received by high-income recipients of pass-through business income to offset some of the most damaging cuts. The measure will apply on a temporary basis until Washington comes to its senses and restores critical safety net spending.
-New York City will start to explore how revenue sharing with large private hospitals might work given that they are experiencing record net revenue gains while the public hospital system and private safety net hospitals see worsening deficits.

Eli Valentin, Democratic political consultant
-Governor Cuomo beats back a primary challenge but falls below 60% and limps into the general. Without a credible GOP opponent, the governor wins the general election by the same margin as '14--54%.
-The IDC will return to the Democratic conference and will beat back primary challengers in September.

Susan Lerner, executive director, Common Cause/NY
-Governor Cuomo will prioritize Early Voting, putting it in the 2018-19 budget as a prelude to a larger set of election reforms to be passed before the end of session. New Yorkers everywhere will rejoice at their newly strengthened democracy.

Billy Easton, executive director, Alliance for Quality Education
-The chickens will finally come home to roost for Governor Cuomo and the IDC regarding the dysfunction wrought on Albany by the grand alliance they forged to deliver the Senate to the control of John Flanagan.
-The national blue wave will result in a very competitive primary for Governor Cuomo and loss of several seats for IDC members. Public education, mass transit and housing will all be issues that bite the Governor and the IDC in the backside in the September primaries.

Alex Camarda, senior policy advisor, Reinvent Albany
-The City Council actually subpoenas information from a government agency.
-The City Council passes yet another reporting bill for information it could have otherwise obtained by requesting or subpoenaing the information.
-Mayor de Blasio vetoes a bill.
-The state budget is not completed on time.
-The state Legislature takes a tougher stance on transparency and accountability of economic development funding.
-Voting reforms advance from impossible to extremely difficult.
-The price of New York City luxury real estate plummets.
-A government official is convicted of corruption.
-The economy doesn't actually grow at 4 percent a year.

We'll see which of these predictions come true in 2018. Stay with Gotham Gazette as we cover New York politics and government like no one else.

Want to add to the conversation on predictions for 2018 in New York politics? Tweet tagging @GothamGazette

And don't forget to sign up for our newsletter if you haven't yet. Once you have, or if you do already, spread the word to friends and colleagues.

***
by Ben Max, Gotham Gazette
     

Read more by this writer.



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