News: POLITICO New York Playbook: Adams' big schools pitch

Wednesday, March 9, 2022

POLITICO New York Playbook: Adams' big schools pitch

Mar 09, 2022

By Erin Durkin, Anna Gronewold and Deanna Garcia

Presented by Healthcare Education Project

The central fight between New York City Mayor Eric Adams and Albany legislators so far this year has been over bail reform. That one, for Adams, is all but lost: Democratic lawmakers have made it clear they have no intention of amending the law to let judges detain people they consider dangerous. Adams threw up his hands when asked about it Monday, saying, "It's up to them to decide. I am a creature of Albany."

But there's another Albany hurdle Adams must clear that has been flying a bit under the radar: getting his control of city schools renewed before it expires this summer. This one, to some extent, should be a gimme. Adams asked for three more years of mayoral control; Gov. Kathy Hochul did him one better and offered four. She did that to emphasize that she is very much not Andrew Cuomo, the guy who for years tormented Bill de Blasio about mayoral control and everything else under the sun. It was a spat over mayoral control that sparked de Blasio's 2015 "vendetta" rant against Cuomo, which in turn inaugurated six years of open political warfare. By comparison, Adams has it easy.

The path to renewing mayoral control has not been entirely smooth, however. So Adams made his best pitch on Tuesday, returning to his alma mater Bayside High School in Queens to argue he is the man to run the nation's largest school system. "How can we even think that our children should have to deal with the uncertainty of what the next school year is going to be, particularly after coming through two years of having Covid bring uncertainty in their lives?" Adams said. "We cannot do that again."

At a hearing last week, Adams faced some pushback from legislators who preferred a shorter extension rather than a four-year term. There are also proposals to restructure an educational policy panel to provide more of a check on the mayor, which City Hall is resisting. While mayoral control goes through June, Adams is pushing to have the matter settled in the state budget — with an April 1 deadline looming.

IT'S WEDNESDAY. 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 KATHY? Speaking at the Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral of St. Volodymyr, going to Lincoln Center for an announcement, and announcing new staff for a gun violence effort.

WHERE'S ERIC? Speaking at the My Sister's Keeper Female Empowerment Conference and an event celebrating the renovation of David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center, making a resiliency and affordable housing-related announcement in Southeast Queens, and meeting with business leaders to discuss New York City's economic recovery.

A message from Healthcare Education Project:

When COVID-19 hit New York, frontline healthcare workers answered the call. But as the system was stretched to the limit and New Yorkers struggled to find care, greedy health insurers pocketed billions. Despite these record profits, insurers are back squeezing hospitals for more. Doctors and caregivers can no longer survive on razor thin margins. Join us and help stop for-profit insurers from getting between doctors and their patients. Learn more.

What City Hall's reading

Team Adams involved in low-level political race to unseat persistent foe, by POLITICO's Sally Goldenberg and Joe Anuta: Top staffers to Mayor Eric Adams are involved in a hyper-local election to challenge a former political rival, four people aware of the situation confirmed — a relatively minor affair for an administration facing a breadth of pandemic-related crises. Menashe Shapiro, City Hall's deputy chief of staff, has been making calls to community leaders in Orthodox Jewish neighborhoods of Brooklyn to unseat a 28-year-old district leader with one of his municipal employees, several of the sources told POLITICO. Shapiro and his boss Frank Carone — chief of staff to Adams — have long had beef with the young official, David Schwartz, who worked for Andrew Yang's mayoral campaign and helped the first-time candidate seize coveted endorsements that Adams had been banking on.

"NYC Board of Elections vendor error triggers 44,000 faulty 'inactive' voter registration notices," by WNYC's Brigid Bergin: "The New York City Board of Elections said a vendor error led to nearly 44,000 residents in all five boroughs receiving a notice warning their voter registration status was in jeopardy if they didn't verify their home address. The form is usually sent to voters who've moved to a new residence. But these voters had not moved, and many had voted as recently as November. The notices were among some 900,000 voter records that needed to be updated as part of the BOE's annual review of its voter database."

" 2021 Was Deadliest Year on Record for Homeless New Yorkers," by City Limits' David Brand: "The 2021 fiscal year was the deadliest on record for New York City's homeless population, with 640 unhoused people dying in shelters, hospitals or the streets, city data shows. A rise in drug overdoses fueled the lethal increase and accounted for at least 237 deaths between July 1, 2020 and June 30, 2021, up from 131 the previous year, according to an annual report compiled by the city's health and social services agencies."

" Watchdog Sees Cover-Up in Failure to Report Rikers Island Beatings," by The New York Times' Jan Ransom: "Louis A. Molina, the commissioner of the New York City Department of Correction, was harshly criticized on Tuesday by a jails oversight panel for his agency's failure to document two brutal beatings that occurred on Rikers Island last year. During a meeting of the city's Board of Correction, panel members demanded answers about the incidents, which left one man paralyzed in August and landed another in a coma in December, as well as accountability for reporting breakdowns that mischaracterized one beating and failed to record the other in city records."

"Do Police Help or Hurt Domestic Violence Survivors? New City Council Members Take a Stand," by Fuller Project's Jessica Washington: "Divisions among domestic violence advocates in New York City about what role, if any, police should have in addressing domestic and gender-based violence have been playing out for years against the backdrop of the larger defund the police movement. At one end: organizations with deep relationships with the New York Police Department and other city law enforcement bodies have argued that the NYPD has an essential role to play in ensuring survivors' safety. On the other end, grassroots organizers urged investing some of the NYPD's $10 billion-plus annual budget into resources like housing and income security for survivors."

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WHAT ALBANY'S READING

"Hochul: No changes to state budget, for now, amid global financial uncertainty," by Spectrum's Nick Reisman: "New York's state budget is being negotiated against the backdrop of increasing global uncertainty: war in Europe, rising gas prices and sanctions meant to stymie Russia's attack on Ukraine. For now, Gov. Kathy Hochul is not making any changes to her proposed $216 billion spending plan with those concerns in mind. But she said Tuesday during a stop in suburban Albany County the future-year revenue that projected billions of dollars in budget surplus can't be counted on. 'Everything that we're putting in the budget we're going to be able to fund, but I'm also very cognizant of the fact that we could be facing a recession,' she said. 'I cannot count on the revenues, the tax receipts as well as the stock market revenues, being there for us next year.'"

POLITENESS ISN'T DEAD: "GOP thanks Hochul but seeks more cash for roads and bridges," via the Times Union

" Hundreds Halt Bridges to Renew Excluded Workers Fund, but an Uphill Battle Lies Ahead," by THE CITY's Josefa Velasquez: "But efforts to include any additional funding for the program is an uphill battle, according to Albany insiders. Unlike last year, when the Excluded Workers Fund had political momentum and the worst of the pandemic was still fresh on everyone's mind, the same energy hasn't been replicated. 'We've hit roadblocks,' said State Sen. Jessica Ramos (D-Queens), one of the architects of the fund."

ALWAYS CHECK THE SIGN!: " NY Sen. Rachel May apologizes for posing with 'unacceptable' image of 9/11 attack," by Syracuse.com's Mark Weiner: "State Sen. Rachel May set off a firestorm Tuesday when she was photographed at a rally behind a sign that used imagery of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks to warn of the threat of climate change. May, D-Syracuse, apologized for what she called an 'unacceptable' image and said she did not look at the banner before her photo was taken at the rally in Albany. 'I posed for numerous photos with activists and did not see the content of the sign,' May said in a statement after she was widely condemned for posing with state Sen. Robert Jackson behind the banner."

"Cuomo doesn't say whether he's running for office. The Board of Elections implies he is." Times Union's Joshua Solomon: "For the purposes of state Election Law, former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo is considering a run for office. 'Although former Gov. Cuomo has not announced any explicit plan to run for a specific public office, his conduct fits the definition of candidate set forth in Election Law,' New York's Board of Elections Chief Enforcement Counsel Michael L. Johnson wrote in a finding this week regarding a complaint filed by good governments over Cuomo's use of campaign funds following his resignation in August."

" Rural upstate hospitals seek help in state budget deal," by Spectrum's Nick Reisman: "Rural hospitals in upstate New York are seeking millions of dollars in additional aid after two years of the pandemic have stretched their operations and led to acute staffing shortages. The push from small hospitals come as the state budget talks this month in Albany are expected to center around, at least in part, how to move forward from the COVID pandemic. Organizations like the Iroquois Healthcare Alliance, which represents 50 hospitals and health care networks across 32 counties, are calling for a significant rise in Medicaid rates as well as $100 million in state-backed funding for upstate hospitals."

#UpstateAmerica: Female brewers are banding together to boost numbers and influence they lack in the vast region between NYC and Buffalo.

FROM THE DELEGATION

New York House members to Adams: Don't mess with chocolate milk in schools, by POLITICO's Michelle Bocanegra: Nine members of New York's congressional delegation are pressing Mayor Eric Adams to keep flavored milk in city schools, days after POLITICO reported on his crusade to remove chocolate milk from the nation's largest school system before arriving in City Hall. The March 8 letter, signed by a bipartisan group of lawmakers including Democratic Reps. Antonio Delgado and Grace Meng, and Republicans Elise Stefanik and Lee Zeldin, also a Republican candidate for governor, urges Adams to consider the implications for the state's dairy industry and the potential consequences for schoolchildren in New York City.

"Democratic Rep. Tom Suozzi of New York violated a conflicts-of-interest law by disclosing stock transactions years past a federal deadline," by Insider's Kimberly Leonard: "Rep. Tom Suozzi, a Democrat who is running for governor of New York, violated a federal conflict-of-interest law by failing to properly report 31 stock trades, according to an Insider review of congressional financial disclosures. Taken together, the trades are worth as much as $885,000. The trades are months or even years late. One of Suozzi's stock purchases, in aluminum manufacturer Superior Industries International, Inc., occurred on September 5, 2017, but the congressman didn't report it until March 3, 2022, federal disclosures indicate."

" FBI to Tonko: We'll never talk about informant tied to limo crash," by Times Union's Larry Rulison: "The FBI told U.S. Rep. Paul Tonko it will never reveal any information about its dealings with Shahed Hussain, the notorious bureau informant who owned the unsafe stretch SUV limousine involved in the 2018 crash in Schoharie that killed 20 people. … Following years of reporting by the Times Union and a recent article published in New York magazine, Tonko wrote a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray on Jan. 31, asking the bureau to reveal anything that could shed light on how Hussain skirted responsibility for the deadly crash and was allowed to run an illegal limousine service in Saratoga County for years."

AROUND NEW YORK

— Russian restaurants in the city have been getting hate mail and losing business, even though owners are against the war and some are actually Ukrainian.

— City Comptroller Brad Lander urged Adams to abandon an effort to shift retired city workers to a different health care plan.

— The city teachers retirement system is divesting from Russian securities.

— New York City courts are implementing new rules designed to speed gun possession cases through the system.

— Dozens of people were subpoenaed in a ballot fraud investigation in Rensselaer County.

— Arson is suspected in multiple brush fires that burned in Central Park on Tuesday.

— A juror in the Ghislaine Maxwell case who did not disclose childhood sexual abuse during jury selection told a judge he was distracted while filling out the questionnaire.

— A proposed Americana music festival could draw 15K people to rural Columbia County, organizers say.

— High taxes are the top reason New Yorkers are considering or making plans to move out of the state, according to a new poll.

— A woman was charged by Manhattan federal prosecutors with failing to register as a foreign agent for Russia.

DON'T MISS POLITICO'S INAUGURAL HEALTH CARE SUMMIT ON 3/31: Join POLITICO for a discussion with health care providers, policymakers, federal regulators, patient representatives, and industry leaders to better understand the latest policy and industry solutions in place as we enter year three of the pandemic. Panelists will discuss the latest proposals to overcome long-standing health care challenges in the U.S., such as expanding access to care, affordability, and prescription drug prices. REGISTER HERE.

SOCIAL DATA BY DANIEL LIPPMAN

HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Kimberly Guilfoyle … Raj Shah of the Rockefeller Foundation … Brooks Kraft … Charlie Gibson … Michael Kinsley … Sarah Swinehart Massey … Newsy's Andrew Rafferty … EY's Margaret Carlson … NBC's Doug Adams … former Sen. James Buckley (Conservative-N.Y.) is 99 … Time's Haley Sweetland Edwards … David Hume Kennerly … Erika Tannor of Tusk Strategies

MAKING MOVES — Former mayoral candidate Maya Wiley has been named president and chief executive of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. … Paul Rosen has been nominated to be assistant secretary for investment security in the office of international affairs at the Treasury Department. He currently is a partner at Crowell & Moring LLP, where he co-chairs the firm's national security practice and works as a cybersecurity and government investigations lawyer. … Jay Varma, former senior adviser for public health to Mayor Bill de Blasio, has joined Kroll as chief medical adviser and Kroll Institute fellow. … City Board of Elections spokesperson Valerie Vazquez is leaving to become a deputy commissioner at the Mayor's Community Affairs Unit. …

… Josh Meltzer will be the new head of public policy and government relations at Lime. He was formerly at Airbnb. … Omar Toro-Vaca , who has been senior vice president of real estate at Kasirer, is joining the global well-being group Therme US as senior vice president for community development. … Recycle Track Systems has hired Cory Gendron as chief revenue officer. He was most recently chief revenue officer at Intelex.

MEDIAWATCH — Sam Sanders will host a weekly culture podcast for New York magazine's Vulture (as yet unnamed). He previously announced his departure from NPR. More from Bloomberg … Naomi Nix is joining WaPo to cover Meta and other social media companies. She previously covered social media companies at Bloomberg.

A message from Healthcare Education Project:

Whether it's increasing out-of-pocket expenses, denying claims, or excluding hospitals and caregivers from their networks, greedy, for-profit insurance companies have been profiting off of hardworking New Yorkers for too long. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, heroic frontline healthcare workers stepped up, saved lives, and kept families healthy. But the pandemic devastated our entire healthcare system and pushed it to the brink. Even as New Yorkers struggled to find care and healthcare workers made gut-wrenching sacrifices to fight the pandemic, insurers put profits ahead of patients - muscling the doctors and hospitals that saved lives during COVID-19. Last year the top 10 health insurers pocketed more than $40 billion. Join our movement to demand NYS lawmakers put patients before profits. Learn more.

Real Estate

"NYCHA blames building disrepair on COVID rent shortfalls, angering NYC Council members," by New York Daily News' Chris Sommerfeldt: "NYCHA honchos on Tuesday blamed their failure to maintain the city's public housing projects on a massive drop in rent revenue during the pandemic, angering City Council members who countered that years of internal dysfunction is at fault for the authority's state of disrepair. In a Council hearing held to review the NYCHA component of Mayor Adams' preliminary budget, New York City Housing Authority Chairman Greg Russ testified that the agency has seen a $311 million rent shortfall since early 2020, amounting to a 30% drop as compared with budgetary projections."

"A New Development Squeeze Will Push Rents Higher for New Yorkers," by Bloomberg's James Tarmy: "The good news first: New York is set to get 33,000 new apartments in the next three years. The bad news? It's a significant decline from the last decade, according to a new pipeline report from Corcoran. 'It's 2,000 fewer units annually than the historical average,' says Pamela Liebman, Corcoran's president and chief executive officer. 'It's definitely a mixed bag.'"

" Russian billionaire lists UES mansion for $41M as bank faces sanctions," by New York Post's Jennifer Gould: "Billionaire Alexey Kuzmichev, co-founder of the US-sanctioned Alfa-Bank, has listed his quadruplex at the landmarked Atterbury Mansion on the Upper East Side for $41 million. Kuzmichev bought his slice of the seven-story, 33-foot-wide home, located at 33 E. 74th St., in 2016 for $42 million, as we previously reported. His neighbor is Bob Iger, ex-CEO of the Walt Disney Company, who owns the penthouse."