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The Early Money Race in ‘Open’ City Council Seats


City Council chambers

City Council chambers (photo: Sofie Hecht/Gotham Gazette)


With seven sitting New York City Council members facing term limits and one having left the Council to join the state Assembly, this year’s municipal elections will feature a number of competitive open races and will bring fresh blood into the city’s legislative body.

While the vast majority of those in the Council’s 51 seats can run for another term this year, and most are, the open seats will see the bulk of the electoral competition for the City Council.

Come January, the Council will have at least eight new members. Through the September primaries and November general election, seven term-limited members will be replaced: Rosie Mendez (District 2), Dan Garodnick (District 4), Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito (District 8), James Vacca (District 13), Annabel Palma (District 18), Darlene Mealy (District 41) and Vincent Gentile (District 43).

Another Council seat is currently vacant following Council Member Inez Dickens’ election to the Assembly. A nonpartisan special election is scheduled for February 14 for her seat in District 9 in Harlem. There are 11 candidates vying for the seat and the winner will serve through the rest of Dickens’ term, meaning its final year, and will have to run for reelection later this year. Two candidates, Todd Stevens and Larry Blackmon, are leading the race in fundraising, having qualified for public funds under the campaign finance system's matching funds program. Stevens has $46,871 in his account and Blackmon has $44,954. The closest other candidate is Marvin Holland with $26,325. Holland raised the most private contributions but, along with most other candidates in the race, did not meet the thresholds for public matching funds by a January 17 deadline for campaign finance disclosure. The rest of the candidates' accounts range from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars, with the most being Athena Moore's $5,005 and the least being Caprice Alves' $86. The next disclosures are due by Friday, February 3, based on which additional candidates may qualify for public funds.

Open seats invite numerous candidates for each race and the campaign finance system’s public matching funds program tends to help level the playing field for participants. Across all eight “open seat” races, candidates have been furiously reaching out to constituents and community groups, and, in the case of many first-timers, building their profiles and name recognition.

In some races, community activists are hoping to defeat political veterans from Albany -- state lawmakers representing New York City often look to switch to the City Council, where the pay is better and the trips to Albany fewer. Several state legislators are still exploring whether to pursue Council seats, with decisions imminent as the September primary is just over six months away.

In multiple races, female candidates are striving to strengthen the gender balance on the Council, a male-dominated body.

All of the eight “open seats” were most recently or are currently held by Democrats, and are likely to stay in Democratic hands. The Council currently has 47 Democrats and three Republicans, with the one empty seat (Dickens’). The Democratic primary is often determinative of the final outcome in City Council races.

In most of the “open seat” contests this year, there are candidates who have already posted significant fundraising numbers according to the latest campaign finance disclosures filed before a key January deadline with the New York City Campaign Finance Board. Fundraising can make or break a campaign, and early numbers are often predictive of what kind of campaign a candidate can run and how a candidate will do. Thanks to the city's public matching system, City Council candidates can often raise relatively modest amounts of money, qualify for matching funds, and run serious campaigns.

In Manhattan’s District 2, which stretches from Murray Hill down to the Lower East Side, Carlina Rivera leads the race, having raised $77,125 and spent $19,408, leaving her a balance of $57,717 in her campaign account as of mid-January. Rivera is a district leader and currently serves as legislative director for Council Member Rosie Mendez, a position she’s held since August 2015. Mendez has endorsed Rivera to be her successor in the seat. According to a campaign spokesperson, Rivera is a participant in the public matching funds program.

Running against Rivera is Mary Silver, a local attorney, education advocate and member of Community Board 6. Silver has a campaign balance of $30,523, having raised $38,725 and spent $8,202. A third candidate, Jasmin Sanchez, has posted no campaign contributions or expenditures.

District 4, which covers much of the east side of Manhattan, has six contenders for Council Member Garodnick’s seat. Two of them, Maria Castro and Diane Grayson, have empty campaign accounts. The early fundraising leader is Marti Speranza, a Democratic State Committeewoman and member of Community Board 5. Speranza is the former director of Women Entrepreneurs NYC, a city initiative, and has served as director of strategic initiatives for the Department of Consumer Affairs. She has just over $126,000 in her campaign account, having raised nearly $176,000 and spent about $50,000.

One of the benefits of running for an open seat, Speranza said in an interview, is that the city’s public matching funds program “has really levelled the playing field” and ensured that voters will have multiple choices. “It means we’re competing on our ideas and our platforms,” she said.

Keith Powers is also expected to run a strong campaign to replace Garodnick, and has raised $81,485 and spent $24,771, leaving him $56,714 as of mid-January. Powers, currently at Constantinople & Vallone LLC, a consulting firm, worked as chief of staff for former state Assembly Member Jonathan Bing for four years.

Powers pointed out that most of his campaign contributions are in small dollar amounts and came from district residents. “At the end of the day, fundraising matters, but the most important thing is having a motivated base of supporters in the district and having a record of accomplishment,” he told Gotham Gazette.

Also in the race are Jeffrey Mailman, who has a campaign balance of $32,916; Bessie Schachter with $19,732; and Melissa Jane Kronfeld with $4,138.

In East Harlem’s District 8, Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito has endorsed her deputy chief of staff Diana Ayala for her seat. Ayala has campaign contributions of $26,173, of which she has spent $1,733. Other candidates in the race have barely scratched the fundraising surface as of mid-January. Edward Gibbs has a balance of $5,884 while Edward Santos has $1,803. A fourth candidate, Tamika Mapp, has $25.

That race appears to be Ayala’s to lose, but it is still somewhat early.

Bronx Council Member James Vacca’s District 13 will likely be home to a competitive race, with six candidates running relatively close in fundraising. State Assembly Member Mark Gjonaj is in front, having raised $103,730. With expenditures of $19,276, he has a balance of $84,454. He also has the name recognition and political relationships that come with already being an elected official.

Second in the money race is Marjorie Velazquez, a Democratic district leader who Vacca has endorsed for the seat. Velazquez raised $64,715 and has spent $9,055, leaving her $55,660 as of mid-January. She sees this election as an important milestone to push for women’s representation in the Council, she said. “For a newcomer like myself, it’s been really empowering,” Velazquez said, adding that her initial fundraising haul “really solidified things for me.”

Local Bronx organizer John Doyle, who served for five years as community affairs director for state Senator Jeff Klein, is third in money with $42,987 left after raising $59,135 and spending $16,148.

District 18 in the South Bronx, currently represented by Council Member Annabel Palma, has only two candidates officially running, and neither has shown significant fundraising. Elvin Garcia, former Bronx borough director for Mayor Bill de Blasio’s community affairs unit, has $29,279 in his account. Amanda Farias has about half that, with $15,102. Farias has years of experience with the City Council, having managed the Council’s Women’s Caucus and served as the director for participatory budgeting for Council District 30.

Many, including Garcia and Farias, are eager to see if State Senator Ruben Diaz Sr. jumps into the race to succeed Palma, which is he rumored to be considering.

The race for Darlene Mealy’s seat in District 41 in Brooklyn seems low-key at the moment. Five candidates have declared their intentions to run but none have raised funds for a formidable campaign. The biggest haul belongs to Deidre Olivera, who brought in $4,902 and spent $3,776, leaving her $1,126. Moreen King raised $2,000and spent $380, for a balance of $1,620.

In Bay Ridge, the District 43 race may be one of the few City Council elections with a competitive Republican versus Democrat general election. The only two candidates who have raised money in the race are Justin Brannan, a Democrat who used to work for current and term-limited Council Member Gentile, and Robert Capano, a Republican who has served under top elected officials from both parties. Brannan has received $57,385 in contributions and has $2,306 in expenditures, through mid-January. His $55,079 balance far outpaces Capano, who has $5,688 remaining after spending $5,679 from his $11,367 in campaign funds.

This is another race where the possible entrance of a state legislator could shift dynamics greatly: Democratic Assembly Member Peter Abbate is said to be considering a run. Even if he was to enter the race, he would face tough competition in Brannan, who is president of a local Democratic club and a long-time community activist in the area, as well as a former Gentile aide.

For his part, Capano said that he has been raising seed money thus far and that his fundraising operation will officially launch soon. “I think this is going to be one of the most competitive races in this election,” he said. “This is one seat that Republicans can win.”

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by Samar Khurshid, senior reporter, Gotham Gazette
     

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Note: This article has been updated to include fundraising numbers from the Council District 9 special election and to clarify that Marti Speranza is a Democratic State Committeewoman, not a district leader. 

Planned Change to Veterans Department Budget Causes Stir


bdb vets via nycveterans

photo: @nycveterans


Mayor Bill de Blasio’s preliminary budget, released January 24, proposes nearly $1 billion in increased spending for the next fiscal year, which begins July 1. But a conspicuous, albeit infinitesimal, reduction for one agency has irked elected officials and advocates.

The mayor’s spending plan, which will be evaluated by and negotiated with the City Council, includes a $318,000 decrease in the budget for the newly-minted Department of Veterans Services, which was created last year as an agency outside of the Mayor’s Office and given a significant budget boost. The DVS budget for the current fiscal year is $3.95 million, but de Blasio has $3.63 million budgeted for fiscal year 2018.

While it is a tiny fraction of the $84.7 billion preliminary budget plan, stakeholders argue that it is a step back for an administration that just last year made the major commitment to expanding veteran services by establishing a stand-alone agency after much lobbying by City Council members and advocates. The city, however, explains that the budget reduction is because one-time department start-up costs are coming off the books.

“It’s pretty sad that the Mayor of the city of New York decided to cut the department’s budget,” said state Senator Marty Golden, a Republican who represents Bay Ridge and sits on the Senate’s Committee on Veterans, Homeland Security and Military Affairs. “It’s cutting case management for veterans, it’s cutting healthcare for veterans, it’s cutting homelessness services for veterans.”

Golden has organized a rally outside City Hall on Wednesday afternoon to protest the budget change as well as call for additional tax relief for veterans. He’ll be joined by the City Council’s three Republican members -- Steven Matteo, Joe Borelli and Eric Ulrich, who chairs the council’s veterans committee --  as well as mayoral candidates Michel Faulkner, Paul Massey, and Richard "Bo" Dietl, and veterans advocates. Council Member Ulrich, the leading governmental force behind the creation of the Department of Veterans Services, did not respond to requests for comment.

“This is a bad signal to send to veterans and to the homeless,” Golden said of the budget change. “I’m hoping [Mayor de Blasio] reevaluates and he redirects that money.”

Mayoral spokesperson Freddi Goldstein explained in an email that the funding decrease is primarily due to one-time costs incurred in setting up the new agency last year, including fees paid to a consultant, costs for office equipment, and the non-renewal of a one-year position funded by a private grant. That funding runs through the end of the 2017 calendar year and is not reflected in the fiscal 2018 budget, according to a DVS spokesperson. A spokesperson for the mayor said that like other funding elements, the position could be negotiated back in over the course of the coming months.

In an office of about 30, the loss of that one position, related to homelessness prevention, would be “significant,” said Kristen Rouse, an Army veteran and president and founding director of NYC Veterans Alliance, an advocacy organization. The group will hold its own rally on February 14. “I completely understand that there were one-time costs, but they should be expanding regardless,” she said. “The trajectory needs to be an upward motion, not a downward one. Funding directly reflects that.”

Rouse pointed out that homelessness prevention is the biggest challenge for the department and said it should be part of a broader strategy of ensuring access to affordable housing for veterans. “There’s hundreds of veterans in shelter,” she said. “That’s important progress but that’s not a victory.”

The city ended chronic veteran homelessness by the end of 2015 and has set up an effective pipeline for getting veterans off the street. According to DVS spokesperson Alexis Wichowski, the latest count from January showed about 35 military veterans remain homeless and not in shelter. She also pointed out that the median stay for veterans in homeless shelters is about 79 days, compared to 355 for single adults, per the Mayor’s Management Report.

Wichowski said the budget changes were not a matter of concern and were always part of the plan in setting up the agency. “We are almost at full capacity, that’s a huge milestone,” she said. The agency has hired 33 of its 35-person budgeted staff and is set to embark on a number of projects and programs. “Getting people on board and getting them trained has been the focus for the last few months,” Wichowski said.

Under the direction of Commissioner Loree Sutton, the department now also has satellite offices in the Bronx and Queens and two on Staten Island, and is in the process of establishing agreements for offices in Manhattan and Brooklyn. DVS primarily offers help so that the 210,000 military veterans living in New York City can access services and benefits available to them.

City Council Member Borelli, a member of the veterans committee, was surprised and disappointed by the budget reduction. “It’s a question of the mayor’s long-term commitment to supporting the veterans agency,” he said. He critiqued the mayor for funding other items at comparable levels of the cuts, particularly $500,000 for speed cameras. “We can’t be blinded by the desire to see certain policy goals met while we abandon commitments we’ve already made,” he said.

At Wednesday’s rally, Borelli said the budget shift wouldn’t be the only item they will push. A key proposal, one promoted by veteran advocacy organizations for years, is the expansion of an alternative property tax exemption for veterans, which the NYC Veterans Alliance estimates would cost the city about $40 million at a time when the city’s assessed property tax value increased by $17.6 billion. It is a measure of much-needed housing affordability, several advocates and elected officials agree.

“The budget is about outlining priorities through a document,” Borelli said. “This is just saying that [DVS is] less pressing than other priorities.”

Next month, the City Council will begin to examine the mayor’s budget and issue its formal response, after which the mayor will release his executive budget, a revised spending plan. Following another round of Council hearings, the Council and mayor will move to closed-door negotiations before agreeing to a final budget for the next fiscal year by the June 30 deadline.

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by Samar Khurshid, senior reporter, Gotham Gazette
     

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In Albany, De Blasio Evaluates Cuomo’s Budget, Faces Legislators’ Questions


de Blasio albany budget testimony 2017

Mayor de Blasio in Albany (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayor’s Office)


Mayor Bill de Blasio visited Albany Monday for his annual budget testimony in front of the joint budget committee of the state Senate and Assembly. In opening remarks, de Blasio touted some of his accomplishments and gave his on-the-record response to Governor Andrew Cuomo’s recently-released executive budget plan in terms of what it means for New York City and his own agenda. The mayor then fielded hours of questions from state legislators that often veered far from strict budget matters and went into how he is running city government and his policies.

Over the course of more than three hours, de Blasio was asked about a wide variety of topics by senators and Assembly members from both parties, engaging in mostly collegial back-and-forth that on a few occasions flared into contentiousness. A few topics, including an imminent city fee on plastic and paper grocery bags and the city’s child welfare agency, were asked about by multiple legislators, but there was no clear theme to the questioning like there was last year, when many pressed de Blasio on property taxes.

For his part, the mayor appeared mostly concerned with Cuomo’s new 421-a program, which aims to revive a property tax break meant to spur affordable housing development, and a variety of proposed funding cuts to the city that the governor outlined. As is often the case when he testiies in front of the state legislator, de Blasio was also engaged in fending off criticism from multiple avenues and attempting to finish his testimony as unscathed as possible.

The mayor, a Democrat now in the final year of his first term, opened his budget testimony on a conciliatory note, thanking the leadership in both chambers, and emphasizing that the interests of New York City and the rest of the state are intertwined.

“We see our role as continuing to be an economic engine for the state as a whole and for the region,” de Blasio said. “And obviously, we are the state’s primary gateway to the rest of the world and we know we have to play that role well. I also think it’s fair to say that New York State succeeds when New York City succeeds, and New York City succeeds when New York State succeeds. It’s a truly symbiotic relationship.”

He touted several accomplishments, including the development and preservation of 62,000 units of affordable housing -- part of the city’s plan to create or preserve 200,000 affordable apartments over 10 years -- dipping crime rates, higher graduation rates and test scores at public schools, and the city’s rollout of universal pre-kindergarten, which is largely funded through the state budget, he noted.

“Now, 70,000 four-year-olds are enrolled in pre-K, and we’re making sure that that investment pays off. Again, I want to offer my profound thanks on behalf of the parents of the City of New York for your support in allowing us to achieve this success,” de Blasio told about 25 legislators seated on a two-tiered dais.

New York City will need the state’s support to continue to build on its successes, de Blasio said, while acknowledging that the city still has much work to do and specifically citing homelessness as an area in need of improvement. De Blasio again promised a new homelessness-fighting plan in February, and even said that it will include a better method of community outreach in siting shelters.

Addressing the state budget, de Blasio had less to complain about this year than last -- in 2016, the the city faced nearly $1 billion in shifted costs under the governor’s initial budget proposal -- but he raised several concerns about the governor’s new 421-a plan, as well as multi-million dollar cost shifts on pre-K, charter schools, healthcare funding, and more.

The mayor praised elements of Cuomo’s budget, particularly the governor’s plan to provide tuition-free city and state college to middle class New Yorkers, a proposed three-year extension of mayoral control of New York City schools, election reforms, various criminal justice reforms, and state coverage of increased Medicaid costs.

De Blasio also sounded the alarm on threats from the Trump administration, stressing the urgency in securing public health funds and passing legislation to protect the environment. He cited Trump’s plan to repeal the Affordable Care Act, which he said currently covers 1.6 million New York City residents. Up to 200,000 public hospital patients could lose their insurance, endangering their health, and also potentially costing the public hospital system hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue, according to de Blasio.

“So, we are quite clear that any actions taken in Washington could create real pain for both state and city government,” said de Blasio. “That’s why it’s so important that we ask your support in making sure that the state budget insulates and protects local governments and our work given these great uncertainties.”

Some of de Blasio’s comments came in contrast, to an extent, to his own preliminary budget, which the mayor released last week. In that spending plan, de Blasio made no “Trump-specific adjustment,” he said, because it was too early to tell what the new president may do on policy and budgeting.

While Cuomo’s executive budget will not be passed through the Legislature without changes, New York City would see a “net positive impact” of $279 million for the coming fiscal year, according to the financial plan. Though Cuomo’s proposal does include some smaller cost-shifts to the city, the budget stays away from the nearly $1 billion in CUNY and Medicaid cost-shifts to the city the governor had proposed last year, which were ultimately beaten back by de Blasio and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, a Bronx Democrat and the mayor’s most important ally in the capital.

On Cuomo’s rebranded 421-a, called Affordable New York, de Blasio said that it would cost the city too much in foregone property tax revenue per unit of affordable housing. The mayor wants tweaks made to the proposal before it is passed, and also said that one tweak he does not want to see made to it is the re-inclusion of luxury condominiums. The program, which the de Blasio administration says is essential to building mixed-income apartment buildings in the city’s most desirable neighborhoods, was at the center of the falling out between de Blasio and Cuomo and will apparently become a contentious issue over the course of budget negotiations.

During the question-and-answer session of de Blasio’s Monday testimony, about 15 lawmakers asked the mayor dozens of questions in two-to-three minute segments.

Several Republican lawmakers pressed the mayor on how education funding is distributed, the hotly contested bag fee, and the city’s Administration of Children’s Services (ACS), which has been criticized of late for several high-profile and tragic child fatalities.

The most contentious moments of the Q-and-A came in exchanges between de Blasio and Senators Catharine Young, Simcha Felder, and Terrence Murphy, all of whom are part of the Republican majority caucus in the Senate.

Murphy, who has long-standing conflict with de Blasio after the mayor attempted to help unseat him in 2014, was the lone legislator to bring up the law enforcement investigations into the mayor and his allies. The two talked over each other at times, with Murphy saying de Blasio is untrustworthy and de Blasio claiming Murphy clearly “has a bone to pick.”

Young represents Chautauqua and Allegany Counties, chairs the Senate finance committee and co-chaired the budget hearing. She challenged de Blasio on how education funding is distributed to city schools and suggested the state should withhold funding from ACS. The ACS commissioner resigned amid criticism that recent tragedies could have been prevented by the child welfare agency, and de Blasio announced Monday that a new commissioner would be in place by early March.

The mayor defended the work of the child welfare agency, noting that it sees 50,000 to 60,000 complaints of child neglect or abuse per year, and in an overwhelming majority of cases, the agency helps children and families. He noted that sometimes courts stand in the way of a child’s removal from a troubled home. De Blasio found support from Senator Diane Savino, who is a former child protective specialist, acknowledged improvements at ACS, and said she is drafting legislation to relieve child protective workers of some of the administrative burdens of their work.

Young also pushed the mayor on property tax reform, which dominated last year’s hearing. While de Blasio has not raised property tax rates, property taxes have continued to rise quickly under this mayor because of increased property value assessments. Republican lawmakers have been pushing for both a general restructuring of the city’s property tax system, which de Blasio has regularly said is coming eventually, and a cap on city property tax growth. De Blasio and Assembly Democrats have refused such a cap, explaining that the city relies on tax revenue to fuel its $80-plus billion budget.

Senator Felder, a Brooklyn Democrat that caucuses with Republicans, expressed outrage over the so-called “plastic bag tax,” a 5 cent surcharge on paper and plastic bags to discourage use, reduce waste, and improve the environment.

“I fundamentally disagree that this issue isn’t urgent to address, in terms of climate change,” the mayor said. “It’s going to have devastating impacts if we don’t address it on all levels. We have even more urgency because we don’t know whether the federal government is going to take a step back on climate change.”

Felder and several Republican lawmakers chimed in, insisting that their objection to the fee was not an objection to the validity of environmental science.

“New Yorkers are sick of being insulted and lied to,” Felder said, raising his voice. “It has nothing to do with whether people do or don’t care about the environment. The issue is whether we have to be punitive. If government doesn't have a way to fix something, no problem -- tax! No problem -- ticket! No problem -- fee!”

With the bag fee about to go into effect in mid-February, the state Legislature is considering legislation to overrule and negate the city’s law. A bill passed the Senate, and the Assembly, which is controlled by Democrats, may take it up.

Many Democrats positioned themselves as allies of the mayor on Monday, including Assemblymember Catherine Nolan, the Assembly’s education committee chair, who asked about Foundation Aid and the failure of the state to make due on the Campaign for Fiscal Equality, a decade-old court ruling that was supposed to ensure a basic quality education to all public school students and the requisite funding. Framing it in terms of her experience as a public school parent and de Blasio’s as a former public school parent, she asked, “Do you think we were duped into thinking that we would all benefit from a full CFE?”

“It cannot be airbrushed out of history, our children have suffered from the lack of state funding,” de Blasio agreed.

Democratic Senator Liz Krueger helped defend de Blasio on a variety of issues, including his support for a “mansion tax,” which would add a surcharge to apartments sold for over $2 million.

Senator Daniel Squadron, a Democrat representing Lower Manhattan and Downtown Brooklyn, took on a more contentious tone with de Blasio, however, renewing his previous calls for the mayor to sue the bad actors involved in the flipping of Rivington House, the former nursing that is becoming luxury housing. De Blasio said that the city had explored its options, but did not believe that it had a case to bring suit. He promised that his administration would talk more with Squadron about anything that can be done.

Assemblymember Nicole Malliotakis, a Republican representing Staten Island and parts of Brooklyn, commended the mayor for investing in NYPD equipment, before challenging de Blasio on his vow to defy Trump’s immigration ban. The Assemblymember, a frequent critic of the mayor, argued that the city’s list of 170 offenses that would warrant cooperation with federal immigration agents was insufficient. Noting that the city has only complied with 32 out of 584 deportation requests from federal immigration enforcement agencies, she asked, “Why would you protect individuals who are here illegally who are committing these crimes instead of putting your citizenry first and foremost and ensuring that we receive the federal funding that we need for law enforcement to do its job?”

“Assemblymember, I know you are a true believer in your ideology and I am in mine,” de Blasio replied. “And we have very different facts. We are going disagree even on the premise of the question.”

He reiterated that his administration was more concerned that low level, nonviolent offenses like marijuana possession would be used as an excuse for deportation, stressing that conforming to Trump’s anti-immigrant policies would make undocumented immigrants unwilling to speak to police, which would put the city at risk. However, he conceded, “If there are some offenses we should add [to the list of 170], we are willing to do that always.”

The exchange with Malliotakis was indicative of most that de Blasio had on Monday: he pushed back on legislators’ wording, premises, and data, but did so with some semblance of willingness to communicate further and collaborate where possible. The question then becomes, of course, whether de Blasio does indeed intend to communicate and collaborate more, or whether he was attempting to diffuse criticism at such a rare and public hearing.

After his appearance, de Blasio refused to answer questions from members of the media. While he had done so prior years after his budget testimony, this year the mayor ignored reporters who attempted to ask him questions as he walked the halls of the Legislative Office Building, engaged in conversation with a member of the Assembly.

De Blasio had meetings scheduled Monday afternoon with Heastie, Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan, Independent Democratic Conference Leader Jeff Klein, and Senate Minority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins. The mayor was not set to meet with Cuomo, despite the rare occurrence that both were in Albany on the same day.

***
by Rachel Silberstein, State government reporter, Gotham Gazette
     

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