6 minute read
FIRST READ
Lt. Gov. Brian Benjamin said he did not tell the governor about subpoenas related to his New York City comptroller campaign before being appointed to his current post.
BENJAMIN ADDRESSES SUBPOENAS
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Lt. Gov. Brian Benjamin has expertly avoided the press since news first broke of subpoenas he faces relating to his 2021 campaign for New York City comptroller and his awarding of state grants while he served in the state Senate. But after a week of radio silence and no public schedules, Benjamin offered his first on-therecord comments about the reporting after getting caught in a hallway in the Capitol. Reading from a prewritten statement he was carrying, Benjamin admitted that he did not inform Gov. Kathy Hochul of the investigation into his comptroller campaign, despite knowing about it when she recruited him to serve with her. However, he denied any wrongdoing and said he has been cooperating with investigators.
PRIMARY PETITIONING ENDS
RESCUE ROVER
Every executive needs a pet; Bill Clinton had Socks, Andrew Cuomo had Captain and now Eric Adams has … Digidog? Adams took the New York City Fire Department’s new robotic dog on a test walk last week – the same make of robot that provoked privacy concerns when the NYPD used it in a hostage situation. Adams has expressed an interest in exploring the police use of emerging technologies, but the FDNY’s robotic dogs will be limited to certain search and rescue missions.
– Gov. Kathy Hochul, after the state budget deal
– Assembly Member Ron Kim, speaking about New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ recent dinner with Cuomo, via the New York Post As a court case to determine the legality of New York’s newly drawn district lines continues to play out, the deadline for candidates running for statewide and legislative positions to file petitions has come and gone. On the Democratic side in the race for governor, New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams said he and his running mate Ana Maria Archila delivered 40,000 signatures to get onto the ballot in June. Rep. Tom Suozzi, who is running with former New York City Council Member Diana Reyna, reported filing over 40,000 signatures as well. Notably, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo did not file petitions, so he officially won’t appear in the Democratic primary. Hochul and Benjamin already had the Democratic designations and did not need to petition their way onto the ballot. On the Republican side of the gubernatorial race, former New York City Mayor Andrew Giuliani, Rob Astorino and Harry Wilson each filed enough signatures to get on the ballot and challenge Rep. Lee Zeldin, who received the GOP designation, in June.
DEMOCRATS GET THEIR GERRYMANDERS FOR NOW
New maps for the U.S. House and state Legislature will remain in place despite ongoing litigation concerning their
legality under the state Constitution. An appellate judge on Friday extended a lower court’s stay on a decision from a Steuben County judge who ruled that new lines approved by Albany Democrats weeks ago violated a state Constitution provision against gerrymandering. State lawmakers would have had to draw new maps with just weeks to go until the June primaries had the stay not remained in place. Wannabe legislators at the state and federal levels can now rejoice that they have some certainty about where they need to campaign while Democrats got one more reason to hope that they can flip a few GOP congressional seats this fall as part of their wider efforts to retain control of the House in what will likely be a tough election cycle for Team Blue.
NEW YORK CITY CRIME UP
The Big Apple ain’t shining like she used to, and the grass is looking greener elsewhere as far as 6 in 10 residents of the five boroughs are concerned, according to a new poll. Rising crime appears to be playing a role following years of record lows, and some recent data suggests the situation might be getting even worse. The New York City Police Department claims repeat offenders are the people driving a 44% increase in crime during the first few months of 2022 compared to a year ago. Murders are down by 9%, which hardly matches the picture of crime run amok as portrayed by the political right. New York City Mayor Eric Adams is promising to do something about these disturbing trends.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams and NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell are working on ways to fight increasing amounts of crime in certain categories.
NY Dems’ party chair wants to create … a new party
Third-party discourse has officially entered the chat for the 2022 statewide election cycle. And like always, it’s messy.
State Democratic Party Chair Jay Jacobs is looking to create a new third party to help give Gov. Kathy Hochul – and reportedly some vulnerable incumbents – an extra boost in November. Thanks to New York’s somewhat archaic fusion voting laws, candidates can run on multiple party lines in a single election, allowing their name to appear more than once on the same ballot.
Republicans have reliably depended on the Conservative Party to offer its line to GOP candidates, and this year is no different. In the gubernatorial race, the Conservative Party has already designated Rep. Lee Zeldin, the presumptive GOP nominee, as its candidate. If Zeldin wins the Republican primary, he will appear at least twice on the ballot.
Right now, Hochul is guaranteed only one party line if she wins the Democratic primary because the Working Families Party is backing New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams. As of now, if Williams loses the primary, he still has a spot on the ballot on the WFP line, though that line has traditionally been offered to whoever wins the Democratic primary. “It is only smart tactically for us to consider using an Independent Nominating Committee to ensure that the governor’s position on the ballot matches her Republican opponent,” Jacobs said in a statement.
Jacobs told City & State that the idea has support from some county leaders, but the idea has not been well received by some Democrats. “I put that in the category of shenanigans,” state Senate Deputy Majority Leader Michael Gianaris told reporters. “People know who the Democratic candidates are, people know who the Republican candidates are, and they’re going to vote accordingly.” He called it “peculiar” that the leader of one party would suggest creating a new one.
But at least one of Jacobs’ predecessors said he could see himself taking similar action if he had found himself in a comparable political situation. “Just in case there were people who are of a mind not to want to vote on the Democratic line, that you open up a separate line for them, I guess that’s OK,” former Gov. David Paterson, who chaired the state party for a year, told City & State. “In a similar situation, yes, I could have seen myself doing that.” Paterson said that he doesn’t consider providing a Democrat with another line to be “wrong or unethical” as it would ultimately serve to help the party. – Rebecca C. Lewis
THE WEEK AHEAD
MONDAY 4/11
This is the last day for the state Board of Elections to accept petitions to enter the party primaries in June.
INSIDE DOPE
We might be stuck talking about some supposed candidates who didn’t enter the primaries until May 31 – the last day to submit petitions to run in the November election as an independent.
THURSDAY 4/14
The New York City Council holds a stated meeting at 1:30 p.m. The meeting was canceled last week due to COVID-19 cases among the members.
MONDAY 4/18
Unlike most years, federal income taxes are due on this day instead of by the traditional April 15 deadline because of the Emancipation Day holiday.
