| | | | |  | | By Erin Durkin, Anna Gronewold and Deanna Garcia | Presented by Compassion & Choices | Well, well, well. Looks like at least one person might get something she wants before session is over this year. Gov. Kathy Hochul's preferred path for kicking former Lt. Gov. Brian Benjamin off the primary ballot could happen as early as today. A new bill — authored by Hochul, but officially from Assemblymember Amy Paulin of Westchester and Sen. Liz Krueger of Manhattan — was introduced late Friday that would allow candidates who have been charged with felonies or misdemeanors to turn down a spot on the ballot. This helps Hochul because her indicted former LG was really weighing down her reelection, and the other options for getting him off the ticket were nominating him to a different post, killing him, or forcing him to move out of state. The new bill is different from a previous Paulin proposal that explicitly allowed a new replacement name to be added. But the accompanying memo argues that there is a path for adding a replacement name already. It would be the same situation as a candidate who declines a party endorsement, which would let the party fill the spot "not later than the fourth day" after the candidate drops. Even if this is the preferred path, it's not popular. (Ideally no one would be in this situation at all.) Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins said last week that she "really, really, really [doesn't] like to change rules in the middle of a process and certainly not in the middle of the election."
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Gifer | Republicans and Hochul's political opponents have already come out swinging with criticisms that she and the Legislature are setting a dangerous precedent by manipulating the system to their own benefit. But if this is the route that Hochul and the party will take, they've got to do it quickly. The deadline for Benjamin to drop out under this bill would be the last date the primary ballots can be certified, which is May 4 this year. Yes, that'd be Wednesday. IT'S MONDAY and state lawmakers are scheduled for their last four-day workweek of session. 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? Making an affordable housing announcement and speaking at an American Irish Legislators Society dinner. WHERE'S ERIC? Making a traffic safety announcement, speaking at the kickoff of Small Business Services week, and attending the Met Gala.
| | | | A message from Compassion & Choices: Lawmakers have the power to give New Yorkers autonomy at the end of life and stop needless suffering by passing the Medical Aid in Dying Act. 1 in 5 Americans now has access to the compassionate option of medical aid in dying, including our neighbors in NJ and VT. Stacey Gibson, whose husband died an agonizing death, is raising her voice so no one else's loved one has to suffer at the end of life. | | | |  | What City Hall's reading | | "Study finds more than quarter of city adults infected during winter omicron wave," by NY1's Ari Ephraim Feldman: "A quarter of New York City adults — 1.8 million people — got COVID-19 during the latter half of the winter omicron surge, according to a study from CUNY's School of Public Health, showing further evidence that the surge may have rivaled or even exceeded the cases during the coronavirus' first wave. The study found that only about half of total positive test results and likely cases made it into the city's data collection efforts, which only count PCR tests conducted at a city-run location, or through private providers and pop-up locations. Denis Nash, a professor at CUNY's School of Public Health and a co-author of the study, noted that the city's health department only reported about 550,000 positive PCR tests for New Yorkers of all ages during the surveyed period, compared to the 1.8 million infected adults counted in the study." — "A tour with NYC contact tracers, as the landmark health program ends," by Gothamist's Jaclyn Jeffrey-Wilensky — Many Broadway theaters will no longer require proof of vaccination, though they will continue to require masks at least through the end of May. " Mayor pushes state plan to convert hotels into affordable housing for city's homeless population," by Gothamist's Rosemary Misdary: "In an effort to confront the city's ongoing homeless crisis, Mayor Eric Adams stood alongside elected officials and union members to support a plan that would clear the streets and subways, and put a near-record number of unhoused New Yorkers into underutilized hotels. The state bill, S.4937/A.6262, would make it easier for the city to use unoccupied hotels as affordable housing, which officials said could be converted into apartments quickly at a cost of two-thirds of new construction." " The suite life: Debt-ridden de Blasio spending thousands to live large at Brooklyn hotel," by New York Post's Rich Calder and Griffin Kelly: "Former Mayor Bill de Blasio and his wife have racked up $2.5 million in debt, but that isn't stopping them from living large at a pricey, four-star Brooklyn hotel. After leaving office four months ago, de Blasio and Chirlane McCray made a beeline from Gracie Mansion to the swanky New York Marriott at the Brooklyn Bridge — where suites run from about $600 to $5,000 a night — and have been staying there ever since while their home in Park Slope, Brooklyn, undergoes renovations, according to hotel staffers and other sources." — De Blasio still gets an NYPD security detail. "En plein air: NYC aims to keep outdoor lifestyle post-virus ," by The Associated Press' Bobby Caina Calvin: "As COVID-19 ravaged New York City, virus-wary denizens locked out of indoor public places poured into the streets, sidewalks and parks. They dined with friends in outdoor sheds hastily erected by restaurants, and went to health classes, concerts and even therapy sessions on streets closed to traffic. Now as the city continues on its path of recovery, the pandemic could be leaving a lasting imprint on how the city uses its roadways: More space for people and less room for cars. Even though indoor dining has resumed in the city — no masks or vaccine cards required — outdoor dining decks, set up in former parking lanes, have never been more plentiful." "Eric Adams Budget Leaves Coney Island Boardwalk With Loose Screws and Other Dangers," by The City's George Joseph: "Loose screws, gaping holes and uneven planks plague Coney Island's wooden boardwalk. But even as city lawyers pay out legal settlements to injured people, Mayor Eric Adams' new $99.7 billion budget will allocate no new funding to repair it. That has local residents and elected officials dismayed, after making persistent calls to rebuild the historic landmark with hopes that Adams, as former Brooklyn borough president, would take heed."
| | | | HAPPENING NOW - MILKEN INSTITUTE GLOBAL CONFERENCE: Go inside the 25th annual Milken Institute Global Conference with our special edition Global Insider newsletter, featuring exclusive coverage and insights from one of the world's most influential gatherings. Stay up to speed with the latest from #MIGlobal, which brings together 3,000 of the world's most powerful leaders and features 700+ speakers representing more than 80 countries. Don't miss out, subscribe today. | | | | | | | WHAT ALBANY'S READING | | "Inside the Flawed Vetting Process That Led Gov. Hochul to Brian Benjamin," by The New York Times' Luis Ferré-Sadurní, Nicholas Fandos and Jeffery C. Mays: "The first warnings about Brian A. Benjamin came early, just three days after Kathy Hochul learned she would become governor of New York and began a hurried search for her second-in-command. At the top of a 63-page vetting report, two flags drew attention to potential legal concerns about Mr. Benjamin's use of campaign funds, according to three people familiar with the document. Among them were news accounts of dozens of potentially fraudulent contributions steered to Mr. Benjamin's failed campaign for New York City comptroller. When Ms. Hochul and her team pressed for answers, Mr. Benjamin, then a state senator from Harlem, suggested he had made innocent mistakes and gave the impression that all outstanding issues were being resolved. But he failed to disclose something far more troubling: Prosecutors from the Manhattan district attorney's office had already served a subpoena to his comptroller campaign, inquiring about the suspicious donations, according to two people familiar with the subpoena." — Vanity Fair's Chris Smith: " Kathy Hochul's Political Future Gets Complicated" Officials are nervous about mask mandates — even in Covid hot spots, by POLITICO's Shannon Young: More than two years after New York became the global epicenter for the Covid-19 pandemic, the state once again finds itself near the top of the list of U.S. hotspots. Two-thirds of the counties in the United States flagged by the CDC as having high community levels are in upstate New York, and cases and hospitalizations are still rising, albeit at a slower pace in recent days, across the state. But unlike in the early days of the pandemic — or even during the recent Omicron surge — Gov. Kathy Hochul and state health officials aren't pushing mask mandates or other restrictions. Instead, the Democratic governor, who is running for a full term this year, is taking a more hands-off approach, merely encouraging vaccinations, boosters and mask wearing, except on public transit and in certain congregate settings where masks are still required. Why the redistricting ruling in New York may permanently leave the process with the courts, by POLITICO's Bill Mahoney: When former Gov. Andrew Cuomo retreated from his promise to late Mayor Ed Koch to veto gerrymandered lines in 2012, he promised that a new constitutional amendment would guarantee the Legislature wouldn't be able to draw maps too aggressively ever again. A decade later, he may have been proven right. But it wasn't in the way that he or any other observers predicted. A sweeping Court of Appeals decision on Wednesday found that the Legislature committed several violations of the 2012 amendment and ordered that lines be drawn by a Steuben County judge later this month. In the process, they might have laid the groundwork for a future in which redistricting in New York is regularly handled not by the Legislature or an independent commission as Cuomo designed, but by a judge in whichever county the first lawsuit happens to be brought. — Congressional and state Senate primaries to be held on August 23, by POLITICO's Bill Mahoney —"NY Young Republican Club leader files motion to stop Assembly redistricting," by New York Post's Carl Campanile — An upstate businessman is preparing to file a lawsuit Monday calling on the courts to invalidate Assembly maps as well. Giuliani, Astorino survive challenges to stay on Republican primary ballot, by POLITICO's Bill Mahoney: Republican gubernatorial candidates Andrew Giuliani and Rob Astorino survived challenges Friday to the petitions they gathered to get on the primary ballot. That likely sets up a four-way battle among GOP gubernatorial hopefuls in the primary that is currently scheduled for June 28. Rep. Lee Zeldin earned an automatic ballot spot when he was endorsed by party leaders in March, while businessperson Harry Wilson's petitions were not challenged. " New York Bill Would Force Amazon to Limit Grueling Warehouse Quotas," by Vice's Lauren Kaori Gurley: "In the latest effort to challenge Amazon's grueling labor practices, a new bill, that was introduced on Friday, would require New York employers to disclose and place limits on productivity quotas for warehouse workers." WATCH: Trevor Noah's routine at the White House Correspondents Association dinner featured a joke about New York's bail reform laws and The New York Times' coverage thereof. He quipped he's "half expecting to open your newspaper and see a headline, 'Mets blow four-run lead due to changes in state bail laws.'" #UpstateAmerica: Oneida Lake walleyes are at historic highs, but they're 'skinnier' than ever.
| | | | A message from Compassion & Choices:   | | | | | TRUMP'S NEW YORK | | "Likelihood of Trump Indictment in Manhattan Fades as Grand Jury Wraps Up," by The New York Times' Ben Protess, Jonah E. Bromwich, William K. Rashbaum and Lananh Nguyen: "When some two dozen New Yorkers filed into a Manhattan courthouse this week to finish out their grand jury service, the case against a man who would have been the world's most prominent criminal defendant was no longer before them. That man, Donald J. Trump, was facing potential criminal charges from the grand jury this year over his business practices. But in the weeks since the Manhattan district attorney, Alvin L. Bragg, stopped presenting evidence to the jurors about Mr. Trump, new signs have emerged that the former president will not be indicted in Manhattan in the foreseeable future — if at all."
| | AROUND NEW YORK | | — Family members of people jailed at Rikers Island who died in solitary confinement pleaded for the practice to be ended. — Stairway to Heaven or Skyway to the Future? Hochul helped open the Albany Skyway, an elevated park reconnecting downtown Albany to the Hudson River waterfront. — Family court lawyers can't afford to stay in their jobs, causing children or adults who cannot afford to pay their own legal fees to suffer. — A man was stabbed to death at the Times Square Dave and Busters in a dispute over a game prize. — Adams is proposing $7.4 million for dyslexia screening and programs in city schools. — The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit in Manhattan will reexamine the convictions of NXIVM cult leader Keith Raniere and Seagrams heiress Clare Bronfman. — A Bronx teacher was arrested for allegedly choking a 12-year-old boy. — Two Long Island organizations were described as "extreme antigovernment groups" by the Southern Poverty Law Center. — "Angel investors" in Western New York say they're hoping to be part of the region's resurgence. — Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand met with Starbucks workers trying to organize a union. — A judge upheld the sex trafficking conviction of Ghislaine Maxwell. — Adams met with NYPD precinct commanders to discuss how to stem violent crime. — Muslims in the city have been giving back during the month of Ramadan.
| | | | INTRODUCING DIGITAL FUTURE DAILY - OUR TECHNOLOGY NEWSLETTER, RE-IMAGINED: Technology is always evolving, and our new tech-obsessed newsletter is too! Digital Future Daily unlocks the most important stories determining the future of technology, from Washington to Silicon Valley and innovation power centers around the world. Readers get an in-depth look at how the next wave of tech will reshape civic and political life, including activism, fundraising, lobbying and legislating. Go inside the minds of the biggest tech players, policymakers and regulators to learn how their decisions affect our lives. Don't miss out, subscribe today. | | | | | | | SOCIAL DATA BY DANIEL LIPPMAN | | HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Mika Brzezinski … CNN's Poppy Harlow is 4-0 … MSNBC's Jesse Rodriguez … Emily Tisch Sussman … WSJ's Matt Murray … Julianna Goldman … BofA's Bess Evans … former Rep. Robert Turner (R-N.Y.) … Katie (Thompson) Sansone … Rick Stengel … former Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker … (was Sunday): Molly Levinson of the Levinson Group … ProPublica's Caroline Chen … Clinton Foundation's Brian Cookstra turned 4-0 … Abby Huntsman … Abe Foxman … Ben Jacobs … … (was Saturday): U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres … Time's Brian Bennett … Fox News' Matt Wall … Lindsay Walters … cartoonist and illustrator Barry Blitt … CBS' Caitlin Yilek … Vanity Fair's Joe Hagan … NBC News PR's Liz Kushel ENGAGED — Jack Sterne, VP at SKDK, and Eliza Hamburger , a registered dietitian and diabetes specialist, got engaged Friday in Red Hook. The two met through a mutual friend after college and began dating in 2018. Pic MEDIAWATCH — " Are These Two Fox News Hosts Breaking the Company's New York City Vaccine Rules?" by Daily Beast's Justin Baragona
| | | | A message from Compassion & Choices: A river, a mountain, a zip code -- these things prevent New Yorkers from access to compassionate care at the end of life. That's why Stacey Gibson is asking lawmakers to give New Yorkers the same access to comprehensive end-of-life care that our neighbors in New Jersey and Vermont (and 8 other states) already have. Stacey Gibson's beloved husband Sid was diagnosed with a rare degenerative motor neuron disease. When his treatment options ran out and he began to suffer, Sid decided to stop eating and drinking. It took twelve days for him to die. His slow, agonizing death was exactly what he feared and haunts Stacey to this day. Access to the compassionate option of medical aid in dying would ensure that no one's loved one is forced to suffer the way Sid did. It's time our lawmakers stop needless suffering and PASS the Medical Aid in Dying Act. | | | | | Real Estate | | "'We can't even buy food': New Yorkers protest proposed rent increases," by The Guardian's Gloria Oladipo: "At 64, Chen Renping has lived in New York City's Chinatown neighborhood for more than 20 years. But after a back injury forced him to retire from construction work in 2018, Renping can only afford rent if he works multiple part-time jobs – and that's with his unit being rent stabilized. 'Once I pay the rent, life is very hard,' Renping said, through a translator. Recently proposed rent increases of up to 9% prompted Renping to join a coalition protesters calling on New York City's mayor, Eric Adams, to roll back rising rent. 'A lot of us can't pay the rent and we can't even buy food,' Renping said at a rally organized by the Rent Justice Coalition group at New York's city hall park on Thursday." "Queens Hotel for Formerly Jailed Spawns Local Crime Concerns and Climate of Fear," by The City's Greg B. Smith: "One Saturday last May, an elderly man stood on the sidewalk outside a Maspeth Federal Savings Bank branch on a quiet block in Fresh Meadows, Queens, when a stranger walked up to him and punched him square in the face. This kind of unfortunate incident happens occasionally on the streets of New York City, but in this case an important detail had broader implications: the man arrested and charged with assault gave the police his address as 61-27 186th St., a hotel around the corner from the bank. That hotel houses inmates released from Rikers Island and state prisons, as it has since the start of the pandemic as part of the city's effort to curb the spread of the virus. The arrestee was one of those former inmates." | | | | 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 | Ottawa Playbook | Brussels Playbook | London Playbook View all our political and policy newsletters | | Follow us | | | | |
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