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Jan 03, 2024 View in browser   By Nick Reisman, Emily Ngo and Jeff Coltin With help from Jason Beeferman Gov. Kathy Hochul at last year's State of the State address. The legislature returns to Albany today amid a state housing shortage and heightened tensions between progressives and moderate Democrats. | Mike Groll/Office of Governor Kathy Hochul Gov. Kathy Hochul and state lawmakers are saddled with addressing politically fraught issues that include the ongoing migrant crisis and the state’s housing shortage. They have 61 scheduled session days in Albany to take care of it all. The state Legislature returns today for the six-month session amid an election year brimming with uncertainty and a Democratic Party crackling with tensions between progressives and moderates. New York City Mayor Eric Adams, too, is contending with budget woes and must try to convince lawmakers to grant him an extension of mayoral control of schools. Navigating it all is Hochul, who will deliver her third State of the State address Tuesday. She has already started to unspool some of her plans for 2024, including a package of measures meant to address health care costs. The tougher nut to crack will be trying to reach a deal on building more housing after lawmakers and the governor failed to reach an agreement last spring. Hochul insisted on Tuesday she is willing to get a deal from lawmakers for a housing package. “I’ll tell you we’re approaching this issue once again and hoping the Legislature will work with us again,” she said at a Manhattan news conference. But the politics of Hochul’s initial housing plan were messy. Suburbanites oppose mandates for building new homes. Progressives want tenant protections despised by real estate interests. The expectation is Hochul, cognizant of the looming election season, may try to dial back the effort to get broad legislative action. “The governor has touched the hot oven one too many times and wants nothing to do with housing,” one person familiar with the discussions told Playbook. “She thinks it’s a political loser.” Still, that approach for Hochul runs the risk of being jammed by lawmakers. Some legislators have weighed passing a housing bill that includes tenant protections, vouchers and a labor-friendly measure for affordable housing construction and dare the governor to veto it, two people with legislative ties said. Adams, who readily aligns with Hochul publicly, is also prodding the state to do more on housing. “Everybody talks about the need for housing, yet we got nothing out of Albany last year in housing,” he told reporters on Tuesday. “That just can’t happen.” Adams faces his own specific list of needs, starting with an extension of mayoral control of schools. He will have to convince Democratic lawmakers — who have raised class-size concerns — to reauthorize it. (He also wants a clear mandate to shut down illegal weed shops, he said Tuesday.) But hanging over the new year will be the ongoing influx of migrants into New York, which Adams has blamed on the city’s budget problems. Hochul has already indicated she wants to direct state spending away from long-term hotel stays to funding legal support and job training as the state faces its own $4 billion deficit. How the state addresses the migrant crisis could have reverberations up and down the ballot, including crucial House races that could determine control of the chamber. Former Nassau County Executive Laura Curran, a Democrat, urged state officials to tread lightly. “Think about how important it is to win control of the House of Representatives,” she said in an interview with Playbook. “Talk about how democracy could literally hang in the balance depending on how the House goes. And then do no harm. Don’t hurt the folks who are running.” — Nick Reisman IT’S WEDNESDAY. Got news? Send it our way: Jeff Coltin, Emily Ngo and Nick Reisman. WHERE’S KATHY? Outside Albany unveiling her second proposal for the 2024 State of the State. WHERE’S ERIC? Hosting an “Elders of the City Clergy” breakfast, kicking off the 2024 New York City Legal Fellows Program, making a public safety announcement with NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban and appearing live on CNN’s “The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer.” QUOTE OF THE DAY:  “We don’t know what she thinks, really. We don’t even know who she voted for for president.” — Tom Suozzi, in a virtual press conference Tuesday, on his NY-3 special election opponent Mazi Melesa Pilip’s propensity for dodging questions. Both have agreed to a Feb. 8 debate. ABOVE THE FOLD New York City Mayor Eric Adams clarified Tuesday he does not support removing the city's sanctuary status during a media briefing in City Hall. | Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office SANCTUARY VS. SHELTER: Adams again was talking about “sanctuary city” when he meant “right to shelter.” And while he seeks in court to have the city’s unique right to shelter provision modified to alleviate the burden of housing tens of thousands of migrants, he said Tuesday that he doesn’t want to do away with the sanctuary city status that offers some protection from deportation. “I don’t know if that’s the answer,” he said, asked if he’d considered a push to strip the sanctuary label from the city. “The answer is for the national government to resolve this issue.” The mayor appeared to be clearing up confusion from earlier in the day, when he had agreed with a FOX 5 host who said the sanctuary city status isn’t being used as it was originally intended. It’s an argument his administration has made about the right to shelter. Adams and his team have criticized Republicans, including Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, for conflating sanctuary protections with the right to shelter. Additionally, Adams has been urging New Jersey communities where Abbott is apparently dropping off migrants to circumvent New York City’s executive order limiting bus arrivals to adopt their own restrictive measures, POLITICO reports. Hochul stands with Adams on his executive order. “I thought it made sense,” she said, backing his call for other municipalities to take up similar mandates. Abbott posted that New York City and Chicago are receiving just a fraction of the migrants that his state is, signaling he has no plans to stop the buses north. — Emily Ngo WHAT CITY HALL IS READING A POLITICO review of New York City Mayor Eric Adams' schedules showed meetings with the city's embattled Director of Asian Affairs Winnie Greco. | Caroline Rubinstein-Willis/Mayoral Photography Office STAY WINNIE-ING: Adams’ recently released schedules raise questions about his Director of Asian Affairs Winnie Greco’s involvement in the Broadway East Group winning a potentially lucrative city lease to operate the East Broadway Mall in Chinatown. Adams had a 30-minute “Meeting with Winnie” on Sept. 7, 2022. A week later, Adams had a half-hour “Update on East Broadway Mall” meeting scheduled with the eyebrow raising note “do not add anyone.” Greco — and Adams’ son Jordan Coleman — appeared at a San Francisco event earlier this year with people connected to the investment group, Documented reported, and some community members suspect Greco helped steer management of the mall from the Chan family to Broadway East. A City Hall spokesperson wouldn’t give details on the meetings, saying they don’t discuss private conversations (which is often, but not always, true). Greco is very close to Adams, and she’s under investigation after The City reported she tried to personally benefit from her position, and asked for $10,000 donations to her own charity if Chinese leaders wanted to attend a government event with Adams. Some other intriguing finds in Adams’ skeds: — A March 21, 2023 “strategy update on flag raising events.” — A Sept. 15, 2022 meet and greet with Genting Group CEO K.T. Lim — a month after Adams aide Tim Pearson left his second job at the Resorts World casino that Lim owns. — An Oct. 27, 2022 “phone call with Chris Redd,” the comedian who depicted Adams on Saturday Night Live. — Jeff Coltin HIZZONER SHOWS UNSCHEDULED LOVE FOR BUKHARIANS: Adams has tight ties with the Bukharian Jewish community of Queens, but you wouldn’t know it from looking at his public schedule. The mayor has attended two Bukharian community events in the last two weeks — first, a Bukharian Law Association gala on the Thursday night before Christmas and then a festive Bar Mitzvah this past Wednesday night — and neither appeared on his public schedule. The coming-of-age affair — complete with dabbing IDF-fashioned breakdancers and a star-studded lineup of Orthodox Jewish singers — was for the son of Shalom Zirkiev, a Queens-based real estate developer who hosted a fundraiser for Adams in August of 2021. The venue: a Richmond Hill catering hall named Oligarch. When asked why the attorneys’ soiree wasn’t on his public schedule (the Wednesday-night simcha also went unscheduled), Adams’ spokesperson told Playbook the mayor “just decided to stop by.” — Jason Beeferman More from the city: — Three corruption cases could provide insight into how U.S. Attorney Damian Williams could approach the Adams investigation. (Gothamist) — ​​Adams faces potential fines for failing to register his Bed-Stuy rental property with the city’s housing agency last year. (New York Daily News) — A ban begins today on souvenir vending stalls that crowd the Brooklyn Bridge. (New York Times) WHAT ALBANY'S READING Assemblymember Marjorie Byrnes, a Republican from Livingston County, will not seek reelection. | Hans Pennink/AP BYRNES TO BOW OUT: Republican Assemblymember Marjorie Byrnes won’t seek reelection to the seat she first won in 2018. Byrnes announced Tuesday she would step down at the end of the current term and endorsed Livingston County Clerk Andrea Bailey to replace her. The seat, west of the Finger Lakes and south of Rochester, is likely a safe district for Republicans to hold. Byrnes told supporters the schedule of a state lawmaker had taken its toll. “The Assembly calendar requires you to be in Albany extensively, from January to June,” she said. “At this time in our lives, it’s time to spend more time with our family.” — Nick Reisman More from Albany: — New York First Gentleman Bill Hochul has a new job as counsel at the law firm Davis Polk & Wardwell. (Bloomberg Law) — Hochul’s year could be defined by an increasingly contentious relationship with lawmakers. (NY1) AROUND NEW YORK — A 1.7 magnitude earthquake in Queens triggered reports of underground explosions on Roosevelt Island on Tuesday. (Gothamist) — The SUNY system is warning of a $1.1 billion deficit over the next decade without consistent increases to operating aid or tuition. (POLITICO Pro) — Whooping cough is spreading at an alarming rate in Suffolk County right now. (Newsday) SOCIAL DATA BY DANIEL LIPPMAN MEDIAWATCH — “Cheddar, the ‘CNBC for Millennials,’ Furloughs Workers: The ‘post-cable’ news network said ‘unforeseen internal and external factors’ caused the sudden work stoppage,” by NYT’s Benjamin Mullin — “Sean Hannity Announces He’s Left New York and Moving to Florida Full Time,” by Mediaite’s Colby Hall — The Buffalo News’ Capitol bureau chief Chris Bragg is joining New York Focus as its first Capitol bureau chief. … Former Journal News political reporter Mark Lungariello is now an editor with the New York Post. … Lars Kahl is joining The Free Press as COO. He most recently was VP of strategy and operations at POLITICO. MAKING MOVES — Eliza Beeney has been promoted to be a principal in the NY office of law firm McKool Smith. … Amy Lebowitz has started at NYC Campaign Finance Board as director of PR. She most recently was a VP at BerlinRosen. … Kail Jethmalani has been promoted to be a partner at Axinn, Veltrop & Harkrider, while Carol Liu has been promoted to be a principal at the firm. ENGAGED — Alec Dent, politics reporter at The Messenger and contributor to watch news website Worn & Wound, recently proposed to Hannah Yoest, art director at The Bulwark and Weekly Standard alum. The couple got engaged at the Morgan Library in NYC. They met on Twitter when she slid into his DMs in 2021. Instapic ... More pics HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Erik Larson … NYT’s David Fahrenthold and Marc Tracy … Verizon’s Chris DeBosier … Igor Volsky … David Margolick … McKinsey’s Jonathan Spaner … former Treasury Secretary W. Michael Blumenthal … Samantha Segan (WAS TUESDAY): James Tisch … David Shapiro ... Judy Miller ... Joyce Wadler ... Jan Fischer  IN MEMORIAM — Anthony Smith, a Brooklyn based writer and the widely loved editor-at-large of NationSwell, has died. Real Estate — Westchester co-ops are increasingly becoming a rarity as most new housing developments are rental-only. (LoHud) — A Nassau County home built in 1888 is on the market for $700k. (Newsday)   Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook family Playbook  |  Playbook PM  |  California Playbook  |  Florida Playbook  |  Illinois Playbook  |  Massachusetts Playbook  |  New Jersey Playbook  |  New York Playbook  |  Ottawa Playbook  |  Brussels Playbook  |  London Playbook View all our political and policy newsletters Follow us

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