News : POLITICO New York Playbook: Lawsuits, legislation target guns

Thursday, June 30, 2022

POLITICO New York Playbook: Lawsuits, legislation target guns

Jun 30, 2022

By Erin Durkin, Anna Gronewold and Georgia Rosenberg

Presented by Equinor

New York lawmakers will be back in Albany today for an emergency session to tighten the state's gun laws after the Supreme Court struck down rules that made it very hard for anyone to legally carry a gun in public here. At the same time, New York City and the state alike are going after manufacturers of "ghost guns" in court, seeking to keep the build-at-home weapons out of the hands of local buyers.

Widespread concern about violent crime, a series of high-profile mass shootings, and the high court's swing to the right have all pushed guns to the top of the priority list for local politicians. Following the ruling last week , lawmakers are poised to designate a host of locations — including government buildings, parks, mass transit, schools, health care facilities, polling places, day cares and other places where children gather — as "sensitive" place where it should be illegal to carry a firearm. As for private businesses, the default will be no guns allowed unless the business chooses to post a sign saying otherwise.

To get a license to carry — which used to require demonstrating a special need to have a gun until the high court found that unconstitutional — lawmakers plan to require training and dictate that people with a history of dangerous behavior or mental illness won't be eligible.

The aim here is basically to prohibit as much gun-toting as possible without getting in trouble with the Supreme Court, which is a real possibility if New York gets too close to replicating its old regime. "I will go right up to the line, I will not cross the line," Gov. Kathy Hochul said.

As Hochul works on the gun legislation, New York City Mayor Eric Adams and Attorney General Tish James are heading for the courts. They're bringing a pair of lawsuits charging out-of-state ghost gun companies for illegally selling gun parts to New York residents. The suits, one state court and one federal court, seek orders blocking sales here. They're the first legal actions brought by the government under a new law expanding liability for gunmakers.

Still up in the air is whether today's legislative session will include action on the other hot button issue of the day: abortion. Lawmakers are considering an updated version of a constitutional amendment to protect abortion rights, hoping that tweaks to its religious freedom provisions will help get it through. Hochul says she's all for it if they can make a deal.

IT'S THURSDAY. 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? Participating in a governors' roundtable on school and community safety and appearing on WBEN, 98.5 FM, and WBLK.

WHERE'S ERIC? Making public safety and public health announcements, appearing on WCBS, speaking at an event on homeless and runaway youth, and hosting a Caribbean heritage reception.

PROGRAMMING NOTE: New York Playbook will not publish on Monday for the Fourth of July. We'll be back in your inboxes on Tuesday, July 5.

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What City Hall's reading

"Brooklyn's Democratic Party Leaders Suffer Primary Election Setbacks," by The City's Yoav Gonen and George Joseph: "In a primary election that saw few upsets, races for the committee that runs the Brooklyn Democratic Party were an exception: Insurgents and independents gained ground in races for district leader, an unpaid but potentially powerful seat. Candidates who lost included the husband of county party chair Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn, who could now see her continued leadership challenged. The insurgents, led by 'Brooklyn Can't Wait,' a coalition of progressive political clubs, picked up five district leader seats, for a total of 16. Meanwhile, Bichotte Hermelyn, who also serves as a state Assembly member, saw her allied district leaders shrink from 26 to 22 out of the 44 seats — despite hardball tactics that included recruiting two new members representing just four residents on a houseboat in Red Hook."

"MTA's congestion pricing program back on track, again," by WNYC's Stephen Nessen : "The MTA's congestion pricing plan is moving forward, once again, after the agency was unexpectedly saddled with more than 400 follow up questions from federal officials back in March. At the agency's monthly board meeting on Wednesday, Chairman Janno Lieber confirmed that after more than three months of work, the MTA had answered all of the questions about how the environment might be impacted if it charges drivers a fee to enter Manhattan below 60th Street. The environmental assessment is a key bureaucratic hurdle the MTA must complete before implementing the nation's first congestion pricing program."

— Mayor Eric Adams called for certain exemptions to the congestion charges.

"Food-insecure New Yorkers feel the squeeze from rising grocery prices ," by WNYC's Caroline Lewis: "Many New Yorkers are feeling the effect of higher food prices as grocery store staples such as eggs, meat, fish and cooking oil continue to get more expensive. The burden may be especially great for those who were already struggling to afford food. Food insecurity sky-rocketed when COVID-19 shut down New York City in spring 2020 and still has not eased back to pre-pandemic levels. Now, food prices are rising due to a mix of global forces — such as climate change, Russia blocking wheat from being exported from Ukraine and the avian flu affecting the supply of chicken and eggs."

"Hochul faces pressure to sign class-size bill over Adams' objections," by Gothamist's Michelle Bocanegra: "New York City and state officials urged Gov. Kathy Hochul to sign a bill on Wednesday that would shrink class sizes in the city's public schools, pressing the governor to act on legislation that many teachers and families have long advocated for. The fight has pitted proponents of smaller class sizes — deeming it a pivotal step toward better educational outcomes — against a slate of officials, including Mayor Eric Adams, who say the cost of reducing class sizes will necessitate education cuts elsewhere and outweigh any potential benefits. But the cost argument has struck a nerve with parents and lawmakers alike, given recent boosts in funding from both the federal and state governments."

— THIS IS STILL GOING ON: Mayor Adams compared Rudy Giuliani to "Central Park Karen" for what he calls a false report of an assault.

STEP INSIDE THE WEST WING: What's really happening in West Wing offices? Find out who's up, who's down, and who really has the president's ear in our West Wing Playbook newsletter, the insider's guide to the Biden White House and Cabinet. For buzzy nuggets and details that you won't find anywhere else, subscribe today.

WHAT ALBANY'S READING

By the numbers: Four early takeaways from the New York primary results, by POLITICO's Bill Mahoney: The final results won't be official for a few weeks, and the total numbers of votes cast will increase as more absentee ballots are received by boards of election, as additional paper ballots are counted, and as a handful of straggling polling places have their results factored in. But enough results were posted by Wednesday afternoon to begin to draw some conclusions about the mood of the electorate at the moment.

There are glass half full and half empty ways of looking at Tuesday's turnout among Democrats. The number of ballots cast plummeted from the 1,558,352 in the 2018 gubernatorial primary between Andrew Cuomo and Cynthia Nixon. A total of 850,551 had been counted in this year's gubernatorial contest as of Wednesday afternoon. While that number will go up over the coming days, it will not hit the previous mark. But the total is still greater than that in any of the six primaries held in midterm years from 1994 through 2014. And that's despite the fact that the earlier years' primaries were held in September, when fewer people were traveling, and most of them were held on the same date as congressional and state Senate contests.

— "What Happened to the Left in New York on Tuesday?" by New York Magazine's Ross Barkan: "August may hold more hope for the left when voters cast ballots in the primary for State Senate and congressional seats — at least one socialist is a front-runner for a State Senate seat in Queens and Manhattan — but it's clear 2022 will not produce the enormous gains of 2018 and 2020 when it seemed routine for young, charismatic leftists to rush into power. Since then, the political environment has shifted, with crime and inflation gobbling up oxygen. Voter enthusiasm was higher in the Trump years; run-of-the-mill liberal voters and leftists formed enormous and potent anti-Establishment coalitions that are now harder to replicate."

Andrew Giuliani had the name ID and his famous father. He just didn't have the votes, by POLITICO's Anna Gronewold: The name Giuliani wasn't enough to win a statewide race in New York. Andrew Giuliani failed in his first bid for election, coming in a distant second in a four-way race for governor after tethering his election to his father's tarnished legacy and their closeness with former President Donald Trump. Giuliani said he wouldn't have changed his messaging, despite the loss. And the results made it clear that he's not going to be leaving New York politics after impressing party leaders with his easiness on the stump and likability. "I always said I was going to be genuine with voters," he said in an interview Wednesday with POLITICO. "Whether they voted for me, or whether they didn't, at least they can say that I was honest and was as genuine as possible."

"Look, I'm not going to shy away from the fact that I worked four years for President Trump, and I'm certainly proud of my father and his many accomplishments. So whether that had a positive effect, whether it had a negative effect on voters, I'll let other people break that down."

— " Red Caps and Red Berets — Inside a Giuliani Election Night Party," by City Limits' David Brand: "Libertarians who privately blasted the Supreme Court decision to overturn abortion rights but refused to go on the record mingled with Christian college students who said Giuliani was the 'America First' candidate best representing their deep conservative religious values. A former Democrat who said he was turned off by what he considered the party's leftward drift discussed the merits of Mitchell Lama housing. A guy handed out weed gummies from a messenger bag."

"Albany diocese proposes mediation plan to settle sex abuse cases," by Times Union's Brendan J. Lyons: "The city's Roman Catholic Diocese on Wednesday announced an initial proposal to use a court-supervised mediation plan to compensate the more than 400 victims of sexual abuse who have filed claims against the diocese, individual clergy and others under the state Child Victims Act. The proposal, which must be approved by a state Supreme Court justice, would seek to 'maximize the monetary recovery for victim/survivors on a fair and equitable basis and to accelerate the payments,' according to a release distributed to dozens of attorneys on behalf of the diocese by Michael L. Costello, the diocese's longtime attorney."

#UpstateAmerica: Rattlers are out and about on hiking trails upstate, which biologists say… is good?

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FROM THE DELEGATION

"Inside a U.S. Rep's 'Deeply Troubling' Brush With China's Panda Diplomacy," by Daily Beast's Will Bredderman: "A New York City congresswoman's years-long quest to bring giant pandas to Central Park Zoo may have inadvertently exposed a soft white underbelly to the Chinese government, which has long used the iconic animals as instruments of its international agenda. Rep. Carolyn Maloney's fixation on bringing the bamboo-chomping beasts to the Big Apple has become an inside joke among local politicos—so much so that an opponent once taunted her at a press conference with a man dressed in a panda suit. City Hall and local zoos have balked at the cost of caring for the animals, which could top $50 million, but the congresswoman has pursued her dream nonetheless: traveling to the creatures' native country, courting diplomats, helping launch a nonprofit to raise the necessary funds, and even hosting a glitzy Manhattan bash that reportedly amassed half a million dollars toward the cause."

FEELIN' 22

FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — 10th Congressional District candidate Dan Goldman will run a new ad on MSNBC responding to the Supreme Court's recent rulings overturning abortion rights and striking down New York gun laws. The House Democrats' lawyer in impeachment proceedings against Donald Trump says: "This is it: the Republican endgame" and condemns the "Trump-packed Supreme Court that gives guns more rights than women." The ad will run on the cable news network starting this morning through the end of next week. — Erin Durkin

FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — Western New York GOP's Carl Paladino — known for a list of controversial statements over the years — has released his first ad in his bid for the new 23rd Congressional District. The 30-second spot "One of Us" will be airing district-wide with an initial spend of $100,000. "You never have to guess where Carl stands," the narrator says. "He's a conservative who's never accepted liberal nonsense. New York 23: It's Carl Country." — Anna Gronewold

TRUMP'S NEW YORK

"Former Giuliani associate Lev Parnas sentenced to 20 months in prison," by Washington Post's Shayna Jacobs: "Lev Parnas, a former associate of Rudy Giuliani, was sentenced to 20 months in prison Wednesday for defrauding investors in a sham company and for illegally making donations to U.S. political candidates on behalf of a Russian businessman. Parnas was convicted at trial on campaign-finance related charges last year and pleaded guilty separately to stealing investment funds directed to a defunct business entity called Fraud Guarantee. He personally pocketed $2 million. Parnas was affiliated with Giuliani while working on President Donald Trump's behalf to seek incriminating information on Joe Biden and his son Hunter in Ukraine before the 2020 election."

AROUND NEW YORK

— A 20-year-old mother was fatally shot while pushing her infant in a stroller on the Upper East Side.

— Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine called for the MTA to reopen subway bathrooms.

— R. Kelly was sentenced to 30 years in prison for sex trafficking young fans.

— The mother and teen brother of a 7-year-old Bronx girl who was beaten to death were arrested for her murder.

— An Upper West Side hot dog cart near Central Park was named the top-rated hot dog spot in the United States on Google.

— The city is getting an additional $30 million from a statewide legal settlement with opioid distributors.

— Riverside Park's popular weed-munching goats are back for the summer.

— An inmate was killed in Green Haven Correctional Facility in Dutchess County.

— Mount Vernon residents only will get a one-day gas price cut.

— GRENELL: 'It Should Become Standard for Women to Freeze Their Eggs'

INTRODUCING POWER SWITCH: The energy landscape is profoundly transforming. Power Switch is a daily newsletter that unlocks the most important stories driving the energy sector and the political forces shaping critical decisions about your energy future, from production to storage, distribution to consumption. Don't miss out on Power Switch, your guide to the politics of energy transformation in America and around the world. SUBSCRIBE TODAY.

SOCIAL DATA BY DANIEL LIPPMAN

HAPPY BIRTHDAY: The Atlantic's David Frum … Kyle Plotkin … Alexandra Acker-Lyons … Alina Selyukh … Bob McBarton … Lanbo Zhang … Stephanie Miliano, chief of staff at Stu Loeser & Co.

MAKING MOVES — Emily Cummings is now senior manager for communications on KKR's public affairs team. She most recently was senior associate at Teneo. … Matt Moreno is now senior software engineer at the early-stage startup TracFlo. He most recently was a software engineer at BookNook.

SPOTTED at a book dinner party on Wednesday night for Tina Brown and her new book "The Palace Papers" ($20.50) at the Jefferson Hotel hosted by Rachel Pearson and moderated by Kathy O'Hearn: Reema Dodin, Catherine and Wayne Reynolds, Elaine Chao, John McCarthy, Kara Swisher, Katherine Bradley, Joe Hack, Susan Dunlevy, Ray and Shaista Mahmood, Tammy Haddad, Holly Page and Amy Roberti.

WELCOME TO THE WORLD — Paula Reid, senior legal affairs correspondent for CNN, and Jason Kolsevich recently welcomed Jordan Reid. Pic via People

Real Estate

"Controversial nursing home company buys Victory Memorial Hospital site for $160M in bankruptcy proceedings," by Crain's Maya Kaufman and Eddie Small: "The Allure Group, the controversial nursing home operator penalized by the state attorney general for flipping Rivington House to a condominium developer, has purchased the former Victory Memorial Hospital site in Bay Ridge for $160 million, records show. The for-profit company purchased the site from investor Pearl Schwartz earlier this month, shortly after she agreed to buy it from real estate developer Abraham Leser for $153 million and then filed for bankruptcy protection, according to deed transfers recorded this week."

" Major Upper East Side Corner Faces Demolition, Including Papaya King," by Patch's Nick Garber: "Take a good look at the corner of East 86th Street and Third Avenue, because its days may be numbered: a developer has filed plans to tear down the entire low-rise corner, which includes the flagship location of Papaya King. The demolition plans for 171 East 86th St. were filed Tuesday by David Rothstein, an executive vice president at Extell. The megadeveloper is known for kickstarting the 'billionaire's row' towers below Central Park, and for constructing a number of different buildings on the Upper East Side in recent years."

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