| | | | | |  | | By Erin Durkin and David Giambusso with Jonathan Custodio | Presented by CVS Health | Andrew Yang began his Thursday facing criticism for laughing during an impromptu interview when his questioner suggested violence toward women. And he ended his Thursday with a poll showing his widest lead yet in the New York City mayor's race. In between, there was a fight over parking placards. The Democratic primary, entering its final two months, is gaining in weirdness and intensity. And the real action is only getting underway. Video of the interview began circulating early in the day on social media. In it, a man asks Yang whether he "choke[s] b—es," to which Yang laughs and backs away, appearing to gesture with his hand that the conversation was over. The slow burn of criticism culminated in an emotional press conference hosted by rival candidate Maya Wiley where speaker after speaker, including survivors of sexual abuse, admonished Yang for not being more adamant in condemning the question. "He chose seeming cool ahead of women's safety, and women cannot afford another leader who is afraid to stand up for women's safety in New York," said Rita Pasarell, a co-founder of the New York Sexual Harassment Working Group, which does not endorse candidates. Yang defended his role, saying, "You're in a posture when you're trying to be friendly to someone and then you're shocked and surprised that all of a sudden it goes in that direction, so I reacted to end the interaction as quickly as possible." Critics argue Yang blew an opportunity to show some moral leadership. But his friendliness and breezy rapport with all types of New Yorkers is one of the things driving his popularity — a popularity that only seems to be gaining, according to a new poll first reported by Sally Goldenberg that shows Yang doubling his lead over second-place rival Eric Adams. Even when Yang went to Adams' home turf and rolled out his plan to combat the perennial scandal of parking placard abuse — something Adams has taken flack over for years — Yang declined to call out his rival by name (though the implication was lost on no one). With a new round of public matching funds hitting the candidates' warchests Thursday, and an army of outside PACs lining up to do battle before the June 22 contest, the fight for mayor is moving to TV, where friendliness will be a scarce commodity. "We're 70 days out and no money has been spent," said Sean McElwee, co-founder of Data for Progress, which conducted the latest poll. "This race is going to come down to advertising and earned media." IT'S FRIDAY. 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? No public schedule yet. WHERE'S BILL? Appearing on WNYC's Brian Lehrer show. | | A message from CVS Health: Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, CVS Health has been there. We're nearly 300,000 employees ensuring millions of Americans can access health care services. We opened thousands of COVID-19 test sites and administered millions of tests. Now, we're providing the vaccine in designated states. We've been on the frontlines, making health care easier to access and afford. That's health care, from the heart. Learn more. | | |
|  | WHAT CITY HALL'S READING | | "HE BRAVED the 85-foot plunge on the Cyclone roller coaster to celebrate the reopening of Coney Island. He stood with the actor Lin-Manuel Miranda in the middle of Times Square to announce that Broadway was coming back. He savored a Krispy Kreme doughnut — free for people who get vaccinated — on camera as if it were a fresh croissant from Paris, or at least his favored patisserie in Brooklyn. It only took seven years and change, but it appears that Bill de Blasio is finally having fun as mayor . His spirits have been buoyed by a confluence of events: a feeling of hope as millions of New Yorkers get vaccinated after a devastating year; an influx of federal funding to shore up the city's finances. But the biggest factor may well be the diminution of influence and interference from the mayor's longtime nemesis, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, who has largely been sidelined by a series of scandals." The New York Times' Emma Fitzsimmons A POLITICAL ACTION committee seeded with $2 million from mayoral candidate Shaun Donovan's father is now the subject of an inquiry from the Campaign Finance Board, the organization said during a Thursday meeting. Scrutiny of the PAC, called New Start NYC, has delayed a large infusion of public cash that Donovan's campaign had expected to receive. "The Board is deferring its decision on whether to pay public funds to the Donovan campaign today, but it has not made a determination on public funds payments nor on whether there has been a violation," board Chair Frederick Schaffer said. "The Board will seek further information in this matter from the Donovan campaign and from New Start NYC and will review that information promptly." The former Obama and Bloomberg official's campaign raised $2.2 million and had $718,000 on hand as of last month, according to the latest disclosure filings. POLITICO's Joe Anuta — "Maya Wiley is promising to hire 1,000 additional teachers as part of an effort to create smaller classes in New York City public schools, becoming the first of the leading mayoral candidates to put forth a plan that addresses the system's historically overcrowded classrooms. The pledge was wedged among a bulleted list of education proposals her campaign released Thursday. Other ideas include investing money to create academic intervention teams at schools, expanding broadband access for students, ensuring that every school has a full-time nurse, and giving parents more of a say in their school's budget decisions." Gothamist's Elizabeth Kim — "Mayoral contender Scott Stringer vowed Thursday that the 'turf wars' that played out between top city health officials at the height of the COVID crisis would become a thing of the past under his health care plan. Stringer, who is the city comptroller, aims to create a chief health officer who would act as head of both the city's Health + Hospitals network and the Health Department in a move that he hopes would break down their respective 'bureaucratic silos' if he's elected." New York Daily News' Michael Gartland OP-ED: "WILL ANDREW YANG, the current front-runner, become New York City's next mayor? If he wins, would he be any good at the job? I have no idea, although I'm skeptical about the latter. My guess is that the mayoral office needs an effective political brawler, not an intellectual, and Yang, who has never held office, owes his prominence largely to his reputation as a thought leader, someone with big ideas about economics and policy. What I do know is that Yang's big ideas are demonstrably wrong. Shouldn't that be cause for concern?" New York Times columnist Paul Krugman PUBLIC ADVOCATE Jumaane Williams is set to endorse Council Member Brad Lander as his number one choice for comptroller on Friday — a significant boost for Lander in the crowded race. "From the City Council to the streets, Brad consistently lives his values and stands up for the people of New York City," said Williams, a close ally of Lander's from their days together in the Council. "I know Brad will be a strong advocate for New Yorkers as comptroller — working to hold our city government accountable and rebuild a more equal economy." POLITICO's Jonathan Custodio — Corey Johnson is polling way ahead in the comptroller's race, according to the new survey by think tank Data for Progress. The Council speaker, who jumped into the race in March after dropping out of the mayor's race earlier this year polled at 20 percent. Lander comes in at 8 percent according to the survey, followed by Michelle Caruso-Cabrera at 7 percent. — Little-known mayoral candidate Aaron Foldenauer's name will appear first on the June ballot. — Robert Cornegy Jr. snagged the endorsement of the TWU Local 100 in his bid for Brooklyn BP. NEW YORK CITY is reaching the apex of residents actively seeking a Covid-19 vaccine, a benchmark indicating that the former epicenter of the pandemic is edging closer to recovery — the question now becomes how will it vaccinate the rest of the city . About 3 million of more than 8 million city residents are partially or fully vaccinated and represent those who were willing to refresh websites, follow Twitter bots and linger outside pharmacies in the hopes of getting an extra dose. With those people vaccinated, the city faces a challenge in reaching people who couldn't dedicate time and resources to getting the vaccine, and those who are hesitant or simply not eager to get inoculated. POLITICO's Amanda Eisenberg | | | | SUBSCRIBE TO "THE RECAST" TO JOIN AN IMPORTANT CONVERSATION: Power is changing, in Washington and across the country. More people are demanding a seat at the table, insisting that all politics is personal and not all policy is equitable. Our twice-weekly newsletter "The Recast" breaks down how race and identity are shaping politics and policy in America and we are recasting how we report on it. 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 ALBANY'S READING | | "GOV. ANDREW M. Cuomo has loosened COVID-19 rules on sporting events, bars, restaurants and other businesses throughout the spring, but Republicans and owners of drinking and dining establishments say it's time to ditch the curfews and restrictions altogether ... The curfew for bars and restaurants was this week extended to midnight, which means they must stop serving drinks and prepare for closure about an hour before then. The state's requirement for patrons to purchase food along with a drink remains in place. 'I'm concerned about restaurants with this stupid, ridiculous food law that he has,' Tess Collins, owner of McGeary's in Albany, said Thursday in a news conference hosted by the state Assembly's Republican delegation. 'There's no clarity with anything that's going on.'" Times Union's Edward McKinley — 'Obnoxious,' 'aggressive,' 'bellicose': Cuomo criticized the press corps in a draft version of his pandemic book. — Statewide Covid-19 hospitalizations have fallen below 4,000 for the first time since December. "NEW YORK has dropped its challenge to the sale of the Indian Point nuclear power plant in return for the new owner's guarantee to keep $400 million in a decommissioning trust fund for the next 10 years. The agreement reached Wednesday appears to resolve the state's biggest concern with the Indian Point sale — that trust fund money could dry up during the teardown, sticking ratepayers with the tab for a cleanup expected to take at least 12 years. The last of Indian Point's two working reactors are slated to shut down at the end of the month, when ownership of the Buchanan plant shifts from Entergy to Holtec International, a New Jersey-based decommissioning firm." Journal News' Thomas C. Zambito TAX COLLECTIONS for the recently concluded fiscal year came in at $82.4 billion, Comptroller Tom DiNapoli announced on Thursday evening. The total is $3 billion higher than was estimated by the Division of the Budget in February. While that's a decrease from $82.9 billion collected in the prior fiscal year, it's more good news for the state's once-dire budgetary picture. POLITICO's Bill Mahoney "NORTH COUNTRY and Canadian officials are growing less optimistic that the U.S.-Canada border can reopen this summer to leisure travelers. 'Most of us who are actively engaging in this issue now anticipate little change through the summer, hopefully seeing a return to relative normalcy in September,' said Garry Douglas, who heads the North Country Chamber of Commerce in Plattsburgh. 'But these are an informal sense of things and nothing official,' he added. Last week, Dominic LeBlanc, Canada's intergovernmental affairs minister, told CBC News that it wasn't the right time to talk about reopening the border." Times Union's Eric Anderson #UpstateAmerica: A Buffalo golf ball maker was "caught up in Masters marketing kerfuffle" after a golf legend's son prominently displayed a sleeve of OnCore's Vero X1 golf balls during a ceremony honoring the first Black player to compete in the tournament. | | | |   | | |
| | FROM THE DELEGATION | | Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said Thursday that she wouldn't back a full repeal of the current limits on state and local tax deductions, but suggested that she was interested in finding ways to offer relief from the cap for the middle-class. "I do not believe in holding the entire infrastructure package hostage for a full repeal," the New York congresswoman said at the Capitol, calling that a "bit of an extreme position." ... Ocasio-Cortez and Rep. Kathleen Rice (D-N.Y.) were the only two Democrats in New York's House delegation that didn't sign on to a letter this week that called for scrapping the $10,000 cap, which was put into place by the 2017 GOP tax law, H.R. 1 (115). POLITICO's Bernie Becker | | AROUND NEW YORK | | — There's an interview with the man behind the viral Eric Adams contraband search video. — J-Lo and A-Rod are no more. — Republican mayoral hopeful Curtis Sliwa wants to abolish animal shelters that euthanize dogs and cats. — NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea demanded jail time for a group of protesters arrested this week. — Dozens of Department of Education staffers are calling for an end to the gifted and talented program. — A Manhattan Family Court clerk allegedly called a Black teenage defendant the n-word and other racial slurs during a virtual hearing while unaware her mic was on. — Protests over the shootings of Adam Toleda and Daunte Wright that have sparked national outrage shut down the Holland Tunnel Thursday night. | | | | 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. | | | | |
| | SOCIAL DATA BY DANIEL LIPPMAN | | HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Goldman Sachs' John F.W. Rogers (h/t Dina Powell McCormick) … S&P Global's Josh Goldstein … Fox News medical contributor Manny Alvarez … Matt Saunders of Helena … Reuters' Andy Sullivan, Frances Kerry and Anthony Boadle … Geoff Middleberg ... AP's Ted Anthony ... NBC's Mosheh Gains ... Deborah Zabarenko … Sally-Shannon Birkel of the U.S. Chamber … Doug Heye … (was Thursday): Sarah Bloom Raskin … Max Neuberger … FTI Consulting's Cheyenne Hopkins … MSNBC's Brian Montopoli … Newsha Ghaeli of Biobot … Bloomberg's John Harney MAKING MOVES — Jon Reinish is joining Mercury public affairs as a managing director. He formerly spent ten years at SKDK and was an aide to Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand. MEDIAWATCH — AP White House correspondent and Room 9 alum Jonathan Lemire is writing a book, "The Big Lie: Election Chaos, Political Opportunism, and the State of American Politics After 2020." — "Reuters puts its website behind a paywall" — NYT: "After registration and a free preview period, a subscription to Reuters.com will cost $34.99 a month." — "Outgoing CBS News president held up 'I hate my job' sign in meeting" — Page Six: "A source said, 'There was a CBS corporate budget meeting she was in — it dragged on and on — and at one point Susan [Zirinsky] wrote on a piece of paper "I hate my job" and just held it over her head in protest.'" | | A message from CVS Health: Throughout the pandemic, in New York and across the country, CVS Health has been delivering essential care. Thanks to the efforts of our employees, we opened 4,800 COVID-19 test sites and administered over 15 million tests at our stores and through partners in underserved communities. With millions staying home, we increased access to prescription delivery, virtual visits and mental health services. Now, we're providing vaccines in designated states. Every day, CVS Health works to bring quality, affordable health care closer to home—so it's never out of reach for anyone. That's health care, from the heart. Learn more. | | |
| | REAL ESTATE | | "THE CITY ECONOMY shifted into second gear in March with growing jobs numbers — but New York's comeback will depend on when the vaccine rollout convinces office workers and tourists to return. At the moment, both are saying: Not just yet. 'We are in a wait-and-see period,' said Danny Mangru, research director for New York at the real estate firm Savills, which earlier this month issued a sobering report on the city's office market. 'We will see more activity once more of the population is vaccinated post-Labor Day.' Meanwhile, the employment picture is slowly improving. The city gained 16,000 jobs in March — the largest increase since August, the state Labor Department reported Thursday." The City's Greg David "EVEN WITHOUT final data from New York City about how many people remained in the city during the pandemic, an abundance of anecdotal evidence exists about the exodus of its wealthiest residents. At the writer Molly Jong-Fast's Upper East Side apartment building, less than half a dozen of the 47 units were occupied in April 2020, she said. Mark Armstrong Peddigrew, a personal trainer in Lower Manhattan, said that roughly 85 percent of his clients left town…Now, as the rate of vaccinations increases, the blooming bulbs around the city feel like a metaphor for more than just spring. New restaurants are opening, stores are filling up, comedians are again getting heckled at the Comedy Cellar. Rationally, most New Yorkers know these are good things. They want to conquer the pandemic, and that involves saving the economy as well as lives. But the pride they take in their own toughness is superseded only by their propensity to complain. And these days, a lot of gripes are aimed at those who left." The New York Times' Jacob Bernstein
| | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook family Playbook | Playbook PM | California Playbook | Florida Playbook | Illinois Playbook | Massachusetts Playbook | New Jersey Playbook | New York Playbook | Brussels Playbook | London Playbook View all our political and policy newsletters | | Follow us | | | | |
No comments:
Post a Comment