(photo: @NYCImmigrants)

New York City is moving full steam ahead with its effort to ensure that the 2020 Census counts each and every resident of the five boroughs, with millions of dollars in funding and a four-pillar strategy for outreach to hard-to-count communities. But New York State’s effort seems to have stalled and there is little indication that state authorities are moving with urgency despite the many billions of dollars in federal funding and congressional representation at stake.

In the 2010 Census, New York City residents’ self-response rate to the Census was an abysmal 62%, well below the national average of 76%. The city is home to many hard-to-count populations – among which self-response rates are relatively low – including children, seniors, immigrants, predominantly black communities, and residents of public housing. An undercount of these populations can affect everything from federal funding levels for programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and Section 8 housing vouchers to business investment in the city and the state’s seats in the House of Representatives.

Increasing the rate of self-response also means requiring fewer census enumerators, the individuals who go door-to-door to count residents who have not responded. Officials have been working for years at the city and state levels to make sure that the Census Bureau has a complete list of addresses for New York residents.

The 2020 Census is plagued with many new and particular problems that have raised concerns that New York could see an even lower self-response rate – as low as 58%, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates. The Census Bureau is being underfunded by the federal government, with fewer enumerators being hired to hit the ground; the Trump administration sought unsuccessfully to place a citizenship question on the Census form, worrying and potentially discouraging responses from immigrants; and the count is being conducted digitally for the first time, which could affect response among those who lack access to the internet and particularly among older residents. 

Between Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration and the New York City Council, the city has budgeted $40 million towards Census outreach, the most funding ever put towards this effort. The city is pursuing a multi-faceted strategy that includes a massive field effort, grants for community-based organizations, a mass media campaign, and partnerships between city agencies.

Last week, Mayor Bill de Blasio and NYC Census Director Julie Menin launched the city’s Neighborhood Organizing Census Committees (NOCCs), which are meant to enlist 2,500 volunteers that will aid in census outreach across 245 neighborhoods. The launch came one day after the city announced the $19-million New York City Complete Count Fund, which will give out grants ranging from $25,000 to $250,000 to qualifying community-based organizations.

The city accepting applications till October 18 and is expected to award the funds by December. The actual Census count will begin April 1.

The $19 million allocation follows an initial $4 million to CBOs by the City Council in August to begin Census work. 

The remaining $17 million of the $40 million has yet to be distributed. Those funds are expected to cover the mass media campaign, which will launch in 2020, and the overall field campaign through the NOCCs.

“The idea behind the NOCCs is that we believe very strongly...that people really want to be involved in the future of their neighborhood,” Menin said in a phone interview. “The best kind of outreach that we can have is neighbor-to-neighbor contact.”

The 245 committees will train volunteers about the importance of the census, how it works and how best to organize locally. “This is really a train-the-trainer model that is very much proven to work,” Menin said.

Additionally, the 2,500 volunteers will act as “census ambassadors” and the city will provide them with printed materials, talking points and a digital tool kit on the census. The NOCCs will also organize phone banks and text banks to conduct outreach, and will also partner with CBOs that receive grants from the city. These CBOs and neighborhood volunteers are particularly essential in immigrant communities for whom English is not a first language or who may have limited English proficiency.

The city has also reached an agreement with the U.S. Census Bureau to receive real-time data on self-response rates, to monitor neighborhoods where residents may not be filling out census forms in the initial phase of the count. “So all the volunteers and really anyone living in those neighborhoods will be able to see exactly how their community is doing each day,” Menin said.

New York state government, on the other hand, has been silent on how it will spend the $20 million allocated in the state budget earlier this year for the 2020 Census. That funding (only half of what advocates had called for) is meant to be distributed based on a report by the New York State Complete Count Commission, which held its last hearing to receive public input on July 31. The report is far past its due date and won’t be out for another few weeks, according to a state official.

“The Complete Count Commission has heard testimony and received comments from local governments, grassroots organizations and the general public across New York State, and we are awaiting the Commission’s recommendations on how best to leverage the up to $20 million made available in the State Budget, existing state resources, and our partnerships with organizations on the ground so that we can maximize outreach efforts and get every New Yorker counted,” said Mercedes Padilla, a spokesperson for New York’s Department of State, in a statement to Gotham Gazette.

Padilla said the recommendations would be made in the next few weeks, but did not provide specifics. The co-chairs of the commission are New York’s Secretary of State Rossana Rosado and Jim Malatras, president of the Rockefeller Institute of Government and formerly a top aide to Governor Cuomo.

On September 24, nearly three dozen local, state, and federal elected officials representing Brooklyn wrote a letter to Governor Cuomo, calling for at least $4 million from the $20-million pot to be sent to census efforts in the borough. With more than 2.6 million residents, Brooklyn is the most populous of New York State’s 62 counties, and the letter notes that 80% of Brooklynites live in hard-to-count communities.

“An undercount in Brooklyn would be an unmitigated disaster not only for the people we represent, but the entire state,” the letter reads. “Billions of dollars in federal aid programs could be lost. While Brooklynites already face a lack of resources for many of their immediate needs, an undercount would only make this worse.”

Brooklyn State Senator Zellnor Myrie expressed frustration that the state is sitting on its hands while the city has allocated and released funds. “We have seen the city step up to the plate...and here [at the state level], we have a situation in which we had money allocated in April, we had a commission that went around the state to solicit feedback on how the census outreach should look, and we have neither the report nor the money.”

Myrie and other elected officials have, in the meantime, begun their own efforts to educate their constituents about the census, hosting information sessions in their districts. Others like Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr., Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, and Queens Borough President Melinda Katz have created their own Complete Count Committees with discretionary funds to aid in an accurate count.

“I think we're really putting ourselves at risk of repeating a failed history of counting our community,” Myrie said.

Menin also said that the state had provided no answers yet to city officials on how state funds will be distributed. Though some amount of state money will clearly be spent in the city, Menin said that state officials have indicated that it’s unlikely that funds would be funnelled through the city government. It’s also unclear whether a majority of those funds will go to community organizations and nonprofits, as advocates from the statewide New York Counts 2020 coalition have been pushing.

United Neighborhood Houses, a nonprofit based in New York City and a member of that coalition, is among the CBOs that have received discretionary funds from the New York City Council for census organizing efforts. “We're really strong believers in the fact that community-based organizations are key partners in census outreach,” said Nora Moran, UNH’s director of policy and advocacy, in a phone interview.

Moran noted, as have others, that there is little time until the census begins in earnest. The first mailers from the Census Bureau will be sent out in March. “We know that there's a lot at stake, and there's hard-to-count communities upstate as well as downstate,” she said. “And we really hope that the governor's office releases...that funding that they allocated towards census outreach...sooner rather than later.”

Last month, the New York Counts coalition similarly sent a letter to the governor to press their demands. “We are losing valuable time. While many local governments, libraries and community-based organizations (CBOs) have begun their outreach and organizing activities, the effectiveness and depth of these efforts is dependent on additional funding,” the coalition wrote.

“I think there's just a clear evidence of what needs to be done,” said Myrie, “and what is unclear is why there is a delay.”

Note - this article has been updated for clarification. 

Rep. Max Rose (photo: @MaxRose4NY)

Max Rose calls himself a “centrist populist.” The first-term Democrat who represents New York’s 11th congressional district, which spans across Staten Island and along the shore of Southern Brooklyn, appears set on trying to make that label stick, and in doing so earn a second term when voters head to the polls next year.

Rose’s pitch and politics seem to match the district well: he’s a moderate, center-left politician and military veteran with a no-nonsense but affable and energetic personality. His mantra is serving constituents above political party, he regularly criticizes fellow Democrat Mayor Bill de Blasio, and he distances himself from the ascendent left-wing of his party, but sticks close to the House majority, though in fulfilling a campaign promise he did not vote for Speaker Nancy Pelosi to retain her leadership role.

But as he runs for reelection for the first time in 2020, a presidential year where Donald Trump is expected to be on the top of the Republican ticket, Rose is one of the top targets of Republicans hoping to regain majority control of the House of Representatives while holding the Senate and reelecting the president. Representing one of the swing-iest districts in the country -- represented by three Republicans and two Democrats in the last 10 years -- Rose is dealing with major countervailing forces: Trump’s strong popularity among many New York-11 voters and Democrats awakened by Trump’s surprise 2016 win who swept Rose into office last year.

Indicative of the minefield he finds himself navigating, Rose just became the last Democrat from New York City to announce support for impeachment proceedings against the president. While Rose’s somewhat cautious approach to Trump may endear him to some of his district’s center-right voters, it, coupled with his moderate positions on a variety of issues, could embitter the very Democratic base that he needs in his corner. But upon announcing he backs the impeachment inquiry into Trump at a Staten Island constituent town hall on Wednesday night, Rose shifted the terms of his already-heated reelection campaign.

“So while the President of the United States may be willing to violate the constitution to get re-elected, I will not,” Rose said on Wednesday. “I will not shirk my duty and I will not violate my oath. I will support and I will defend the United States Constitution. And it is for that reason that I intend to fully support this impeachment inquiry and follow the facts."

His announcement, coming just the day after a Democratic primary challenger launched a campaign against him, was met by derision from Republicans who hope to unseat him through next year's election.

Rose won the 11th district seat last year against Republican Dan Donovan, the former Staten Island District Attorney elected to Congress in 2015, in a 2018 election that saw a surge in Democratic turnout, giving the Democrats control of the House and dramatically shifting the national political landscape. Rose’s margin of victory was substantial – he received 101,823 votes to Donovan’s 89,441, even defeating the Republican on Staten Island by more than 5,000 votes.

It was a reversal of fortune for Donovan, who had been reelected to the seat in 2016 with 142,934 votes against Democrat Richard Reichard’s 85,257 (there were nearly 60,000 more votes cast that presidential year than in the 2018 midterms). It helped Donovan that Trump was running for president and won Staten Island with 56.3% of the vote against Hillary Clinton’s 41.2%.

But Rose is confident he can pull off another victory, even with Trump on the ballot, in part by remaining far more focused on local issues than the national dynamics of the 2020 election. “We have gotten tremendous amounts of legislation through and by that I don't mean symbolic or ceremonial pieces of legislation passed by the House of Representatives, and then resigned to the graveyard that is Mitch McConnell's Senate,” Rose said in a recent phone interview. “I mean things that have or will be signed by the president of the United States.”

He cited four major victories – approval for the Staten Island east shore seawall, permanent funding for the 9/11 victims compensation fund, sanctions on Chinese pharmaceutical companies to stem the flow of fentanyl into the city, and two-way tolling on the Verrazzano bridge to reduce traffic.

“Staten Island and south Brooklyn are on the map, and we are not stopping. We are advocating for issues at every level of government to make sure that people are no longer ignored,” Rose said.

Though there is a Republican primary for the seat as well – between Assemblymember Nicole Malliotakis and longshot candidate Joseph Saladino, a YouTube personality who goes by the name Joey Salads and has a history of racist pranks – virtually all observers see the race as an eventual Rose-Malliotakis battle, though there does remain the question of whether any other Republicans may jump into the race ahead of the June 2020 primary.

When he first ran for office last year, Rose set himself apart from most other New York City Democrats, seen as a necessity in a district that defies the bluer boroughs. Though there are more active registered Democrats (191,145) than Republicans (114,363) in New York-11, along with 93,303 party-unaffiliated voters, the district elected Trump by a margin of nearly 10 points, after a tight victory there for President Barack Obama in 2012. Governor Cuomo, a third-term Democrat, won the district in his last two elections. 

Though Trump remains extremely unpopular in New York City, with his approval rating at 26% (to 71% disapprove) in an April Quinnipiac University poll, his approval was generally higher on Staten Island, at 47% approval to 52% disapproval. The Island is fairly split, with more Democrats concentrated along the northern shore than in other parts of the borough, which gets more conservative the further south one goes.

Rose made it clear he was running against what he saw as ‘the establishment’ and the ‘career politicians’ in Congress and elsewhere who had ground the business of the people to a halt. He was, and remains, a critic of de Blasio, even focusing on him in a 2018 campaign ad, and refuses to embrace the politics of newly elected progressives in the House such as fellow New York City Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

“We are showing people that you can make war against the establishment, you can choose not to play by the rules of inside-D.C. establishment politics while also accomplishing something,” Rose said in the interview, citing his vote against Pelosi’s election as speaker.

City Council Member Justin Brannan, a Southern Brooklyn Democrat and Rose ally, said in a statement to Gotham Gazette, “Ultimately this election is going to come down to what kind of elected official do you want. Max refuses to take money from lobbyists. He supports campaign finance reform. He has been unwavering in his battle against [the Trump] administration's discriminatory policies that directly impact the hardworking people he represents.” Brannan added that Rose has fought “Trump's discriminatory Muslim ban not just in words but in action by literally helping reunite families torn apart by conflict. Meanwhile, his Republican opponent is on Twitter posting ‘You're Fired’ memes.”

Despite his distance from Ocasio-Cortez and others, Republicans have still sought to paint Rose as a “socialist Democrat” who has betrayed the will of the voters who elected him. The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) has spent months hammering at Rose in press releases and public statements, largely on the general principle that he’s part of a Democratic operation hostile to the president.

NRCC spokesperson Michael McAdams says the party’s chances of taking back the seat are strong, citing the district’s strong Republican presence and Trump’s victory there in 2016. “Max has claimed that he is a moderate. On the campaign trail, he said he was going to be an independent voice for Staten Island, and he's gotten to Washington, D.C. and he's fallen right in line with the socialist Democrats and their socialist agenda,” McAdams said in a phone interview, though he did not provide specific examples (later in the interview he said Rose hasn’t taken a position on driver’s licenses for undocumented immigrants).

“He votes against President Trump 96% of the time, which is an absolutely shocking number given that a majority of his constituents voted for the president last cycle,” McAdams said.

Malliotakis, whose Assembly district covers much of the east shore of Staten Island and a small part of Southern Brooklyn, has extended the same argument. “As far as I’m concerned, this race is between me and Max Rose,” she said, dismissing any worries about facing a primary opponent. Though Salads is running a barebones campaign, there’s also the possibility that others could jump into the race. Michael Grimm, who previously represented the district and served prison time for felony tax evasion, has signalled he may run. New York City Council Member Joe Borelli, who represents the South Shore of Staten Island and is running for public advocate in this fall’s special election, has also not ruled it out.

“I believe I am more in line with the people in this district,” Malliotakis said, citing her nine years in elected office. She said the race would be a combination of local and federal factors. “This is a district that is pretty impacted by what the federal government does,” she said, pointing to the seawall project, national parks, a veterans hospital, and the Fort Hamilton army base. She also brought up issues that were salient in the 2017 mayor’s race, including her opposition to sanctuary city policies and safe injection sites for drug-addicted people, and said she would push for a federal infrastructure package.

“The Democrats in the House are more concerned with continuing investigation instead of actually working with the president to address a lot of these issues,” said Malliotakis, who has come around to closely embrace Trump as she runs for Congress after having been a supporter of Senator Marco Rubio in the 2016 Republican presidential primary and distancing herself from Trump in the 2017 mayoral race. She begrudgingly stated at one point that she had voted for Trump over Clinton, and expressed regret for having done so.

“I’m going to be running on the same ticket as the president and I embrace that,” Malliotakis said, when asked if she sees herself in line with the president, calling Trump a “voice of reason” in Washington, D.C.

The House of Representatives has “absolutely no interest in actually doing the job that they were elected to do and instead they're just looking to see how they can tear down the president,” she said, “And so he needs people who are willing to work with him, and particularly from New York City, and I will be an individual who will work with him to accomplish things where we see eye to eye...I'm not going to agree with everything the president does but for the most part, yes, I do agree with a majority of what he's doing. And I think that he's doing a good job overall.”

Malliotakis says Rose has been more progressive than moderate, insisting that he votes “in lockstep” with Pelosi and members of the so-called Squad of Ocasio-Cortez and other progressive women of color. “The votes he's taking in Washington are not representative of views in this district,” she said, citing, for instance, his support for a resolution that criticized Trump for a racist tweet about the women of color representatives of “the Squad.”

But it’s a tenuous argument, says Richard Flanagan, political science professor at the College of Staten Island. “I don't think it holds water with the independent voters at all,” he said. “Rose has done a really good job of positioning himself in the center, getting federal action on local issues. He's very upfront about his military record. It’s definitely differentiated him from [the members of the Squad]...I guess [Republicans are] going to do that to try to get their base to come out to vote, but it's not persuading anybody in the middle.”

Rose himself scoffed at the Republicans’ attempts to align him with progressives. “If they think anyone's gonna believe that, they're idiots. The truth is that nobody in the entire Democratic caucus has pushed back more than I have,” he said, pointing to his votes against Pelosi, his opposition to the Green New Deal, which he called a “socialist lie” in the interview with Gotham Gazette, and his repeated disapproval of Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar over her criticism of Israel. “The NRCC and Nicole Malliotakis have such an obsession with these individuals that it's clear they would rather run against them than me,” he added.

On the question of impeachment Rose found himself in a difficult place. He issued public statements that showed him seemingly vacillating on the issue saying that “all options must be on the table,” which signalled to some that he was open to jumping on board. He voted to table a privileged resolution led by Republican Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy that would have disapproved of Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s actions to begin an impeachment inquiry.

Just before Rose announced his support for the impeachment inquiry, McAdams from the NRCC said Rose’s decision, either for or against, would doom his chances of reelection with one or the other segment of voters.

“I think support for the president is at the top of the line there,” he said, predicting that support for impeachment would lose Rose votes among Republicans and opposition to it will anger the Democrats who powered his victory. The latest Quinnipiac University poll from September 30 may show a fast-moving shift, as it found that nationally voters were split 47-47 percent on impeaching and removing Trump from office. Just last week, support was at 37% and opposition at 57%. By a majority of 52-45 percent, voters approved of the impeachment inquiry opened by the House.

The NRCC and Malliotakis both quickly jumped on Rose after he proclaimed his support for the House impeachment inquiry. "Just one day after finding out he had a challenger in the Democrat primary, Congressman Max Rose caved to socialists Reps. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, Ilhan Omar and Nancy Pelosi in the rush to impeach President Donald Trump," Malliotakis said in a statement. "It just shows that when pressure is applied, Max Rose stands with the radical left instead of Staten Island."

During his remarks at the Wednesday town hall, Rose followed his comments about the impeachment process by attempting to preempt that line of attack: "But, I want to make something else very, very clear: nothing, nothing at all—impeachment or otherwise—will distract us, will distract me from my work fighting for you," he said. "I will not let this or anything else detract us from our focus on ending the opioid epidemic, holding pharmaceutical companies accountable, making sure that we have the backs of our cops and our firefighters and our first responders, and yes--ending our commuting nightmare.”

What kind of impact Rose's support for the impeachment inquiry has on his standing in his district is yet to be seen. A great deal will of course play out over the next year-plus before the 2020 general election.

Rabyaah Althaibani, a community organizer and co-founder of Arab Women's Voice, a consulting firm, rallied the Arab vote in Southern Brooklyn behind Rose last year. But she’s worried that he has disappointed progressives, particularly by refusing to support impeachment. “There are a lot of issues that progressives...just don't agree with Max on, and a pretty sizable bunch of people are very upset with him,” she said, although she praised him for supporting the Yemeni American community by questioning the rationale behind Trump’s Muslim travel ban and for pushing to end American support for the war in Yemen.

“The Yemeni community and allies that care about the community, I'm just hoping that they're going to rally and help us get him elected again,” she added. “But Max has a lot of work to do, a lot of explaining to do. He needs to reach out to the progressive base.”

Althaibani did recognize that Rose faces a tough situation, having to reconcile the differing parts of the district with its spread of conservatives and progressives, and many moderates in between. She expressed doubt that Rose would face a tough primary. “I don't think anyone can do what Max is doing right now,” she said.

On Tuesday, the Staten Island Advance reported that Richard-Olivier Marius, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, is challenging Rose in the Democratic primary. In an interview with the paper, Marius said he had voted for Rose in 2018 but was running because of Rose’s failure to support progressive legislation like the Green New Deal and Medicare for All, as well as impeachment of Trump. 

A Democratic operative familiar with the race, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, noted that Rose may be trying the same balancing act as the last Democrat to hold the seat, Staten Island District Attorney Michael McMahon, who voted against the Affordable Care Act in the hopes of not alienating conservative voters. But while that move backfired against McMahon, the dynamics of the district necessitate similar thinking by Rose.

As of the latest fundraising deadlines, Rose held a significant advantage. His campaign had $1.2 million in cash on hand as of June 30, compared to Malliotakis’ $475,000. (Saladino had $16,877 in his campaign account.)

But the Trump effect may nullify that. As Flanagan from College of Staten Island noted, the district has always been competitive and even Republicans have never won in a blowout. He said the race will hinge on voter turnout, which will be hard to predict since Trump being on the ballot will drive voters from both parties to the polls. “Are these Trump voters gonna come back and vote for Trump and vote straight ticket? Or are they willing to ticket-split? I think that's the big question,” he said.

Malliotakis is trying hard to turn Trump’s presence to her benefit, and appeal to voters across the district who have seen her on the ballot before, whether in her Assembly district or when she faced de Blasio in 2017 and, while receiving only 27.1% of the overall vote to de Blasio’s 65.1%, did blow the incumbent mayor away on Staten Island, winning 70% of votes to de Blasio’s 25.3%. (As it was in Rose’s 2018 win, one of the keys in 2020 will be the turnout in the more Democratic Southern Brooklyn portion of the district.)

On several issues, Malliotakis has broken from Trump while embracing him on most fronts. She has wholeheartedly accepted the aid of Trump and his allies, including national Republican stars like U.S. Reps. Liz Cheney and Dan Crenshaw, who canvassed for her in Staten Island a few weeks ago, former White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer, and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.

Yet a source close to the Staten Island Republican Party said she is far from an ideal candidate to beat Rose, despite the potential that’s there to unseat him. “Rose is vulnerable to a candidate that can land some punches on him,” the source said. “However, we saw from Malliotakis’ race against Bill de Blasio that she can't land a punch on even him.”

The source, who requested anonymity to speak freely about internal party concerns, added, “Rose is moderate, he's likeable, he hasn't made many errors. And I think when he campaigns, he grows his support. And the more Malliotakis’ campaign develops, the less it seems successful.”

The Republican said Malliotakis needs to “clarify where she stands” with respect to Trump. “The 2017 Malliotakis is not the same as the 2019 Malliotakis,” the person said. “It’s just so plainly evident that anyone can see it.”

Rose, meanwhile, believes Trump will fail to affect the vote. “I'm going to win,” he said. “The people of this district are independent and they will vote and have consistently voted for the person, not the party.”

Note: this story has been updated to reflect Rose's support for the House impeachment inquiry.

New York City Hall

What to watch for this week in New York politics:

As is often the case this time of year, it is a somewhat quieter Rosh Hashanah week in the city, but there are a number of events to be aware of and several overarching issues to watch.

Those include the continued response to the killing of NYPD Officer Brian Mulkeen, who was killed during an attempted arrest and altercation late Saturday night in the Bronx. Details of the incident are still emerging. "This is a very, very sad day for our city," Mayor de Blasio said from Jacobi Medical Center late Saturday night. "We lost a hero – by every measure, we lost a hero this evening. Police Officer Brian Mulkeen – six years on the job, working in Anti-Crime in the 4-7 Precinct here in the Bronx – this is a young man who made the choice to join the NYPD, to put his life on the line to protect others."

The MTA continues to be in the spotlight as the new $52 billion, five-year capital plan was just passed by the MTA Board and now needs one other approbal from the Capital Program Review Board, which consists of representatives of the Governor, the Mayor of New York City, the Assembly Speaker, and the Senate President, as well as a more firm funding agreement among the state, the city, and the MTA. 

In other MTA news: on Sunday Governor Andrew Cuomo "announced the first phase of the L Project tunnel rehabilitation is complete ahead of schedule and on budget. With work on the first tube concluding after only five months, the entire Canarsie Tunnel Rehabilitation is now scheduled to be completed on budget in April 2020 - bringing construction to a close a full three months ahead of the 15- to 18-month projections. Governor Cuomo and senior MTA leadership toured the completed Manhattan-bound tube on Sunday, reviewing the new construction methods used to avoid a complete shutdown and maintain regular train service for 90 percent of L customers." 

There are a number of political events to be aware of this week -- see our day-by-day rundown below.

***Do you have events or topics for us to include in an upcoming Week Ahead in New York Politics?
e-mail Gotham Gazette editor Ben Max: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.***

The run of the week in detail:

Monday, September 30 & Tuesday, October 1
Monday and Tuesday will be fairly quiet political days and schools are closed due to Rosh Hashanah. But there are some things happening:

On Monday at 9:30 a.m. near City Hall, “transportation, labor and environmental justice advocates will gather in Manhattan with State Senator Julia Salazar...to demand the passage of three landmark bills currently in front of City Council: Speaker Corey Johnson’s Streets Master Plan bill (Intro 1557), Council Member Antonio Reynoso’s Commercial Exclusive Waste Zone Reform bill (Intro 1574), and Council Member Brad Lander’s Reckless Driver Accountability Act (Intro 971).” Along with Salazar, participants will include: “Transportation Alternatives, Families for Safe Streets, Vision Zero Youth Council, ALIGN, Teamsters Local 813, New York Lawyers for the Public Interest, Center for Independence of the Disabled-New York, Democratic Socialists of America Ecosocialist Working Group, Bike New York, StreetsPAC, Union for Concerned Scientists, other elected officials invited.” The problem they want addressed: “To date in 2019, 156 New Yorkers have lost their lives in traffic.”

At 6:30 p.m. Monday in Brooklyn, Public Advocate Jumaane Williams will attend “'Bridging the Gap,' a unification celebration honoring humanitarian labor.”

Mayor de Blasio will make his weekly appearance on NY1’s Inside City Hall with anchor Errol Louis on Monday in the 7 and 11 p.m. hours.

Wednesday, October 2 
At 8:30 a.m. Wednesday, Crain's New York Business will host a breakfast forum titled “Turning the Tide on Housing” and featuring Louise Carroll, Commissioner, Department of Housing Preservation and Development, City of New York; State Senator Brian Kavanagh; City Council Member Rafael Salamanca Jr.; and James Whelan, President, Real Estate Board of New York; and moderated by Dan Geiger of Crain’s. 

At the City Council on Wednesday:
--At 10 a.m., the Committee on Criminal Justice and the Committee on General Welfare will jointly meet on several bills related to incarcerated individuals and provisions provided to them. 
--At 1 p.m., the Committee on Immigration will meet to discuss legislation to prohibit a smart banking chip from being added to New York City identification card. 

At 12 p.m. Wednesday, the commissioners of the New York State Board of Elections will meet.

At 5 p.m. Wednesday, this week’s Max & Murphy show will air on WBAI radio, heard at 99.5 FM and wbai.org.

At 6 p.m. Wednesday, Borough President Eric Adams will convene a Brooklyn Borough Board meeting at Borough Hall. 

Thursday, October 3
Beginning at 9 a.m. Thursday, City & State NY will host its 2019 Health Innovation Summit. Speakers will include Mitchell Katz, President of NYC Health + Hospitals; Richard Gottfried, Chairman of the Assembly Health Committee; Mark Levine, Chairman, NYC Council Committee on Health; Annie Fine, Medical Director, Reportable Disease, Data Informatics & Analysis Unit, NYC Dept. of Health & Mental Hygiene; Joshua Breitbart, Deputy CTO, New York City Mayor's Office of the CTO; Gary Belkin, Chief, Strategy and Policy, Office of ThriveNYC; and John Shegerian, Co-Founder and Executive Chairman, ERI. 

At the City Council on Thursday:
--At 9:30 a.m., the Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises will meet. 
--At 10 a.m., the Committee on Consumer Affairs and Business Licensing will meet to discuss a bill related to prohibiting street vendors on certain streets in Dyker Heights in Brooklyn from Thanksgiving Day until New Year’s Day. 
--At 1 p.m., the Subcommittee on Landmarks, Public Sightings and Dispositions will meet. 

At 10 a.m. Thursday, the New York City Board of Standards and Appeals will hold its next public hearing. 

The State Senate Task Force on Opioids, Addiction and Overdose Prevention will hold a public hearing to hear from stakeholders on strategies for reducing overdoses and improving community health from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday in Carmel.

The Queens Chamber of Commerce will host its 2019 Building Awards for architects, builders, engineers, lenders, interior designers and owners of building projects in Queens from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday at TWA hotel in JFK airport.

Friday, October 4
At 8:15 a.m. Friday, New York Law School will host the latest CityLaw breakfast featuring Marisa Lago, Chair of the New York City Planning Commision. 

At 8:30 a.m. Friday, State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli will be the keynote speaker at the Delaware County Chamber of Commerce breakfast.

At 10 a.m. Friday, Mayor de Blasio may make his weekly appearance on WNYC’s The Brian Lehrer Show. 

The New York Law School Racial Justice Project & the NYLS American Constitution Society will together host a discussion titled “Policing the Police: Enforcing Transparency and Accountability,” related to the legal options available to hold police officers and police departments accountable for misconduct from 12 p.m. to 1:15 p.m. on Friday. Panelists include Monifa Bandele of MomsRising.org and Communities United for Police Reform; Alvin Bragg of New York Law School; Jonathan Darche of the New York City Civilian Complaint Review Board; Christopher Dunn of New York Civil Liberties Union; and others.

Senator Chuck Schumer and Congressional Rep. Adriano Eapaillat will hold a joint press conference at 2 p.m. Friday at the Alianza Dominicana Cultural Center in Manhattan to discuss the tourism challenges and opportunities for the Dominican Republic and ongoing efforts to strengthen U.S. – Dominican Republic relations and economic cooperation.

***
Have events or topics for us to include in an upcoming Week Ahead in New York Politics? E-mail Gotham Gazette executive editor Ben Max any time: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. (please use "For Week Ahead" as email subject).

***
by Ben Max
@GothamGazette

(photo: Patrick J. Cashin/Metropolitan Transportation Authority)

September 25, 2019 - Max & Murphy Podcast: The MTA's New $52 Billion Plan to Save the Subways & More

The MTA Board just passed a new five-year, $51.5 billion capital plan largely aimed at upgrading the New York City subways. Nicole Gelinas of the Manhattan Institute joined the show to discuss the new capital plan and share her thoughts on its structure, its positives and negatives, and what comes next.

Listen to the conversation and let us know what you think -- we're on Twitter @TweetBenMax and @JarrettMurphy. You can listen to the show through the embedded audio below or download the episode wherever you get your podcasts, under "Max & Murphy," and listen to Max & Murphy live on Wednesdays at 5 p.m. on WBAI radio, 99.5FM or wbai.org

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

September 25, 2019 - Max & Murphy Podcast: The Future of Fusion Voting in New York

A commission established by Governor Cuomo and the State Legislature is designing a system of public campaign financing for New York, and also considering whether to try to end the practice of fusion voting. Its binding recommendations are due by December 1, but everything is complicated. Stanley Fritz of Citizen Action New York, which is part of the Working Families Party, joined the show to discuss the governor's push to end fusion voting, why he and others from the WFP and beyond are fighting to save it, and what comes next.

Listen to the conversation and let us know what you think -- we're on Twitter @TweetBenMax and @JarrettMurphy. You can listen to the show through the embedded audio below or download the episode wherever you get your podcasts, under "Max & Murphy," and listen to Max & Murphy live on Wednesdays at 5 p.m. on WBAI radio, 99.5FM or wbai.org

New York City Hall

What to watch for this week in New York politics:

Mayor Bill de Blasio started his post-presidential campaign mayoralty on Friday, and continues it this week, which could set the tone for how he will approach his final two years, three months, and several days. The mayor jumped into several local public appearances on Friday and Saturday, before having no public events on his Sunday schedule. A potentially consequential legislative push by de Blasio enters a new phase Monday as the City Council hears two bills that would create a private-sector retirement-savings program. De Blasio will participate in a rally in support of creating such a program on Monday morning at City Hall, just ahead of the Council hearing.

Governor Andrew Cuomo will talk politics with former New Jersey Governor Christ Christie at Christie's new Seton Hall institute in a conversation between two men who were close allies as neighbor governors that should be interesting.

Essentially for both de Blasio and Cuomo, the MTA Board will on Wednesday vote on the new five-year, $55 billion capital program to update subway signals, buy new train cars, and much more. There has been very little time for Board members, the public, and watchdogs to review the plan ahead of this week's vote. De Blasio has said almost nothing about the capital plan, which Cuomo and the MTA are asking de Blasio's administration to contribute $3 billion in city money to, as it was being crafted and since an overview of the draft plan was released this past week.

It's a very busy week at the City Council, with important oversight hearings (such as on standardized testing in schools) and legislative hearings (such as on the plan to create a private-sector retirement-savings program for city workers), as well as a full-body Stated Meeting at which bills that have passed committee are voted through the full Council and new bills are introduced to the body.

And that's not all. President Donald Trump will be in the city this week as he addresses the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday. There's a lot happening this week, with many events to be aware of -- see our day-by-day rundown below.

***Do you have events or topics for us to include in an upcoming Week Ahead in New York Politics?
e-mail Gotham Gazette editor Ben Max: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.***

The run of the week in detail:

Monday, September 23
On Monday, the United Nations will continue to meet in New York City. The UN Secretary-General will convene a special Climate Summit, and the UNGA will hold a one-day high-level meeting on Universal Health Coverage.

Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie will be in Rochester Monday for several events as part of his ongoing annual state tour.

The MTA's monthly Board committee meetings will take place Monday.

On Monday morning at 10 a.m. at City Hall, "Mayor de Blasio will deliver remarks at a rally for retirement security...In the evening, Mayor de Blasio will meet with Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte" in a closed press event. In the 7 and 11 p.m. hours, "Mayor de Blasio will appear on NY1’s Inside City Hall...Afterward, the Mayor will attend the launch party for Stephanie Ruhle’s new podcast “Modern Ruhles.”"

The 2019 NYC Employment and Training Coalition( NYCETC) Conference will be held at the CUNY Graduate Center starting at 9 a.m. Monday. Speakers include Wes Moore, CEO of Robin Hood Foundation, Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul, Borough Presidents Eric Adams, Ruben Diaz, Jr. and Gale Brewer, among many others through a full day of speeches, panels, and seminars.

At the City Council on Monday:
--At 10 a.m., the Committee on Housing and Buildings will meet on three bills including one that would ban outdoor advertisements of alcoholic beverages near school areas. 
--At 10:30 a.m., the Committee on Civil Service and Labor will meet to discuss two bills to establish a retirement savings program for private-sector employeesto establish a retirement savings program for private-sector employees. 
--At 11 a.m., the Committee on Land Use meet on several pieces of legislation. 
--At 1 p.m., the Committee on Contracts will hold a hearing on a bill that would reduce apprenticeship program directive requirements. 
--At 1 p.m., the Committee on Environmental Protection will hold an oversight hearing on protecting health through improving air quality.

At 10:30 a.m. Monday morning, WNYC radio’s The Brian Lehrer Show will air a discussion of what’s next for Mayor de Blasio after he’s dropped his presidential bid and returns to be mayor full-time for the next two-plus years, featuring WNYC’s Brigid Bergin and Gotham Gazette’s Ben Max.

At 11 a.m. Monday, schools Chancellor Richard Carranza will make “an announcement about instruction” at MS 88 in Brooklyn.

At 2 p.m. Monday at City Hall, “First Lady McCray and Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams will make an announcement regarding hurricane relief for the Bahamas.”

At 4:45 p.m. Monday, City Comptroller Scott Stringer will tour Jacob Riis Early Childhood Center with State Senator Brad Hoylman.

At 5:30 p.m. Monday, Public Advocate Jumaane Williams will join the "United In Outrage: Resistance March" to protest the Trump administration ahead of the President's arrival to New York City to speak at the United Nations General Assembly.

At 6:30 p.m. Monday, Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer will co-sponsor a forum on the New York Health Act, at Hartley House.

Tuesday, September 24
Tuesday is National Voter Registration Day.

President Trump will be among the world leaders to address the United Nations on Tuesday.

At the City Council on Tuesday:
--At 10 a.m., the Committee on Women and Gender Equity and the Committee on General Welfare will jointly meet on several bills. 
--At 1 p.m., the Committee on Education will hold an oversight hearing on “Breaking Testing Culture: Evaluating multiple pathways to determine student mastery.”
--At 1 p.m., the Committee on Transportation will meet to discuss a legislation corresponding to off-hour deliveries at city facilities. 
--At 2 p.m., the Committee on Civil and Human Rights will meet to discuss a bill that would prohibit conversion therapy services.

At 11 a.m. Tuesday, the Senate Standing Committee on Investigations and Government Operations, the Assembly Standing Committee on Governmental Operations, and the Assembly Legislative Commission on Government Administration will jointly hold a public hearing on New York State’s response to federal government shutdowns. 

Regional Plan Association will host a panel titled “New York 2050: Meeting our Energy Goals,” focusing on the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, from 10 to 11:30 a.m. Tuesday. Panelists include Dale Bryk, Dep. Secretary for Governor Office of Energy & Environment, Susanne DesRoches, Dep. Dir. Infrastructure + Energy at NYC Mayor's Office of Recovery & Resiliency & Office of Sustainability, Clint Plummer, Head of Market Strategies & New Projects -US at Ørsted and Juan Parra, Community Solar Program Manager at SolarOne.

City & State NY will hold its Rebuilding New York Summit involving “discussions that dissect the biggest infrastructure issues, including funding for repairs, policy recommendations, and where the city and state has seen its biggest successes and shortcomings,” at Baruch College, CUNY from 9 to 4 p.m. Tuesday. Speakers will include Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, State Senator Todd Kaminsky, City Council Members Alicka Ampry-Samuel and Ydanis Rodriguez, and Port Authority Executive Director Rick Cotton, among many others.

At 3 p.m. Tuesday, the Open Society Foundation will host Building Power: Women’s Leadership in the Fight for Justice, Democracy, and Fair Work. Speakers will include Sharan Burrow, general secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation; Liz Shuler, secretary-treasurer of the AFL-CIO; Anannya Bhattacharjee, international coordinator of Asia Floor Wage Alliance; Maricarmen Molina, general secretary of the Confederación Sindical de Trabajadores y Trabajadoras de El Salvador-CSTS; and Liduvina Magarin, executive director of the Center for Worker and Migrant Integration.

At 6 p.m., Tuesday, City Comptroller Scott Stringer will host a celebration of African immigrant heritage.

Wednesday, September 25
At 8 a.m. Wednesday, The Association for a Better New York and Citizens Union will hold a discussion on this year’s charter revision proposals, with Gail Benjamin and Carl Weisbrod of the 2019 Charter Revision Commission.

The MTA Board will meet on Wednesday.

CUNY Urban Food Policy Institute will host the Urban Food Policy Forum: Putting Food on the Green New Deal menu from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. Wednesday. 

At the City Council on Wednesday:
--At 10 a.m., the Committee on Finance will meet to discuss the designation of certain organizations to receive funding in the Expense Budget. 
--At 10:30 a.m., the Committee on Rules, Privileges and Elections will hold a hearing with Alana Sivin, NYC Board of Correction’s Transgender, gender nonconforming, non-binary, and intersex Task Force. 
--At 1:30 p.m., the full City Council will meet for a Stated Meeting, prefaced by Council Speaker Corey Johnson’s usual pre-stated press conference.

At 5 p.m. Wednesday, this week’s Max & Murphy show will air on WBAI radio, 99.5 FM and wbai.org, and feature conversations on the new MTA capital plan with Nicole Gelinas of City Journal and on fusion voting with a guest to-be-determined.

Thursday, September 26
At the City Council on Thursday:
--At 10 a.m., the Committee on Governmental Operations and the Committee on Land Use will jointly meet to discuss multiple bills related to zoning lots. 
--At 10 a.m., the Subcommittee on Capital Budget will hold an oversight hearing on Front-End Planning at the Department of Design and Construction. 
--At 10 a.m., the Committee on Technology and the Committee on Small Business will jointly hold an oversight hearing to discuss the expansion of the film industry and its impact, and related legislation. 
--At 1 p.m., the Committee on Parks and Recreation will hold an oversight hearing to examine the Park Department’s maintenance practices. 
--At 1 p.m., the Committee on Higher Education will meet to tour the New Science Building and STEM initiatives at Lehman College in West Bronx, NY. 

At 7 p.m. Thursday, Governor Andrew Cuomo will join former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie as the inaugural speaker of the Christie Institute of Public Policy in partnership with Seton Hall University School of Law. 

Friday, September 27
At 10 a.m. Friday, Mayor de Blasio may make his weekly appearance on WNYC’s The Brian Lehrer Show.

***
Have events or topics for us to include in an upcoming Week Ahead in New York Politics? E-mail Gotham Gazette executive editor Ben Max any time: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. (please use "For Week Ahead" as email subject).

***
by Ben Max
@GothamGazette

(photo: Michael Appleton/Mayor's Office)

In a process likely to last years, the New York Board of Regents is considering changing high school graduation requirements, which may include revising or creating a substitute for the Regents exams. To graduate, most students must currently pass five Regents exams. But while the education policy-setting board recently announced its exploratory plans, another path to a New York high school diploma already exists: a set of performance-based tasks that test students on an array of skills meant to be more in line with college- and career-readiness than what typical standardized exams measure.

Roughly 38 schools with about 30,000 students in the New York Performance Standards Consortium abide by the Performance-Based Assessment Tasks as their graduation requirements, along with the English Regents exam.

The beginnings of the Consortium were formed in the early 1990s when the state education commissioner at the time agreed to grant a waiver to a group of schools that had been using performance assessments instead of the state’s standardized exams, according to the Consortium’s website. The official organization formed in 1998, and now about 30,000 students attend the 38 Consortium schools in New York City, Rochester, and Ithaca.

Rather than earning a score of 65 percent or better on the five Regents exams in order to graduate high school, students at Consortium schools complete written tasks and oral presentations called Performance-Based Assessment Tasks (PBAT) against a set of rubrics, and must also pass the English Regents exam.

The PBATs include an analytical essay on literature, a social studies research paper, an extended or original science experiment, and problem-solving at higher levels of math. Instead of learning a vast amount of material for the Regents exams, students at Consortium schools may choose to take a deep dive into one topic for their PBAT, such as writing a paper on “Why did the Civil Rights Movement happen when it did?” or conducting an experiment on “The Effect of Tank Volume on Goldfish Growth.” Students work on their projects for months, compared to a Regents exam that may be conducted over a day or two.

Students give a presentation on their work to a panel of three external evaluators, and teachers use a standardized rubric for grading. The rubric is aligned to state educational standards, and each year the Consortium conducts studies where teachers from every Consortium school compare their students’ work to align weak, medium, and high performances to ensure standardization.

Gareth Robinson, the principal of a Consortium school in Queens, said when he taught at a Regents-based school, he had to make sure to teach the facts that were going to be on the exam, which did not necessarily prepare students for the writing and critical thinking skills they need in college.

“When I taught U.S. history last, [my students] were really interested in slavery and how the Constitution was interpreted today,” Robinson said. “But we didn’t really have time to get into that because it was, ‘I need you guys to memorize these dates, these four facts, because you need to recognize them on the test.’”

Regents Rethinking Process Underway
The Board of Regents announced a plan in July to form a commission that will make recommendations about potential changes to the state’s graduation requirements. Earlier this month, that mission was fleshed out slightly more, giving the commission a two-year timeline. The commission is expected to be formed in February and have representatives from New York City, the state PTA, and teachers unions, among others.

As states like California, Arizona, and South Carolina have eliminated their high school exit exams, New York has made room for some alternative pathways to graduation, such as the PBAT, while also significantly tinkering with the Regents exams and passing requirements themselves. The majority of states do not require a state exam for students to earn a high school diploma. While some raise doubts about moving away from the standardized tests as what they call an “objective measure,” the PBAT Consortium has been slowly growing and may offer a model for the larger shift that could be afoot.

The state allows students to substitute the social studies exam for other tests in career and technical education, art, or math, also known as the “four plus one” option. Additionally, there is an appeals process that may allow a student to earn a Regents diploma with a score lower than the passing 65%.

At the July Board of Regents meeting, several of the regents expressed the need for the commission to examine the emphasis of state tests as the only measure of achievement, what learning looks like in the 21st Century, and how some students, including some who pass the tests, do not have the reading and writing skills necessary to succeed in higher education.

New York State Education Department officials told Gotham Gazette that the Board of Regents has only discussed the process to review diploma options in New York, and there has been no discussion on specific alternative diploma options at this point. Spokesperson Emily DeSantis said the Board of Regents wants to ensure “ample time is provided” for the commission to carry out its work, and “no decisions have been made at this point.”

“The Board of Regents and the State Education Department have made it a priority to allow students to demonstrate their proficiency to graduate in many ways,” DeSantis said. “As we have said, this is not about changing our graduation standards. It’s about providing different avenues — equally rigorous — for kids to demonstrate they are ready to graduate with a meaningful diploma.”

Michael Benedetto of the Bronx, who represents District 82 in the New York State Assembly and is the chair of the Assembly education committee, said he is “not afraid” of a step like changing or getting rid of the Regents exams, adding that other methods of evaluating students like testing language proficiency by having a discussion with a student, may be more accurate.

“I’m not afraid of exploring those options and looking at them,” Benedetto said.

State Senator John Liu of Queens, also a Democrat and the chair of the Senate’s New York City schools subcommittee, said he hopes the commission does a “thorough and exhaustive” job.

He said there is a perception that New York has a “gold standard” in terms of high school graduation requirements and the state should be regularly assessing and “revising if necessary” what it means to be the gold standard.

“There’s no perfect assessment system,” Liu said, “whether that be standardized written exams or subjective evaluations on a host of criteria. Every system has its weakness. It’s the right thing to do for the commission to be reviewing this.”

Ray Domanico, the director of education policy at the Manhattan Institute, a think tank, said after 20 years of the current Regents exam requirements, it’s time for the Regents to look into the policy. He said there needs to be a “more aggressive push” to certify and make paths for careers and technical jobs for students who do not go to college but need to earn a living wage.

Domanico said nationally less than 40% of students complete a bachelor’s degree by their late 20s and that the number is lower for those in New York City.

“We’ve had this policy in place for close to 20 years, now it took awhile for it to phase in, but it’s based on the notion that all students who graduate high school must be prepared for college readiness,” Domanico said. “Although we certainly want more students to be prepared for success in college, that remains a heavy lift.”

Performance-Based Assessment - A Model?
Meanwhile, according to a 2017 PBAT Consortium report, the Consortium schools have shown strong results: they had about a 20% higher percentage of students enrolling in college and higher college-readiness numbers than students from other New York City public schools. The report said Consortium schools have a higher percentage of Hispanic students, students living at the poverty level, and English Language Learners. The most recent data set available for Consortium schools was based on information from the 2014-2015 school year.

Regent Judith Johnson, who emphasized that her comments are her own and not the Board’s official policy, said performance-based assessments allow students to answer the question “what do you know?” as opposed to “do you know this?”

She said the “what do you know?” question needs to be factored into assessing student learning because it is more related to the skills students need to succeed in post-secondary education and in work settings.

“All students know something, and there needs to be a mechanism for students to demonstrate what they know,” Johnson said in an email to Gotham Gazette. “They may not know ‘this’ but many know a lot that is not included on their Regents exams, and gauging their learning by a single exam disadvantages students who are not skilled test-takers and/or whose knowledge doesn’t comport with the test-makers’ vision of what students ought to know. These are often smart, creative students who think in ways not valued by Regents exams.”

Ben Wides, a teacher at East Side Community High School, which is part of the Consortium, said the PBATs closely resemble papers and projects students will complete in college, which may lead to the better numbers. He said the process of revising and meeting with teachers creates a model for students to approach assignments in college.

“Students will have to take tests in college, they may have to take multiple choice history tests, etc., but to be a strong student in college, you need to be able to write a paper along the lines of what a PBAT is asking students to do,” Wides said. “The PBAT is a more authentic assessment of a student’s readiness to be successful in college than the Regents exam is.”

The report also showed that teacher retention rates were higher for Consortium schools, by 8 percent, and the Consortium’s four-year graduation rate was 80% compared to the larger Department of Education’s 71%. In 2018 the New York City graduation rate rose to 76 percent while the number of students the City University of New York deemed ready for college was 66%, according to state data.

Domanico said that though he has not looked recently, Consortium schools have generally produced good results. He said while there is a place for alternative assessment systems in a school system as large as New York City, the difficult questions are of scale: will the approach work for all students and are all teachers prepared to be successful in the “nontraditional” environment.

“At a minimum I would like to see those schools continue doing what they’re doing,” Domanico said. “If the evidence is still very positive for them as it has been in the past, one might think of expanding those schools, but I don’t know I’d be ready to quickly jump to that as the model for the entire city or state.”

Ann Cook, the executive director and co-founder of the Consortium, told Chalkbeat in 2018 that the Consortium’s assessment system would be difficult to spread across the state. There is also a limited number of waivers the state will grant.

“Could every kid in the state be doing this? I’d probably say no,” Cook said to Chalkbeat. “And the reason is you have to have a faculty that is interested and wants to do it. They should want to opt into this because it takes a lot of work in the school.”

Wides said that he does think the Consortium could be a model for other schools, though it is not something that could be implemented for all schools in the state because of the professional development required for teachers and the “reorientation of the school culture.”

Most Consortium schools are in New York City, and the Board of Regents and the State Education Department has extended the waiver allowing Consortium school graduates to earn a Regents diploma five times since the 1990s. There are 16 Consortium schools in Manhattan, 9 in Brooklyn and 4 in Queens. Some member schools include Beacon High School in Manhattan and Bronx Lab School.

“People have to ask what it is we want kids to be able to do when they leave high school,” Cook told Straus Media in 2015. “We’re preparing kids to survive and get the most out of the college experience.”

Robinson said when the Institute for Health Professions at Cambria Heights, the high school he co-founded and serves as principal, was forming, an adviser suggested that the school was functioning more as a Consortium school rather than a traditional school.

Robinson said he had not heard of the Consortium before, but contacted Cook about becoming a member school. At the start of the process, the Institute first became a pilot Consortium school, where students still needed to pass all the Regents exams to graduate but teachers and administrators started to prepare the work for the PBATs. Robinson said there first had to be a referendum where 90% of the teachers and the principal agreed to become a pilot school.

Later, the Consortium received from the Board of Regents and State Education Department an expansion on the number of waivers it was allowed to grant to schools looking to become full members. Robinson said two schools that were supposed to receive the waivers dropped out because their referenda failed, and the Institute was able to secure a waiver to administer the PBATs.

“So starting our second year we became a new member of the New York Performance Standards Consortium, and that was a big learning process, or I should say it was a big unlearning process,” Robinson said, “because all of the teachers, everyone, had all been trained to teach in Regents schools, had taught in Regents schools, had students taught in Regents schools.”

Robinson said teaching PBAT is a lot of work for teachers who have to design their curricula “from the ground-up” and have to know their content “really well.” He said while curricula is still aligned to state standards, it can be more individually designed to fit students’ struggles and strengths. Because students spend months working on their assessments, they have more opportunities to check in with teachers and get help if needed.

He added that the process of scheduling outside evaluators to conduct the panel portion of the assessments is a lot of added work on schools.

“A lot of schools aren’t necessarily going to want to do the work because it sounds kind of simple you know the kids do this project and write this paper and do this presentation, but it’s really hard to schedule,” Robinson said. “My school this year we had about 120 juniors and so when all of them have to present one PBAT, we have to get 120 kids scheduled at the same time of Regents week to do these presentations.”

Wides said, though, that teaching PBAT makes students more excited about education as they are learning to develop questions and then answer them using evidence and analysis rather than answering multiple choice questions or writing short essays on the Regents exams.

“If you go to a Regents school, and I don’t want to pigeon hole all Regents schools, but the academic goal is 80% of students score X on the Regents. That is not a learning goal,” Wides said. “The learning goal is I want students to be intellectually curious.”

Wides added that one challenge with teaching PBAT is choosing “depth over breadth.” He said Consortium schools may cover less content than Regents-based schools in order to devote time for students to develop the reading and writing skills for the PBAT, aiming to serve them better in the long-run.

Domanico also said that for some parents it’s difficult to make the change to a Consortium school because they “might not look like the schools they have come up through themselves.”

Parents who are familiar with progressive education, Robinson said, have no questions about the work done in Consortium schools. He said once they explain how the school works to other parents, “they get it.” Robinson added that when the school announced it was becoming a Consortium school, some students did transfer because their parents felt being at a Regents school would look better to colleges.

“Now we have our third graduating class and I can safely say in three years, 100% of our kids have been accepted to at least one school,” Robinson said. “I have for the first time in my teaching career, one of my students is getting into my alma mater, Tufts [University].”

The New York City Department of Education did not respond to a request for comment on how many schools can receive a waiver for Regents exams. Cook also did not respond to interview requests.

On Tuesday, September 24, the New York City Council education committee will hold an oversight hearing entitled "Breaking Testing Culture: Evaluating multiple pathways to determine student mastery." It's unclear how the PBAT schools will be featured, but the hearing promises to be fairly exhaustive, with, as the title suggests, heavy skepticism toward standardized testing. It comes, in the state's largest city and school district, as the statewide Regents exam review is not yet officially started. Council Member Mark Treyger of Brooklyn, a former teacher, chairs the education committee and will lead the hearing. Mentioning the hearing and inviting interested parties to testify, Treyger tweeted on Saturday that "We must explore & hear about alternative, research-based measures to gauge student proficiency & mastery of content. Relying solely on standardized exams shortchanges students & learning."

Assembly Member Benedetto said that while there aren’t that many Consortium schools in New York, there are enough to get a sense of how they are performing.

“It’s all speculation, but I would speculate that the future might look bright for these schools,” Benedetto said. “As far as I can determine they seem to be performing quite adequately. If that’s the case it can only bode well for other schools in the state to possibly follow their model and the way they go about things.”

Ben Max contributed to this story.

New York City Hall

What to watch for this week in New York politics:

Mayor Bill de Blasio begins the week in South Carolina, where he has been campaigning for president over the past few days. De Blasio is set to return to the city Monday evening. De Blasio missed another annual event he has traditionally attended when on Sunday the African American Day Parade took place without him; he's previously missed the Puerto Rican and Dominican Day Parades while campaigning for the Democratic nomination and polling at 1% or under.

After missing the cutoff for last week's Democratic primary debate, de Blasio has said that if on October 1 he doesn't meet the requirements for the October debate, he will reassess his campaign. He needs 130,000 individual donors to his campaign and to hit 2% in four different national polls considered qualifying by the Democratic National Committee. There were 10 candidates in Thursday night's debate, which had the same qualifying thresholds, and it looks like at least one or two more might make the October debate, meaning it will be over two nights instead of one.

De Blasio, New Yorkers, and others will see a sharp contract to the mayor's struggling campaign on Monday evening when, as de Blasio is returning from campaign events in front of small gatherings of people in South Carolina, Senator Elizabeth Warren will be giving a major speech in Washington Square Park that is likely to draw thousands of people.

In government news, as the week begins we're following the developing story of how city and state government are moving to combat increasing use of electonic nicotine, otherwise known as vaping or e-cigarettes. The City Council has been considering two related bills that include a ban flavored e-cigarettes, which recently received support from Speaker Johnson, but on Sunday, Governor Andrew Cuomo took "emergency executive action to ban the sale of flavored electronic cigarettes in New York State - the latest in a series of actions to combat the increasing number of youth using vape products."

This week includes a variety of interesting and important hearings and other events -- see details and the day-by-day rundown below -- including a City Council hearing on mental health among first responders that takes place amid a spike in police officer suicides. NYPD Commissioner James O'Neill will also give a speech at an event Thursday morning, City Council Speaker Corey Johnson will co-host a town hall in Manhattan with Council Member Keith Powers, Brooklyn City Council Member Carlos Menchaca will hold a public event to solicit feedback as he considers whether to agree to a rezoning of Industry City in his district, and much more.

We're also awaiting details of the MTA's next five-year capital plan, which is being quietly crafted behind the scenes as the deadline for the MTA Board to pass it is coming up soon. The plan is expected to outline more than $30 billion in spending over the next five years on signal upgrades, new subway cars, investments in the commuter rails, and much more.

***Do you have events or topics for us to include in an upcoming Week Ahead in New York Politics?
e-mail Gotham Gazette editor Ben Max: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.***

The run of the week in detail:

Monday, September 16
Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie will continue his annual statewide tour in Cortland and Tompkins Counties on Monday.

At 9 a.m. Monday, Comptroller Scott Stringer will host a roundtable discussion on his “NYC Under 3” childcare proposal at United Neighborhood Houses in Manhattan.

At 9 a.m. Monday, Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams will deliver remarks at NYU Tandon Conference on Energy & Mobility in conjunction with the Berlin Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the German American Chamber. At 6 p.m., Adams will host "a public forum on Clark Street subway station renovations with Assembly Member Jo Anne Simon, State Senator Brian Kavanagh, and Congress Member Nydia Velázquez" at Saint Francis College.

On Monday art 10 a.m., "The Committee on Standards and Ethics will continue its disciplinary hearing concerning Council Member Andy King. Please note this meeting is in executive session and will be closed to the public."

At 10 a.m. Monday, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs will join ArtBridge and Google to celebrate the first public artwork installed under the City Canvas pilot initiative at the Dr. Gertrude B. Kelly Playground.

At 11 a.m. Monday, Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul will announce the 2019 Police Officers of the Year at Syracuse Police Department. At 6:15 p.m., Hochul will announce the top teams for the Buffalo Skyway Corridor Competition.

At 11 a.m. Monday, the Joint Senate Task Force on Opioids, Addiction and Overdose Prevention will hold a public meeting at St. Johns’ Staten Island campus “to hear from stakeholders on strategies for reducing overdoses, improving individual and community health, and addressing the harmful consequences of drug use.”

At 1 p.m., State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli will hold a press conference at Schenectady Fire Station to release his latest Smart Tech report. He will be joined by Mayor Gary McCarthy, Assemblymember Angelo Santabarbara, and representatives from National Grid. Afterward, DiNapoli will attend the ABLE Information Session with Assemblymember Santabarbara at the Schenectady County Public Library.

At 5 p.m. Monday, Public Advocate Jumaane Williams will honor Congressional Rep. John Lewis at the FBA SDNY 2019 Presidential Rule of Law Award Ceremony. Williams will present Lewis with "a proclamation in recognition of his work that spans decades, as the Federal Bar Association SDNY Chapter honors him with the 2019 Presidential Rule of Law Award."

At 7 p.m. Monday, presidential candidate and U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren will deliver a speech “on how corruption in Washington has allowed the rich and powerful to tilt the rules and grow richer and more powerful. The speech will be at Washington Square Park, near the site of the former Triangle Shirtwaist Factory.” Warren has been endorsed by a number of local city officials, including Comptroller Scott Stringer and City Council Members Brad Lander, Antonio Reynoso, and Jimmy Van Bramer.

At 6 p.m. Monday, City & State NY will hold its 2019 Bronx Power 100 reception. Speakers will include Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. and New York City Health + Hospitals Vice President Theodore Long.

At 6 p.m. Monday, City Council Member Carlos Menchaca will host a community conversation, “Should Sunset Park Rezone Industry City?” at Sunset Park High School.

The 2019 New York City Charter Revision Commission will hold an information session at John Jay School of Criminal Justice about its ballot proposals from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Monday.

U.S. Sentaor Kirsten Gillibrand will appear on NY1's Inside City Hall Monday evening in the 7 and 11 p.m. hours.

At 7 p.m. Monday, Comptroller Scott Stringer will host a celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month.

Tuesday, September 17
The 74th session of the UN General Assembly begins Tuesday in Manhattan.

Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie will continue his annual statewide tour Tuesday with stops in Liverpool, Fayetteville, and Manlius.

At 8:15 a.m. Tuesday, City Council Speaker Corey Johnson will appear live on “PIX 11 Morning News.” At 9:45 a.m., Johnson will deliver remarks at a rally in support of his streets master plan bill with Families for Safe Streets and Transportation Alternatives, at 250 Broadway.

At 10 a.m. Tuesday at City Hall, "Mayor de Blasio will present the Alvarez family with a Key to the City to honor the late Detective Luis Alvarez." "In the afternoon, the Mayor will travel to Pennsylvania. He will return to New York City in the evening."

At the City Council on Tuesday:
--At 10 a.m., the Committee on Veterans will hold an oversight hearing about VetConnect NYC.
--At 10 a.m., the Committee on Finance will hold a hearing on several bills.
--At 1 p.m., the Committee on Cultural Affairs, Libraries and International Intergroup Relations will hold an oversight hearing on the Diversity in Cultural Institutions as part of the Cultural affairs’ diversity study.
--At 1 p.m., the Committee on Public Safety, the Committee on Mental Health, Disabilities and Addiction, and the Committee on Fire and Emergency Management will meet jointly for an oversight hearing on “Preventing Suicide and Promoting Mental Health for First Responders” and to discuss related legislation.

At 11 a.m. Tuesday, the State Legislative Commission on Rural Resources and Assembly Committee on Local Governments will hold a public hearing on “rural broadband” to “identify current broadband needs in rural New York State.”

At 11 a.m. Tuesday, Public Advocate Jumaane Williams will hold a press conference on "National Grid denying service to New Yorkers. The Public Advocate will join constituents, elected officials, and advocates to condemn National Grid's efforts to deny service to New Yorkers via a moratorium and their attempts to make those affected lobby on behalf of the Williams pipeline." The event will occur outside the National Grid Brooklyn office. At 5:30 p.m., Williams will join a "Day of Action on the New Public Charge Rule" in the Bronx, joining "advocates to distribute information and raise awareness of the new public charge rules, and to engage with communities about the census, citizenship and voter registration."

At noon, Crain’s New York Business will host its Most Powerful Women in New York luncheon. Speakers will include Andrea Stewart-Cousins, majority leader of the New York State Senate; Mary Ann Tighe, CEO of the New York tri-state region CBRE; LaRay Brown, CEO of One Brooklyn Health System Inc. and Interfaith Medical Center; and Mary Callahan Erdoes, CEO of Wealth and Asset Management at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

At 5:30 p.m., Queens Borough President Melinda Katz and the New York Immigration Coalition will host a Queens town hall on the “public charge” rule at Queens Borough Hall.

On Tuesday evening, the city Department of Design and Construction is holding a public hearing on the East Side Coastal Resiliency project. Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer will be among those who testify.

At 6 p.m. Tuesday in Brooklyn, Senator Zellnor Myrie is hosting "Census 2020: Crown Heights Counts."

The 2019 New York City Charter Revision Commission will hold an information session at the College of Staten Island, informing voters about its ballot proposals, from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Tuesday.

On Tuesday evening, City Council Member Keith Powers and Council Speaker Corey Johnson are hosting a town hall meeting, 6:30 p.m. at the CUNY Graduate Center.

Wednesday, September 18
At the City Council on Wednesday:
--At 9:30 a.m., the Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises will meet.
--At 10 a.m., the Committee on Aging will hold an oversight hearing about protecting seniors from extreme heat and cold.
--At 10 a.m., the Committee on Civil and Human Rights will meet on several pieces of legislation.
--At 1 p.m., the Committee on Hospitals will meet on two bills, including one that requires medical schools to train all students about “implicit bias.”
--At 1 p.m., the Committee on Economic Development, the Committee on Education, and the Committee on General Welfare will jointly meet on several bills related to healthy eating and lifestyles, among other related topics.

At 10 a.m. Wednesday, the State Public Campaign Financing Commission will hold a public hearing at the Rockefeller Institute of Government in Albany.

At 5 p.m. Wednesday, this week’s Max & Murphy show will air on WBAI radio, 99.5 FM and wbai.org, and feature a conversation with Steve Banks, the commissioner for the New York City Department of Social Services, focused on homelessness and other aspects of his portfolio.

At 6 p.m., the New York City Panel for Educational Policy will hold a meeting at the High School of Fashion Industries.

The 2019 New York City Charter Revision Commission will hold an information session at the Andrew Freedman Home in the Bronx, informing voters about its ballot proposals, from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Wednesday.

Thursday, September 19
At 8 a.m. Thursday, the Association for a Better New York will host a breakfast with NYPD Commissioner James O’Neill: “The commissioner will highlight the challenges of sustaining New York's historic crime reductions amid an evolving political climate, and examine public safety as a responsibility shared by everyone who lives and works in our nation's safest city.”

At 8:30 a.m. Thursday at New York Law School, a forum, “Seismic Shifts or Natural Progression? Recent Changes in NYC Real Estate.” Panelists include Louise Carroll, commissioner of NYC Housing Preservation and Development; Lisa Gomez, COO and partner at L+M Development Partners; Brenda Rosen, CEO of Breaking Ground; and James Whelan, President of REBNY.

At City Council on Thursday: At 10 a.m., the Committee on Youth Services will hold an oversight hearing on DYCD’s Adult Literacy Program and discuss a bill that would require bilingual after-school programs.

At 10 a.m. Thursday, State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli will attend the grand opening of Hamaspik Home Care, located in Brooklyn.

At 6 p.m. Thursday, the Manhattan Institute will host a panel titled “Future of Families in the Childless City,” focusing on New York City’s declining birth rate and the attributing causes including “pricey housing, poor schooling, declining public safety, and unwelcoming public spaces.” The panel will include Nolan Gray of the city Department of City Planning; Brad Hargreaves, Chief Executive Officer, Common; Kay Hymowitz of the Manhattan Institute and City Journal; and Derek Thompson of The Atlantic.

Friday, September 20
At 10 a.m. Friday, Mayor de Blasio may make his weekly appearance on WNYC’s The Brian Lehrer Show.

The Climate Action Strike will take place Friday in New York City and across the country.  It is part of a movement to raise awareness about environmental degradation and climate change, scheduled for just ahead of the September 23 United Nations Climate Action Summit. Additionally, the New York City Department of Education announced that schools will excuse absences of participating students.

***
Have events or topics for us to include in an upcoming Week Ahead in New York Politics? E-mail Gotham Gazette executive editor Ben Max any time: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. (please use "For Week Ahead" as email subject).

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by Ben Max & Gia Ramesh
@GothamGazette

(photo: Samar Khurshid)

The New York State Public Campaign Financing Commission heard many hours of testimony on Tuesday from experts, government reform advocates, elected officials, and others on creating a new statewide system of electoral campaign financing that would encourage small contributions and curb the effects of wealthy donors.

At what was its first public hearing of several planned for the next few weeks, the commission also explored questions around how fusion voting -- where more than one political party can nominate the same candidate for an elected office -- interplays with such a system and whether it could legally be eliminated under the commission’s mandate.

The nine-member commission was created earlier this year when the state Legislature and Governor Andrew Cuomo failed to come to an agreement over a public campaign financing system for state legislative and statewide races. Its recommendations are due by December 1 and become law unless the state Legislature holds a special session within three weeks thereafter to pass a different system. Members of the commission include two appointees each by the governor, Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, and one each for Republican minority leaders Senator John Flanagan and Assembly Member Brian Kolb. Cuomo, Stewart-Cousins and Heastie jointly appointed one member. The commission does not have a chair.

Tuesday saw two phases of testimony before the commission and a raucous rally outside Borough of Manhattan Community College in between as activists and elected officials called on the commission not to touch fusion voting, largely as a show of support for the Working Families Party, which often cross-endorses Democratic candidates.

During the first portion, 17 invited experts and advocates weighed in over the course of nearly six hours on the commission’s agenda, suggesting best practices for setting up a system that would overhaul how New York State conducts elections, fielding questions about how such a system should be structured or current models like that of New York City, and warning against doing away with fusion voting.

There were few areas of disagreement, at least among those who testified before the commission. The advocates generally agreed that a state system should be modelled after New York City’s program, which matches small dollar donations with public funds at a 6-to-1 or 8-to-1 ratio and includes fundraising and donor thresholds that candidates must meet to show grassroots support before accessing public funds. It also has low individual contribution limits, which the experts and advocates for good government said must be decreased across the board to encourage participation and reduce the appearance and reality of pay-to-play politics, particularly considering current state limits are among the highest in the nation.

They said the program must encourage viable candidates, avoid paying public funds to those running in noncompetitive races, and be timely and efficient to make it attractive to potential candidates. And they concurred that any campaign finance program should be administered and overseen by a new independent, nonpartisan agency separate from the state Board of Elections, which has a lacklustre history of enforcing campaign finance laws.

The ostensible goal of a public financing program is to limit the type of pay-to-play politics that has typified New York state elections and led to many scandals. Advocates noted that small donor matching programs not only encourage candidates to spend more time campaigning in communities but also boost diverse candidates. At the same time, they expand a candidate’s donor base along both racial and economic lines.

Richard Briffault, professor of legislation at Columbia Law School, said three aspects are necessary for a successful program: “That the program be attractive to viable candidates, that it promote electoral competition and that it operate at a reasonable cost.”

Some also said that additional reforms were necessary to ensure an effective program. Laura Ladd Bierman, executive director of the League of Women Voters of New York State, urged the commission to also reduce or eliminate contributions from lobbyists and contractors doing or seeking to do business with the state, to establish reasonable limits on party housekeeping accounts (which currently have no limits), and to add new disclosure requirements for “bundlers” who cobble together contributions from multiple donors for a single campaign.

“New York cannot build a functional campaign finance system on top of the broken enforcement structure and sky-high contribution limits” of the current system, she said.

But commission members seemed skeptical of many of the recommendations made before them. Some raised concerns about the potential costs of an expansive statewide program, whether it would encourage a glut of candidates seeking third party lines, whether a separate agency to oversee it was appropriate, whether New York City’s program is as effective as advocates say, and even whether it should be uniformly applied across the state.

Ayirini Fonseca-Sabune, New York City’s chief democracy officer, sought to defend the city’s program, noting that it has recently been strengthened through a charter revision process and subsequent legislation. She pointed out that in 2017, 92% of candidates on the ballot in the city’s election were participants in the program; and in the recent public advocate special election, the most common donation was $10, compared to $100 in the previous public advocate race.

“I think it’s not perfect,” she said of the city’s program, when pressed by Commissioner Mylan Denerstein on how it could be better. “There’s always room to improve but I think it is a leader in the system.”

A crucial question was whether participation in the program would mean higher costs to the taxpayer. The legislation creating the commission authorized up to $100 million each year to fund a public financing program, but Michael Malbin, former professor of political science at Rockefeller College, University at Albany, estimated it would only cost about $240 million for every four-year election cycle, or $60 million annually. He did say, however, that it would only work that way if the qualifying thresholds proposed by the governor were lowered. “It needs minor tweaks but not in my view a major overhaul,” he said.

Even before beginning its work, the commission came under criticism for having included fusion voting on its agenda. There are already two separate lawsuits filed against it, by the Working Families Party and the Conservative Party, who believe the governor is out to eliminate fusion voting, which allows them a level of clout in New York politics.

At Tuesday’s hearing, several experts cautioned the commission to avoid being distracted by the issue of fusion voting and to focus solely on campaign finance reform. Representatives from the WFP made an impassioned plea as well. “Disenfranchising anybody is a serious offense against democracy,” said Alex Rabb, an election lawyer, noting that fusion voting had repeatedly been upheld in New York top courts and eliminating it would be unconstitutional. He and others also argued that the legislation authorizing the commission made no mention of fusion voting.

Heather McGhee, a volunteer on the WFP national committee, said fusion voting is an “essential element of a healthy democracy” as third parties give voters a home when they are disenchanted with the two major political parties. Scrapping fusion voting would also limit voter choice, they argued.

Commissioner Jay Jacobs, chair of the state Democratic Party and appointed to the commission by Cuomo, seemed particularly intent on critiquing fusion voting and insisted, along with Commissioner Henry Berger, that it was within the commission’s authority to consider ending the system because it would affect how public financing would work. Jacobs said fusion voting already limits voter choice, since one candidate can run on multiple ballot lines, and that if public funds were made available, potential candidates in suburban and upstate counties may flood the ballot in attempting to run on third party lines. That, in turn, would be cost prohibitive and could blow past the $100 million funding cap, he speculated. “We would see a proliferation of primaries, opportunities to ballot, that would have a cost impact,” he said. “That’s why I think we have to look at it.”

Jacob’s criticism, to those who support fusion voting, is somewhat unfounded since public funds are given to individual candidates regardless of how many ballot lines they may pursue.

Republican appointees David Previte and Kimberly Galvin showed somewhat different opinions. Previte conjectured that ending fusion voting might actually lead to more candidates running, adding strain and cost to the system. And Galvin argued that it was not within the commission’s mandate.

Much like New York City’s public financing program is administered by the nonpartisan Campaign Finance Board, experts argued that any state program must similarly be managed by an agency with a strong culture of independence, ideally by virtue of its structure and composition. Evan Davis, manager of the Committee to Reform the State Constitution, proposed an agency comprised of members appointed by the judiciary, legislature, and executive, pointing out that the bipartisan Board of Elections does not have a reputation for independence.

Though Davis conceded that no agency could be perfectly independent, he said, “You have the ability to really move the ball forward.”

Commissioners Previte and Galvin took issue with that recommendation (as they did with many of the ideas put forward on Tuesday). Galvin, who is co-counsel and co-director of the state BOE’s campaign finance compliance unit, said Davis’ proposal would effectively set up another version of the BOE but without the institutional knowledge and experience to handle campaign finance matters.

Jacobs raised other concerns as well, about how limiting spending might encourage independent expenditure campaigns and whether candidates in districts with lower median incomes should get higher matching funds.

Experts pushed back against both arguments.

Susan Lerner, executive director of Common Cause New York, said a public matching funds program is “the only effective counter” against independent expenditures, particularly if it is bolstered with strong disclosure requirements. Rick Schaffer, chair of the New York City Campaign Finance Board, noted, “The uniform approach has worked and can work.” Establishing different matching ratios for different regions would be a complex system to manage, he said. Chisun Lee, senior counsel, and Joanna Zdanys, counsel, of the Brennan Center for Justice, said that could also raise legal issues.

The Brennan Center also released a new report on Monday that analyzed how small donor public financing affects constituent engagement, showing that candidates who participate in such a program receive more donations from donors in their district and raise a larger amount of funds from small donors.

Citizens Union's Rachel Bloom reiterated the demand for greater restrictions on party housekeeping accounts and on donations from those who do business with the state. "Keeping track of those doing business with government and limiting their contributions will not only help to lower the potential for 'pay-to-play', but will also allow the public, the press, and watchdogs to monitor possible conflicts of interests, and demand accountability from their elected officials when needed," she said, in her written testimony. 

Other experts and advocates who testified before the commission Tuesday included representatives from Reinvent Albany, the New York City Bar Association, and Fordham Law School professor Zephyr Teachout, who has in recent election cycles run for governor, congress, and attorney general.

Shortly after the expert testimony portion, Fair Elections for New York, a coalition of advocacy and community-based organizations that pushed for state public campaign financing, held a rally outside the hearing, calling for a strong public matching program and the preservation of fusion voting. Organizations such as Make the Road Action, Citizen Action, and New York Communities for Change were joined by several elected officials including Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, City Council Speaker Corey Johnson, State Senators Robert Jackson and Jessica Ramos, and Assemblymembers Yuh-Line Niou, Robert Carroll, Diana Richardson, Harvey Epstein, and Linda Rosenthal.

Later, the microphone at the commission hearing was opened to members of the public. Dozens spoke, including city elected officials, state legislators, and people representing party organizations and advocacy groups. The testimonies were largely in favor of creating a strong public matching funds program modelled on the city’s and preserving fusion voting.

New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer was among the many elected officials who implored the commission to decouple the issues of public campaign financing and fusion voting. “The commission needs to examine how to expand publicly financed campaigns because that is a problem in need of a solution,” he said. “But the proper time and place for debating fusion voting is not before this commission, it's in the state legislature."

Public Advocate Williams criticized what he and many others viewed as a cynical attempt by Cuomo to harm the Working Families Party. “I really think it's an atrocious overreach to combine these two issue,” said Williams, who had the WFP’s support in his attempt to unseat Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul in the 2018 Democratic primary. “We are all watching right now, in real time, while a bully follows through with a threat, with nothing to do with the initial reason this commission was put together.”

Ethan Geringer-Sameth contributed to this story.

Note - this article has been updated. 

New York City Hall

What to watch for this week in New York politics:

This week will see the 18th anniversary of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. There will be rememberances throughout the city, state, country, and world.

Also this week: Mayor Bill de Blasio begins the week on a presidential campaign trip to Puerto Rico, where he went after a stop in New Hampshire this weekend. The mayor will not be on the Democratic stage Thursday evening for the third primary debate after he failed to meet the polling and donor thresholds. De Blasio flies back to the city Monday evening. While he's away, First Lady Chirlane McCray will join Public Advocate Jumaane Williams and others to rally for Williams' paid personal time bill that de Blasio came out in support of earlier this year and, while on the campaign trail, has been pledging will pass this year, even though the City Council has indicated it has no timeline for passage and Speaker Corey Johnson has expressed concerns about its impact on small businesses. The bill would mandate that employees at businesses of five or more workers receive 10 days of paid personal time each year.

The spotlight this week will also be on de Blasio's housing plans -- Deputy Mayor Vicki Been will give a speech Tuesday morning -- and on the City Council, which has several committee hearings and a full-body Stated Meeting this week. Those are just two of a number of events to be aware of: see our day-by-day rundown below.

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The run of the week in detail:

Monday, September 9
The New York State Board of Regents will meet on Monday and Tuesday in Albany.

On Monday at the City Council:
--At 10 a.m. the Committees on Juvenile Justice and Public Safety will hold a hearing: “Oversight - Reducing Gun Violence: The Relationship Between Law Enforcement and Community Based Solutions.” Public Advocate Jumaane Williams will participate in the hearing.
--Also at 10 a.m., the Committee on Health will hold a hearing on several bills and resolutions.

At 9 a.m. Monday outside 250 Broadway, just ahead of a state Senate hearing, “Impacted New Yorkers, advocates, public defenders and elected officials will gather outside the state office building in Lower Manhattan to mark the repeal of New York’s infamous ‘Blindfold Law’ -- a landmark victory for justice. They will also urge full and immediate implementation of the new discovery statute, which officially takes effect on January 1, 2020. The new statute will help protect New Yorkers -- particularly, Black and Latinx New Yorkers who are disproportionately arrested and prosecuted -- from wrongful convictions, in addition to improving overall transparency and accountability in prosecution across the state. The rally will be followed by a public hearing held by the State Senate Codes Committee on steps taken by law enforcement to implement discovery reform.” Participants will include Senator Jamaal Bailey, impacted New Yorkers, and representatives of various groups including VOCAL-NY, JustLeadershipUSA, Citizen Action, Brooklyn Defender Services, The Bronx Defenders, The Legal Aid Society, New York County Defender Services, Brooklyn Community Bail Fund, FWD.us, Human Rights Watch, Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, and the Release Aging People in Prison (RAPP) Campaign.

On Monday at 10 a.m. in Manhattan, the State Senate will hold an oversight hearing on the implementation of discovery reform. Codes Committee Chair Senator Jamaal Bailey will lead the hearing and be joined by a number of other senators who co-sponsored the discovery reform legislation enacted into law earlier this year and set to go into effect at the start of next year.

At 12:30 p.m. Monday, Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, First Lady Chirlane McCray, and others will rally near City Hall in support of Williams’ legislation that would mandate paid time off (aka paid personal time or paid vacation) in New York City.

At 5:30 p.m. Monday, Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams will be on News12 for his monthly “Ask the Borough President” session.

At 6 p.m. Monday, Public Advocate Williams will appear on the 'Housing Justice for All' Radio Show on WHCR-FM 90.3.

At 6 p.m. Monday, the Association for a Better New York will host What’s On Tap? with NYC Department of Small Business Services commissioner Gregg Bishop, who “will discuss his path to office, experiences in government, and vision for New York City.”

At 6:30 p.m. Monday at Queens Borough Hall, the 2019 Charter Revision Commission will hold a voter information session regarding the 19 proposals in five questions that will be on the New York City ballot later this fall.

Tuesday, September 10
At 8 a.m. Tuesday, Crain’s Business will host a breakfast forum with Vicki Been, Deputy Mayor for Housing and Economic Development, to “discuss her goals, housing policy changes and the city's economic development post-Amazon.”

At 9 a.m. Tuesday, the NYC Board of Corrections will hold a general public meeting.

At 9:30 a.m. Tuesday at Brooklyn Borough Hall, “Brooklyn Borough President Eric L. Adams will host his sixth annual 9/11 remembrance event in the Rotunda of Brooklyn Borough Hall to honor those lost during and since the tragic attacks on September 11, 2001. A banner with the names of all 266 Brooklyn residents who died that day is on display at the top of the steps behind Brooklyn Borough Hall now through the anniversary next Tuesday. This memorial, first unveiled during 2017’s remembrance ceremony, was envisioned by Borough President Adams — himself a 9/11 first responder — as a way to give the victims’ loved ones and all Brooklynites a place to pay their respects.”

At 10 a.m. Tuesday the state campaign finance reform commission will hold its first of four public hearings, at the Borough of Manhattan Community College. From 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., experts invited to testify will appear, then starting at 4 p.m., members of the public will be allow to testify.

At the City Council on Tuesday:
--At 10 a.m., the Committee on Transportation will hold a hearing: “Oversight - TLC’s Implementation of For-Hire Vehicle Growth Restrictions, For-Hire Vehicle Driver Pay Standards, and Other Recent Local Laws.”
--Also at 10 a.m. Tuesday, the Committee on Housing and Buildings will hold a hearing on several bills.
--At 3 p.m. Tuesday, the Committee on Education will hold a hearing on several bills and resolutions, including a bill that would require “A pilot program to review school start times to reduce adolescent sleep deprivation” and a bill that would require more reporting on health education in city schools.

At 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, the New York State Joint Commission on Public Ethics will hold a public meeting.

At 6 p.m. Tuesday, Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez will deliver remarks about how his “office is working to keep Brooklyn safe” at East Midwood Jewish Center.

At 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at Brooklyn Borough Hall, the 2019 Charter Revision Commission will hold a voter information session regarding the 19 proposals in five questions that will be on the New York City ballot later this fall.

At 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, the New York City Bar will hold Access To Justice: It's Not Just Lawyers Anymore, a discussion on people and technology outside of court-assigned lawyers who can provide access to justice. Speakers will include Noelle Francis, executive director of HeatSeek, and Rebecca Sandefur, Associate Professor of Sociology & Law at the University of Illinois.

Wednesday, September 11
Wednesday is the 18th anniversary of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. There will be remembrances across the city, state, country, and world.

At 3:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, the Vera Institute of Justice and The Square One Project will host Reimagining Justice. “As we approach the 25th anniversary of the federal 1994 Crime Bill, this multi-format event will consider the visionary work, big ideas, and fundamental values that will guide the next 25 years of justice policy.”

At 5 p.m. Wednesday, this week’s Max & Murphy show on WBAI radio, 99.5 FM or wbai.org, will feature NYPD Deputy Commissioner for Intelligence and Counterterrorism John Miller, who will discuss the NYPD’s counterterrorism efforts since September 11, 2001.

Thursday, September 12
At 8 a.m. Thursday, the Association for a Better New York will host First Deputy Comptroller Alaina Gilligo for “an inside look at the Comptroller's office. The Comptroller's office safeguards the City’s fiscal health, roots out waste, fraud and abuse in local government, and ensures that municipal agencies serve the needs of all New Yorkers.”

At the City Council on Thursday:
--At 10 a.m., the Committee on Immigration will hold a hearing on several bills.
--At 10:30 a.m. the Committee on Rules, Privileges and Elections will hold a hearing on nominations by the mayor of Jarrod E. Whittington to the Environmental Control Board and Everardo Jefferson to the Landmarks Preservation Commission.
--At 11 a.m., the Committee on Land Use will meet on multiple items.
--At 1:30 p.m., the full Council will hold a Stated Meeting, likely to be preceded by the usual pre-Stated press conference led by Speaker Corey Johnson.

At 10 a.m. Thursday, the New York City Campaign Finance Board will hold a board meeting.

At 12:45 p.m. Thursday, New York Law School will host Privacy Talks: The Future of Consumer Privacy with Mary Stone Ross of MSR Strategies.

On Thursday at 6 p.m. at Monroe College, the Bronx State Senate delegation -- Senators Jamaal Bailey, Alessandra Biaggi, Gustavo Rivera, Luis Sepulveda, and Jose Serrano -- will hold a “legislative update” for Bronxites.

At 6 p.m. Thursday at Community Church of New York, Beyond Plastics, NYPIRG, and former EPA Regional Administrator Judith Enck will host a discussion about how New York City can “break free from plastic.”

Also at 6 p.m. Thursday, New Yorkers for Parks will host Open Space Dialogues: Reconstructing the Capital Process, a discussion “to consider the successes, as well as the room for improvement, in New York City’s parks capital process.” Speakers will include Andrew Cohen, City Council Member; Diane Jackier, chief of capital strategic initiatives at NYC Parks; Sue Donoghue, president and park administrator of the Prospect Park Alliance; Jennifer Godenzo, senior director at the Participatory Budgeting Project; Celeste Frye, founder and CEO of Public Works Partners; and Charles McKinney, practical visionary.

Also at 6 p.m. Thursday, Queens Borough President Melinda Katz will host a celebration of Trinidad and Tobago’s independence at Queens Borough Hall.

At 6:30 p.m. Thursday, the Civilian Complaint Review Board will hold a public board meeting. “Participants will have the opportunity to ask questions about police-community relations and learn about key Agency updates. Investigators will be available to receive complaints of misconduct.”

There will be a Democratic primary debate in the race for the party’s presidential nomination on Thursday at 8 p.m. Mayor de Blasio did not qualify.

Friday, September 13
Mayor de Blasio may make his weekly appearance on WNYC’s The Brian Lehrer Show on Friday at 10 a.m.

***
Have events or topics for us to include in an upcoming Week Ahead in New York Politics? E-mail Gotham Gazette executive editor Ben Max any time: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. (please use "For Week Ahead" as email subject).

***
by Ben Max
@GothamGazette