| | | | | |  | | By Erin Durkin and Anna Gronewold with Jonathan Custodio | Presented by Uber Driver Stories | A staffer to Gov. Andrew Cuomo has described in excruciating detail how, she alleges, the governor reached under her shirt and aggressively groped her at his Albany mansion. In an interview with the Times Union , the woman, who is not named but remains employed in the governor's office, said the Cuomo closed the door and began touching her after summoning her to the mansion for help with an iPhone, grasping one of her breasts through her bra. "I was just so confused and so taken aback by it," she said. "It was almost like I felt like a piece of garbage to him. I felt degraded." The staffer, whose allegations are the most serious among the multiple women who have accused Cuomo of inappropriate behavior, said the incident was the culmination of a yearslong pattern of sexual harassment, and that Cuomo told her not to tell anyone what transpired. She said the governor hugged her too tightly, rubbed her buttocks after asking her to pose for a selfie, and once commented, "Oh, if you were single, the things that I would do to you." New York pols had taken a brief break from the constant calls for Cuomo to resign or be impeached to negotiate a $212 billion budget (which reflected Cuomo's weakened state and gave lawmakers a slew of priorities the governor has long resisted), but those calls are ramping up again. "For any of my colleagues who hasn't yet taken a position: How many more goddamn allegations or how much more lurid detail do you need to say clearly that @NYGovCuomo needs to resign or be impeached imminently?" Democratic Sen. Gustavo Rivera tweeted in response to the woman's account. In a statement Wednesday, Cuomo's attorney reiterated his denial that he has ever inappropriately touched anyone. But the Sexual Harassment Working Group said the account shows Cuomo should not remain in his post, even in the short term. "In any other workplace, Cuomo would be removed from his position to protect staff and determine employer accountability, pending an investigation," the group said. IT'S THURSDAY and we have a budget! The Assembly passed the spending plan just before midnight, and members now join their Senate colleagues for more than a week off from official legislative business. Got tips, suggestions or thoughts? Let us know ... By email: EDurkin@politico.com and agronewold@politico.com, or on Twitter: @erinmdurkin and @annagronewold WHERE'S ANDREW? In Albany with no announced public schedule. WHERE'S BILL? Holding a media availability. TWEET OF THE DAY: "BREAKING: I'm running for Governor of NY in 2022. To save NY, #CuomosGottaGo!" — GOP Rep. Lee Zeldin, kicking off a string of tweets this morning QUOTE OF THE DAY: "Today, I'm being asked to compromise my principles as a Democratic socialist and I will do so, but only as part of my continuing fight against racism and xenophobia, in all its forms." — Brooklyn Assemblymember Phara Souffrant Forrest during Wednesday's budget debate, after a handful of Democratic Socialists of America members unhappy with the final budget were reportedly informed by Democratic leadership about the sausage-making process and changed their votes to "yes" | | A message from Uber Driver Stories: Meet Olivia. Because of her multiple sclerosis (MS) and fibromyalgia, Olivia has trouble standing for long periods of time. A traditional 9-to-5 job just won't work for her. Driving with Uber gives Olivia the flexibility to decide when to work, when to spend time with her family, and when to focus on rest. Watch her story in her own words below . | | |
|  | WHAT ALBANY'S READING | | "THE STATE will select at least two companies through a competitive bidding process this year to operate online wagering, according to language in the $212 billion spending plan. Members of the Democrat-controlled state Senate and Assembly approved a budget bill with the provisions on Wednesday… The budget did call for the state Gaming Commission to solicit interest from prospective bidders and write a report about casino expansion. But state leaders said New York was losing out on revenue from mobile sports betting to illegal operators and nearby states, including New Jersey. They said they hope legal wagers will eventually yield $500 million of annual tax revenue. The budget language requires the Gaming Commission to issue a request for proposals by July and award licenses later this year. The commission must select two platform providers, but they may partner with multiple operators, or skins, which provide consumer-facing products." Wall Street Journal's Jimmy Vielkind — "This year's state budget includes a $2.4 billion pot of emergency relief for New Yorkers struggling to make rent because of the coronavirus pandemic — but the sizable aid program is getting mixed reviews from tenant advocates and landlords. Advocates, who have spent months pressing for a direct rental relief fund, praised the multibillion dollar program on Wednesday as a crucial lifeline for thousands of New Yorkers facing potential eviction and homelessness … But representatives for landlords and building owners say the program doesn't have enough guardrails to prevent fraud." Daily News' Denis Slattery and Chris Sommerfeldt — A program to provide benefits to undocumented immigrants places some of the onus for ensuring that it works as intended on Attorney General Tish James and Comptroller Tom DiNapoli. Language added to the bill on Tuesday night says that the attorney general "shall review" the program before checks go out "to ensure that state funds are adequately protected against fraud and abuse." The comptroller "may, in his or her sole discretion," conduct a similar review. Gov. Andrew Cuomo spoke about the agreement on the "excluded worker fund" for the first time in a briefing on Wednesday, and the vast majority of his comments were focused on that provision. "We're asking the comptroller to look at the program first to make sure the way it is designed, there are fraud protections," he said. POLITICO's Bill Mahoney — "New York will still tax the unemployment benefits New Yorkers received in 2020 , despite changes on the federal level, according to State Budget Director Rob Mujica. Numerous lawmakers have been pushing the state to change its own laws due to the pandemic, saying it is unfair to New Yorkers who lost their jobs when New York went on 'pause.' 'Those benefits have been subject to state tax for decades,' Mujica said during Governor Andrew Cuomo's budget update. 'So that has not changed.'" Spectrum's Morgan McKay "THE CUOMO administration began tracking COVID-19 related out-of-facility nursing home resident deaths as early as last April — yet still withheld the data from a state Health Department report released nearly three months later, according to a document obtained by The Post. The state DOH memo sent out to the administrators of nursing homes and adult care facilities directed them to report daily the number of residents who died of COVID-19, including 'if the death occurred in' their 'facility or the hospital setting.' A copy of the directive obtained by The Post is dated April 18, 2020 — about eleven weeks before a health department report that excluded the number of nursing home residents who died of coronavirus outside of their facilities." New York Post's Nolan Hicks, Bernadette Hogan, and Kenneth Garger "A COALITION of transportation and civic groups called on New York elected officials to stop plans to expand Midtown Manhattan's Penn Station and build 10 nearby towers. The group, calling itself the Empire Station Coalition, says New York state hasn't adequately weighed alternatives to the plan, which involves extending Penn Station one block south and replacing some buildings with taller towers devoted mainly to offices… The station's owner, Amtrak, as well as officials in New York and New Jersey, unveiled plans more than five years ago to expand Penn Station one block south and build a new rail tunnel under the Hudson River that would double rail capacity." Wall Street Journal's Paul Berger #UpstateAmerica: Syracuse's oldest fish fry — founded during World War II — is closing after 77 years in the same family. | | | | JOIN AN IMPORTANT CONVERSATION, SUBSCRIBE TO "THE RECAST" NEWSLETTER: Power dynamics are shifting in Washington and across the country, and more people are demanding a seat at the table, insisting that all politics is personal and not all policy is equitable. "The Recast" is our twice-weekly newsletter that breaks down how race and identity are recasting politics, policy and power in America. Get fresh insights, scoops and dispatches on this crucial intersection from across the country and hear from important new voices that challenge business as usual. Don't miss out, SUBSCRIBE . Thank you to our sponsor, Intel. | | | | |
| | WHAT CITY HALL'S READING | | "IN EARLY MARCH of last year, Jorge Morales was keeping customers caffeinated at Mike's Coffee Express, a popular roadside food truck near LaGuardia Airport in Queens that he ran for more than 30 years. At the time, a few Covid-19 cases had been reported in New York City, and while city and state officials said they were monitoring the virus, they urged residents to remain calm. Officials hadn't yet recommended wearing masks or taking other precautions... On March 11, Jorge Morales, 65 years old, fell ill with a fever and began vomiting for four days straight, his son said… "On April 7, Mr. Morales and 814 other New York City residents died from the virus. It was the deadliest day of the pandemic's deadliest week in the city, according to city health department data. During that week, which began April 5, 5,319 residents died from the virus and nearly 10,000 people were hospitalized, the data show." Wall Street Journal's Katie Honan — "New Yorkers experiencing long-haul COVID will now be able to seek help through a coronavirus aftercare program designed to support people with long-term symptoms. Mayor de Blasio announced that the new initiative, dubbed NYC Aftercare, will begin Wednesday and said it would not only aim to meet people's ongoing physical needs, but also provide them with food and mental health support." New York Daily News' Michael Gartland THE CITY'S TEACHERS union put mayoral candidates Eric Adams and Andrew Yang in the hot seat during the final forum to determine its mayoral endorsement — and peppered them with questions about past statements on charter schools, teacher tenure and school reopenings. The United Federation of Teachers is the last big union to give an endorsement in the race and Comptroller Scott Stringer, who has been polling behind Yang and Adams, is thought to be a favorite for the nod when the union decides next week. POLITICO's Madina Touré — "When the Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club held the inaugural Zoom forum for mayoral candidates in October, some 1,400 viewers turned in to watch as candidates outlined their visions for governing New York City and saying whether they had smoked marijuana. But nearly six months later, many Democratic mayoral candidates have participated in more than 50 Zoom forums. And as the attendance at many of these forums has waned, so has candidates' interest in attending them, a sign that the era of the Zoom campaign could be near the end." City & State's Sydney Kashiwagi EVERYBODY's GANGING up on Andrew Yang. The New York City mayor's race has grown more vicious in recent weeks — and the favorite target is Yang, who has come under attack for everything from his basic income and tax plans to his employment history and his second home upstate. The aggressive hits on Yang reflect his status as front runner in recent polls, as the more established politicians who are now trailing him in the Democratic primary race scramble to take him down a notch and make an impression with the roughly half of voters who remain undecided. New Yorkers will for the first time choose a new mayor with a primary in June using ranked-choice voting — a system that allows voters to rank up to five candidates in order of preference, and which proponents predicted would cut down on negative campaigning. But lately, the race has looked more like what Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams predicted over a year ago, when he declared, "Trust me, It's going to be a dirty campaign." POLITICO's Erin Durkin COUNCIL SPEAKER Council Speaker Corey Johnson has won the backing of building service-worker union 32BJ SEIU — the third major labor organization to line up behind his bid to become the city's next comptroller. 32BJ counts around 85,000 New York City cleaners, maintenance workers, doormen and other building employees as members, and wields a highly sought stamp of approval in city electoral politics. POLITICO's Joe Anuta ENVIRONMENTAL ADVOCATES who mobilized against a real estate-backed proposal by Gov. Andrew Cuomo that would allow New York City landlords to skirt local energy efficiency requirements can rest easy. The proposal, which opponents fretted would undermine the city's landmark building emissions requirements codified in Local Law 97, was not in the state's final budget Wednesday . The defeat is emblematic of Cuomo's weakened hand in negotiations with lawmakers as he grapples with multiple scandals including allegations of sexual harassment. POLITICO's Marie J. French "NEW YORK CITY schools are slated to get $1.3 billion more than last year under the state's budget expected to pass Wednesday, providing a massive financial boost as students and educators rebound from more than a year of disrupted learning. In all, New York City schools are expected to get $11.86 billion from the state plus $6.9 billion from the federal government. The state's budget plan, which covers April 1 through March 30, 2022, would have been hard to fathom last summer, when Gov. Andrew Cuomo warned that a pandemic-fueled budget crisis could mean up to 20% cuts for education funding." Chalkbeat's Reema Amin ON THE TRAIL — City Comptroller Scott Stringer took a shot at fellow mayoral candidate Shaun Donovan Wednesday night during a virtual forum hosted by The Nation. Candidates were asked how they would address the city's housing and homelessness crises, and offered ideas including increasing the value of rental vouchers and building more housing for people in the lowest income tiers. Stringer, responding to Donovan's remarks, said he supports several of Donovan's proposals but "[wishes] he had this opportunity when he was the housing commissioner to do some of this work, but it's never too late." Donovan, who was head of the city's Department of Housing Preservation and Development under Mayor Michael Bloomberg, shot back during a later question to "correct the record." He said homelessness in the city went down during his term and cited his work in Albany to negotiate a significant supportive housing investment from the state. "I did practice what I preached, I walked the walk as housing commissioner," he said. "I have a record no one else does on this issue." Stringer responded, "They're still cleaning up the Bloomberg housing plan, but okay." — Janaki Chadha | | | |   | | |
| | TRUMP'S NEW YORK | | ANDREW GIULIANI, a special assistant in the Trump White House and son of Rudy Giuliani, is mulling a run for governor of New York next year . In an interview with the conservative-leaning Washington Examiner, Andrew Giuliani said he's "heavily considering" running against Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who has been battered by a series of controversies — including allegations of sexual harassment made by several women. Giuliani said that he thinks Republicans — who last won a New York gubernatorial contest in 2002 — have a "very, very real chance to win" and that he would have the best shot "outside of anybody named Trump." POLITICO's Nick Niedzwiadek — Giuliani said he talked to Trump this week about the potential run. "THE TRUMP Organization has hired Ronald Fischetti, an experienced New York criminal-defense attorney, to represent it in Manhattan prosecutors' investigation into the business dealings of the former president and his company. Mr. Fischetti, 84 years old, is a former law partner of Mark Pomerantz, the former federal prosecutor working on the investigation for the office of Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr." Wall Street Journal's Corinne Ramey and Rebecca Davis O'Brien | | | | Did you know that POLITICO Pro has coverage and tools at the state level? All the state legislative and regulatory tracking, budget documents, state agency contact information, and everything else you need to stay ahead of state policy movement integrate into our smart and customizable platform. Learn more and become a Pro today. | | | | |
| | AROUND NEW YORK | | — The longtime director of a Christian youth camp in Delevan is refusing to step down despite complaints that he inappropriately touched young women and girls at the camp in the 1990s. — Marijuana is still illegal on college campuses. — An Asian woman was attacked after asking a man to put on a mask inside a Lower East Side grocery store. — Richard Lippold's "Orpheus and Apollo" sculpture, removed from Lincoln Center, will be installed at LaGuardia Airport. — City beaches will open on time for Memorial Day weekend. — Plans to open a new log flume ride and adventure park at Coney Island have been delayed a year due to the pandemic. — Citi Bike is set to expand to Washington Heights and Inwood this month, making the bike share system the largest in the world outside of China. — State grants are keeping nine potentially historic structures — like the Art Moderne building — open in Buffalo. — Maya Wiley said Mayor de Blasio did not always take her legal advice during the conflict-of-interest probes on his fundraising nonprofit Campaign for One New York. — Leading finance and real estate players are filling the campaign coffers of Manhattan District Attorney candidate Tali Farhadian Weinstein. | | SOCIAL DATA BY DANIEL LIPPMAN | | HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Chuck Todd … Seymour Hersh … Robin Sproul of Javelin … Mike Leiter of Skadden Arps … NYT's Dave Shaw … WaPo's Zach Goldfarb … Ro's Meghan Pianta … WSJ's Lukas Alpert … NBCUniversal's Lauren Skowronski ENGAGED — Emilie Munson, Washington correspondent for Hearst Newspapers, recently got engaged to Brandon Cushman, who will start his orthopedics medical residency in June. They met at a birthday party while attending Middlebury College. MAKING MOVES — Erica Vladimer is joining Mark Levine's campaign for Manhattan Borough President as his Director of Communications. Per POLITICO Playbook: "Jason Gold has been named an executive vice president at Resolute Public Affairs. He most recently was a managing director at the Progressive Policy Institute, and is an S&P Global alum." | | A message from Uber Driver Stories: When Olivia was diagnosed with MS in 2017, it became clear to her that having a regular job would no longer be possible.
"I drive with Uber because I love to drive," she says. "It just puts the MS far out of my head. There's no way I could work a regular 9-5."
With Uber, Olivia can choose when, where, and how long she wants to drive. This flexibility lets Olivia be there for her daughter and for her own health needs.
If she's not feeling well, or her daughter needs her, she doesn't have to worry about asking her boss or requesting time off—she can take the time she needs to focus on herself and her family.
To see more stories like Olivia's, click here.
*Driver earnings may vary depending on location, demand, hours, drivers, and other variables. | | |
| | REAL ESTATE | | "A FEDERAL REVIEW of Gov. Andrew Cuomo's widely panned LaGuardia Airport AirTrain project accused officials of using 'arbitrary' criteria to ensure the plan was chosen above all others — and concluded the railway would likely be slower than just driving there, newly revealed documents show. Emails and documents obtained by environmental group Riverkeeper this week through a freedom of information request show Federal Aviation Administration officials in 2019 peppered the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey with concerns about its rationale for rejecting alternatives to the pricey project — even though the feds are now poised to green-light it." New York Post's David Meyer
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