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New York’s Other Water Crisis


Cuomo bridge water

Gov. Cuomo (photo: Governor's Office on Flickr)


In 2014, Gov. Andrew Cuomo was looking at how to fund the construction of a new Tappan Zee Bridge and in such a way that he could promise minimal toll hikes. Construction had actually already begun on the $4 billion project despite no clear funding plan in place and pressure to detail the spending was mounting.

On June 13, 2014 Cuomo announced that the state Environmental Facilities Corp. would loan the state up to $511 million for the multi-billion dollar project from the Clean Water State Revolving Fund. The fund, which is actually backed by federal dollars, exists to dole out low-interest loans for projects like local sewer repairs and wastewater treatment plant upgrades. The state also has a similar Drinking Water Revolving Fund that gives out loans for water main repairs and upgrades.

The move was met with immediate backlash from environmental groups that insisted the funds were simply not meant for a transportation project and that the move could set a bad precedent - perhaps undermining the very purpose for the federal funding and killing funding for clean-water infrastructure in New York and elsewhere. Budget watchdogs also attacked the plan as a “gimmick” and “irresponsible.” After much hand-wringing, it did not go forward as the Cuomo administration had sought.

As the Cuomo administration struggles to divert blame for the debacle in Hoosick Falls, where the state resisted calls to notify residents of contaminated drinking water, environmentalists and others point to the Tappan Zee loan episode as evidence that the administration has repeatedly not fully recognized major clean water and water infrastructure issues facing the state, instead concentrating on costly transportation economic development projects that benefit developers while localities grapple with the costs and consequences of decaying water infrastructure. On the other hand, for some legislators and advocates say it represents the administration’s ability to recognize a problem and tackle it head on with an efficient solution.

Asked if the administration could do more to help localities struggling to pay for water-related infrastructure repairs, Cuomo told Gotham Gazette: “I think this is a national crisis when it comes to water quality. I think we are just starting to learn about chemicals in the water and just how dangerous they can be. I think as time goes on you are going to see more and more dangerous chemicals being disclosed in the water we’re drinking.”

Cuomo added that he was advocating for the EPA to update its regulations to force all municipalities to conduct water safety testing (there is currently a 10,000 person population threshold). If the federal government fails to act, Cuomo said he would introduced legislation to force localities of any size to do water quality testing and that the administration would pay for the testing of localities that are strapped for cash.

Environmental groups estimated at the time of the Tappan Zee loan controversy that localities across the state were contending with $36 billion in costs related to clean water infrastructure demands over the next 20 years.

“Clean-water funds have never been used for a transportation project before – and we shouldn’t start now,” said Marcia Bystryn, president of The New York League of Conservation voter, in a 2014 statement. “If approved, this would set a very bad precedent, especially considering the huge backlog of wastewater projects across the state. We urge the Environmental Facilities Corporation Board to reject this proposal.”

The federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which provided the state with the billions of dollars for the fund over the last two decades, eventually rejected the proposal. But the state didn’t back down and appealed the decision. In the end a compromise allowed the state to use $1.3 million for oyster bed restoration and the replacement of a falcon box, with none of the money going toward the “New New York Bridge,” the funding of which is still not completely clear.

The ordeal leant new focus to clean water infrastructure demands faced by localities across the state. (As has the recent crisis in Hoosick Falls and questions about water contamination elsewhere in the state.) While Cuomo administration officials noted that millions of dollars were sitting in the revolving fund untouched as proof that they were unneeded, local leaders countered that they simply couldn’t afford to take on anymore debt, regardless of the interest rate, because they would never be able to repay it. Meanwhile, municipalities have grappled with decaying and dilapidated water infrastructure and seen overflowing sewer lines, exploding water mains, and sinkholes.

In 2015 the state Legislature pressed for a new program to help fund water infrastructure projects across the state. Cuomo signed the New York State Water Infrastructure Act to disperse $200 million in grants to localities for water infrastructure repairs and improvements. By December 2015, $75 million in grants had been awarded. This year the state Assembly successfully fought for a $200 million increase to the program.

James Tierney, deputy commissioner for water at the state Department of Environmental Conservation, told Gotham Gazette that the grant program mixes and matches loans from the revolving fund and grants to kickstart projects proposed by municipalities. Tierney said his focus has been on helping “hardship” municipalities in both rural and urban areas. He noted that a lot of communities weren’t in a position to utilize the revolving loan funds. “A lot of communities were making the case after the Great Recession, saying ‘Hey we’ve got nothing here. We can’t afford these loans.’”

Tierney said that the pressure on municipalities and the state to fund water projects has increased as the federal government has altered the strategy behind the Clean Water Act. Early in the 1970s when the program was starting some water infrastructure projects would receive up to 75 percent funding with municipalities covering only 12 percent. “In the olden days it was much more about funding infrastructure and regulations. Then it turned into grants and then loans and then the pot for loans began to sink.” said Tierney.

He noted that the Congressional Budget Office reports that only 4 percent of water infrastructure projects are funded by the federal government.

A number localities, including Syracuse, are focused on advocating for more federal funds. But in the meantime many local officials and state legislators are pleased with the administration’s efforts with the grant program. Advocates have noted a positive trend.

“We have seen a total “180” on water infrastructure funding,” said Liz Moran of Environmental Advocates of New York. Moran said the Tappan Zee raid and the backlash that followed “was a wake up call” for the Cuomo administration about just how necessary water infrastructure funding is.

“After the raid ceased it became clear that the money was needed to go to these problems,” said Moran. “Maybe the governor didn’t know about the need in the first place, but we are very happy he's embraced the programs now.”

The notion that taking on loans from the revolving fund wasn’t the ideal solution to dire infrastructure needs faced by cash-strapped localities across the state wasn’t new in 2014 or 2015.

Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner, a Democrat like Cuomo who has clashed with the governor, has been calling for state and federal assistance in dealing with her city’s water infrastructure needs for years. In 2014 Miner called for the state to create “The Syracuse Billion,” a take off of Cuomo’s Buffalo Billion program that invested in major economic development projects. But Miner wasn’t looking for deals to draw high-tech firms to the area. Instead she proposed using $750 million of the cash to replace and repair a 550-mile, 100-year-old water pipeline that is in constant disrepair.

Cuomo responded that Syracuse was going “bankrupt,” adding, "You are unsustainable. You need jobs, an economy, business. Show us how you become economically stronger and create jobs. Then you fix your own pipes." He later added he was saying the city was “metaphorically” bankrupt, according to The Post-Standard.

Miner told Gotham Gazette that she thinks the Tappan Zee Bridge funding battle “brought attention to the fund and the overwhelming need for water infrastructure funding throughout the state. Every municipality has water problems,” Miner said, “from Hoosick Falls to Long Island, Kingston and Buffalo.”

During a 2015 budget hearing Miner pressed the State to use bank settlement funds to help struggling localities across the state. She said municipalities are handicapped by the state’s property tax cap and increasing state mandates, and can’t afford to make major infrastructure repairs without drastic intervention.

Cuomo did not grant Miner’s wish, but the Assembly used discretionary funds to allocate $10 million to repair Syracuse’s water infrastructure through the 2015 budget. Cuomo used settlement funds for transportation projects like the Tappan Zee replacement and for economic development grants.

Assemblymember Steve Otis, a Democrat representing Rye who championed the state’s grant program, is intimately familiar with infrastructure funding challenges faced by localities around the state. Otis served as mayor of Rye for 12 years. “We knew there was a great need. But the loan fund does not receive applications for all the money that is available,” Otis said in an interview. “Why? Because these localities couldn't afford to incur 100 percent debt.”

Otis said the program was so successful and the need so great that the Legislature doubled funding for it in 2016. The first round of the program doled out $75 million in grants; the second $175 million; and the third round will come next year with the distribution of another $175 million.

Otis praised the Cuomo administration for expediting the grants. “These are simple projects that are helping communities maintain water quality and the Cuomo administration has done a fantastic job getting the grants out the door and recognizing the need.”

But Otis, as well as advocates and other government officials and workers charged with dealing with water infrastructure across the state, acknowledge the program can’t help everyone. “One or two municipalities could eat up all the funding in one shot,” Otis said, indicating the scale of the need around the state.

Miner said that in her experience the Environmental Facilities Corporation (EFC) grant programs have been targeted toward smaller communities and that some of them require extensive pre-design work even to apply. Syracuse was, however, awarded $679,444 for a water infrastructure project in August through the New York State Water Infrastructure Improvement Act of 2015.

Asked about the program, Miner initially responded that Syracuse was ineligible because of its large population, though the program does not have a population restriction. Miner later clarified through a spokesperson that she was talking about other grant programs offered by the EFC and that she believes the EFC needs to offer a wide array of water infrastructure grant programs for communities of all sizes.

Officials from the EFC, the agency tasked with overseeing both the revolving loan programs and the water grant initiative, confirmed that there are no population restraints on the grant program.

Joe Coffey, the water commissioner for the city of Albany, is all too familiar with just how costly it is to maintain an aging water system. Albany’s dates to the 19th century. The city’s water treatment plant was built in the 1930s, as was the transfer line. And as Coffey points out, age is the greatest indicator of the possibility of infrastructure failure.

This summer residents have had to contend with a number of water main breaks and sinkholes that have gnarled traffic on busy roads not far from the Capitol building while the city continues to remedy sewer system overflows into the Hudson River, which functions not only as a source of recreation and food for some locals but as a water source for those down river.

”You can't print enough money to replace our water and sewer system,” said Coffey. “You are looking at asset management and the probability of failure--if it fails what's the consequence of failure?”

Albany recently won an $837,500 grant from the State. Coffey said the cash will allow Albany’s water department to leverage other funds for more projects and to expedite urgent repairs.

“It’s a tough call on how to balance investment in aide for water infrastructure,” said Coffey. “But without water you have nothing. In this state we are were blessed with an abundant supply of safe, reliable drinking water and from that we can leverage economic development and all the things that come after that. If you don’t make repairs you don’t have that base and these issues become real quality-of-life problems.”

Miner, the Syracuse mayor, echoes Coffey’s concerns about infrastructure. “I don’t want to undercut the [grant] program, but nobody wants to cut a ribbon underground--but at least people are talking about it now,” said Miner, hitting on one of the key reasons for a lack of focus on essential, basic infrastructure repairs.

Miner estimates the total cost of replacing the city’s most troublesome water lines would be around $730 million. According to the Syracuse Post-Standard the city hit its 102nd water main break of this year in May--a lower total than the 171 water main breaks it had suffered by the same time last year.

Tierney, of the DEC, acknowledged that a number of cities across the state are facing problems so large that they can’t be addressed as a whole. “The first step is recognizing the problem. Some of this infrastructure is very old and they are dealing with combined problems and it is a lot. Our approach has been to phase things in in a reasonable way, to use grant programs and EFC loans and coach communities how to apply for funds.”

Miner said Syracuse is now focusing on utilizing data analysis to predict and pinpoint where fixes should be made to preempt major problems, rather than pushing for a comprehensive replacement project.

She remains concerned that the state’s economic development spending may be undermined if it does not provide more assistance to localities facing dire infrastructure needs. “You can’t build a high-tech center if people can’t make coffee or flush their toilets,” said Miner.

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by David King, Albany editor, Gotham Gazette
     

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Assembly Candidates Turn Down Televised Debates


Errol No Debate

NY1 Anchor Errol Louis (NY1 screenshot)


New York City’s premiere political television news show, NY1’s Inside City Hall, has been hosting candidate debates in the weeks leading up to the September 13 state legislative primaries, as it has ahead of past elections.

NY1 has been home to many debates over the years, including earlier this year, when it hosted seven Democratic candidates seeking to replace retiring Rep. Charles Rangel and the NY1-CNN presidential primary debate between Democrats Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders.

Moving toward the upcoming primaries for New York State Assembly and Senate, the network has, as of Thursday evening’s Inside City Hall program, hosted candidates from six primaries. Two of those, however, were solo candidate interviews when the second person running in each of two races declined NY1’s debate invitation.

On Thursday’s Inside City Hall, host Errol Louis moderated a four-candidate debate in the 31st state Senate District race. He also held two separate individual interviews with candidates: incumbent Assembly Member Latrice Walker spoke with Louis when her challenger, current City Council Member Darlene Mealy, declined to appear for a debate; and Tremaine Wright spoke with Louis when Karen Cherry, her competitor for the 56th Assembly District seat, which is being vacated by the long-term incumbent, opted not to appear.

When an Inside City Hall producer emailed the show’s press list to advise of Thursday night’s program line-up, it was noted that Mealy and Cherry had declined to accept debate invitations. Gotham Gazette attempted to reach Mealy through her City Council office, to no avail, despite talking with an aide. A spokesperson for Cherry indicated that the candidate had a scheduling conflict.

“Those were the only two candidates this cycle who declined to attend. We held four debates (Senate District 10, Senate District 33, Senate District 31 and Assembly District 46) in addition to these two,” said said Bob Hardt, NY1 political director, in a statement to Gotham Gazette. “Generally, we try to give ample time before a debate but if space opens up at the last minute, we occasionally try to put together a debate within days in the interest of providing a service to our audience. In the case of the Mealy-Walker race, we reached out to both campaigns in the middle of August. In the case of the Cherry-Wright race, we reached out to both campaigns last week and Wright accepted but Cherry declined, indicating a desire to stay in the district.“

In local elections, an invitation to debate on NY1 is often candidates’ only opportunity to speak on television and reach a broader audience than typical campaigning allows. Inside City Hall is also watched by political insiders, the civic-minded public, and many New Yorkers interested in local political news. Debates offer candidates an opportunity for a performance to share by video afterward as well.

Cherry’s campaign communications director, Tony Herbert, told Gotham Gazette that the candidate was “meeting with seniors and other people in the community” at the time of the debate taping on Thursday. “The option that was given was a conflict with her schedule,” Herbert said. “There was no other option. We would’ve loved to have done it, but we couldn’t meet that timeframe.”

“We think she’s gonna do well,” he added. “But we can’t take anything for granted. We’ve gotta be out there with constituents.”

In Wright’s interview with Louis, the candidate discussed her pursuit of the Brooklyn Assembly seat, including her resume, which includes being a small business owner and chair of the local community board in Bedford-Stuyvesant.

Wright said she wants to move to the Assembly in order to be a part of the budget process, provide legislative oversight, and bring resources back to her district. She did not mention the absence of her opponent, but Inside City Hall did have a graphic showing a map of the district with “No Debate” written above it.

AM WalkerAssembly Member Walker’s primary challenger in the 55th Assembly District, also in Brooklyn, City Council Member Darlene Mealy, is not known as an especially active Council member. Mealy, who is term-limited out of the Council at the end of 2017, is challenging Assembly Member Walker in an attempt to move to the state Legislature.

The Council member’s campaign committee has no clear contact information listed with the Board of Elections. An aide in her Council office did not make her available for an interview or send a statement explaining Mealy’s decision not to debate on NY1.

In Walker’s NY1 interview, the short-term incumbent (pictured) explained her roots in her district and what she described as the privilege of representing her community in Albany. She touted bringing millions of dollars back to the district for a hospital and NYCHA repairs and described introducing bills aimed at expanding voting rights and registration. The Assembly member also explained how she is attempting to restore her constituents’ trust in government after her predecessor wound up in prison on corruption charges.

While Louis, the Inside City Hall anchor, did lament the absence of Mealy, Walker did not discuss her opponent. The interview also featured a NY1 map of the district and the "No Debate" headline.

State legislative primaries are Tuesday, September 13.

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by William Fowler and Ben Max, with reporting from Samar Khurshid
@GothamGazette

Crowded Assembly Field Looks to Quickly Unseat Silver Replacement


AD65 panel Li mic

AD65 candidates at a debate (photo: @FilAmDems)


In a world where U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara hadn’t turned his eye toward public corruption in state government, Sheldon Silver would likely be running for his 21st term in the Assembly and easily extending by another two years his 40-year reign over Manhattan’s 65th Assembly District.

In the real world, Silver, who had already resigned the powerful Assembly speakership he held for almost 20 years, was automatically stripped of his seat in November 2015 when he was convicted on multiple federal corruption charges.

Silver’s Assembly seat was filled during an April 19 special election - a process notorious for being easily controlled by local political parties - by Alice Cancel, the preferred choice of Silver’s still-active and -influential network.

Now, fewer than five months later, a Democratic primary contest between Cancel, the short-term incumbent, and five other local political and community activists will be far less malleable for the disgraced former speaker’s allies. In the heavily-Democratic district, the primary winner is all-but-certain to win November’s general election. Republican candidate Lester Chang is running again; Chang earned just under 19 percent of the vote in the April special election.

While Silver’s pall will hang over the district for decades to come, this election is its first chance at a fresh start, an argument being made by Cancel’s challengers.

The change from Silver has already come at a price for the district, given the immense power held by an Assembly Speaker. Cancel took Silver’s place as a rank-and-file legislator with little sway in the Assembly majority. Whoever wins this year, Cancel or another candidate, will head to Albany as a rookie legislator without major committee assignments; with little leverage to push for major initiatives’ and unable to deliver the millions of dollars in community funding Silver was so revered for in his district and derided for from outside it.

Cancel, a former district leader, won the seat with the backing of the Manhattan Democratic Party, Silver’s wife, and a number of his allies. Since winning the seat Cancel has made a number of gaffes and appeared to many as unprepared to hold the seat.

Normally, incumbency is seen as a major advantage, bringing with it name recognition, powerful endorsements, and a dedicated fundraising apparatus. But Cancel hasn’t demonstrated that to be the case. She drastically trails other candidates in fundraising and hasn’t had much time to establish constituent services that would allow her to ingratiate herself with her voter base. She has also underperformed in her few public appearances and primary debates. Cancel has been media shy and reluctant to campaign, though during the special election she explained that her public scarcity had to do with health concerns.

The incumbent’s perceived weakness appears to be part of why five challengers hope they can marshall a dedicated base of support in what is expected to be a low turnout affair. The September 13 vote is the third primary day in New York this year.

Challenging Cancel are Paul Newell, Yuh-Line Niou, Jenifer Rajkumar, Gigi Li, and Don Lee.

Newell is a community activist and district leader who was the first Democrat to challenge Silver in nearly two decades, when he ran against him in 2008. Newell, who was endorsed by The New York Times editorial board, won about 22 percent of the vote with Silver at 69 percent. The effort gained Newell experience and notoriety that he hopes to capitalize on during this year’s primary.

Niou also has experience running for office in the district - she challenged Cancel in the special election with the backing of the Working Families Party (WFP). Niou lost by 700 votes in an effort that won her the support of The Times’ editorial board and major elected officials. (While saying that any of the challengers would be better than Cancel, The Times is again supporting Niou this month.)

Rajkumar is a human rights lawyer and district leader who has been involved in advocacy initiatives on tenant rights, labor protections, and women in politics. She challenged City Council Member Margaret Chin in a 2013 primary and, like others running now, sought the Democratic nomination for the April special election.

Li is chair of Manhattan Community Board 3 and made history in 2012 when she became the first Asian-American to be elected to chair a city community board. Li has been involved in advocating for services for families and children.

Lee is a technology executive with a long history of community activism. He got his start in politics in the Koch Administration and is now running as an outsider candidate.

The void left by Silver is immense as he brought billions worth of pork to the district over the decades, used his power to micromanage almost all changes in the district, and stood as a champion for many liberal causes. At the same time, many in Albany saw Silver as a long-term impediment to state government ethics reform and to policy reforms that could have positively impacted his district, especially on affordable housing.

The federal corruption charges against Silver revealed his close financial ties to the real estate lobby that he swore he was fighting during Albany negotiations over rent control and other major housing issues.

While many expected Silver’s conviction to bring real change to Albany the special election to replace him was a sign to many across the state that there were still plenty of roadblocks in place. When Manhattan Democrats gathered to back a candidate for the empty seat, Silver’s allies maneuvered to ensure that Cancel got the nod. Special elections in New York remain largely controlled by local party committees.

Niou and her supporters protested the selection process and campaigned against Cancel with the backing of the WFP, which is supporting her again. Other candidates plotted for their current runs.

This crop of candidates for the 65th will be looking to tap into voting bases across a district that includes Chinatown, the Lower East Side. and most of Lower Manhattan. Political consultants expect that the district’s powerful Asian vote, which could have been tapped as a bloc by one candidate, to be splintered, making the race less easy to predict.

According to the state Board of Elections, as of April 1, 2016, there were 65,766 active registered voters in the 65th Assembly District, 43,094 of them Democrats. (There were 6,320 active registered Republicans and 14,100 active registered voters unaffiliated with a party.)

Top issues facing the district include affordability, especially in housing, as well as education, including school space, climate resiliency, senior services, and health care infrastructure. There is also, of course, a lot of discussion of government ethics and state government reform.

Gotham Gazette spoke to all of the challengers about the race, but attempts to secure an interview with Cancel were unsuccessful.

Candidates painted a picture of a district where elderly residents are finding it harder to afford to stay, where immigrant families can’t afford more than one bedroom, and where properties owned by the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) are in constant disrepair. Meanwhile, Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the Legislature managed to put aside $2 billion for affordable housing and supportive housing, but have yet to actually allocate spending for most of that sum.

Niou said it must be a priority to get the money out of the state’s coffers and into districts. Asked about Cuomo’s plan to revive the expired 421-a tax break for developers who agree to build a certain percentage of affordable housing, Niou was skeptical. “Affordability is a huge issue for our district and the thing is you can't lose money building apartments in Manhattan,” she said, noting the escalating cost of rent. Niou said that if 421-a is necessary checks must be in place.

“We need to make sure developers pay workers the proper wage and make sure we are actually getting affordable units,” Niou said. She also advocated reopening discussions over rent regulation laws to end practices that incentivize landlords to push tenants out.

Meanwhile, Li said the state needs a multi-pronged approach to affordable housing. “We can't just throw money at new development to solve the affordability issue,” she said. “We need preservation. Repairing NYCHA properties and dealing with sustainability must be a priority, but it is important we build new apartments.” She added that she believes it is time to alter the Urstadt Law that gives the State say over major city issues in order to give the City more power.

Rajkumar advocated for quickly funding supportive housing projects and reforming 421-a to “hold developers accountable.”

Newell said his district faces an “acute capital need” as far as housing goes, citing the disrepair of NYCHA properties. “We obviously need to continue building to meet our housing demands, but not I’m sure we need 421-a, with or without a wage subsidy.” He said that he would favor increased checks on the subsidy program to ensure developers are actually delivering the affordable units they receive breaks for.

Lee said that “special interests” must be removed from housing policy and that the State is “playing with funny money.”

Asked how she would preserve affordable housing at a recent debate, Cancel responded: “To be very honest with you, I don’t know the answer to that question, in terms of how do we stop what’s going on,” before suggesting rezoning might help, according to The New York Times. Rezoning is under purview of the City Council.

With education funding a major issue in the district and a proposed tax credit for donations to education institutions likely to be a major factor during the next legislative session in Albany, Gotham Gazette asked the candidates about their position on the controversial measure that is aimed at helping private and charter schools. The five challengers all appeared opposed to the measure, to varying degrees. Li said that while she generally supports “compromise,” she is “focused on funding public education first and foremost.”

Newell said flatly that he opposes the tax credit. Niou, who noted that Cuomo supports the credit said, “The Governor wants lots of things but he hasn't paid us for the CFE case yet,” referring to the Campaign for Fiscal Equity lawsuit that resulted in a judge saying the state chronically underfunds the poorest schools. “So he owes public schools, so it is ridiculous to give breaks to people who support private schools when public schools are suffering,” Niou said.

Rajkumar said CFE funding is critical to make sure city schools can serve students from all districts equally. She also decried how legislators use funding for city schools as a political “football.”

Lee said he was concerned that people who make donations not be allowed to dictate how the money is spent.

The candidates also all came together on the need to save local health care providers given the closing of Beth-Israel Hospital. They were also concerned about resiliency issues the city was forced to confront during Superstorm Sandy.

Li said she discovered while campaigning that many residents of the district don’t realize they are eligible for health care and other benefits under the Federal Zagroda Act. Li and Niou said that they saw a desperate need in the district for constituent service efforts to connect residents with government programs.

All of the challengers to Cancel professed to support a list of government ethics reforms that include limiting or banning outside income for legislators, implementing a statewide system of public campaign financing similar to that employed in New York City; ending the LLC loophole; and adjusting the budget process to make it more open and inclusive.

They differed less on what they wanted done and more on how they would achieve it.

“I think we have a window of opportunity for real change that hasn’t existed for generations,” said Newell, who added that he expected Democrats to take control of the state Senate thereby ending a Republican blockade on most of the aforementioned reforms. “On the Assembly side, Carl Heastie did not expect to be Speaker, and he filled out last session without putting dramatic changes into action,” said Newell. “Next session I think we will see who Carl Heastie really is when he brings the Assembly into the 21st Century.”

Rajkumar said she believes individual Assembly members and committee chairs need more individual power. She also wants lobbying on legislation to be revealed in a database in real time.

Lee said voters are tired of waiting for the system to change. “These guys see problems and they say ‘let's kick it to the next election cycle.’ They have no sense of urgency. They are so out of touch and expectations have gotten to be so low. The bigger issue is that we need true reform - not fresh blood but a blood transfusion,” Lee said.

Asked about the differences between challenging Silver and 2008 and running in a crowded field in 2016, Newell first said the difference is “we are going to win,” but added having a crowded field of deeply invested community members means that the district will have the first “healthy debate process” it has had in decades.

As for campaign funds to support stretch-run efforts, Cancel reported having $11,581 on hand as of her 11-day pre-primary filing.

Other candidates have significantly more money for final flyering and other advertising and get-out-the-vote efforts. Endorsements from unions, elected officials, and other groups have also been divided, mostly among Cancel’s challengers.

Rajkumar reported having $182,826 on hand in her 32-day pre-primary filing; her 11-day pre-primary filing has not been posted by the BOE. Rajkumar has been endorsed by The Public Employees Federation and Citizens Union of New York, a government reform group.

Newell reported having $92,347 on hand as of his 32-day pre-primary filing. He has been endorsed by the United Federation of Teachers, New York State United Teachers, Citizen Action of New York, and City Council Members Rosie Mendez, Mark Levine, and Ben Kallos.

Niou reported having $76,635 on hand in her 11-day pre-primary filing. Along with her endorsements from The New York Times and The Working Families Party, Niou is supported by City Comptroller Scott Stringer, state Senator Daniel Squadron, and others.

Li reported having $36,404 on hand as of her 11-day pre-primary filing. She has been endorsed by City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, City Council Members Margaret Chin and Helen Rosenthal, and state Senator Jesse Hamilton.

Lee reported having $31,856 on hand of his 11-day pre-primary filing.

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by David King, Albany editor, Gotham Gazette
     

Read more by this writer.

Races to Watch in State Legislative Primaries


alcantara diaz jr

State Senate candidate Marisol Alcantara & BX BP Diaz Jr. (photo: @NYAlcantara31)


With state legislative party primaries rapidly approaching, there are several races New Yorkers should keep a close eye on, both in the city and across the state, including some that could play key roles in deciding majority power in the state Senate, which is currently under Republican leadership.

The September 13 vote in some races, especially in Democrat-heavy New York City, will likely determine the winner in November. Still other races have little competition for the party primaries, but will be hotly contested for the general.

With Donald Trump’s controversial candidacy at the top of the Republican ticket in November, Democrats are hoping to tip the scales in their favor, especially in the state Senate, while Republicans across the state decide whether to embrace their presidential nominee or not. The 63-seat New York State Senate is currently almost evenly split between Democrars and Republicans, though there are complicating factors like one Democrat who caucuses with Republicans (Brooklyn Sen. Simcha Felder) and the five-member Independent Democratic Conference (IDC), which has had a power-sharing agreement with Senate Republicans.

The 150-seat State Assembly is controlled by Democrats, who hold a vast majority, including many members from New York City, led by Speaker Carl Heastie of the Bronx.

September’s in-party match-ups will decide whose names appear on the general election ballots in November. In several cases, there are open seats where the incumbent is not seeking re-election or has already left office - these head our “races to watch,” followed closely by races in New York City where incumbents are facing competitive challenges.

Gotham Gazette identifies three key categories to pay attention to for September 13:

  • Open seats within New York City (Senate; Assembly)
  • Competitive incumbent challenges within the five boroughs (Senate; Assembly)
  • Competitive primary races outside of the city for open seats (jump)

OPEN SEAT ELECTIONS IN NEW YORK CITY
There are two vacancies in the state Senate and five in the state Assembly representing New York City residents. If there is more than one Democrat or Republican running, nominees will be decided through the September 13 party primaries. In most cases in the city, the Democratic nominee will win the seat through the November general election.

SENATE VACANCIES IN NEW YORK CITY

SD31
In Senate District 31, which includes the Upper Manhattan neighborhoods of Washington Heights and Inwood and runs down the West Side into Hell’s Kitchen, Senator Adriano Espaillat is leaving his seat to run for Congress in New York’s 13th Congressional district -- an election he is favored to win, which would make him the first politician born in the Dominican Republic to be elected to the House of Representatives. Espaillat won a competitive Democratic primary in June.

Vying to replace Espaillat in the state Senate are four Democratic candidates: Marisol Alcantara, Luis Tejada, former City Council Member Robert Jackson, and Micah Lasher, the former chief of staff to Attorney General Eric Schneiderman. Espaillat, a variety of Hispanic elected officials, several labor unions, and the five-member, GOP-aligned Independent Democratic Conference of the state Senate have thrown their support behind Alcantara, who has said she will caucus with the IDC if elected.

While the candidates largely agree on the issues, they have different resumes, relationships, and political allies.

Gotham Gazette recently reported on the race to replace Espaillat and several other Senate races around the state that “could have significant implication for billions of dollars in state budget money and major policies of all kinds.” In SD31, the result could play a major role in control of the Senate while also having implications for political power in New York City.

SD36
In Senate District 36, which includes parts of northern Bronx neighborhoods like Allerton, Baychester, Eastchester, Wakefield and extends into Mount Vernon, Senator Ruth Hassell-Thompson left the Senate in July to become Governor Andrew Cuomo’s Special Advisor for Policy and Community Affairs of New York State Homes and Community Renewal.

To replace Hassell-Thompson on the Democratic primary ballot will be Jamaal T. Bailey, Robert Diamond, Que English, Pamela A. Hamilton-Johnson, Edward A. Mulraine, and Alvin Ponder. The winner on September 13 will not face a Republican in a general election. BronxTalk host Gary Axelbank moderated a debate among the six candidates on August 29.

ASSEMBLY VACANCIES IN NEW YORK CITY
On the Assembly side, Assemblymembers Phillip Goldfeder (AD23), James Brennan (AD44), Annette Robinson (AD56), and Keith Wright (AD70) will not be seeking re-election; and Assemblymember Barbara M. Clark (AD33) passed away in February. There are not competitive primaries in all these seats, though.

AD33
This is the first time in 30 years the seat has not had a sitting incumbent, on account of Clark’s long Assembly tenure. Vying for the Democratic nomination in AD33, representing Queens Village, Bellerose Manor, Hollis, and Cambria Heights, will be candidates Bryan J. Block, Sabine French, Roy Paul, Clyde Vanel, and Nantasha Williams.

AD44
With Brennan’s retirement, Democratic primary candidates Robert Carroll, R. M. Curry-Smithson, and Troy Odendhal compete in Assembly District 44, representing Park Slope, Kensington and Flatbush-Ditmas Park. The winner of the Democratic primary will face Republican Glenn Nocera.

Brennan, the Working Families Party, and a variety of Democratic officials and organizations have endorsed Carroll, an election lawyer and president of the Central Brooklyn Independent Democrats, a political group his grandfather helped start in the late 1960s. Carroll supported Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign, though he is not the only Sanders supporter in the race: Curry-Smithson, a public school history teacher, volunteered for the Sanders campaign. Carroll is well ahead of the field in endorsements as well as fundraising.

AD56
Democrats Karen Cherry and Tremaine Wright face off in the Democratic primary for Assembly District 56, representing Bedford-Stuyvesant and Crown Heights. The winner will go into the general election without a Republican opponent.

It was reported back in February by Kings County Politics that Assemblymember Robinson was strategizing to run for re-election just so she could hand the election to Wright, her chosen successor and vice-president of the Vanguard Independent Democratic Organization. This plan was spoiled and thus Wright faces Cherry in the primary. The two candidates answered questions from Kings County Politics on education policy. Both candidates see challenges with co-locations where separate schools exist in the same building and want to see more equitable access for all students in public, private and charter schools.

AD70
To replace Assemblymember Keith Wright, who lost his congressional bid to Espaillat, are one Democrat and one Republican, who will face off in November. Republican Heather Tarrant and Democratic City Council Member Inez Dickens run to represent Harlem in the Assembly. Dickens is a heavy favorite due to the Democratic enrollment advantage in the area. It is rumored that Wright will run to replace Dickens if she wins and thus gives up her Council seat.

AD23
Democrat Stacey G. Pheffer Amato and Republican Alan N. Zwirn, both running uncontested in their respective primaries, will face-off in the general election for Assembly District 23, representing parts of Far Rockaway, Rockaway Park, Arverne, Broad Channel, Howard Beach and Ozone Park.

INCUMBENTS WITH SIGNIFICANT PRIMARY CHALLENGERS IN NEW YORK CITY
In addition to races for open seats throughout New York City, there are several incumbents attempting to fend off primary challenges.

SENATE

SD10
In Queens, state Democratic state Senator James Sanders Jr. faces an insurgent primary contest from Adrienne Adams in Senate District 10, encompassing neighborhoods including Jamaica, Rosedale, Richmond Hill, Ozone Park, Springfield Gardens and the Rockaways. The incumbent, who outwardly supported Bernie Sanders in the 2016 Democratic presidential primary, and his primary opponent held a debate on NY1. In an unusual twist, Adams has the support of much of the Democratic establishment after Sanders had at one point expressed his intention to challenge sitting Congressional Rep. Gregory Meeks.

SD16
The race for Queens’ 16th Senate District has also been heating up, with incumbent Democratic state Senator Toby Ann Stavisky taking on Democratic primary challenger S.J. Jung. This is a repeat contest from 2014.

Jung is being ridiculed for a statement he made about erasing same-sex couples from school textbooks, as reported by The Daily News. Though Stavisky is not free from her own controversy, as the Observer found the incumbent and ranking member of the Committee on Higher Education to have taken tens of thousands of dollars in contributions from for-profit colleges, including one that’s been involved in a bribery scandal that implicated an Assembly member from Queens in 2009. The candidates participated in a candidates’ forum at Queens Library in Flushing on August 23, as reported by the Queens Tribune.

SD18
In Northern Brooklyn’s 18th Senate District, incumbent state Senator Martin Dilan is being challenged by insurgent candidate Debbie Medina, another Bernie Sanders supporter who is receiving attention for her firebrand democratic socialism rooted in tenant organizing. Her core message addresses gentrification and the affordable housing crisis in New York, though Dilan has been critical of his challenger for accepting campaign contributions from the young professionals pushing people out of the neighborhoods she says she wants to keep intact.

Kings County Politics asked both candidates to comment on poverty and affordability in South Williamsburg and Bushwick. In response to this question, Medina echos a Sanders stump speech advocating “higher taxes on the wealthy to fund spending on our roads, rails, and bridges.” Both candidates believing in better wages, while Dilan had a more holistic response encompassing education, job creation and transportation.

SD25
State Senator Velmanette Montgomery, who has served in the Senate for 32 years in Brooklyn’s 25th Senate District representing Red Hook, Bedford-Stuyvesant, and parts of Brooklyn Heights, Sunset Park, Park Slope, and Crown Heights, is faced with a re-election challenge from experienced political operative Michael Cox, a Crown Height native who once served in the Obama Administration in an advisor to the Assistant Secretary for Economic Development and the Assistant Secretary of Legislative and Intergovernmental Affairs.

SD33
In the Bronx, incumbent Democratic state Senator Gustavo Rivera is facing a primary contest from City Council Member Fernando Cabrera, who lost in a 2014 bid to unseat Rivera. The race is causing tension within the Bronx Democratic County party, whose leaders were hoping Rivera would run uncontested in the primary to keep things civil between the two rivals and allow them to focus more on representing their shared constituents and less on critiquing each other. Causing tension to rise even higher, the Super PAC New Yorkers for Independent Action has funded mailers attacking Rivera and singing Cabrera’s praises. The two candidates faced off in a debate on NY1’s Inside City Hall.

ASSEMBLY

AD46
Assembly District 46 is represented by Assemblymember Pamela Harris, who won a special election last year and is in a tight race with challenger Kate Cucco to represent residents of southern Brooklyn including Bay Ridge, Fort Hamilton, and Coney Island.

The race has included news reports of Harris’ personal financial struggles, with Harris issuing a public letter in response. Harris is also being forced to discuss her non-profit organization that she ran before being elected to the Assembly. Cucco is one of several challengers to incumbents who are receiving campaign contributions from New Yorkers for Independent Action, a Super PAC supported by wealthy donors from the education reform movement. [Read more about the race from Gotham Gazette here.]

AD55
Assemblymember Latrice Walker, representing Brownsville, Ocean Hill and parts of Bedford-Stuyvesant in the 55th Assembly District, faces a Democratic primary challenge from City Council Member and District Leader Darlene Mealy. Any challenge from a sitting elected official can put pressure on an incumbent and this race puts Walker in a tough position given Mealy’s experience in government, though Mealy is not known as a particularly productive legislator in the City Council.

AD65
In the 65th Assembly District, incumbent Assemblymember Alice Cancel -- who won a special election to replace convicted former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver in April -- will share the vote with five Democratic primary challengers: Yuh-Line Niou, Gigi K. Li, Jenifer Rajkumar, Don Lee, and Paul Newell. Cancel was Silver’s choice to fill his seat, though she faced a tough challenge from Niou in the special. It is expected to be a close fight now. The New York Times writes that the candidates reflect the ethnic diversity of the 65th Assembly District, one of the city’s most diverse. Newell challenged Silver in 2008 and has been active as a district leader, as has Rajkumar. Niou has the backing of the Working Families Party - she ran on the WFP line in April when she narrowly lost to Cancel.

AD72
In Manhattan’s 72nd Assembly District, incumbent Assemblymember Guillermo Linares faces opponents George Fernandez and Carmen N. De La Rosa. De La Rosa, who released her campaign platform at the end of August, is being backed by a significant group of Democratic elected officials, including Sen. Espaillat and City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito. Linares is among those who lost to Espaillat in his Democratic congressional victory. The Manhattan Times has more information about Fernandez, Linares’ other challenger, a tenant organizer who served three terms as Chair of Community Board 12.

AD78
Long-time incumbent Jose Rivera is facing a challenge in Assembly District 68, which includes Kingsbridge, Belmont, and other Bronx neighborhoods. Rivera is being challenged by Ischia Bravo, who has been a longtime political aide and operative in the borough. Bravo has worked for both Congressman Jose Serrano and State Senator Jose Serrano Jr. She is currently a community board member and from 2008 to 2016, she was the executive director for the Bronx Democratic County Committee.

AD86
Incumbent Bronx Democratic Assemblymember Victor Pichardo faces a repeat primary challenge from Hector Ramirez, a Bronx-based activist facing a 242-count indictment for voter fraud related to the last time he ran against Pichardo. Initially it appeared Pichardo would be running against former 86th District Assemblymember Nelson Castro, once an informant for the federal government implicating fellow elected officials to reduce charges over election-related perjury. Castro said he decided to drop out of the race over a lack of fundraising. Ramirez is expected to be a much tougher primary challenger for Pichardo than Castro would have been, assuming he’s not found guilty of voter fraud.

OTHER INCUMBENTS FACING PRIMARY CHALLENGES:

ASSEMBLY

  • Pamela Stewart-Martinez is challenging incumbent Democrat Assemblyman Luis Sepulveda for his seat in the 87th Assembly District.
  • Central Queens Assemblymember Margaret Markey will face Democratic primary challenger Brian Barnwell in the 30th Assembly District, where Markey has served since 1999.
  • Queens Assemblymembers Michele Titus and Vivian Cook will also face primary challenges from Nigel Loncke and Rodney Reid, respectively.
  • Running in the Democratic primary against 59th Assembly District incumbent Assemblymember Jaime Williams -- who won a special election in April to replace state Senator Persaud in her former Assembly seat -- is Spencer Cineus.
  • Veteran Greenwich Village Democratic Assemblymember Deborah Glick is facing her first primary challenge in over 26 years of service in New York’s 66th Assembly District, according to The Villager. Her challenger is none other than Jim Fouratt, an activist who was present at the 1969 Stonewall Inn Uprising. Both Democratic primary candidates are openly gay, and Glick was the first openly gay person elected to public office in New York City. Fouratt believes Glick has been too silent on important issues like the corruption in Albany prompting his campaign challenge.
  • Southern Brooklyn’s 42nd Assembly District incumbent Assemblymember Rodneyse Bichotte also faces a challenger in the Democratic primary, hers from Victor Jordan, who received 6 percent of the vote to Bichotte’s 49 percent in the 2014 primary.
  • In the Bronx, incumbent Assemblymember Carmen Arroyo has two challengers in the Democratic primary election for the 84th Assembly District: Carmen Muniz and Jackson Strong. Incumbent Democrat Assemblymember Marcos Crespo is facing a rematch of his 2014 primary against William Moore, which Crespo won with 79 percent of the vote.
  • On Staten Island, incumbent Republican Assemblymember Ronald Castorina Jr. - who won a special election in April 2016 to replace now City Council Member Joseph Borelli - faces a primary challenge from Janine Materna who ran for City Council as a Democrat in 2009, in AD62.

SENATE

  • Incumbent Bronx state Senator Ruben Diaz Sr. faces a primary challenge from Elliot Quinones, who previously ran for Diaz’s seat in 2014 but was removed from the ballot before the primary.
  • Southeast Queens Assemblymember Alicia Hyndman, who won her seat in the 29th Assembly District in a 2015 special election to replace scandal-ridden former Assemblymember William Scarborough, will face two challengers in the Democratic primary: Lorraine Bridges and Linda Guillebeaux.
  • In the 19th Senate District encompassing parts of Sheepshead Bay, Canarsie, Brownsville, and East New York, two former political allies are battling it out to become the Democratic nominee. Incumbent Democratic state Senator Roxanne Persaud faces a challenge from Mercedes Narcisse, who experienced a “long falling out,” according to Kings County Politics, over her entrance into the race and abruptly-ended run for the overlapping 59th Assembly District female Democratic District Leader position.

PRIMARY RACES TO WATCH OUTSIDE NEW YORK CITY
There are a number of other primary races to watch outside of New York City. Many deal with empty seats or seats being vacated by incumbents not seeking re-election.

Leaving their state Senate seats are Republicans Jack M. Martins (SD7), Hugh T. Farley (SD49) and Michael F. Nozzolio (SD54), and Democrat Marc Panepinto (SD60). Vacating their state Assembly seats are Republicans Stephen M. Katz (AD94), Claudia Tenney (AD101), James Tedisco (AD112), Janet L. Duprey (AD115), Angela M. Wozniak (AD143), and Jane L. Corwin (AD144), and Democrat Michelle Schimel (AD16). Sen. Todd Kaminsky (formerly of AD20) filled the 9th District state Senate seat following the expulsion of Dean Skelos. Kaminsky is running for re-election to the Senate while his Assembly seat will be filled this year.

***
by William Fowler for Gotham Gazette

Read more by this writer.

Two Very Different Democratic Assembly Primaries in Brooklyn


Pam Harris voting via Facebook

Assemblymember Harris votes (photo via Facebook)


Among the upcoming legislative primary elections, two Brooklyn State Assembly races with very different storylines are intensifying. Unusual electoral circumstances in the 44th and 46th Assembly Districts make the contests races to watch. Located in Downtown Brooklyn, the 44th seat, which is opening up due to the retirement of the longtime incumbent, is home to a short, frenzied primary race among three Democrats. In the 46th, an embattled short-term incumbent and an experienced Democratic challenger battle for the Southern Brooklyn seat.

In the 46th, former Assemblymember Alec Brook-Krasny resigned in July 2015 to take a private sector job and Pamela Harris won the seat in a November special election. Now, with less than a year of experience in the Assembly, Harris faces Kate Cucco, who served as chief of staff for Brook-Krasny from 2008 to 2015.  

In the 44th, Assemblymember James Brennan announced his sudden retirement from public office this past May, just eights days before the candidate filing deadline. He simultaneously backed the race’s apparent frontrunner, Robert Carroll, who had been running for District Leader and eyeing an Assembly bid down the road. Two other Democrats, Troy Odendhal and Rob Curry-Smithson, announced their candidacy soon after.

One primary features two women, the other three men. In one, the 46th, establishment Democrats are divided between the two candidates, while in the other, the 44th, most Democratic elected officials and clubs are coalescing behind one candidate.

While these races show interesting decisions within the city’s Democratic machinery, the two districts reflect the common socioeconomic contrasts of neighboring communities in New York City. District 44 includes both Park Slope, a neighborhood that, according to a 2010-2012 Census report, had a median household income of $87,896, and Flatbush, at $42,144 per household.  

District 46 includes similar economic disparities, with communities like Bay Ridge, home to a median household income of $53,500, and Coney Island, at $29, 712.

Assembly District 46
Cucco, who is from Ohio but has called Bay Ridge home for a number of years, says that all residents of the district raise similar concerns no matter their income.

“Every group, whether you’re in Dyker Heights or Coney Island or Sea Gate, everyone wants the same thing,” she told Gotham Gazette. “They want to feel safe when they’re walking outside, they want to know their kids and grandkids are going to the best school possible.”

Cucco says her experience working for the residents of the district as Brook-Krasny’s chief of staff makes her a stronger candidate than the incumbent, Harris, the first black Assembly candidate to win a majority white district in New York City’s history.

“I worked for the Assembly, in this district, for almost nine years,” Cucco said during an interview at the Bridgeview Diner, a Bay Ridge restaurant. “I think that opens a lot of doors and a lot of connections in terms of knowing how to fight for legislation.”

If elected, Cucco says election reform remains at the top of her legislative to-do list.

“For such a progressive state, we’re so behind the curve on where we stand with elections,” she said. “I think we should make it easier for all constituents, members of the state, to vote.” Despite New York’s notoriously antiquated election and voting laws, little movement has been made on reform.

Like Cucco, Assemblymember Harris, who grew up in the district, says she finds the interests of residents to be similar in most neighborhoods.

“There is such diverse groups of people who are all striving for the same thing,” Harris said in a phone interview. “Safety, affordable housing, good places for their kids to play and good school programs.”

Harris, a former corrections officer at Rikers and native of Coney Island, said she represents all of her constituents and does not see the division between police and communities of color that has been the focus of much discussion.

“I didn’t know there was a divide, honestly,” Harris said when asked about representing both constituencies. “I think we just have to remember the need of the district. We have to make sure there is no need in the district and I was able to champion that in my first six months of office.”

Harris said addressing personal issues about her family continues to be the most challenging part of the campaign. The Daily News reported that Harris and her husband filed for bankruptcy in 2013 and there have been multiple reports detailing questions about the nonprofit she founded, the Coney Island Generation Gap, and its tax filings. Harris publicly responded to the Daily News report and addressed the reasons behind her bankruptcy, including health issues for her and other family members.

“I now have to explain what happened to me,” Harris said. “I’m okay with talking about me, but I don’t want to take the time out to do so. Yes, I did deal with Chapter 13. But unfortunately, I had breast cancer and I had a really bad strain. My mother was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. My husband got sick.”

“But you know, wait, don’t worry about me,” she continued, and asked rhetorically, “What is it you need? What is it that you would like me to do?” Harris said that she wants the focus of the campaign to be constituents’ needs, not her personal issues.

Cucco recently released a 70-Point Policy plan which focuses on election reform, in addition to free SUNY and CUNY tuition for students with at least a B average and improving access to affordable housing.

If re-elected, Harris said she hopes to continue to fight for the large senior population in District 46 through affordable housing and social engagement programs. A bill authored by Harris aimed at helping residents in naturally occurring retirement homes qualify for state funding was signed into law by Gov. Andrew Cuomo last month.

A flashpoint in the race is the involvement of outside Super PACs, which have been spending on behalf of both Cucco and Harris. The issue was at the center of contentious exchanges during a Thursday evening debate on NY1's Inside City Hall, with the main issue at hand a state bill for an education tax credit that would mainly benefit donors to private schools. Harris' nonprofit also came up during the NY1 debate.

The winner of the 46th District Democratic primary will face Lucretia Regina-Potter, of the Republican Party, Mikhail Usher, of the Conservative Party, and Patrick Dwyer, of the Green Party, in the general election. In an overwhelmingly Democratic district, that candidate’s party will be favored to win.

Assembly District 44
In State Assembly District 44, three Democrats fight for the seat being left vacant by Assemblymember James Brennan, who announced in May that after 32 years in office he will not seek re-election. Brennan announced his retirement and endorsed attorney Robert Carroll. Carroll, who identifies as a progressive and actively supported Bernie Sanders in the presidential primary, dropped out of the District Leader race to pursue the open seat.

The somewhat surprising vacancy and endorsement brought criticism from Troy Odendhal, a community developer and freelance journalist who is running for the seat in the Democratic primary. “With such short notice on the vacancy of the seat, this was used as tactic by the democratic machine to overtly exclude potential candidates in the 44th Assembly District,” reads a statement on Odendhal’s website.

Odendhal filed an objection with the Board of Elections against his challenger regarding the signatures Carroll collected to get on the ballot. According to Kings County Politics, Odendhal’s campaign found errors with the petitions, including signatures of individuals who live out of the district, without addresses listed or names written in illegible handwriting. Carroll filed more than 7,300 signatures; Odendhal 870 (the required number to get on the ballot is 500).

A third candidate, Rob Curry-Smithson, a history teacher who, like Carroll, campaigned for Bernie Sanders, describes himself not only as a “Berniecrat” but as “an educator, not the establishment,” on his campaign’s website.

Curry-Smithson channels Sanders’ rhetoric when talking about public education and healthcare. In an interview with the Brooklyn Eagle, he explained the reason behind his reform campaign, and referred to the process by which Brennan was attempting to choose replacement.

“I also was concerned that there seemed to be no competition, but a passing of the torch from someone who has been in office since I was two years old to a successor chosen by the party establishment,” he wrote in an email to the Eagle.  

Carroll not only has the backing of Brennan, but a long list of Democratic officials and organizations, including New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer, New York City Public Advocate Letitia James, the Working Families Party, and the New York State United Teachers labor union.

According to his campaign website, if elected to office, Carroll hopes to improve ethics in Albany, institute paid sick leave as well as strengthen gun control laws.

As expected, he leads in fundraising. Carroll has received $98,217 for his Assembly run as of July, according to his State Board of Elections filings. Odendhal, who is self-funding his campaign, has spent about $5446.00 on his campaign, as of late July filings, and Curry-Smithson has no fundraising recorded to date.

The winner of the District 44 Democratic primary will face Republican candidate Glenn Nocera, president of the Brooklyn Tea Party, who has also the Conservative Party line on the ballot, in the November general election. If successful in the Democratic primary, Carroll is set to have the Working Families Party ballot line in November.

Heading to Albany
Democrats have a large majority in the state Assembly and winners of the 44th and 46th District Democratic primaries are likely to be part of that majority in Albany when the State Legislature reconvenes in January. The results of November’s general elections will determine control of the state Senate, which has been led by Republicans over most of the past several decades, but where the balance of power is almost evenly split.

Turnout for the September 13 primaries is not expected to be high, especially given that it is the third primary date of this election year in New York, after the April presidential primary and June congressional primary. November is likely to be a different story, though, with the presidential race drawing more voters to the ballot box.

Cucco, running in the 46th AD, said the over-saturation of the presidential campaign may inspire residents to get more involved this election cycle.

“I think that everything that’s happening on the national level this year, you know with both parties, people, whether they like or don’t like the national candidates running for president, they’re hyper aware of the sense of local government and its importance,” she said.

***
by Devin Gannon for Gotham Gazette

Read more by this writer.

Note: this article has been corrected regarding the timing of Brennan's retirement announcement and how much time there was for candidates to get on the ballot.

Education-Focused Super PAC Spends on Additional Legislative Races


Cabrera Rivera NY1 screenshot 2

screenshot of CM Cabrera, left, & Sen. Rivera from NY1


A Super PAC backed by the education reform lobby and a number of wealthy out-of-state donors has earned the enmity of establishment Democrats by pouring hundreds of thousands of dollars into races in the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Long Island in an effort to unseat Democrat incumbents. The group, New Yorkers for Independent Action, now appears to be adjusting its strategy by supporting some incumbents.

The PAC is at least partially focused on passing an education tax credit proposal through Albany that would provide tax breaks to those who donate to private and charter schools. It is currently spending, largely in mailings - some of which attack candidates and some that are supportive of candidates - six state Assembly and Senate races. Opposed by the majority in the Democrat-controlled Assembly, the education tax credit proposal has been stuck in Albany despite prior lobbying efforts.

“This group and its funders are sadly mistaken if they think this will do anything to further their issue,” said Michael Whyland, spokesperson for Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie. A number of Heastie’s allies in the Bronx have been targeted by the PAC’s spending.

New Yorkers for Independent Action has been attacked by liberal activist groups and incumbent Democrats as the work of hedge-fund profiteers looking to advance their agenda by involving themselves in local races they have no real investment in or knowledge of. Teachers unions decry the measure as siphoning tax dollars away from public schools to reward wealthy donors, who it is assumed will monopolize the tax breaks by donating large sums to applicable private institutions. The PAC of the state teachers union has upped its spending in response to that of New Yorkers for Independent Action.

The group initially targeted for defeat Bronx Sen. Gustavo Rivera, Assemblymember Phil Ramos of Long Island, and Assemblymembers Latrice Walker and Pamela Harris of Brooklyn, all Democrats. Now, it is spending in support of Sen. Roxanne Persaud of Brooklyn and Assemblymember Victor Pichardo of the Bronx, both incumbent Democrats.

Recent filings show that in late June the group allocated $2,000 a piece to support Persaud and Pichardo. Those expenditures pale in comparison, though, to what the PAC has spent on mailers and canvassers in other races. It is unclear exactly what the $2,000 went towards as it is unlikely it could have funded the kinds of district-wide mailers that have popped up in the Rivera, Ramos, Harris, and Walker races.

Future disclosures will show how committed the PAC is to those races, but the spending is meant to influence the outcomes of the quickly-approaching September 13 primaries for all state legislative seats. As of mid-July, New Yorkers for Independent Action reported spending $1,295,672 and raising $2,780,000.

NYFIA’s treasurer, Thomas Carroll, is former president of The Foundation for Education Reform & Accountability, did not return requests for comment.

The money spent so far by New Yorkers for Independent Action has mainly gone in large sums to help four candidates, each of whom has seen at least $300,000 spent by the PAC in their race. Council Member Fernando Cabrera is being aided in his rematch with Sen. Gustavo Rivera; Council Member Darlene Mealy is getting support in her challenge to Assemblymember  Latrice Walker; Giovanni Mata is being backed in his second challenge to Assemblymember Phil Ramos and Kate Cucco is being bolstered in her bid to oust Assemblymember Pamela Harris.

While NYFIA spends big money to defeat Rivera, backing his challenger, City Council Member Fernando Cabrera, in a twist, it is now spending to buoy Pichardo, who previously worked as director of community affairs for Rivera and won his Assembly seat with major guidance from Rivera and his allies.

The PAC has already spent over $356,000 to back Cabrera, with flyers attacking Rivera, others boosting Cabrera, and teams of canvassers carrying the literature.

Asked about NYFIA’s support during a debate on NY1’s Inside City Hall on Tuesday night, Cabrera pointed out that Rivera had endorsed Pichardo and Assemblymember Jose Rivera, who both back the EITC, and said that Rivera had a “double standard.”

Cabrera went on to say, “With this PAC we are working to pass the educational tax credit.” He added that he felt it was “fair to provide this tax credit to parents.”

Rivera responded that the PAC is supported by people who are “anti-choice, anti-gay and anti-labor.”

It is illegal for candidates to coordinate with Super PACs.

Pichardo’s office did not return requests for comment; it is unclear if his re-election campaign welcomes the independent spending on his behalf.

Karen Scharff, head of Citizen Action NY, is also part of the anti-hedge-fund group Hedge Clippers, which often criticizes the education reform movement and its wealthy backers. Scharff said that Super PAC spending of this type in primaries is a new development, and she fears it is just a preview of the kind of outside spending that will occur in the general election when control of the State Senate will be contested.

“The problem with this flood of cash from outside billionaires is that it impacts who gets elected in these communities that billionaires have no interest in. It is doubly disempowering the community, because they lose their voice in local matters and then have electeds who are more dedicated and accountable to the billionaires who elected them.”

Most of the candidates targeted by New Yorkers for Independent Action are not going unaided. Fund for Great Public Schools, a Super PAC controlled by Andrew Pollotta, the vice president of the New York State United Teachers union (NYSUT), was recently aided by a $4 million transfer from New Yorkers For a Brighter Future. The group has begun spending on mailers and advertisements to support Ramos, Walker, Rivera, and Harris, and attacking their opponents.  As of the last campaign filing report, on August 26, they appear to have spent a little over $80,000 on the four candidates.

In the 46th Assembly District, Kate Cucco, a former Assembly aide, is challenging Harris. Residents of the Southern Brooklyn district have been bombarded with flyers and polls from both independent groups. The race feels to many to be a proxy war for the education reform and union movements.

Asked whether Cucco supports the involvement of New Yorkers for Independent Action in her race, a spokesperson sent Gotham Gazette a statement:  

"Kate Cucco has long been on record urging for the overturn of Citizen's [sic] United and has been a staunch advocate for major reforms to campaign finance laws. Kate is in favor of public financing of campaigns that put hard limits of the amount of money a candidate can raise/spend, she is in favor of closing the LLC loophole, increasing the disclaimer requirements so voters know exactly who paid for campaign ads, as well as easing barriers to voting such as having one primary in June, allowing mail in voting, same day voter registration, and allowing for party enrollment changes right up until 60 days before an election."

Cucco is a supporter of a version of the Education Investment Tax Credit that NYFIA wants to see passed.

The PAC has used a similar theme for some of its mailers; in both the Rivera and Ramos races the mailer focuses on a New York Times editorial that accuses legislative leaders of failing to act on ethics reform in the wake of major scandals. Neither Ramos nor Rivera were at the center of the negotiations surrounding ethics reforms. There appear to have been about seven or eight mailers sent out in both districts, with varying themes.

In a statement, Assemblymember Ramos decried NYFIA, describing its donors as “millionaires and billionaires from Manhattan’s Upper East Side.”

“Why are they investing so heavily in a Brentwood Central Islip and Bay Shore Assembly race?” the statement says. “Because I stood up for my community and said NO to a million dollar tax break that they are pitching as an education opportunity for poor kids. I will stand up and fight anyone who tries to exploit our community. We deserve better.” Ramos also said that the Super PAC has “no grassroots” and that “Anyone that actually lives here knows we can't be bought. That's why I'm confident this multi-million dollar plan will fail, I trust my neighbors and they trust me."

Some candidates insist that NYFIA is interested only in passing the EITC and has no further political agenda. Scharff scoffs at the idea, pointing out that billionaire non-New Yorkers like Alice Walton, the Wal-Mart heir and Arkansas resident, and some donors who have traditionally given to conservative Christian causes have donated heavily to the PAC.

Hedge Clippers has also highlighted that the incumbents targeted by NYFIA were major advocates for a $15 minimum wage and other progressive issues.

“The problem with this kind of money being poured into these districts by billionaires is that it drowns out the voices of voters,” said Scharff. She said she expects a number of progressive issues to be at the center of the next legislative session and that those issues will be in jeopardy if NYFIA gets its candidates in place. “If this spending continues into the general election it really could shift balance of power.”

This is how New Yorkers for Independent Action has allocated its spending on candidates through its July 11 filing:
$302,878.91 to support Giovanni Mata, who is challenging Assemblymember Phil Ramos.
$358,235.33 to support City Council Member Fernando Cabrera in his second attempt to defeat Sen. Gustavo Rivera.
$309,404.25 on Kate Cucco, who is challenging Assemblymember Pamela Harris.
$321,153.54 on City Council Member Darlene Mealy, who is challenging Assemblymember Latrice Walker.
$2,000 on Sen. Roxanne Persaud, who is facing a challenge from Mercedes Narcisse.
$2,000 on Assemblymember Victor Pichardo, who is engaged in a rematch with Hector Ramirez.

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by David King, Albany editor, Gotham Gazette
     

Read more by this writer.

Note: this article has been corrected to accurately reflect Thomas Carroll's former position as past president of The Foundation for Education Reform & Accountability, not president of The Center for Education Reform as was stated.

Cuomo’s Minimum Wage Nonprofit Through the Lens of His New Regulatory Scheme


mario cuomo campaign for economic justice bus capitol

photos via The Governor's Office on Flickr


Earlier this year, Gov. Andrew Cuomo successfully advocated for the passage of a $15 minimum wage plan with the help of major labor unions and a nonprofit they created called The Mario Cuomo Campaign for Economic Justice. Teaming with 1199-SEIU, the health care workers union, and 32BJ-SEIU, the buildings workers union, Cuomo made campaign stops in an RV paid for by the nonprofit, which was funded largely by unions.

In a complicated confluence of relationships, Cuomo’s government office notified the press about the events and streamed the governor’s appearances at rallies organized by the group; while his reelection campaign spokesperson served in that role for MCCEJ. Cuomo’s office and the MCCEJ at times appeared to be one.

After the state budget agreement reached at the start of April included the $15 wage phase-in, the campaign celebrated success and closed up shop.

Later in the legislative session, in June, Cuomo created and won passage of a package of reforms that define new restrictions on coordination among candidate campaigns, former government employees, and Super PACs; and stricter reporting requirements of donors to Super PACs. Another aspect of the legislation, which Cuomo signed into law on Wednesday, requires more reporting of donors to nonprofit advocacy groups and reporting of some of their previously private communications.

Cuomo calls the bill an historic stand against dark money, the influence of Super PACs, and the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision that opened up the floodgates for major, secretive political donations.

“New York is taking aggressive action to restore the people’s faith in government and increase accountability and transparency in the electoral process,” Cuomo said in a statement announcing his signing of the bill. “These actions roll back the disastrous influence of Citizens United and prohibit coordination between candidates and independent expenditure committees. Through enhanced enforcement and increased penalties for political consultants who flout the law, this new legislation will root out bad actors and shine a spotlight on the sordid influence of dark money in politics. With this legislation, New York is raising the bar once again – and now it’s time for the rest of the nation to follow suit.”

On the other hand, many reform advocates believe the bill is both a strange mix of regulations and ones that do very little to address areas where there has been real corruption in New York, namely among state legislators.

Robert Perry, legislative director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, says Cuomo has pushed through a confusing bag of proposals and that the way it was presented belies the ways in which the bill will impact small issue-based nonprofits.

“This legislation was touted and marketed as an attempt to address corruption in campaign expenditures - secretly collaborating with candidates in violation of the law - but the bill goes far beyond campaign and coordination,” said Perry. “Context is important. Look at the bill, it is full of broad sweeping provisions and disclosure requirements that have nothing to do with campaign expenditures that include organizations that aren’t even involved in lobbying, but pure issue advocacy. This bill will have a chilling impact on their donors.”

Perry points out that the bill is further confusing because the areas of law regarding political spending by groups like Super PACs and nonprofit advocacy groups are completely separate and yet the bill puts them side by side.

In Cuomo’s not-too-distant past, he aligned himself with a nonprofit formed by business interests to advocate for his agenda, the Committee to Save New York. Like Mayor Bill de Blasio’s more recent Campaign for One New York, Cuomo’s group was shut down amid criticism and controversy. The new regulations would apply to these types of groups in terms of donor disclosure. Cuomo’s group did not disclose its donors; de Blasio’s group did so voluntarily. The Committee to Save New York was not the subject of federal investigation whereas the Campaign for One New York is as authorities probe whether government favors were promised or delivered in exchange for donations to the nonprofit.

Critics have said that the Mario Cuomo Campaign for Economic Justice, like de Blasio’s Campaign for One New York, created a shadow government apparatus, in this case where government employees did work for lobbying groups and consultants were paid for their efforts by the MCCEJ while also representing Cuomo’s campaign.

“Clearly the governor is coordinating with this outside entity, and the governor's political operatives seem to have basically been set up and guiding it,” Susan Lerner, executive director of Common Cause New York, told Politico New York in February. “This is setting up a shadow government and it blurs the line between private campaigning and public policy. The goal is an admirable one, but the way it is being done gives us pause.”

Cuomo appeared to criticize de Blasio’s relationship with the Campaign for One New York while unveiling his reform plan in June. “The collusion, the coordination, the subterfuge, the fraud in the current political system is rampant,” Cuomo said, according to The Observer, without naming de Blasio’s group. When speaking with reporters after the event, Gotham Gazette twice asked the governor for examples of the types of groups he was targeting, but Cuomo declined to name any, saying that he did not want to accuse anyone of illegality at that time.

The new restrictions on coordination would have no impact on the MCCEJ or even the Campaign for One New York - both are nonprofit 501(c)(4) advocacy groups and thus only subject to the additional donor transparency requirements.

Political action committees, or PACs, are tied to candidates, while independent expenditure campaigns, commonly referred to as Super PACs, are not allowed to coordinate with candidate campaigns. Both operate during elections to influence their outcomes - those groups register and report their fundraising to the Board of Elections. New restrictions on coordination and additional reporting requirements will apply to Super PACs.

“The members of 1199SEIU have been proud to be a part of raising the minimum wage to $15 for nearly three million working New Yorkers, and passing the strongest paid family leave law in the nation. We hope that similar efforts are successful throughout the country, so that working people can provide a better future for their families and we can rebuild the middle-class.” said Mark Riley, press secretary for 1199SEIU, in a statement. The union declined to make its president, George Gresham, who served as chair of the MCCEJ, available to discuss how the campaign was coordinated.

Cuomo mario cuomo campaign economic justice speechSources close to the Mario Cuomo Campaign for Economic Justice told Gotham Gazette that the new rules on nonprofit donor disclosure would have had no impact on the MCCEJ as they lower the thresholds for nonprofits to report donors, but donations to the MCCEJ were already covered by the old lobbying law.

Now, more disclosure is required of smaller donors after nonprofits spend smaller amounts of total money on lobbying. The MCCEJ’s donations appear to mostly have come in large sums. But, it will be impossible to know until the MCCEJ’s final disclosure documents are made public by the state regulatory agency they must report to: JCOPE, the Joint Committee on Public Ethics.

So far, all of the reported donations to MCCEJ far exceed the new reporting requirements and therefore were covered by the old law. The SEIU Labor Management Initiative donated $637,781 in February and then gave the same amount again in April; Service Employees International gave $212,594 in January; in March, RWDSU Realty Group donated $63,778 in March; The New York Hotel and Motel Trades Council gave $85,038; and the SEIU1199 New York State Political Action Fund gave $85,038.

New York’s previous lobbying act requires nonprofits that fit under the 501(C)(4) designation of the IRS tax code to disclose donations of over $5,000 and the personal information of those who make such donations if the group has spent more than $50,000 on lobbying in a calendar year. The new bill sets the total lobbying disclosure threshold at $15,000, while requiring disclosure of donations of more than $2,500, as well as those donors’ personal information. The MCCEJ is expected to have spent around $2 million from January to July.

Sources told Gotham Gazette that MCCEJ disclosed its donors to JCOPE in July but the filing has yet to be made public. Most MCCEJ activity occurred in the early months of 2016 when Cuomo and company traveled the state on the $15 minimum wage campaign. The group’s final filing should be available in September.

The new law also requires 501(C)(4) groups to disclose to the Attorney General any communications, whether written, broadcast or otherwise, having to do with legislation, votes on legislation, pending legislation, government action on rules, regulations or the decisions of any legislative or executive administrative body.

A number of issue-focused nonprofits, some that lobby and some that do not, are opposed to the new rules because, unlike the MCCEJ, they do not enjoy a close relationship with the Cuomo administration or other parts of state government.

The MCCEJ would likely have been subject to and impacted by this communication disclosure rule, but the group existed in that fairly unique position - its communications were already likely privy to the Cuomo administration and its donors were not likely to ever fear political reprisal for their support of the group’s lobbying efforts.

“The problem becomes when the law applies to groups that are not sponsored and created by the chief executive of the state,” said Perry.

The NYCLU urged Cuomo to veto the bill, saying that it violates freedom of speech and will temper donations to small issue-advocacy groups because donors will fear being exposed and possible reprisals. “This will have a chilling effect,” said Perry. “This intrusive, burdensome, regulatory scheme where you have to provide a donor's name and address will intimidate donors and reduce their willingness to engage due to the prospect of retaliation from the government, or someone else who disagrees with them.”

Mike Durant, New York State director of the National Federation of Independent Business, a group that lobbied against the minimum wage hike said he found it quite challenging to go up against the combination of Cuomo and well-funded labor groups. Durant’s organization, a national nonprofit, is still reviewing what, if any, impact the new regulations will have on it.

Durant said he is concerned about the new laws and how they might affect dissent and perhaps earn political retribution. “It’s always been a concern with any governor, but with this governor it’s a bit heightened,” he said. “You can't stifle opposition. Government is supposed to be an argument between various sides about an issue and you see where that argument goes. Stifling dissent is not doing the public any favors.”

Doug Kellogg of Reclaim New York, a group focused on government transparency that has been critical of Cuomo in general and this legislation specifically, said that it's almost impossible to gauge how groups will be impacted because it is still uncertain how JCOPE will administer the law.

Kellogg noted that JCOPE can set exemptions for certain groups. “They get to determine whether a donor has legitimate fear of retaliation, and thus does not have to have their name released,” he said. “It's completely twisted to have a government spinoff that's not fully subject to basic transparency law deciding which citizens that fear retaliation for their speech get to stay private, and which have their names published. Until we see it in practice, we can't be sure how awful the law will truly be, but it’s definitely going to be ugly.”

JCOPE approved a set of regulations having to do with the law earlier this month. Many groups are anxiously waiting to see how the new regulations are actually enforced.

Perry of NYCLU and a host of good government groups including Citizens Union, the New York Public Interest Research Group, and Common Cause New York say that the governor has given no evidence that these new disclosure rules for nonprofits will do anything to impact corruption.

They say unlike the convictions of Dean Skelos and Sheldon Silver and the dozens of other legislators who have been removed from their seats, a trend that demonstrates a corruption epidemic in the Legislature, there is no indicator that nonprofits need more regulation.

“As you know, non-profit charities are already tightly regulated by the Internal Revenue Service,” the groups wrote Cuomo in a letter urging him to veto the bill. “These organizations, known as 501(c)(3)s have strict limits on their lobbying involvement – limitations that amount to a small fraction of their budgets. They are forbidden from intervening in political campaigns on penalty of being disqualified as a charity. Yet, with no demonstrated evidence of a problem and no evidence of any meaningful problems in New York State (evidence, which if it existed, you could have brought to light in a public debate) you assert that such a problem exists. As a result, these parts generally harm charitable organizations in the state through their lack of clarity and astoundingly broad reach. Rather than being targeted, the bill would impose onerous requirements on many nonprofits and inhibit contributions to nonprofits seeking to carry out charitable work, and could jeopardize the ability of many nonprofit organizations to operate in New York.”

Asked whether Cuomo had evidence there was corruption or malfeasance among these groups, Cuomo spokesperson Dani Lever forwarded a Times Union article titled “Who Funds New York’s Good Government Groups?” The article says that some groups are not always forthright about their donors, but that on the whole most are; while also noting that at times a group has released a report related to a donor with a particular interest.

Lever also provided a comment that the administration has widely circulated in response to criticism of the new legislation, which Cuomo spokesperson Rich Azzopardi has also tweeted in response to recent articles on the matter: “Everyone is all for transparency, except when it comes to them. We are just surprised to learn that applies to self-appointed good-government groups, too.”

A lawsuit challenging the bill is expected in the coming months - the suit will likely argue the law is an overreach and violates the First Amendment.

Lever did not respond to a question regarding whether Cuomo is concerned about the blurring of the lines between government and nonprofit lobbying as in the case of the Campaign for One New York and the Mario Cuomo Campaign for Economic Justice.

Asked about the new ethics laws on Thursday, Cuomo told reporters that it wasn’t everything he was hoping for, but still important. “The ethics bill is a major step forward,” Cuomo said, according to State of Politics. “Is it everything? No. Ethics in many ways is like other activities in life, right? That old line — you can never be too rich, you can never be too thin. Well, you can never be too ethical. So, you get everything done that you can get done. But you stay at it and you work at. More and more disclosure, more trust.”

Blair Horner, of the New York Public Interest Research Group, said that the law has served as a distraction in a year when Albany has been rocked by the conviction of two former legislative leaders and a federal investigation into Cuomo’s economic development projects. “This is classic Albany misdirection,” said Horner. “Here we are all talking about (C)(4)s and nonprofits and it's distracting us from discussing corruption in the Legislature and Executive. It is absolutely cynical, but it's effective.”

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by David King, Albany editor, Gotham Gazette
     

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Note: Gotham Gazette is an independent publication of Citizens Union Foundation, sister organization fo Citizens Union.

The Week Ahead in New York Politics, August 29


New York City Hall

New York City Hall


What to watch for this week in New York politics:

This pre-Labor Day weekend week is looking like a fairly quiet one in New York politics, though there are a few things to watch for. Mayor Bill de Blasio is due to return Sunday evening from a vacation week traveling throughout New England with his family and could have an active week. The mayor starts the week with one public event on his schedule: he'll be in Queens Monday evening to deliver remarks at the opening ceremony for the 2016 U.S. Open.

One certainty for the week ahead is that much attention will be turning to the fist of three scheduled legislative hearings on water quality and the Cuomo administration's response to water quality problems in Hoosick Falls and elsewhere - the initial hearing is Tuesday in Hoosick Falls.

That first hearing on "drinking water contamination" is being held by two state Senate committees. The other two hearings scheduled - on September 7 in Albany and September 12 on Long Island - will be joint hearings of the Senate and Assembly.

Neither Gov. Andrew Cuomo nor city Comptroller Scott Stringer nor Public Advocate Letitia James has any public events scheduled for Monday. City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito did not release a public schedule as of Monday morning at 8 a.m.

At noon on Monday, Lieutenant Governor Hochul will address students and faculty about Governor Cuomo’s Enough is Enough initiative to combat sexual assault on college campuses, at SUNY Geneseo. At 1:15 p.m., Hochul will highlight state investment in state parks at Letchworth State Park Nature Center.

The City Council is silent this week in terms of hearings, returning to action after the Labor Day weekend.

On Monday evening on NY1's Inside City Hall there will be a debate between the two candidates in the Democratic primary for the 10th state Senate district in Queens: incumbent Senator James Sanders and challenger Adrienne Adams.

A few Tuesday events:

At 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday, the New York City Food Policy Center is hosting its Food Policy For Breakfast Series with Naomi Starkman, the founder and editor-in-chief of Civil Eats who will discuss food policy with executive director of the Food Policy Center, Charles Platkin.

On Tuesday at 11 a.m., "State Senator James Sanders Jr. will host a press conference...at the Sutphin Boulevard / Archer Avenue train station to announce that $7.65 million in state funding has been allocated for improvements to the Jamaica Transportation Center Station Plaza. This money was set aside in the 2016 budget for a multi-year state transportation plan agreed upon by Senator Sanders along with his colleagues in the legislature and Governor Cuomo."

"On Tuesday, Mayor de Blasio will host a roundtable discussion regarding tenant protections...After the roundtable, [at 12:30 p.m.] the Mayor will host a press conference to make an announcement regarding legal representation for tenants in housing court."

On Tuesday evening, NY1's Inside City Hall will host a debate between incumbent Bronx State Senator Gustavo Rivera and his Democratic primary challenger City Council Member Fernando Cabrera (Cabrera also challenged Rivera in 2014). Read our latest coverage of this race.

On Thursday:

NY1's Inside City Hall will host a debate between incumbent Brooklyn Assembly Member Pamela Harris and her Democratic primary challenger Kate Cucco.

On Thursday evening, at 6:30 p.m. at the Sikh Cultural Society in Queens, "Deputy Mayor for Strategic Policy Initiatives Richard Buery will lead a panel discussion on ThriveNYC, the City’s mental health roadmap for all. He will be joined by Vishavjit Singh, creator of Sikh Captain America and Sikhtoons; Dr. Muninder Kaur Ahluwalia, an associate professor at Montclair State University; and Arvind Kaur, clinical psychologist and host of Jus Galbaat. This event is organized by Mayor Bill de Blasio’s Community Affairs Unit and Office for Immigrant Affairs, in conjunction with the Sikh Cultural Society and United Sikhs."

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Have events or topics for us to include in an upcoming Week Ahead in New York Politics? E-mail Gotham Gazette executive editor Ben Max any time: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. (please use "For Week Ahead" as email subject).

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by Libby Wetzler and Ben Max
@GothamGazette

5 Things to Watch For at State ‘Water Contamination’ Hearings


Cuomo DOH Hoosick Falls

photos via The Governor's Office on Flickr


After months of refusal and delay, the state Legislature is set to begin a series of hearings on drinking water contamination in New York. It became clear many months ago that the water in Hoosick Fall had been contaminated by a chemical known as PFOA and the first of three scheduled hearings will take place Tuesday in the village.

Tuesday’s hearing is a joint one by two state Senate committees, health and environmental conservation. The other two hearings are set to be joint Senate and Assembly hearings; they are scheduled for September 7 in Albany and September 12 on Long Island.

The hearings, especially the first one, are expected to deal with how the administration of Gov. Andrew Cuomo responded to reports that the water in Hoosick Falls was contaminated and why it took so long to notify residents of the threat; as well as examining how to prevent and respond to future contamination.

On the legislative hearings website, Tuesday's Senate hearing in Hoosick Falls is titled "Drinking Water Contramination," while the Sept. 7 and 12 joint hearings are titled "Water Quality and Contamination."

Assembly Democrats, who hold that chamber’s majority, announced in February that they would hold such hearings in April but they never materialized. The Assembly announced in early July that it would hold hearings in early September.

Republicans in the Senate majority stood steadfast against hearings when they were first proposed last December. Public pressure mounted all legislative session and in July the Senate announced it would hold hearings, six months after the plight of the residents of the small town came into public focus.

Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan announced his conference would hold hearings “in an effort to explore the sources of water contamination, examine state and federal oversight issues, and determine how we can prevent this from happening in the future.”

In his statement on the hearings, Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie said, "Recent reports of water contamination in municipalities across the state have highlighted the need for a thorough review of measures to ensure clean and healthy water in our communities. Ensuring a safe water supply for our children and families is a top priority for us."

After announcing intentions to hold hearings, the two houses subsequently said they would hold the two joint hearings.

After months of advocacy, pressure, outrage, and denial, it is unclear what exactly the hearings will look like and what would make them successful.

Here are five important things to watch:

1. Are all the stakeholders present?

Advocates warn that there won’t be a full accounting of how the pollution in Hoosick Falls went unidentified and then was left unacted on for months without the presence of all stakeholders.

“They all have to be there from the polluters to the regulators; Honeywell, the EPA and DEC; we need them all there to figure out who knew what happened when and what went wrong,” said Liz Moran of Environmental Advocates of New York, referring to the company believed to be responsible for poisoning the Hoosick Falls water and the federal and state environmental agencies.

The Cuomo administration has put significant blame on the federal Environmental Protection Agency for not having adopted uniform standards for the impact of PFOA and pushed back heavily on assertions that it was slow to respond to the problem. How much the Cuomo administration will participate in the hearings and how open it will be remain to be seen.

Tuesday’s Hoosick Falls hearing begins at 10:30 a.m. and is expected to go all day and into the evening, with members of the public testifying both by appointment and on a walk-in basis later in the day.

According to the August 12 Senate majority press advisory about the hearing, Senate Health Committee Chair Kemp Hannon and Senate Environmental Conservation Committee Chair Tom O’Mara will lead the hearing; they’ll be joined by Senator Kathy Marchione, who represents the Hoosick Falls area, and other senators. “The purpose will be to explore the sources of water contamination, examine local, state, and federal oversight issues, and hear from experts, local residents, and others on what can be done to assist affected communities and mitigate future incidents.”

2. Will hearings lead to a plan?

During this year’s legislative session, while fallout from Hoosick Falls was fresh and media was focused heavily on the issue, the Legislature passed one bill that had anything to do with the contamination, and passing that bill was no simple task. The legislation extended the time victims of environmental contamination have to sue polluters.

marchione hoosick fallsThe bill appeared set to pass until late in session when Marchione (pictured), a Republican who represents Hoosick Falls, introduced a pro-business amendment that would have ensured that the bill did not become law. After outcry from her constituents she reversed herself and the bill passed both houses of the Legislature.

In May the EPA released new standards for safe PFOA levels in drinking water that are significantly lower than its 2009 standards. Wells in Suffolk County have been shown to be over the EPA’s recommended limits at the impacted communities have taken action. Meanwhile, more communities are grappling with lead found in their drinking water supply and it is clear that the state needs a plan of action.

Environmental groups say the Legislature will need to move to actually prevent these kinds of incidents and prepare the state to respond quickly before the public is impacted. “We need a plan for the rest of the state,” said Moran. “Anything less than that would count as failure.”

3. Is there enough political will?

A number of legislators and many Hoosick Falls residents believe that the Legislature stalled on holding hearings knowing that they would anger the Cuomo administration. The Assembly scheduled hearings for April, right around the time the budget was due, and they never came to fruition.

At the time Republican Assemblymember Steve McLaughlin, who represents Hoosick Falls, told Gotham Gazette he was concerned the hearings were being used as a bargaining chip in budget negotiations. “I told them in February: ‘Don’t use my constituents as leverage,’ and it looks like that is exactly what happened,” McLaughlin told Gotham Gazette in late April not long after the new budget was finalized.

It will now be up to the Legislature to probe the Cuomo administration’s response and perhaps delve where the administration would rather they didn’t. The administration has repeatedly stated they took proper action but, as reported by Politico New York, documents show they resisted the EPA’s calls for action.

In June, Cuomo defended his administration. “I don’t know how the state could have been more aggressive or what else we could have possibly done,” the governor told reporters, according to State of Politics. “We did the testing, we installed filters on every home that needed them, we added filters in buildings frankly that didn’t need them just to make people more comfortable. I don’t think we could have been more aggressive.”

Shaun Francis, a Democrat who is challenging Marchione for her seat, said he is concerned that Senate Republicans won’t want to fully explore the response to Hoosick Falls. “They were the last ones on board for hearings and my fear is they are going to try to paper over the failures,” Francis told Gotham Gazette last month. “It’s hard to believe people sounding the alarm bells didn’t let Marchione know.”

4. Will the two houses be able to work together?

The Democrat-controlled Assembly and Republican-controlled Senate are diametrically opposed on a number of issues, but advocates hope the they can find a way to get on the same page as voters have become increasingly aware of potential water contamination and the state’s inadequate response.

Republicans have traditionally been opposed to increased regulations on businesses so the issue could become a flashpoint.

A number of Assembly Members have voiced concerns about underfunding the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), and they may push for increased staffing, something that would make their union allies happy.

Each house may also have different considerations when it comes to relationships with the Cuomo administration. Senate Republicans have been close to Cuomo since he took office, with the governor doing little to help his fellow Democrats win seats in that house. They also helped Cuomo on a number of thorny issues in recent budgets. Meanwhile, Heastie has clashed with Cuomo on the governor’s treatment of Mayor Bill de Blasio and various New York City issues.

Cuomo has had harsh words for the Legislature on a few occasions in recent weeks.

5. Will election-year concerns come into play?

All 213 seats of the state Legislature are on the ballot this year -- 150 Assembly and 63 Senate. Voters are evaluating the effectiveness and responsiveness of their local elected officials and the function of state government as a whole.

Both houses of the Legislature put off hearings for months and only gave in after intense protest from Hoosick Falls residents and environmentalists, as well as calls from members of Congress like Democratic Senators Kirsten Gillibrand and Charles Schumer, as well as Republican Rep. Chris Gibson.

Gillibrand held an emotional hearing in Hoosick Falls where she heard from residents who described learning they had been poisoned by their own drinking water.

Now both state legislative houses will have to examine whether the laws they put into place over the years were inadequate. Senate Republicans will have to assess how to confront the issue given that Marchione faces a general election challenge from an opponent who is running principally on the notion that government failed the district.

Many expect legislators to present the issue as one that caught everyone by surprise and must be acted on quickly now that everyone’s eyes are open to it. Environmentalists and Hoosick Falls residents are unlikely to accept that response.

“Clean drinking water is now on the forefront of voters’ minds,” said Travis Proulx of Environmental Advocates of New York. “It is something everyone takes for granted until people get sick. People assume the government will protect them and they are finding out that wasn’t the case. Water quality has entered the political realm in a way that we haven’t seen in modern New York politics.”

Moran said she thinks that after feeling the pressure from Hoosick Falls residents at the end of legislative session, legislators got the message that not only did hearings have to happen, but they have to produce results. “Kathy Marchione felt the voters’ wrath after she amended her bill. I hope everyone is taking this very seriously,” Moran said. “There are very high expectations in Hoosick Falls for what these hearings will deliver. New York voters have high expectations.”

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by David King, Albany editor, Gotham Gazette
     

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Manhattan GOP Sees Hope on Upper East Side


Harary AD73

Rebecca Harary with supporters (photo via @TeamHarary)


When it comes to the New York State Legislature, most electoral attention is paid to the Senate, which Republicans control by a thin majority and only because an elected Democrat caucuses with them and they have a power-sharing agreement with a five-member faction of breakaway “independent” Democrats. This November’s elections will determine control of the chamber.

In the State Assembly, however, the balance of power is not close. Republicans have been at a massive disadvantage. The Democrats have a stranglehold on the house, which is unlikely to drastically shift come November - Democrats currently hold 104 seats to the Republicans’ 44 (one seat is held by a Working Families Party member and there is one vacancy in the 150-seat chamber). This holds particularly true for seats in New York City, a liberal bastion that helps make New York an overwhelmingly blue state. There are currently only two Republican Assembly members, both from Staten Island, representing New York City’s 66 Assembly districts.

But come November, the Manhattan GOP believes it can make inroads and put not one, but two of their own in Assembly seats on the Upper East Side where Republicans believe that registered Democrats won’t necessarily vote along the party line.

Manhattan Republicans are banking on voting trends from 2013, when Mayor Bill de Blasio’s landslide victory wasn’t reflected on the Upper East Side and he lost the neighborhood to his GOP opponent, Joe Lhota, by double digits.

“The Upper East Side is very Bloomberg-centric,” said Adele Malpass, chair of the Manhattan Republican Party, insisting that the neighborhood tends to vote along more conservative lines. “The Upper East Side is not a progressive spot,” she said. The neighborhood is predominantly white and relatively affluent, and has historically supported Republican mayoral candidates. Malpass hopes her party can tap this sentiment in the upcoming election, and win the 73rd and 76th Assembly districts by defeating Democratic incumbents.

The two districts run side by side on the East Side: District 73 extends from 34th Street to 94th Street, bounded by 5th avenue on it’s west side. On the east, it reaches the river in certain sections but mostly stops at 3rd Avenue where District 76 begins. District 76 stretches from 61st to 92nd Street, and includes Roosevelt Island.

While it may be an uphill battle - incumbents are exceedingly difficult to beat - Republicans see some reason for optimism. "The Upper East Side is where we have the best odds of winning a seat this election, but it can't be done without your support and involvement," Malpass recently wrote in an e-newsletter to Manhattan GOP subscribers.

The 73rd district is represented by Assemblymember Dan Quart, who has held the seat since winning it in a special election in 2011. He’s being challenged by Rebecca Harary, a community activist with a long history of nonprofit work. She founded a school for children with autism and a high school for teenagers with mild learning disorders. She is currently the  founding executive director of the Propel Network, an organization that helps Jewish women enter the workforce. She is a mother of six and grandmother of seven, she said in an interview.

In the 76th district, first-term Assemblymember Rebecca Seawright, elected in 2014, will face off against Jon Kostakopoulos, a writer for financial news website The Street and former director of field operations for John Catsimatidis’ 2013 mayoral campaign. Kostakopoulos is also Catsimatidis’ godson and the supermarket magnate is set to host a fundraiser for Kostakopoulos in late September.

The two challengers believe they have a solid chance to make these races competitive by focusing on a few core issues -- quality of life, public safety, transportation and education -- and they aren’t worried that the Democrats have an enrollment advantage over Republicans in Manhattan. Active registered Democrats in the borough outnumber Republicans 8 to 1, but that ratio in the 76th district is only about 3.3 to 1, and in the 73rd district it's even closer at 2.5 to 1. 

“We have an absentee Assemblyman,” said Rebecca Harary about Quart, in a phone interview with Gotham Gazette. “His silence is deafening, and that speaks volumes about the leadership in this district.” Democrats, she said, and particularly Mayor Bill de Blasio, are responsible for rising homelessness and worsening quality of life in the district and across the city. Her opponent, she said, is a company man like most incumbent Democrats. “They’re just going to vote the company line and make no waves,” she said, insisting that there’s a need for an independent voice in the district. “It’s time to ask the real questions,” she said.

Her top priority, besides public safety, is education. She supports charter schools and believes the state should offer tuition tax credits, with increased income thresholds, to parents who choose to send their children to private and parochial schools.  

Assemblymember Quart doesn’t seem worried about the challenge from Harary. “I look forward to November,” he said. His plan is to run on the successes of the last five years, he said, pointing to improvement of air quality in the district, sponsoring and passing legislation on criminal justice issues and helping secure $1 billion in additional funding to the MTA Capital Plan for the Second Avenue subway line. “By any objective measure, I’ve been successful in helping my constituents,” he said.

“I run on my record,” he added. “The politics will work itself out.” Quart has a significant fundraising advantage over his opponent. He has raised more than $335,000 for the race compared to Harary’s $59,000. (Quart also has a city campaign account with $104,375 in it for a possible future race, but he said he does not intend to run for any city office in 2017.)

Fellow Democrat Rebecca Seawright is also confident about her prospects, although she’s not being complacent about the race. “I’m a full-time legislator, I take this job very seriously,” she told Gotham Gazette, alluding to the fact that state legislators are technically part-time and allowed to earn outside money, which has gotten some into trouble.

Seawright said she’s had a successful first term in the Assembly majority. “I’ve passed 10 pieces of legislation and seven have been signed into law by the governor,” she said, also touting her 100 percent attendance record.

Refutes Republicans’ assertion that quality of life is decreasing in the district, Seawright said, “I’m extremely proud of the progress that’s been made. We’re constantly picking up the phone and reaching out to city agencies about getting the homeless into shelters, picking up garbage.”

Seawright is also confident that with Hillary Clinton on the top of the Democratic ticket, voter turnout will be robust on the Upper East Side and Roosevelt Island, which falls in her district. One aspect strongly in Seawright’s favor is her opponent’s late entry into the fray. Kostakopoulos started his campaign only a few weeks ago - he’s holding a campaign launch event September 8 - and has yet to raise any money. Seawright has just short of $100,000 in the bank.

Kostakopoulos told Gotham Gazette he got into the race because Seawright would otherwise have been uncontested, and that during her tenure, quality of life, particularly the issue of homelessness, has become abysmal in District 76. “I’ve been there my entire life and I’ve never seen it so bad,” he said in a phone interview, mentioning homelessness specifically.

He doesn’t intend to make an ideological appeal to voters, however. “I’m not running as a Republican or a Democrat even though I’m on the Republican line,” he said. “I’m running as a resident of the 76th district.” Calling himself a “New York Republican” like former Mayor Michael Bloomberg, he said he appeals to voters on the Upper East Side who are socially liberal and fiscally conservative.

If elected, he intends to advocate for quicker completion of the Second Avenue subway, which he said has been perennially delayed under Assembly Democrats. “These career politicians have had enough time,” he said. “Someone’s got to be held accountable.”

Republicans are hoping to see a repeat of the results of the 2013 mayoral race and Manhattan party Chair Malpass is rallying the troops on that message. In an email blast to subscribers, she laid out the strategy and outlined five upcoming events for the candidates, including Kostakopoulos’ campaign launch and fundraiser.

“What we accomplish between now and Election Day will lay the groundwork for winning the Mayor's race in 2017 and making Bill deBlasio [sic] a one-term Mayor,” the email reads. They intend to reach out to independents and moderate Democrats and will use “cutting edge campaign technology” to do so, including merging their voter rolls with internet services and online publications for targeted ads and narrowing down specific buildings and districts to directly reach voters online. It is important that they are funded to do the work, the party wrote.

But relying on the 2013 mayoral voting numbers may be problematic. Steve Romalewski, director of the CUNY Mapping Service at the Center for Urban Research/The Graduate Center, pointed out that just the next year (2014), in both the 73rd and 76th districts, the Democratic candidates won with overwhelming majorities. “I don’t see how the mayoral results have anything to do with the likelihood of a Republican winning either seat,” he said of the Assembly races, pointing out that Democrats have won these districts all the way back to 2000. “That’s just a reality of the New York City electoral patterns,” he said. “There tends to be a vast difference between municipal elections and state elections, and executive branch results and legislative branch results.”

“If the Republican candidates are trying to pin their hopes on the results of the 2013 mayoral election,” he said, “they’ll be sadly mistaken and they should rethink their strategy.”

***
by Samar Khurshid, senior reporter, Gotham Gazette
     

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Note: this article has been updated.

In Race to Replace Espaillat, Ramifications for Senate Control, His Power, and More


Espaillat Alcantara

Espaillat, center, & Alcantara, right of center (photo: @Espaillat4NY)


Marisol Alcantara, a labor organizer who ran a successful insurgent campaign for district leader in 2010, is seen by many in her Uptown district as a liberal firebrand. As Alcantara now pursues election to the New York State Senate, she is also fighting a proxy war for Senator Adriano Espaillat, who is about to be elected to Congress and Alcantara hopes to replace. The hotly contested Democratic primary for Espaillat’s Senate seat is becoming a test of his power and that of his top allies.

Alcantara’s candidacy is also backed by the Senate Independent Democratic Conference, or IDC, which she has pledged to join if elected, a scenario that may enable Senate Republicans to keep control of the chamber in a year when mainline Democrats believe they have the best chance to take power and see all major parts of state government run by the party.

In other words, the race to replace Espaillat, along with several Senate races around the state, could have significant implication for billions of dollars in state budget money and major policies of all kinds - these decisions are currently made among Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, the Democratic leader of the state Assembly, and the Republican leader of the state Senate, with some input from the IDC.

On Tuesday, Alcantara was endorsed by Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. who is an ally of IDC head Jeff Klein, senator from the Bronx, and of Cuomo, who has encouraged the IDC’s ruling coalition arrangement with Senate Republicans in the past.

“From organizing voter registration drives, to helping tenants facing eviction navigate city bureaucracy, to standing with workers on the picket line, to passionately advocating for education funding, Marisol Alcantara has spent her career fighting for the issues that New Yorkers care about,” Diaz Jr. said in a press release.

According to five sources involved in the race, Espaillat is flexing his new-found muscle after his Democratic primary win to replace retiring Rep. Charles Rangel in Congress. Espaillat, set to become the first Dominican-American elected to Congress during a formality of a November general election, has called in favors and is lobbying other electeds to back Alcantara. In the state Senate primary set for September 13, she is facing former City Council Member Robert Jackson; Micah Lasher, former chief of staff to Attorney General Eric Schneiderman; and Luis Tejada, a community activist.

The 31st Senate District runs from the Upper Manhattan neighborhoods of Inwood and Washington Heights, down the West Side to Hell’s Kitchen.

“This is a lady who stands on her own two feet,” Espaillat said of Alcantara last week as she received the endorsement of the Transit Workers Union Local 100. “I listen to her and I know that we will not always agree, because she is her own person, as she should be, because leadership is about that.”

Jackson, who has been running since February, is allied with Assembly Member Keith Wright, who Espaillat defeated in the Congressional primary. Jackson challenged Espaillat for his Senate seat two years ago, winning about 43 percent of the vote, when Espaillat was losing to Rangel for the second cycle in a row.

Lasher, who has been running since April, is a first-time candidate but is known as an expert political strategist and has deep political connections to many top city and state politicians, such as Schneiderman and city Comptroller Scott Stringer.

There is concern in Espaillat’s camp that a Jackson or Lasher victory could create a ready-made primary challenger for Espaillat two years from now, when it is assumed he’ll be seeking re-election to Congress. Neither Lasher’s nor Jackson’s campaign returned requests for comment.

In efforts to elect Alcantara, the candidate, Espaillat, and others also hope to tap into enthusiasm in the Dominican and larger Hispanic communities over Espaillat’s congressional victory. Meanwhile, Alcantara has received the financial backing of the IDC which is looking to expand its membership before negotiating a deal to control the Senate with either the Democrats or Republicans.

City Council Member Ydanis Rodriguez switched his endorsement from Lasher to Alcantara when Alcantara declared her candidacy on July 20. It also appears Alcantara has picked up labor endorsements that were expected by Jackson and Lasher, one of which is that of Transit Workers Union Local 100.

Espaillat is featured heavily in Alcantara mailers that are funded by the IDC. Espaillat also recorded a robocall for Alcantara. “As an immigrant to our country just like me, Marisol Alcantara knows the importance of standing up for those without a voice,” Espaillat says on the call before asking voters to “make history” with him again by electing Alcantara. Alcantara immigrated from the Dominican Republic when she was a child.

While in the Senate, Espaillat has been a member of the mainline Democrat conference, not the IDC.

"Marisol is a longtime labor and community activist who's worked closely with elected officials, faith leaders, and non-profits across the district to fight for tenants, seniors, immigrants and working families,” said Jonathan Davis, a spokesperson for Alcantara, in a statement. “Voters know how hard she'll fight to strengthen tenant protection laws, increase education funding, pass the DREAM Act, fix New York's broken campaign finance system, and protect our environment and parks. It's no surprise she's built such a diverse and impressive coalition in a short amount of time, and she's only getting started."

Both Lasher and Jackson have criticized Alcantara for aligning herself with the IDC. Mainline Senate Democrats worry that Alcantara will simply serve to strengthen Klein’s hand when it comes time to negotiate a governing deal. They note that while some major liberal issues have passed the Senate under Republican and IDC control, like a minimum wage increase and paid family leave, other major issues like criminal justice reform, the DREAM Act and ethics reform have foundered.

Klein, in an interview with Gotham Gazette earlier this summer, said, “I worked extremely well this year with Senator John Flanagan and yes, this session we were able to work well with [Democratic Minority Leader] Andrea Stewart-Cousins -- it is a much better relationship, but I think the Republican Conference has been even better and a lot of credit has to go to the relationship with Senator Flanagan, again.”

Alcantara defended her alliance with the IDC in a statement released last week: “I witnessed an increase in the minimum wage twice, paid family leave, and Universal Pre-K for NYC–all possible because of the IDC’s influence. When I am elected I look forward to going to Albany to continue to push for progressive legislation critical to the people of the 31st district.” She added that she will remain an independent voice for “tenants and families” throughout her district, where rent regulation and affordable housing are top concerns.

Sources within Alcantara’s camp insist she will be a vocal proponent of liberal issues and likely clash with Senate Republicans regardless of which conference she sits with, while noting it is likely that the IDC will caucus with Democrats as Republicans are facing the potential negative impact a Trump candidacy may have on turnout.

Alcantara and her allies dismiss criticism from Lasher and Jackson and point to their histories as evidence that they have worked across party lines. Jackson voted in favor of extending term limits in 2008 when then Mayor Michael Bloomberg wanted to run for a third term. Lasher worked as a top state government lobbyist for Bloomberg and also served as executive director of pro-charter school group StudentsFirstNY, a group that has worked to defeat Democrats.

Jackson’s major endorsements include powerful unions the United Federation of Teachers and DC37, and former Mayor David Dinkins. Lasher is backed by Attorney General Schneiderman, Reps. Hakeem Jeffries and Jerry Nadler, Comptroller Stringer and State Sens. Jose Peralta and Jose Serrano.

A win by Alcantara wouldn’t just give the IDC more leverage during negotiations this fall, it would also add diversity to its ranks as the conference is currently made up of only white members, four men and one woman. They’ve come under heavy criticism for taking a seat at the negotiating table with Gov. Andrew Cuomo while mainline Senate Democrats - who are represented by Sen. Andrea Stewart-Cousins, a black woman, and represent the majority of city residents - are excluded.

***
by David King, Albany editor, Gotham Gazette
     

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