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What to watch for this week in New York politics:

This Tuesday will mark six weeks until Election Day, November 6. With the primaries further in the rear mirror, the general election is in full swing, especially in the race for governor, but also races for attorney general and comptroller, as well as many state legislative and U.S. House seats around the state. U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand is also trying to hold onto her seat this year.

As the week begins,

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What to watch for this week in New York politics:

This week will start with a lot of focus on continuing the primary election analysis and pivoting to the general election matchups for statewide and legislative seats. Some of the focus will surely be on how the winners pulled their victories off and why the losers lost, but also whether and how those who lost

New York City Hall

What to watch for this week in New York politics:

Thursday is primary day! After a few more days of intense campaigning, by the end of the night on Thursday, we should know the victors in the primaries -- almost all of them in the Democratic Party -- for Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, many state legislative seats, and more.

The most closely watched races are the statewide primaries between Governor Andrew Cuomo and Cynthia Nixon and between

Letitia James and Corey Johnson (photo: Gotham Gazette)

Two former speakers of the New York City Council -- Melissa Mark-Viverito and Christine Quinn -- are on the list of possible contenders for a potential vacancy in the office of public advocate should the current occupant, Letitia James, win the post of attorney general in this fall’s elections. But it’s the sitting Council speaker, Corey Johnson, who will get to do the job first if that scenario came to pass.

James is competing against three other Democrats to win the party’s primary

Council Member Laurie Cumbo, the author (right), with her son, Prince (photo:@cmlauriecumbo)

If we are truly committed to the health, well-being, and economic advancement of mothers and babies, we must examine our public spaces, work places, and cultural biases when it comes to supporting and accommodating a mother’s choice to breastfeed. As of only a few weeks ago, mothers can now breastfeed legally in all 50 states without fear of violating laws pertaining to

Speaker Johnson, the author, visits a health care facility (photo via John McCarten)

Health care for all is a human right. This means no one should be denied care based on their ability to pay.

The World Health Organization recognized this fundamental truth 70 years ago, most countries around the world have been putting it into action for decades now, and doctors and nurses live it out professionally every day.

Truly achieving this moral imperative means we need a universal health care system supported by taxes and administered

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What to watch for this week in New York politics:

There’s a state fundraising deadline on Thursday night, meaning candidates -- especially those in competitive party primaries -- for statewide and state legislative positions will be holding events and soliciting donations online for much of the week, hoping to bolster their abilities to get their messages out and affect the narrative around their candidacies and races heading into the final weeks before the September

New York City Hall

What to watch for this week in New York politics:

Thursday of this week will mark six weeks until the September 13 primary elections (the deadline to register to vote and be eligible for a party primary is August 19 (the deadline to change party enrollment to vote in a party primary has long passed)). Expect competitive primaries to continue to heat up.

It was a busy

Council Member Cornegy, the author (photo: Emil Cohen/City Council)

New Yorkers have good reason to be concerned, even angry, about the state of affairs in our city's commercial waste industry. Stakeholders and commentators are absolutely right to note that, among other issues to address, the tragic loss of life in this industry is unacceptable.

However, agreement on the importance of cleaning up commercial waste carting does not change the fact that a huge question is still on the table: How can we actually achieve our shared goals as

CM Diaz Sr., standing (photo: John McCarten/City Council)

The New York City Council’s Committee on Standards and Ethics held a hearing on Monday concerning Bronx Council Member Ruben Diaz, Sr. and his alleged use of government email to send out political messages to colleagues and staffers across the Council, three knowledgeable sources told Gotham Gazette.

The Standard and Ethics committee, chaired by Staten Island Council Member Steven Matteo, would not reveal the subject of Monday’s hearing and only noted on its agenda that the hearing was

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What to watch for this week in New York politics:

We’re less than two months from primary day, September 13, in the 2018 races for state-level seats. The entire state Legislature is on the ballot this fall, as well as the statewide offices of Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Comptroller, and Attorney General. There are far more Democratic than Republican primaries given that the GOP has few, if any, sitting state legislators being challenged and the party ensured that

City Council Progressive Caucus (photo via Progressive Caucus website)

The Progressive Caucus of the New York City Council sent a letter to Governor Andrew Cuomo urging him to sign a bill, passed at the end of the legislative session in June, which would create a new state commission on prosecutorial misconduct. The caucus, which includes 21 of the Council’s 51 members, referred to the bill as “the most substantive criminal justice reform passed

(Sofie Hecht/Gotham Gazette)

The New York City Council’s commission to review the city charter -- a separate effort from an existing commission created by Mayor Bill de Blasio -- has been fully appointed and is set to begin its work next Monday, July 16.

The City Council passed a bill in April, spearheaded by Public Advocate Letitia James, Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, and Council Speaker Corey Johnson, to create a commission to analyze the city’s governing document and recommend potentially significant

New York City Hall

What to watch for this week in New York politics:

As we move past the July Fourth holiday week and into the depths of summer, attention turns squarely to the state-level primary elections that will be voted on September 13. We're just over two months away from those votes, with especially interesting Democratic races for Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, and a number of state legislative seats, especially in the state Senate, most notably the primary

(photo: William Alatriste/City Council)

New York City’s leaders have recently been protesting with Muslim and immigrant New Yorkers, but these same leaders are often missing once the cameras are gone. After last week’s stunning Supreme Court setback, the time finally has come for these same leaders to ditch New York City’s anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant police policies.

We clearly say we’re a sanctuary city, but the facts on the ground are unclear. No, city workers can’t ask about immigration status, but NYPD officers continue to use dragnet surveillance on

Ben Max, left, of Gotham Gazette, and Jarrett Murphy, right, of City Limits

June 25, 2018 - Max & Murphy Podcast: The Long Fight for New City Sexual Harassment Laws, with City Council Member Helen Rosenthal and former Comptroller, Brooklyn District Attorney and Congressional Rep. Liz Holtzman

When Liz Holtzman was city Comptroller -- the

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What to watch for this week in New York politics:

The week begins with continued attention on the children separated from their families at the southern U.S. border who have been placed with New York agencies to care for them. The Trump administration has stated that it has stopped separating children and parents at the border and begun reuniting those separated, but it is unclear if they have a good process in place for doing so or how quickly they will be able to

Johnson, de Blasio, Dromm (l-r) (photo: John McCarten)

At several budget hearings earlier this year, New York City Council Speaker Corey Johnson took a hard line on transparency. He insisted that Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration was being less than forthcoming on how money is spent and was hampering the Council’s charter-mandated authority to review and approve the city’s spending plan. To wit, in its official response to the mayor’s preliminary budget in April, the Council proposed adding 123 new units of appropriation -- budget lines that explain

Council Member Levin (photo: John McCarten/City Council)

The new city budget does not do enough to address the tremendous backlog of city contracts with nonprofit groups that have been left languishing by city agencies, the groups say. This comes after a recent report from the city comptroller that shows

(photo: John McCarten)

For more than 30 years, a variety of federal laws have protected the personal data of Americans online at a time of unprecedented technological development. These laws have helped foster the growth of many iconic American companies -- Amazon, Ebay, Google, Twitter, and Airbnb, just to name a few -- and create a thriving tech economy that employs hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers, and many more from coast to coast.

And yet, despite this extraordinary success, a bill pushed in the New York City Council by the hotel industry

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What to watch for this week in New York politics:

The final three scheduled days of this year’s legislative session in Albany are Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of this week. Will there be the annual “big ugly” mash-up of compromise policy passed on the final night of session? Stay tuned.

There are not very many issues that appear close to a compromise among Governor Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, the Democrat-led Assembly, and the Republican-led Senate. But, most

Speaker Corey Johnson (photo: John McCarten/City Council)

The New York City Council increased the funding it distributes to local nonprofits and for Council members’ favored projects in their districts to $66.4 million for next fiscal year, which begins July 1, an increase of about $5 million, which largely went to initiatives sponsored by Speaker Corey Johnson. The money is part of the larger $89.2 billion budget

De Blasio & Johnson shake on it (photo: William Alatriste)

Mayor Bill de Blasio and City Council Speaker Corey Johnson on Monday announced an agreement on an $89.15 billion budget for the 2019 fiscal year that includes key Council priorities that the mayor had been hesitant to fund for months.

“This budget is profoundly responsible, it is balanced, it is progressive and it is early,” de Blasio said at the ceremonial budget handshake with Johnson and other Council members at City Hall on Monday evening, about three weeks before the

New York City Hall

What to watch for this week in New York politics:

Tuesday will mark two weeks until congressional primary election day in New York: June 26. Until then, hotly contested races will feature intense campaigning, and there will even be a few debates. In New York City, there are a handful of House of Representative primaries worth watching, headlined by the Republican contest between Rep. Dan Donovan and former Rep. Michael Grimm. There are two Donovan-Grimm debates set

Speaker Johnson, middle, and Council members (photo: John McCarten/City Council)

In December, several City Council members jostling to become the powerful next speaker of the 51-member legislative body signed on to a broad platform of reforms to the Council’s rules and procedures, which can have a significant impact on city law-making and funding for communities. Both returning and newly-elected Council members, 33 of them in total,