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Democratic Campaign Chief: Even a ‘Blue Trickle’ Will Flip State Senate


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Senator Gianaris and colleagues (photo via Gianaris Facebook)


Predictions of a nationwide “blue wave” of anti-Trump sentiment resulting in major Democratic gains have been tempered as the president maintains strong support among Republicans and the economy, broadly speaking, is going strong.

But even if the blue wave ends up being more like a trickle, that would be good news to state Senator Michael Gianaris of Queens, who chairs the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee (DSCC) and needs to net just one seat this fall to take control of the chamber and thus the entire Legislature.

In an interview as the end of session and official start of campaign season approached, Gianaris said Republicans have been holding on to numerous seats by slim margins.

“By virtue of the gerrymandering that’s happened here in New York in the Senate, Republican districts are stretched so thin and their margins of victory are always so narrow that a trickle is enough for us to make a difference,” he told Gotham Gazette.

“It’s just a question of degrees. Any tip in our favor will lead to more seats in our hands, and we’re one seat shy. So, we’re very optimistic,” he said, echoing a sentiment shared by Senate Democratic Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, who could become the first woman and first woman of color to lead the Senate if the Democrats take control.

Gianaris said the DSCC won’t start investing in individual Democrats’ campaigns until late summer or early fall. He mentioned numerous seats the committee might target throughout the state, though it is yet to make a decision about Senator Simcha Felder and his Brooklyn district.

Republicans are blocking Democrats from controlling the chamber thanks to Felder, who is a registered Democrat and has repeatedly run on the Democratic line, but caucuses with Republicans. Felder ran unopposed in 2016 and appeared on both major party ballot lines.

At their state nominating convention last month, Democrats passed resolutions to kick Felder out of the party and support a challenger to him. He is still running as a Democrat, though.

While Gianaris called Felder’s seat “a hostile district” -- and he faces a Democratic primary challenger, Blake Morris -- Gianaris said the DSCC was still waiting to determine if it would get involved in the race.

“What we’re evaluating is, is beating Felder in a primary more or less likely than winning some of these general election contests?” Gianaris said. “We have a lot of opportunities on our plate.”

Most of those opportunities appear to be outside the five boroughs -- there are just three members of the Senate Republican conference that represent New York City districts -- Senators Felder, Marty Golden, and Andrew Lanza.

Gianaris also shied away from committing to either of the Democrats in the other potentially intriguing New York City general election Senate race, for Golden’s Brooklyn seat (Lanza, of Staten Island, is not seen as beatable). The incumbent has provoked a streak of damaging headlines -- ranging from alleged threats against a bicyclist to parachuting while receiving disability payments -- providing Democratic challengers Ross Barkan and Andrew Gounardes plenty of fodder for attacks.

“There’s one blunder after another that will make that race even more possible than usual,” said Gianaris.

But he added, “I try to look at it coldly. As long as I pick up the seats I need, which right now is one...I’m agnostic as to where it comes from.”

Golden ran unopposed in 2016. He won easily in 2014 and 2012, when he beat Gounardes by a decisive margin.

As this year’s legislative session ended, the Senate -- Republicans’ only stronghold at the state level given Democratic control of the Assembly and all four statewide positions -- was deadlocked 31-31 between Republicans and Democrats since the GOP’s 32nd senator, Tom Croci of Long Island, was called to active duty with the Navy last month. Through the fall elections, Democrats must net just one seat to take the majority in the chamber for the first time in nearly a decade. Depending on the results of the gubernatorial race -- no Republican has been governor since 2006 -- Democratic control of the upper chamber could pave the way for passage of a slew of the party’s priorities.

Gianaris indicated Democrats are likely to focus on two Long Island seats where the incumbent won by razor-thin margins two years ago: Republican Senator Carl Marcellino, who won parts of Nassau and Suffolk Counties by less than 1 percent of the vote; and Democrat Senator John Brooks, who won by an even smaller margin.

Gianaris also pointed to the high number of Republicans who have announced they aren’t seeking reelection. In addition to Croci, they include John Bonacic of the Hudson Valley, John DeFrancisco of Syracuse, William Larkin of Orange County, and Kathy Marchione of Saratoga. Not all of the seats are in play for Democrats, but some appear to be.

Gianaris is also eyeing Republican seats that Democrats have won in the past - the 46th district outside Albany, currently held by George Amedore; and the 41st district in the Hudson Valley, where Sue Serino is the incumbent.

“Before you know it, you’re looking at 10 to 12 pockets of opportunity on offense and, effectively, the only seat we have to defend is John Brooks,’” he said.

Senate Democrats have crowed over Republicans’ resignation announcements, saying they show the GOP knows it’s doomed this year. A Senate Republican spokesperson did not answer a request for comment for this article.

Senator John Flanagan, the Senate majority leader, has tried to sound a confident note amid the flurry of resignations.

"New Yorkers know that our Majority is the only thing standing in the way of the New York City politicians implementing an agenda that will hurt our economy and make life more difficult for hardworking middle-class taxpayers," he told the New York Daily News. "We will succeed in November and maintain our majority so the true priorities of New Yorkers continue to be put first."

Senate Democrats increased their ranks in April, when the group of eight renegades known as the Independent Democratic Conference (IDC) ended its coalition with Republicans and rejoined the mainstream Democratic fold, taking the conference from 23 to 31 members. The move came as nearly all of the IDC members faced primary challengers who decried them as “Trump Democrats” willing to empower Republicans in order to gain perks at the expense of progressive values.

Gianaris was one of the strongest critics of the IDC during its seven-year alliance with Republicans, and he was part of a long-term feud with Senator Jeff Klein, the leader of the IDC. But Gianaris said the DSCC has no intention of supporting challengers like Alessandra Biaggi, who is running against Klein, of the Bronx, as long as the ex-IDC members don’t break their promises.

Gianaris noted that Senator Stewart-Cousins, the Democratic leader, is supporting all members of her conference, including former IDC members, a point she recently stressed during a Gotham Gazette/City Limits podcast appearance.

“At this point, the former IDC members are members of our conference,” Gianaris said. “We’ve committed to not opposing them.”

Asked whether he would go so far as to discourage Democrats from challenging ex-IDC members, Gianaris declined to comment.

“Everyone seems to be on their best behavior on both sides and there seems to be genuine effort to work cooperatively and get to where we’re trying to go, so hopefully that continues,” he said of the Democratic conference since ex-IDC members rejoined it.

Asked whether he actually trusts the former IDC members -- who reneged on campaign promises to quit their alliance with Republicans in 2014 -- Gianaris said with a laugh, “I’ve come to trust very few people in politics.”

“But I can say…there’s been action behind the words. Hopefully that holds,” he added.

As in previous years’ elections, the Republican campaign committee has much more cash than the Democrats do -- $1,549,017.70 compared to $691,274.46, according to the latest disclosure reports.

However, Gianaris said trends are favoring Democrats this year.

“That gap is much smaller than it would normally be,” he said. “I think we’re about a half-million ahead of pace and they’re a million below pace, if you went back to 2016.”

Around this time in the 2016 election cycle, Republicans had more than $2 million and Democrats had a little over $225,000.

True to his role as Democratic cheerleader, Gianaris said he’s confident this year will bring a “blue wave” to the state.

“All around the country, Democrats are performing at a higher clip than would normally be expected,” he said. “I think it’s a legitimate wave.”

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by Shant Shahrigianh, Gotham Gazette
      

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What Did and Did Not Move at End of State Legislative Session


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Gov. Cuomo holds a press conference (photo: Kevin P. Coughlin/Governor's Office)


A particularly dysfunctional, even for New York, state legislative session came to a halt on Wednesday with little movement on most of the major issues animating state government. The reunification of the Independent Democratic Conference and the mainline Senate Democrats led to business slowing to a drip in the Senate after the passage of the state budget; things became particularly impaired after one Republican senator, Tom Croci, was recalled to active military duty, leaving the chamber with no working majority and a paralysis of legislative business on anything controversial, and at times even on the mundane.

Even as the Democrat-dominated Assembly passed a wide variety of legislation, there appeared to be little appetite for the annual package of compromise legislation, in part, it seems, due to election year considerations. Every seat in both houses of the Legislature is on the ballot this fall, as well as the four statewide positions of governor, lieutenant governor, comptroller, and attorney general.

Perhaps the most significant item to break through the Albany morass was the approval of the Airtrain LaGuardia project, and the simultaneous approval of the use of eminent domain to build it. Otherwise, there was no movement on major issues such as ethics reform, criminal justice reform, teacher evaluations, and the renewal of speed cameras near New York City schools, among other more contentious issues where no agreements were reached among Assembly and Senate leaders and Governor Andrew Cuomo.

Even as lawmakers left Albany for the end of the scheduled session, presumably done with legislative business for the rest of the calendar year, there was some talk of a special session in the coming weeks or months in order to address a small number of issues, like the speed cameras.

But as of now, the session is over and there are no concrete plans for legislators to be called back to the Capitol. A look at some of the highlights of what did and (mostly) did not move as the legislative session ended.

What awaits the governor’s pen

Airtrain LaGuardia
The Assembly and Senate passed a bill that would authorize the Airtrain LaGuardia project to bring a rail link to LaGuardia Airport, and would also authorize the state to acquire property in Queens via eminent domain for use in that project. The bill further stated the expected route that the rail link would take. The bill passed the Assembly on Monday 134-1, with new Manhattan Assemblymember Harvey Epstein the sole dissenter; it passed the Senate 52-8 on Wednesday, with seven city Democrats and one upstate Republican, Joseph Robach, voting against.

Fixing up LaGuardia, the only major airport in the region without a direct rail link, has become something of a calling for Cuomo, a Queens native, throughout his tenure, so he is almost certain to sign the bill into law. Cuomo has championed the Airtrain LaGuardia project, saying that his program is “transforming LaGuardia into a world-class transportation gateway.” Cuomo has also helmed the construction of a new terminal at LaGuardia for Delta Airlines.

But community groups in the Queens neighborhoods surrounding the airport have been steadfast in their opposition to the project, which they believe will negatively impact their quality of life with little upside for community members. Transit advocates, meanwhile, contend that the funds used on the construction of the Airtrain can be put to better use. On Thursday, opponents protested the Airtrain’s approval at the governor’s office. Meanwhile, Queens civic organizations have floated a petition demanding an environmental impact statement for the project.

Prosecutorial Accountability Office
The Senate passed a bill last week to establish a “State Commission on Prosecutorial Conduct,” an eleven-member body consisting of appointees of the governor, Legislature, and chief judge. The commission would investigate prosecutorial misconduct and, if warranted, discipline prosecutors found guilty of wrongdoing. The Assembly passed the bill on Tuesday. It’s not immediately clear if Cuomo will sign it.

The Assembly noted that the past few years have seen several “high profile exonerations of people who were wrongfully convicted of serious crimes in New York State.” Such wrongful convictions are not always the result of an accident: prosecutors have been known to withhold or even tamper with evidence that could potentially exonerate a defendant. As such, district attorneys have historically opposed legislation forcing them to turn over all evidence in the discovery phase of the legal process.

Prosecutors have also come under suspicion in recent years due to their close working relations with police, and the potentially related and frequent lack of charges for officers accused of wrongdoing. In 2015, Governor Cuomo empowered the New York Attorney General to act as a special prosecutor in cases when officers are involved in the death of unarmed civilians.

The Assembly noted that the measure has been endorsed by Human Rights Watch. It was championed in the Senate by retiring Senator John DeFrancisco, a Syracuse-area Republican.

Feminine hygiene products for inmates
The Senate, on June 12, passed a bill to provide free menstrual products, such as tampons or pads, to inmates at state and local correctional facilities. The bill passed 59-2, with Republicans Pamela Helming and Robert Ortt dissenting. The bill passed the Assembly later that same day 142-1, with Republican Christopher Friend dissenting, and awaits the likely signature of the governor, who signaled his support in January. The Assembly had earlier passed the bill in June of last year and January of this year, but it failed in the Senate.

In 2016, New York City required that women be provided free menstrual products in all city correctional facilities, as well as schools and homeless shelters. The federal government did the same for its prisons last summer. But as of 2017, according to the Roosevelt Institute, women in New York State prisons were provided only 10 free pads per month, “which is far below the recommended amount of 20 per monthly cycle.”

Otherwise, inmates must purchase tampons or pads from the prison commissary; according to Senator Roxanne Persaud, at the Taconic State Correctional Facility, “one tampon costs 24 cents. The average female inmate makes approximately 17 cents per hour. Thus, female inmates must spend their week's earnings to purchase a 20-count box of tampons, which still may be insufficient for many women whose periods last up to seven days.”

There are also dozens of other, non-controversial bills that both houses passed that will head to Cuomo’s desk.

What failed to pass the Legislature (a partial list)

Speed cameras
The Legislature failed to renew and expand the city’s program to use speed cameras around schools, eliciting anger from Mayor Bill de Blasio and other local elected officials and advocates, as well as the governor. De Blasio, who said the inaction was a “massive failure of leadership” by Senate Republicans, called on the Legislature to return for a special session to renew the program.

“The State Assembly majority has shown the way with their expansion bill,” de Blasio said in a statement. “Senate Republicans haven't done their job until they pass the bill, which has majority support. Our families now need the Governor to do all he can to aid its passage and sign it into law. The Senate must return next week to keep our children safe.”

Governor Cuomo also criticized the Senate, saying on a press conference call Thursday that he “pushed the Legislature very hard” on the speed camera issue. Like the mayor, the governor said that the Legislature should convene a special session, before the beginning of the school year in September, to renew the camera program.

The renewal and expansion of the program, meant to increase road safety around schools and discourage reckless driving, was passed by the Assembly and had the support of a majority of senators, but was nevertheless held up by the Senate’s Republican leadership. Senator Simcha Felder, a Brooklyn Democrat who caucuses with the Republicans said he would agree to support the measure as long as it was tied to increasing the presence of police at all city schools; the Democrats were not in favor. A Senate GOP spokesperson said that Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie and Mayor de Blasio did little to come to a compromise on the speed camera issue.

A somewhat related bill proposed by Senator Marty Golden of Brooklyn, which would place new signage in school zones to prevent reckless driving but would not renew the camera program, resulted in a rare failed floor vote in the Senate. The measure lost 30-28 on party lines (a bill needs 32 votes to pass), with Republicans plus Felder voting in favor and Democrats voting against, signaling their refusal to settle for anything short of the cameras.

Education
Amid the hullabaloo over Mayor de Blasio’s new push to reform the specialized high school admission process, including controversially eliminating the entrance exam, the Assembly and Senate declared that a vote on abolishing the test would not take place this year. Governor Cuomo dismissed de Blasio’s proposal, and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie said that he would not schedule a vote before engaging in discussions on the proposal with relevant parties.

Meanwhile, the Assembly in May passed a bill that would decouple student scores on state standardized tests with teacher evaluations, a controversial issue over the course of several years that appeared on its way to some finality. The Senate passed the measure as well, but tied it to an increase in the cap on charter schools, to 560 charters to be allowed in the state. Heastie referred to that aspect of the Senate bill as “cyanide” for the anti-charter Assembly Democrats, and the teacher evaluation reform did not move through Albany by the end of the session.

Child Victims Act
Once again, the Child Victims Act failed to pass through the Legislature before the end of the session. The legislation, which would extend the statute of limitations on child sexual abuse and create a “lookback window” of one year for victims of abuse to sue their abusers, has the support of Governor Cuomo and has repeatedly passed the Assembly, but has stalled in the Senate, where Republicans have again proposed their own version of a bill on the topic that Democrats call overly watered down.

Ethics reform and good government
Government ethics reform achieved no ground again in Albany this year. Governor Cuomo and the Assembly, during the budget process, proposed closing the LLC loophole in campaign finance and creating a statewide public campaign financing system similar to that of New York City; the Senate rejected these measures and they did not appear in the budget. As in previous years, the Assembly and governor did not prioritize the measures in post-budget legislative activity.

The Senate, in May, passed a good government reform package that, among other things, would create a searchable database of state economic development contracts, return certain procurement oversight powers to the state comptroller, and ban executive appointees from donating to the executive’s political campaigns. These measures, which were not supported by Cuomo, were not taken up by the Assembly, though the majority there has supported the “database of deals” and restoration of comptroller powers in the past.

Criminal justice reform
The Assembly passed several criminal justice reforms this session, including some that were in its budget proposal but failed to make it into the enacted legislation. Many had been supported by Governor Cuomo. These include an elimination of cash bail in most instances, and reform of the state’s poorly-regarded discovery laws. The Assembly also passed bills to seal low-level marijuana conviction records and to reduce the use of solitary confinement in state jails and prisons. None of these bills were passed by the Senate.

Healthcare
The Assembly passed the New York Health Act, which would establish a single-payer healthcare system in New York State. The Senate did not take up the bill, and the governor has been ambiguous on whether or not he supports it.

The Reproductive Health Act, which would codify the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision into New York state law, passed the Assembly in March but, once again, did not make it through the state Senate. The RHA was involved in last month’s chaos in the Senate: Democrats introduced the RHA and the Comprehensive Contraception Coverage Act, which would codify the requirement of insurance companies to provide free contraception as part of their plans, as amendments to an uncontroversial Republican bill regarding concussions.

When Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul intended to break a tie to pass the amendments, the Senate majority instead tabled all legislative matters that day.

Guns and school safety
In the wake of the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida, Governor Cuomo launched a renewed push for additional gun control. His marquee item, a “red flag” bill that would allow school staff to petition judges to remove guns from certain students’ homes, passed the assembly last week. The Senate, however, pushed Felder’s school safety measures that would place armed guards or police officers at every school in the state. The measures pushed by Assembly Democrats and Senate Republicans were both unpalatable to the other, leading to inaction on the gun control front.

Miscellaneous
There was no agreement on legalizing sports gambling in New York, a potential new practice and revenue source for the state after a recent Supreme Court ruling allowed states to adopt it. While the Senate appeared ready to make a deal, the Assembly balked.

The Senate on Wednesday voted to declare baseball as the official sport of New York State, and to rename the Mario M. Cuomo Bridge (formerly the Tappan Zee Bridge) as the Mario M. Cuomo Tappan Zee Bridge. Neither were taken up by the Assembly.

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by Ben Brachfeld, Gotham Gazette

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Max & Murphy Podcast: A New Era at the MTA?


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


June 20, 2018 - Max & Murphy Podcast: A New Era at the MTA? with Nicole Gelinas, senior fellow at the Manhattan Instituteand and columnist at the New York Post.

Nicole Gelinas

Are we in a new era at the MTA? With Joe Lhota one year on the job as chair and a new transit chief, Andy Byford, in place and out with a plan to modernize the signals, where do things stand? Has the Subway Action Plan had any effect? What needs to be done to really improve the subways and buses, and get New York City moving again? Nicole Gelinas is an expert on the MTA and other transit and infrastructure matters, and she joined the podcast just after checking out the June MTA board meeting to answer these questions and others.

Listen to the full conversation and let us know what you think -- we're on Twitter @TweetBenMax, @JarrettMurphy, and @NicoleGelinas. You can listen to the episode through the embedded audio below or download the episode wherever you get your podcasts.

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by Ben Max, Gotham Gazette
     

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Passed by Senate, Bill Would Allow Public to Call State Agency Hearings


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Senator Gianaris (photo: @sengianaris)


New Yorkers may soon have a new tool to influence their government. A bill in the state Legislature would allow members of the public, given enough support, to compel state agencies to hold public hearings on proposed rules.

The bill (S2397), sponsored in the state Senate by Senator Michael Gianaris of Queens, would establish a three-year pilot program ordering seven regulatory agencies — the Workers' Compensation Board and the Departments of Education, Environmental Conservation, Health, Financial Services, Labor, and Family Assistance — to hold public hearings if at least 125 New Yorkers petition them to do so.

Senator Gianaris told Gotham Gazette that these agencies were selected for being those that “the public would benefit the most from opening up.” The agencies listed craft rules that directly impact ordinary New Yorkers.

The legislation, which passed the Senate unanimously on June 11 and now awaits action in the Assembly, where it has been stuck in committee since early February, also authorizes agencies to use “innovative means” of enhancing public participation in the rulemaking process, including establishing a designated time for public questioning of agency officials, organizing roundtable discussions, and using teleconference technology.

New York could join several other states that require public rulemaking hearings upon petition. California, Arizona, Idaho, New Hampshire, Illinois, and Utah all have similar rules, though none require as many petitioners as New York might. In California, for instance, state agencies are required to host public hearings upon “request of any interested person.”

Similar legislation passed both houses of the State Legislature in 2008, but then-Governor David Paterson, citing “technical flaws,” vetoed the bill. In response to this previous legislative failure, this bill included the Workers’ Compensation Board within its ambit and established a timeliness clause. If a petition is received later than the twentieth day before the last date for public comment, the public hearing becomes optional.

Senator Gianaris told Gotham Gazette that “agencies come out with regulations that have the force of law and [New Yorkers] don’t know anything about it or how the process happened.”

He expressed hope that the legislation would “force agencies to opine on issues that they’d like to ignore and sweep under the rug.” When asked to specify such issues, he named transportation and healthcare, but added that there’s “no limit to the type of thing that people can now have open up to public discussion.”

Anticipating that “one of the main things that will come out of this [legislation] is related to housing issues,” Gianaris called the state’s Housing and Community Renewal agency “completely inaccessible.”

The Senate bill and its companion in the state Assembly, A9737, appear to be identical. The Assembly bill, however, has not progressed beyond its February 5 introduction and referral to the Assembly’s Standing Committee on Governmental Operations. Until it is passed by committee, approved by the full Assembly, merged with S2397, and approved by Governor Cuomo, the aforementioned measures will have no bearing on the functionings of New York state agencies. It’s unclear if Cuomo supports the bill, which would place the burden of implementation upon executive branch agencies under his purview.

Through a spokesperson, Assistant Assembly Speaker Felix W. Ortiz, of Brooklyn, said the bill should be considered next year. The legislative session is scheduled to end for the year on Wednesday.

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by Daniel Yadin for Gotham Gazette

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Andrea Stewart-Cousins on Democratic Unity and the ‘Value’ of Primaries


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Andrea Stewart-Cousins at the state party convention (photo: Samar Khurshid/Gotham Gazette)


While policies to prevent and punish sexual harassment were being decided in Albany during state budget negotiations earlier this year, four men led the closed-door talks: Governor Andrew Cuomo, Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan, and the leader of the now-defunct Independent Democratic Conference Jeff Klein. Even as female aides had some level of participation, there was a great deal of scrutiny of the absence of Andrea Stewart-Cousins, the leader of the Democratic minority in state Senate, especially given that Cuomo’s office had indicated she would be included.

“You would’ve thought you would’ve been able to get in a room and at least let her say something,” Stewart-Cousins said of her own situation during a recent episode of the Max & Murphy podcast from Gotham Gazette and City Limits. “Never happened.”

Stewart-Cousins called it a feature of “an institution that has institutionalized a lot of stuff,” and said that “breaking those norms are really, really difficult things to do.”

But breaking established ways of doing things is something of a pattern for Stewart-Cousins, who is both the first woman and the first African-American woman to be elected as the state Senate minority leader. Now, after post-budget reconciliation between the mainline Democrats she leads and Klein’s IDC, Stewart-Cousins is also in position to become the first woman and woman of color to be the majority leader of the Senate, depending on the results of the fall elections. They are elections she is becoming increasingly involved with, she indicated on the podcast, connecting the upcoming attempts to flip seats from Republican to Democrat as part of a “blue wave” sweeping the nation.

Stewart-Cousins’ frame for viewing the elections and potential Democratic majority in the Senate, and thus the Legislature given the party’s stranglehold on the Assembly, is the recent Senate reunification, pushing her, it seems, to be more forgiving, take the long-view, and look ahead, not back.

Exclusion from the anti-sexual harassment talks – and the state budget discussions in general – may be a thorny issue, but not one that poses a major point of contention between Stewart-Cousins and her colleagues.

“It goes back to the basic tenet: a house divided against itself can’t stand,” Stewart-Cousins said in response to a question of her possible frustrations with elements of the unity deal that was struck among her, Klein and Cuomo in April, and whether she trusts Klein. “How are we gonna do this?...I’m not gonna be sitting there having people somehow undermine the efforts that we have to be a team. That’s always been the case.”

There are still challenges to the notion of a unified Democratic front: each of the eight former members of the IDC is facing a primary challenge, and while the Democratic establishment has agreed to mutual support, a number of grassroots groups and a handful of elected officials are backing the challengers.

On the podcast, Stewart-Cousins emphasized that she has endorsed all incumbent Democratic senators, including those who were formerly part of the IDC, “so that people are very, very clear where I stand,” she said in response to a question of whether or not she would tell fellow party members to drop their support for the challengers. “I think that in and of itself sends a message.”

While she did not call primaries a bad thing, Stewart-Cousins further emphasized the importance of moving past former divisions in order for the party to function. “I think that’s over,” she said of the Senate Democratic division, “and it’s up to me...to give the kind of support and respect that I should be giving as the leader and as a colleague, and I believe that we set that tone,” she said. “There’s nobody coming in feeling less than, unworthy. There’s no recriminations.”

In response to a question of whether Cuomo – who has long been criticized for encouraging or at least tolerating the IDC’s existence – could have brokered such a unity deal earlier on, and thus possibly prevented the handicapped progress on key issues for the Democratic Party, Stewart-Cousins said, “Like I always say, he did make it happen....I don’t think he was terribly concerned about the situation because as far as we he was concerned, maybe it was manageable. I think it’s gotten to the point where it was looking unmanageable because of all the different factors, so he asserted himself.”

If the Democrats are able to obtain majority control of the state Senate in November, a policy agenda including action on immigration, climate change, voting and elections, campaign financing, reproductive rights, and more may move. Stewart-Cousins referenced pieces like the Child Victims Act and the Dream Act stagnating in the currently Republican-controlled state Senate. Additionally, Republican senators recently blocked Democrats’ attempts to see voting on the Reproductive Health Act and the Comprehensive Contraception Coverage Care Act – two pieces of legislation that would, respectively, enshrine in New York law the same reproductive rights under the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade ruling and mandate accessibility to birth control medication – when Democrats attempted to push them through late last month.

“There’s so many things that we could do in addition to, obviously, the things that we’re bringing up today,” Stewart-Cousins said.

For their part, Senate Republicans often seek to ‘warn’ New Yorkers of what full Democratic control of state government could bring. “The New York City politicians who think it will be easy to flip the State Senate and impose their radical agenda on the people of New York should take heed,” said Senate spokesperson Scott Reif, in an April statement. “Our Majority represents the checks and balances, and the real accountability that hardworking taxpayers need and deserve.  Without us it’s one party rule, higher taxes, runaway spending and New Yorkers will be less safe.”

Democrats first need to contend with reconciling the different wings within their own party, a division apparent in the challengers to former IDC members and to Cuomo. Stewart-Cousins has unique perspective, representing Senate District 35, an area that includes towns like Yonkers, White Plains, and Scarsdale, with a wide variety of Democrats and plenty of Republicans and party unaffiliated voters.

Asked which wing of the party she identifies with, Stewart-Cousins deemphasized the ostensible differences in her party. “I’ve been able to, I think, gain a perspective that a lot of people don’t have as it relates to governing,” she said, referring to her unique position as the first Democratic leader representing a district outside New York City in a hundred years. “Everybody pretty much wants the same thing. It’s not different. It’s how you deliver these things or how you’re able to characterize these things or how you react is really where the differences lie.”

On the question of primaries, like that Governor Cuomo is facing, Stewart-Cousins took a different approach from some others, like Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul. “I certainly have no problem with the fact that there’s a primary going on,” she said, responding to a question of whether or not the gubernatorial candidacy of challenger Cynthia Nixon is emblematic of the Democratic Party being a ‘house divided.’ “The conversations about the vision for New York and who should lead it are valuable,” she added.

For now, at least, Stewart-Cousins maintains a face of smiling unity toward Klein, who serves as her deputy, and the rest of the Democratic Party.

Asked if there’s a chance that party members pull another IDC-esque ploy in the coming years, Stewart-Cousins said, “The environment has changed and that’s why I think this unity works, because we’ve been to the other side. We know what that looks like, and I don’t know if anybody needs or wants to go back there again.”

[Listen: Max & Murphy Podcast: Senate Democratic Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins]

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by Chelsey Sanchez, Gotham Gazette
@chelseynsanchez  @GothamGazette

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Citing Broken Cuomo Promises, Nixon Unveils Campaign Finance Reform Plan


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Cynthia Nixon outside Tweed Courthouse (photo: Gotham Gazette)


Standing on the steps of the Tweed Courthouse in Manhattan, a symbol of corruption in New York government, Andrew Cuomo launched his run for governor eight years ago last month, vowing to clean up the rot in Albany. On Monday -- as the corruption trial of a close ally to the two-term governor began in federal court -- Cynthia Nixon, the actor and activist and Democratic primary challenger to Cuomo, stood at the same spot to criticize the governor’s broken promise and to propose a far-reaching plan to fight the graft and corruption that she says has become further entrenched under Cuomo’s tenure.

“Instead of taking on corruption in the state capital, Andrew Cuomo’s administration has taken it to new heights,” Nixon said at an afternoon news conference. “Cuomo’s two terms in office have been a greatest-hits reel of dysfunction, corruption, and pay-to-play politics. If Washington is a swamp, then Albany under Andrew Cuomo is a cesspool.”

Taking aim at the “legalized bribery” rampant in the state’s election system, Nixon proposed “Government by the People,” a 15-page plan to promote public financing of elections, close loopholes in state campaign finance laws, reduce pay-to-play in state contracting, and shore up independent ethics oversight of state government.

The plan also details many conflicts and corruption scandals that have emerged from Cuomo’s administration and political campaigns in recent years, while the announcement coincided with the start of the corruption trial of Alain Kaloyeros, the former SUNY Polytechnic Institute president who was charged with rigging state contracts under Cuomo’s signature Buffalo Billion economic revitalization program. Prominent real estate developers who are major Cuomo campaign donors are also charged in the scheme.

Nixon critiqued the “networks of vast wealth” and power that she said are necessary to run for office in New York and that historically shut out women and people of color. “Too many of the people in power, and the donors who keep them there, don’t want things to change,” she said, insisting that she can herald reforms as an “outsider” to Albany. New York is known to have porous campaign finance laws, which allow large individual and corporate contributions to candidates, alongside loopholes that effectively do away with those limits for entities that created multiple limited liability companies, each of which can give up to the individual corporate limit. There are also no “doing business” limits that would place restrictions on entities with or seeking government contracts.

By exploiting the current rules, Cuomo has raised many tens of millions of dollars over his handful of statewide campaigns, including his now third consecutive gubernatorial run. At the same time, the governor has expressed support for campaign finance reform, but seen almost no changes move through the Legislature. A pilot campaign finance program with public matching was passed in 2014, but quickly fizzled. In a statement, Abbey Fashouer, a spokesperson for Cuomo's campaign, claimed credit for the reforms that Nixon proposed. "We thank Ms. Nixon for her support for our reforms. Unlike others who claim to be good Democrats, the governor is 100 percent focused on flipping the State Senate to pass these important reforms to increase government transparency and accountability,” Fashouer said.  

Nixon’s plan envisions phasing in a voluntary statewide public financing system for elections, largely resembling the current program administered in New York City by the Campaign Finance Board, where small-dollar donations are incentivized with public matching funds. Some of Nixon’s ideas are nearly identical, proposing a 6-to-1 match for campaign donations up to $175 or a greater match of 9-to-1 for donations below $50.

Nixon proposed similar thresholds to qualify for public funds as those used in the city, including a minimum amount raised from a minimum number of contributors. Under her plan, for instance, a candidate for governor would have to raise at least $500,000 from a minimum of 5,000 contributors who gave at least $10. The plan proposes similar thresholds, with lower amounts, for the posts of lieutenant governor, attorney general, comptroller, state Senate, and Assembly.

The plan also brings individual contribution limits for all state offices in line with the $2,700 limit for members of Congress, for each of the primary and general elections. It would also require candidates to participate in a debate and return unspent public funds after satisfying a campaign’s liabilities.

Nixon proposes creating a new agency called the “Fair Elections Board,” with enforcement powers, to administer the program, with a seven-member board appointed by the governor, comptroller, attorney general, and each of the four legislative major-party conference leaders. The entire program would cost between $100 and $160 million for each four-year cycle, the plan estimates, and would be paid for by a “New York State Fair Elections Fund” with several funding sources.

Nixon also reiterated proposals that she has voiced over the last few months while pitching herself as the progressive alternative to Cuomo’s centrist politics. She said she would ban campaign contributions from companies or individuals who hold or are actively seeking state contracts. She has insisted that the state should do away with the so-called LLC loophole that allows limited liability companies with opaque ownership to donate virtually unlimited funds to candidates. She also said she would ban donations from political appointees, an apparent reference to a New York Times expose showing that Cuomo has loosely interpreted an executive order limiting donations that the governor can receive from appointees or their family members.

Throughout her campaign, Nixon has derided Cuomo’s reliance on wealthy donors -- over years the governor has raised more than $30 million in campaign cash available to his current campaign while Nixon has raised a little more than $1 million during her few months in the race -- and insists that his policies on everything from affordable housing to criminal justice are driven by fealty to those contributors. “When candidates have to start their campaigns from day one by asking the wealthy for contributions...the culture of pay-to-play becomes inescapable,” she said.

The upstart candidate’s plan would give more teeth to state watchdogs to fight corruption. Nixon promised to dissolve the state Joint Commission on Public Ethics -- which many have criticized for being beholden to the governor and generally ineffective -- and said she would empanel a new independent Moreland Commission to tackle corruption unlike the one convened and abruptly disbanded by Cuomo in his first term.

She also proposed giving the attorney general a “standing referral” to investigate corruption on an ongoing basis, something Cuomo called for during his time as AG but has not granted his successors in the post -- and said she would restore the comptroller’s oversight powers over various state contracts that was stripped by Cuomo and the Legislature in 2011. She said she would sign a “database of deals” bill that was recently passed by the Republican-led state Senate but has been held up by the Democrat-controlled Assembly.

Recent polls have shown that New Yorkers have jaded views of their state government, but also that Cuomo is in relatively strong position with less than three months until the Democratic primary. Nixon argued Monday that voters do care about honest government, though corruption is not generally seen as a winning focus issue, taking a back seat to “kitchen table” or “pocketbook” issues like jobs, education, and health care. Nixon did recently release her campaign platform on education, her top issue area of focus.

She also presented her campaign finance reform platform the same day that former Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner, a Democrat, announced she would run for governor this year as an independent, creating her own ballot line. Asked about Miner's candidacy, Nixon said that she is focused on winning the Democratic primary and understands Miner is running in the general election. She also called Miner "more of a moderate" and referred to herself as "definitely part of the progressive wing of the Democratic Party."

Nixon wasn’t the only candidate to use the Kaloyeros trial as the backdrop to pounce on the governor’s record. On Monday morning, outside federal district court just around the corner, Dutchess County Executive Marc Molinaro, the Republican nominee for governor, and his lieutenant governor running mate, Julie Killian, called out the governor for enabling Kaloyeros’ corruption.

“Every instance of corruption and corruption charges being brought against individuals around New York’s corrupted government is about enabling and benefitting a governor who has consumed an obscene amount of campaign contributions,” Molinaro said.

Zephyr Teachout, who unsuccessfully challenged Cuomo in the 2014 Democratic primary and is now running for attorney general, also held a separate news conference outside the court. The Kaloyeros trial, she said, highlights the need for an independent attorney general willing to challenge the state’s top elected official and root out graft. “When people break the law in New York state, even if they are powerful people, it is the job of the attorney general to make sure that justice is done,” she said.

***
by Samar Khurshid, senior reporter, Gotham Gazette
     

Read more by this writer.

Note - This article has been updated with comment from a Cuomo campaign spokesperson. 

Buffalo Billion Trial Begins with Differing Portraits of Former SUNY Poly Mastermind


cuomo and kaloyeros walking

Gov. Cuomo & Alain Kaloyeros (photo: The Governor's Office)


Lawyers presented starkly different portraits of Alain Kaloyeros, the former head of SUNY Polytechnic Institute, in opening statements of his corruption trial at federal court in Manhattan on Monday. Critics say the case -- and the related trial of Joseph Percoco, a longtime aide to Governor Andrew Cuomo found guilty in March of taking bribes -- show the governor’s multimillion-dollar economic development projects were fundamentally corrupt.

Kaloyeros rigged bids for development projects to avoid losing his job, expand his influence, and gain a promotion, Assistant U.S Attorney David Zhou argued.

“Kaloyeros decided that the rules didn’t apply to him, so he cheated and he lied to get the results he wanted,” the prosecutor said as Kaloyeros, sporting a blue suit and stubbly beard, sat at the front of the courtroom.

On the contrary, defense lawyer Reid Weingarten sought to depict Kaloyeros as a visionary who had personal flaws but committed no crimes.

“In truth, he’s not a saint. He’s a very, very complicated guy,” Weingarten said, adding that Kaloyeros, a physicist, had “wrought miracles” launching major tech projects in Albany. “What this case is about is the desire of Governor Cuomo to bring [Kaloyeros’] miracle to upstate New York.”

Federal prosecutors say Kaloyeros schemed to make sure a nonprofit charged with overseeing a huge swath of Cuomo’s development projects favored companies run by major Cuomo donors -- Louis Ciminelli of Buffalo-based LPCiminelli, along with Steven Aiello and Joseph Gerardi of Syracuse-based COR Development. The executives, who are on trial alongside Kaloyeros, have also pleaded not guilty to fraud charges; Gerardi is also accused of lying to FBI agents. Cuomo is not accused of criminal wrongdoing, but critics say that the Democratic governor knowingly presided over programs with insufficient checks and transparency, pushing through state funding, stripping the Comptroller of audit powers, and empowering Kaloyeros and others to run wild while his campaign coffers filled.

The prosecution’s case appears to hinge in large part on emails between Kaloyeros and the developers that allegedly show they conspired to rig the bids starting in 2013. LPCiminelli won a contract for a solar panel factory in Buffalo, as part of the governor’s Buffalo Billion program, the cost of which eventually rose to $750 million; while COR Development won contracts for a $90 million manufacturing plant and $15 million film studio, the latter of which the state recently sold for $1 after years of floundering.

Prosecutors say Kaloyeros ensured inclusion of measures like requiring the winner of the Buffalo request-for-proposals (RFP) to have 50 years of experience in an effort to ensure LPCiminelli would be the only company to even qualify to bid. In one email, he allegedly promised to “fine tune the development requirements” to guarantee only LPCiminelli could win, Zhou said on Monday.

However, Weingarten argued that emails between Kaloyeros and his client were perfectly legal.

He said for a nonprofit like the one doling out the upstate development grants, called Fort Schuyler Management Corporation, “the procurements can be any way you want them to be.” Weinstein added that the RFPs in the Kaloyeros case followed all procurement rules set by the federal government, Albany, and SUNY, which helped oversee the projects.

While Zhou highlighted Kaloyeros’ use of his personal email address instead of his SUNY account -- instructing one of his alleged collaborators, “please gmail, not email” -- Weinstein seemed to shrug off the matter.

It's "almost a sport in New York State government to put things on your private email so reporters can't get them,” the defense lawyer said.

Monday’s opening statements suggested the role of Todd Howe will be another turning point in the case.

Kaloyeros hired Howe, an Albany lobbyist and longtime member of Cuomo’s inner circle, to help work on the development projects -- and, prosecutors say, maintain friendly ties with Cuomo. Howe made a plea deal with the government, but is not expected to testify in the Kaloyeros case after he was arrested on new charges in the middle of the Percoco trial, where he was the government’s star witness.

Prosecutors say Howe helped Kaloyeros transform a SUNY college for nanotechnology into the sprawling SUNY Polytechnic Institute in Albany, where Kaloyeros launched an array of ambitious public-private tech partnerships in addition to the LPCiminelli and COR Development projects.

“Kaloyeros developed a strong relationship with the governor’s office after he hired a lobbyist named Todd Howe for SUNY,” Zhou said. “Howe was the key to the governor’s office.”

Weingarten and the other defendants’ lawyers assailed Howe’s credibility. “He was a master criminal,” Weingarten said of Howe. “He deceived virtually every relevant person in this courtroom.”

Lawyers for Aiello, Ciminelli and Gerardi echoed Weingarten’s lines of reasoning. Discussing Aiello and Ciminelli, Aiello’s attorney Steve Coffey said they “hardly knew each other in 2013.”

“What they have in common is they’re developers. And they’re Italian,” though he said no more about their heritage.

Cuomo previously said Percoco, who was found guilty of taking bribes in exchange for preferential treatment for developers, was like a brother. And the Kaloyeros trial centers on the governor’s most vaunted development programs -- Cuomo regularly heaped praise on Kaloyeros and ensured that he had a great deal of power. But prosecutors have not implicated Cuomo in any of the alleged crimes.

However, his political opponents were quick to link him with the Kaloyeros trial on Monday.

Cuomo’s Democratic primary opponent, Cynthia Nixon, referenced the trial repeatedly as she unveiled a campaign finance reform agenda from the steps of the Tweed Courthouse, where Cuomo had promised eight years ago to clean up state government.

“Despite others’ attempts to politicize, the US Attorney and Judge have repeatedly said that campaign contributions were not unlawful and were not part of the alleged criminality,” Cuomo campaign spokesperson Abbey Fashouer said in an emailed statement.

“Cuomo has enabled individuals who think that they must peddle influence and peddle resources and sell out New Yorkers to the highest bidder,” Marc Molinaro, the Republican nominee for governor, said outside the federal courthouse during a morning press conference.

Zephyr Teachout, who previously ran against Cuomo for governor and is now running for attorney general, spoke to reporters just ahead of Molinaro.

“This trial illustrates that we have an underlying corruption and ethics emergency in New York State,” she said. “This trial shows the ways in which corruption impacts people’s lives.”

Asked for comment on the trial, the campaign of New York City Public Advocate Letitia James, who is also running for state attorney general but is aligned with Cuomo, issued a statement touting James’ past anti-corruption work.

“Any act of corruption in government betrays the people of the state of New York and cannot be tolerated,” James spokesperson Delaney Kempner said in the statement. “As Attorney General, Tish will deploy the full arsenal of weapons at her disposal to fight corruption and will never shy away from tackling illegal behavior in government.” The statement did not directly address the Kaloyeros case.

***
by Shant Shahrigianh, Gotham Gazette
      

Read more by this writer.

The Week Ahead in New York Politics, June 18


New York City Hall

New York City Hall


What to watch for this week in New York politics:

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

There are not very many issues that appear close to a compromise among Governor Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, the Democrat-led Assembly, and the Republican-led Senate. But, most years the parties come to some agreement on a few big-ticket items. This year that could include sports gambling, decoupling teacher evaluations from student test scores, school area speed cameras, economic development transparency, criminal justice reform, gun control, and/or a handful of other items. Most signs have pointed to a limited, if any, big ugly, but machinations in Albany are difficult to predict, other than knowing that the details of whatever is passed will most likely not be given the proper public discussion or review before legislators vote it through.

As is the case every two years when the entire Legislature is up for election, but even more so every four years when the statewide positions are on the ballot, like this year, the session is clouded with political considerations. Senate Republicans, hoping to keep their one-seat majority through the fall elections, have little reason to say “yes” to anything that Democrats want. The ongoing saga of corruption trials involving state government also continue as a backdrop to government business this week.

Also this week: we’re hitting one week until the congressional primaries in New York. There are a handful of primaries in New York City where incumbents are facing spirited challenges. The most-watched primary is of course centered on Staten Island, where incumbent Republican Representative Dan Donovan is being challenged by former Representative Michael Grimm. The Democratic primary in that race, NY-11, is also worth watching, as the general election will be an important race in the larger picture whereby Democrats are trying to flip enough seats in New York and beyond to take control of the House of Representatives.

Several other city races on the Democratic side are interesting, and though incumbents are heavily favored, several -- like Reps. Joe Crowley, Carolyn Maloney, and Yvette Clarke -- have had to sweat more this year than in past cycles.

And there are of course primaries outside the five boroughs worth watching as they set the stage for key swing district general election battles.

Additionally on the elections front, we are of course continuing to watch the races for those statewide seats: governor, lieutenant governor, comptroller, and attorney general. Cynthia Nixon appears to have lost some momentum in the Democratic primary challenge to Gov. Cuomo -- can she regain some? What are the Democratic candidates for attorney general -- Letitia James, Zephyr Teachout, Sean Patrick Maloney, Leecia Eve -- doing to differentiate themselves and to introduce themselves to the many New York voters who don’t know them well? How is fundraising and ballot signature petitioning going for candidates?

We spoke at length with incumbent Democratic Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul this past week -- listen to the conversation: Max & Murphy Podcast: Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul.

And we spoke with Republican gubernatorial candidate Marc Molinaro about his developing campaign platform, which is still devoid of most details but coming into somewhat sharper focus: On Taxes, the MTA & More: Molinaro Discusses Developing Campaign Platform.

As for city government, on Friday Mayor Bill de Blasio told WNYC’s Brian Lehrer that this coming week he and NYPD officials will be announcing the results of the department’s 30-day review of its marijuana policing practices. It’s not yet clear which day that will occur. And, there are two more meetings of the mayor's charter revision commission this week.

There’s also a variety of City Council hearings this week and the usual bunch of singular panel and other events to be aware of -- see the 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
At 6 a.m. Monday morning Mayor de Blasio will make a taped appearance on NPR's Morning Edition. In the evening, the mayor will make his usual weekly appearance on NY1's Inside City Hall, in the 7 and 11 p.m. hours.

The New York State Legislature will be in session on Monday in Albany, the first of the final three scheduled days of the session.

At the City Council on Monday: The Committee on Civil and Human Rights will meet at 1 p.m. to discuss proposed laws relating to “protections for workers under the city’s human rights law” and “prohibiting retaliation against individuals who request a reasonable accommodation under the
city’s human rights law.”

The corruption trial of former SUNY Polytechnic President Alain Kaloyeros, for bid-rigging, bribery, and other charges related to his work in Governor Cuomo’s signature Buffalo Billion economic development program, will begin on Monday in Manhattan.

Democratic attorney general candidate Zephyr Teachout and Republican gubernatorial candidate Marc Molinaro are both holding morning press conferences outside the federal courthouse. Democratic gubernatorial candidate Cynthia Nixon will present her campaign finance reform agenda at a press conference at Tweed Courthouse at noon.

And, at 12:15 outside the federal courthouse, “Government and budget watchdogs highlight corruption risks identified by bid rigging trial and call on the Assembly to stop stalling and pass transparency and accountability bills already passed by the state senate, and supported by state comptroller and over twenty prominent NYS organizations.” Participants will include Citizens Budget Commission, Citizens Union, Common Cause NY, Fiscal Policy Institute, and Reinvent Albany.

At 9 a.m. Monday, New America will host “2020 Census: A Tech Revolution or Risk” at NYU Law School’s Greenberg Lounge. Topics of discussion will include whether issues such as a citizenship question and a digitally-based census will lead to lower turnout among minority populations. Speakers will include U.S. Reps Adriano Espaillat and Carolyn Maloney, Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, Joe Salvo of the Department of City Planning, and Steve Choi of the New York Immigration Coalition, among others. Dr. Christina Greer of Fordham University will moderate.

At 11 :15 a.m. Monday, "Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul Rallies to Pass Red Flag Gun Protection Bill" at Nottingham High School in Syracuse.

On Monday at 12:30 p.m. in Bay Ridge, "members of the de Blasio Administration, elected officials and street safety advocates will gather at P.S. 264 Bay Ridge Elementary School for the Arts to urge for the passage of A7798C/S6046C, a bill that would preserve existing speed cameras near school zones while also expanding them to additional, high priority school zones where speeding is prevalent. Currently, A7798C/S6046C has bipartisan support in the state Senate and 33 co-sponsors. The bill has yet to reach the floor for a vote where only 32 votes are needed to pass any given bill. A7798C/S6046C passed the Assembly overwhelming in June 2017." Participants will include James P. O’Neill, Police Commissioner; Elizabeth Rose, Deputy Chancellor, Department of Education; Dr. Oxiris Barbot, First Deputy Commissioner, NYC Health Department; Brooklyn Borough President Eric L. Adams; City Council Member Justin Brannan; Patrice Edison, Principal, P.S. 264; Zaman Mashrah, P.S. 264 Parent and Advocate; and Adam McLeer, Families for Safe Streets.

At 1 p.m. Monday, City Council Speaker Corey Johnson will speak at a rally calling for the immediate release of Pablo Villavicencio, at 26 Federal Plaza in Manhattan. At 7 p.m., Johnson will attend the LGBT Center Garden Party, at Hudson River Park, Pier 84.

On Monday, Comptroller Scott Stringer will deliver graduation remarks at three schools in Brooklyn: P.S. 279 Herman Schreiber; P.S. 198 Magnet School of Applied Learning in Arts & Engineering Graduation; and I.S. 340 North Star Academy Graduation.

On Monday at 1 p.m. at City Hall, family members of individuals killed by members of the NYPD and others will rally “to demand action from Mayor de Blasio” on police “accountability and transparency” for the officers who killed Eric Garner, Delrawn Small, Saheed Vassell, and others. Ralliers will call for “firings and release of information.” Participants will include Gwen Carr, mother of Eric Garner; Victoria Davis and Victor Dempsey, sister and brother of Delrawn Small; Eric Vassell, father of Saheed Vassell; other family members; City Council Members Antonio Reynoso and Brad Lander; Communities United for Police Reform; Brooklyn Movement Center; Justice Committee; Picture the Homeless; and others.

On Monday afternoon, schools Chancellor Richard Carranza will deliver brief remarks at the NYC Teaching Fellows welcome event.

On Monday at 5:30 p.m., Public Advocate Letitia James will deliver remarks at the Project FIND annual gala, at Fifth Ave Presbyterian Church.

Tuesday
At 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, "On Tuesday, Mayor de Blasio and Police Commissioner O’Neill will hold a media availability on marijuana enforcement. This event is open press. There will be Q-and-A." It will be held at the Thomas Jefferson Recreation Center. "Later, the Mayor and First Lady McCray will deliver remarks at the Parent Leaders Reception at Gracie Mansion. This event is closed press."

The New York State Legislature will be in session on Tuesday in Albany.

At the City Council on Tuesday:
--The Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises will meet at 9:30 a.m.
--The Committee on Veterans will meet at 10 a.m. to discuss proposed laws relating to “benefits counseling services for veterans,” “creating veterans resource centers,” “the creation of a veterans resource guide,” and “peer support services for veterans.”
--The Subcommittee on Landmarks, Public Siting, and Maritime Uses will meet at noon
--The Committee on Sanitation will meet at 1 p.m. to discuss a proposed law relating to “reducing permitted capacity at putrescible and non-putrescible solid waste transfer stations in overburdened districts.”
--The Committees on Governmental Operations and Women will meet jointly at 1 p.m. to discuss several proposed laws relating to childcare, including laws related to lactation accommodations, diaper provisions, “providing on-site childcare for city employees,” and “permitting the use of campaign funds for certain childcare expenses.” Before the hearing, at 11 a.m., Public Advocate Letitia James will host a rally outside of City Hall "in support of on-site child care for municipal employees."
--The Subcommittee on Planning, Dispositions, and Concessions will meet at 2 p.m.

The retrial on federal corruption charges of former Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos will begin on Tuesday in Manhattan.

"On Tuesday morning, First Lady McCray will host the City’s third annual “Baby Shower” event for incarcerated mothers and their families at Rikers Island. NYC Baby Showers are a part of the NYC Children's Cabinet Talk to Your Baby campaign...Later, the Mayor and the First Lady will deliver remarks at the Parent Leaders Reception at Gracie Mansion. This event is closed press."

Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul will lead two rallies Tuesday to pass the "red flag gun protection bill": at 10 a.m. at North Babylon High School and at 11:45 a.m. at Springfield Gardens Education Campus. And at 7 p.m., Hochul will recognize honorees at the NOW NYC Women of Power & Influence Awards.

At 8 a.m. Tuesday, City Planning Commission Chair Marisa Lago will deliver keynote remarks at the Citizens Budget Commission’s Trustee Breakfast at the Harvard Club. “Topics for discussion will include the decennial census, zoning initiatives, and resiliency planning.”

At 8:30 a.m. Tuesday, the League of Women Voters “will present its 2018 Distinguished Service Award to the Committee to Protect Journalists, an independent, nonprofit organization that promotes press freedom worldwide,” “at the League’s annual awards breakfast at the Roosevelt Hotel.”

"Senators Fred Akshar, George Amedore, and Chris Jacobs, co-Chairs of the Senate Task Force on Heroin and Opioid Addiction, will hold a press conference on Tuesday, June 19th at 10 a.m. in Room 124 of the Capitol to announce funding for jail-based substance abuse treatment services. They will be joined by representatives from the New York State Conference of Local Mental Hygiene Directors, the New York State Sheriffs' Association, the New York State Association of Counties and several local County Sheriffs."

At 1 p.m. Tuesday, the Charter Revision Commission empaneled by Mayor Bill de Blasio will hold an issue forum regarding community boards and land use at the Pratt Institute. Comptroller Scott Stringer will be among those to testify.

At 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, the New York City Board of Elections will hold a commissioners’ meeting.

At 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, JustLeadershipUSA will hold a demonstration at Foley Square as part of a statewide day of action to protest against the state’s bail, discovery, and speedy trial laws, and inaction on ameliorating the issues with those.

Also at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Comptroller Stringer will host LGBTQ+ Pride Celebration Honoring the Fab 5 from Netflix’s Queer Eye, at Macy’s Herald Square.

At 6 p.m. Tuesday, the Sexual Harassment Working Group will host “Fixing Albany’s #MeToo Problem: What’s Next?” at the Cooper Union in Manhattan. The group, consisting of seven women who experienced sexual harassment as staffers at the State Legislature, “will be releasing policy recommendations created after extensive dialogues with advocates and experts.” Panelists include Danielle Bennett, former administrative assistant to Assemblymember Micah Kellner; Elizabeth Crothers, former Assembly legislative aide; Leah Hebert, former Chief of Staff to Assemblymember Vito Lopez; Eliyanna Kaiser, former Chief of Staff to Kellner; Tori Burhans Kelly, former legislative aide to Lopez; Rita Pasarell, former legislative counsel to Lopez; and Erica Vladimer, former counsel for the IDC. The discussion will be moderated by strategist and columnist Alexis Grenell.

At 6 p.m. Tuesday, the New York City Bar Association will host “Implementation of Raise the Age: Challenges and Opportunities.” Speakers will include Martin Feinman of the Legal Aid Society, Felipe Franco of the Administration for Children’s Services, Faith Lovell of the Office of Corporation Counsel, Judge Edwina Mendelson, Gineen Gray of the Department of Probation, Nitin Savur of the Manhattan DA’s office, and Lisa Schreibersdorf of Brooklyn Defender Services.

At 7 p.m. Tuesday, NY1 will host U.S. Representative Yvette Clarke and challenger Adem Bunkeddeko for a Democratic primary debate for the 9th Congressional District.

Wednesday
The New York State Legislature will be in session on Wednesday. This is the final scheduled day of the 2018 legislative session.

At the City Council on Wednesday:
--The Committee on Land Use will meet at 11 a.m.
--The Committees on Hospitals and Mental Health will meet jointly at 1 p.m. at the Metropolitan Hospital Center on the Upper East Side for an oversight hearing regarding “the future of psychiatric care in New York City’s hospital infrastructure.”
--The Committee on Fire and Emergency Management will meet at 1 p.m. for an oversight hearing regarding “New York City’s emergency planning for coastal storms,” as well as to discuss a proposed law relating to “the use of outdoor residential fire pits.”

At 9 a.m. Wednesday, the MTA will hold its monthly board meeting.

This week’s Max & Murphy podcast from Gotham Gazette and City Limits will be recorded and published Wednesday, featuring scholar and columnist Nicole Gelinas discussing the latest on the MTA.

At 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, the Statewide Local Development Corporation will hold a board of directors meeting at Empire State Development in Murray Hill.

At noon Wednesday, the Drug Policy Alliance and other advocates will gather at the City Hall steps to call on Mayor de Blasio to completely end the policing of marijuana, with no exceptions, and for other agencies “to address the harms caused by past arrests and adopt policies to align with the marijuana policy shift.”

At 6 p.m. Wednesday, the Panel for Educational Policy will meet at Prospect Heights High School in Brooklyn.

Thursday
At the City Council on Thursday:
--The Committee on Economic Development and the Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises will meet jointly at 10 a.m. for an oversight hearing “assessing the zoning and financial incentives of the Food Retail Expansion to Support Health programs.”
--The Committee on Aging will meet at 10 a.m. for an oversight hearing regarding “senior center model budgets.”
--The Committee on Justice System will meet at 1 p.m. for an oversight hearing regarding “addressing the opioid crisis in criminal court.”
--The Committee on Consumer Affairs will meet at 1 p.m. to discuss proposed laws relating to “prohibiting single-use plastic beverage straws and beverage stirrers,” “allowing restaurant surcharges,” and “applications for retail dealer licenses for sale of cigarettes or tobacco products.”
--The Committees on General Welfare and Contracts will meet jointly at 1 p.m. for an oversight hearing regarding the “model budget for human services contractors.”

This week’s What’s The [Data] Point? podcast from Gotham Gazette and Citizens Budget Commission, hosted by Ben Max and Maria Doulis, will be recorded and published on Thursday and will feature New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer.

At 1 p.m. Thursday, the Charter Revision Commission empaneled by Mayor de Blasio will hold an issue forum regarding civic engagement and independent redistricting at NYU’s D’Agostino Hall.

At 5:30 p.m. Thursday, the Association for a Better New York will host an “ABNY Talk” on “Human Services and Unions” at LMHQ in the Financial District. Two talks will be presented: the first on “understanding human services in NYC,” delivered by former Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services Lilliam Barrios-Paoli; and the second on “the evolution of labor’s role in NYC,” delivered by Alan van Capelle, President of the Educational Alliance and formerly of 32BJ SEIU.

Friday and the weekend
Mayor de Blasio may make his weekly appearance on WNYC’s The Brian Lehrer Show at 10 a.m. Friday.

***
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 Brachfeld and Ben Max
@GothamGazette

Max & Murphy Podcast: Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul


mxm logo

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


June 14, 2018 - Max & Murphy Podcast: Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul

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Kathy Hochul is in the fourth year of her first term as lieutenant governor, and, running alongside Governor Andrew Cuomo, seeking another term this fall. She's facing a primary challenge, however, from City Council Member Jumaane Williams. As she runs for reelection (the lieutenant governor and governor run separately in the primary but as a ticket in the general election), Hochul is touting the strength of her record as part of the Cuomo administration. She joined the podcast to discuss her background, the administration's work, especially in economic development, which she has a significant role in, the revitalization of Buffalo, which is in the congressional district she briefly represented in the House of Representatives, and much more.

Listen to the full conversation and let us know what you think -- we're on Twitter @TweetBenMax and @JarrettMurphy. You can listen to the episode through the embedded audio below or download the episode wherever you get your podcasts.

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by Ben Max, Gotham Gazette
     

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