| | | | |  | | By Emily Ngo, Jeff Coltin and Nick Reisman | | | |  Democrat Sam Berger, left, and Republican David Hirsch, right, are in a run for the state Assembly in a special election Sept. 12, 2023. | Provided by Berger and Hirsch campaigns | An 11th-hour infusion of cash into the special election Tuesday for a vacated state Assembly seat in eastern Queens is underscoring just how high the stakes are. In recent days, Democrat Sam Berger loaned himself $15,000; 1199 SEIU gave him $3,000; and the International Union of Operating Engineers contributed $3,000 more, according to state filings. Republican David Hirsch, meanwhile, recently received $3,000 each from cosmetics scion Ronald Lauder and arts patron Caryl Ratner, major donors who boosted Lee Zeldin’s bid for governor. The Assembly District 27 race in a politically moderate district could, after all, help answer a key question in next year’s House elections: How badly will the migrant crisis hurt Democrats? “You hear it at the doors all the time,” Hirsch campaign adviser Robert Morgan told Playbook of listening to concerns like migrant respite centers while door-knocking. “This is an unfunded mandate from the federal government and now the localities have to pay.” Berger, endorsed by the seat’s previous occupant, Daniel Rosenthal, doesn’t disagree. “It’s something a lot of voters are concerned about,” Berger told Playbook. “We need to control the flow of asylum seekers who are coming in.” Both campaigns say emergency housing for migrants shouldn’t go up without community input. The respite center at St. Agnes Academic High School has been met with opposition. But Berger stresses that the solution requires collaboration, not clashing. “It’s not a Democrat or Republican issue, it’s an American issue,” he said. Assemblymember Jeffrey Dinowitz, chair of the state Democratic Assembly Campaign Committee, said he believes most voters in the district know the issue is a national one. “People care about this, but I think some people are trying to fuel the flames,” Dinowitz said. “Some people try to exploit certain issues in a way that makes me uncomfortable.” Republican consultant Dave Catalfamo called the special election “a little trial run on how motivating this issue is.” The district, which Zeldin won last year, is “very ripe for a Republican,” Morgan said. While the outcome won’t infringe on Democrats’ large Assembly majority, a Democrat familiar with the race admitted the party is worried about its prospects. “Anything could happen. It’s a close race. The migrants have sucked up a lot of oxygen in the past couple weeks,” the person said. IT’S TUESDAY. The Jets won (the game) and lost (Aaron Rodgers likely for the season). Got news? Send it our way: Jeff Coltin, Emily Ngo and Nick Reisman. WHERE’S KATHY? Speaking at the investiture of Court of Appeals Chief Judge Rowan Wilson in Albany and then making an economic development announcement in Manhattan. WHERE’S ERIC? Attending the grand opening of a new Amazon office in midtown, appearing live on WABC-TV, delivering remarks at the funeral for NY1’s Ruschell Boone, speaking at a “flag ceremony” for Central American countries and hosting a reception for the 20th Anniversary of the CERT and Ready New York Programs. QUOTE OF THE DAY: “I am confident that the city will not break as a result of the number of migrants arriving there.” – Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, via a New York Times reporter.
| | A message from Uber: Every Uber trip in New York City helps pay for public transit.
The MTA gets $2.83 from a $25 Uber trip in Manhattan below 96th street. | | | |  | ABOVE THE FOLD | | | 
Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo won a lawsuit Monday that could limit the operations of the state's new ethics agency amid the legal squabble. | Richard Drew/AP Photo | ETHICS PANEL SINKS: Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s lawsuit meant to keep the proceeds from his pandemic-era memoir has struck a blow to the state’s official ethics watchdog. State Supreme Court Judge Thomas Marcelle’s decision, finding the Commission on Ethics and Lobbying in Government is unconstitutionally constructed, is expected to be appealed. But for the moment, Albany lacks an ethics cop on a beat that has, well, something of a reputation for public corruption. “The legal process still has to play out,” NYPIRG’s Blair Horner told Playbook. “But the judge’s decision, if it stands, blows up ethics enforcement in New York.” So where does that leave oversight in Albany? One option for lawmakers is to create a new ethics panel through changing the state’s constitution – a time consuming process that is ultimately up to voters. If Marcelle’s ruling is upheld during the appeals process, it may be the only option left. “Under his logic, the only way to have independent ethics enforcement is to have a constitutional amendment,” Horner said. The Commission on Ethics and Lobbying in Government is only the latest in a long line of attempts to enforce good behavior at the state level. Prior iterations like the Commission on Public Integrity and the Joint Commission on Public Ethics were put on the ash heap, found to be too toothless or too conflicted. Now there’s one more in trouble. — Nick Reisman
| | | | GO INSIDE THE WORLD’S BIGGEST DIPLOMATIC PLATFORM WITH UNGA PLAYBOOK: The 78th Session of the United Nations General Assembly will jam some of the world's most influential leaders into four city blocks in Manhattan. POLITICO's special edition UNGA Playbook will take you inside this important gathering starting Sept. 17 — revealing newsy nuggets throughout the week and insights into the most pressing issues facing global decision-makers today. Sign up for UNGA Playbook. | | | | | | | WHAT CITY HALL IS READING | | | 
After leaving a 9/11 volunteering event on Monday, the mayor said he was "looking at" changing the city's sanctuary status, before his office immediately clarified the comments. | Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office | WHAT HE SAID VS. WHAT HE MEANT: Mayor Eric Adams appeared Monday to conflate the city’s right to shelter provisions with its sanctuary status. When asked by reporters as he left the 9/11 tribute in Manhattan whether the city should “change” its sanctuary status, he responded, “That is what we’re looking at right now.” But the question came after one about the right to shelter requirement, which his team is in court trying to suspend as the surge of migrants overwhelms city resources. City Hall officials said the mayor was just repeating his answer to the previous question as he walked away and doesn’t not want sanctuary status scrapped. Adams was asked a day earlier about the next steps for migrants who are denied asylum claims. “I’m not an immigration attorney,” he said on his monthly “Hear from the Mayor” radio spot on WBLS. “But those who are denied are not allowed to remain.” — Emily Ngo and Jason Beeferman More from the city: SPOTTED: Adams’ chief adviser Ingrid Lewis-Martin, budget director Jacques Jiha and Ivan Acosta, an aide in the Office of Management and Budget, walking into a meeting in City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams’ office with council chief of staff Jeremy John and finance chair Justin Brannan, at 2 p.m. Monday. Lewis-Martin and Jiha declined to comment on their way out. — A Fiscal Policy Institute report says Adams’ requests for cuts significantly overstates the fiscal impact of migrant arrivals, and the actual expected budget gap. — A prominent builder facing indictment was a major Adams donor (The City) — Republicans on the City Council expect to grow in influence after the November elections. (am New York) — President Joe Biden is set to visit New York next week for the U.N. General Assembly and campaign fundraisers, amid tension with City Hall. (NY Daily News) — LONG READ: Inside a supportive housing facility in DUMBO, where chronically unhoused New Yorkers get a new lease on life, with a gym, a computer room — and on-site mental-health and medical services. (The New Yorker)
| | | | A message from Uber:   | | | | | WHAT ALBANY'S READING | | |  Assemblymember Catalina Cruz is pushing for a new state law that would expedite work permits for migrants. | Joseph Spector/POLITICO | FIRST IN PLAYBOOK: Since it takes too long for new migrants to get federal work permits, New York should make its own work permits and give them out quicker. That’s the idea behind a new bill set to be introduced by Assemblymember Catalina Cruz and state Sen. Luis Sepúlveda, shared first with Playbook. The New York emergency expedited temporary work permit act, or NEXT-WP Act, would have the state grant free work permits for asylum seekers within 45 days of their applying. If it passed — in a special session, Cruz is hoping — somebody would likely sue the state for preempting federal law, but “that’s a fight we should welcome,” she said. “The federal government's lack of action, it’s almost embarrassing.” Assemblymember Jenifer Rajkumar teased on WCNY Monday a bill she’s filed that would do the same thing, creating a state work permit, and state Sen. Zellnor Myrie proposed a city work permit in a Daily News op-Ed earlier this month. Cruz, a lawyer and Colombian immigrant, said, “We worked hard to deliberately draft legislation that tackles this issue.” – Jeff Coltin WORK APPROVAL: New Yorkers want an easier path for migrants to work, a Siena College poll released Tuesday found. The survey found New Yorkers by a 59 percent to 33 percent margin supported expedited work authorization for migrants already in the state. The results back up a push by Hochul, who has urged the federal government to expedite work approval for people who are seeking asylum. So far, those requests have been rebuffed by Republicans in Congress. The Siena survey of 414 adult residents in New York was conducted from Sept. 5-8; it has a 3.8 percentage point margin of error. Last month, a Siena College poll of registered voters found both Hochul and Adams received low marks for their handling of the migrant crisis. – Nick Reisman More from Albany: — The deaths of more than 15,000 nursing home residents at the start of the Covid pandemic has led to a wave of lawsuits. (Times Union) — Adult-use cannabis shops in Connecticut are luring New Yorkers over the border amid the struggling rollout of the state’s industry. (LoHud) — Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer pushed back on claims he has not addressed the migrant crisis facing New York. (New York Post)
| | A message from Uber: When you pay $25 for an Uber trip below 96th street in Manhattan, $5 goes to government fees including over half to the MTA
MTA: $2.83
New York City: $.90
New York State: $.80
Black Car Fund: $.55 | | | | | FROM THE DELEGATION | | | 
The Congressional Integrity Project is launching ads in over a dozen Republican-represented districts, many of them in New York, with the aim of emphasizing the political risks to impeachment. | Pool Photo by Luong Thai Linh | IMPEACHMENT PUSHBACK: A Democratic-aligned group on Tuesday is set to unveil a digital ad campaign meant to push back on the prospect of impeaching Biden by taking the fight to battleground House Republicans. The Congressional Integrity Project is launching ads in 18 Republican-represented districts across the country with the goal of highlighting the political risks of impeachment, according to details shared exclusively with Playbook. Not surprisingly, many of the ads will appear in New York House districts as the state could potentially play a decisive role in which party will control the chamber after 2024. The ads will appear in six key New York House battleground districts of Reps. Anthony D'Esposito, Nick LaLota, Mike Lawler, Marc Molinaro, George Santos and Brandon Williams. The group did not disclose how much money it is spending on the ads, but added the campaign will have a “significant presence online.” — Nick Reisman
| | AROUND NEW YORK | | — Locals in the southern Catskills worry that the already underperforming Resorts World casino will lose customers when new casinos are approved (NY Focus) — Democratic Suffolk County Executive candidate Dave Calone released his first video ad of the campaign. (Newsday) — Spectrum’s dispute with Disney that led to a blackout of ESPN has been resolved. (Democrat and Chronicle)
| | | | Enter the “room where it happens”, where global power players shape policy and politics, with Power Play. POLITICO’s brand-new podcast will host conversations with the leaders and power players shaping the biggest ideas and driving the global conversations, moderated by award-winning journalist Anne McElvoy. Sign up today to be notified of the first episodes in September – click here. | | | | | | | SOCIAL DATA BY DANIEL LIPPMAN | | HAPPY BIRTHDAY: The Daily Beast’s Matt Lewis … Fox News’ Andrea DeVito … NBC’s Tom Costello … Ed Moy, former director of the U.S. Mint … AP’s Ashraf Khalil … Khan Shoieb … Natalie Raps Farren … Kim Severson … Ethan Klapper … (was Monday): David Tepper ... Seth Pinsky ... Daniel Berger ... Yehiel Kalish ... Avital Chizhik-Goldschmidt (h/ts Jewish Insider) MAKING MOVES – Elizabeth Bibi has started her new role as director of media relations for Oxfam America. She previously served as senior director of communications at the Human Rights Campaign. MEDIAWATCH — Dafna Linzer is now editorial director and EVP at U.S. News & World Report. She previously was executive editor of POLITICO. WEEKEND WEDDINGS — Erica Pandey, a senior reporter at Axios, and Vincent Cicale, a senior associate scientist at Bristol Myers Squibb, got married Saturday at the Pleasantdale Chateau in New Jersey. Since her family is from Nepal, they had two ceremonies in one day. The couple met through mutual friends at a New Year’s Eve party in NYC right before the pandemic. Pic … Another pic — Emily Vander Weele, director of public affairs at Weber Shandwick, on Saturday married Michael Stablein, strategic business manager at Tata Consultancy Services, in a ceremony and reception at the Perry Belmont House. The couple met at a White Ford Bronco concert in 2017; the band also played their wedding. Pics by Emily Gude Photo ... Another pic
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