A primer for tonight's House debate

Your afternoon must-read briefing informing the daily conversation among knowledgeable New Yorkers

Feb 08, 2024 View in browser   By Jeff Coltin With help from Irie Sentner Democrat Tom Suozzi is certain to make the point that he wanted to do more debates, but Republican Mazi Pilip (center) only agreed to one of them. | Adam Gray/Getty Images It’s debate night in the congressional special election, with Republican Mazi Pilip facing off against Democrat Tom Suozzi in an hour-long special airing at 8:30 p.m. on News 12. The candidates actually recorded the “town hall style debate” hosted by News 12 anchor Rich Barrabi earlier this afternoon. What they said is being kept under wraps, but reporting on the race for the last couple months has given a clear picture of what to expect. Here’s what to watch for: Silence vs. a long record Suozzi is certain to make the point that he wanted to do more debates, but Pilip only agreed to one of them. That’s part of a pattern for Pilip, who has taken questions from the press only sparingly, and even missed a huge rally held in her honor. It was a Saturday afternoon, and she’s a Shabbat-observant Jew, but it played into Suozzi‘s narrative that she’s “unvetted.” Suozzi has been vetted, holding public office on and off for more than two decades, and Pilip has been mining that past to criticize him. Sharing an “know your rights” guide for migrants when ICE comes knocking was a standard Democratic move in 2019, but Suozzi may be regretting it — amid backlash against new migrants. Migrants, migrants, migrants On that note, expect immigration to be the main topic of conversation. Pilip, who is an Israeli immigrant herself, will surely talk about the crisis of housing migrants and the way that sanctuary city policies backed by Suozzi helped make it that way. She and groups supporting her have constantly pointed to a few incidents of crime committed by recent migrants as an argument against letting people seeking asylum into the country. Suozzi will likely counter that Pilip is all talk and that she backed congressional Republicans’ decision not to support the border bill that could limit this type of immigration. He has pointed to other Republicans who balked at the bill as motivated by helping Donald Trump in November. Who’s running? The memory of George Santos looms large, so Suozzi will try to link the Republicans as allies and may press Pilip on her support for Trump — which she has shied away from. President Joe Biden won the district, and while the GOP has made gains, antipathy for the former president can be a motivating factor for some voters. He’ll also look tie her to Republican anti-abortion policies unpopular in New York. Pilip will point out that for all of Suozzi’s talk about bipartisanship, he always voted with Biden in Congress. She has also loved to point out Suozzi’s comment asking to be an honorary member of the Democratic socialist “Squad” — which only came after Trump attacked the members in racist terms. Election day is Tuesday, which means any clips from the debate — whether zingers or flubs — will be all over the web and TV ads for days. — Jeff Coltin From the Capitol Advocacy groups took issue with Gov. Kathy Hochul not paying enough attention to aging New Yorkers in her budget or state of the state speeches. | Seth Wenig/AP Photo AN ‘AGEIST’ BUDGET: Over 140 advocacy organizations around the state are putting pressure on Hochul to allocate more money toward aging New Yorkers, calling her budget “an ageist document.” The organizations, which include the Hospice and Palliative Care Association of New York State and Catholic Charities, sent a letter to Hochul this afternoon alleging her budget shows “a clear lack of consideration for the millions of older adults in New York.” “The current budget allocation for the New York State Office for the Aging is less than 0.8 percent of the total budget, significantly below what is required to meet the growing needs in our communities,” says the letter, which was exclusively shared with Playbook. Hochul’s team did not respond to Playbook’s requests for comment. In her budget briefing book, the words “children,” “child care” and “child” are mentioned more than 90 times collectively, but the word “senior,” in reference to older adults, is mentioned just once, Allison Nickerson, executive director of LiveOn NY, told Playbook. “Older adults” and “adult caregivers” also barely received a mention, Nickerson said. The groups say Hochul’s proposed budget would cut $9.3 million from homecare services and $2.5 million from the office for the aging’s Long Term Care Ombudsman Program. The cuts come at an especially fraught time for aging New Yorkers. During the Covid pandemic, many low-income elderly New Yorkers saw various support systems — like routine meals from family members or programming at community centers — completely disappear. But the gap was filled with federal pandemic aid. Now those federal dollars have dried up, and the groups say Hochul’s budget would cut services at a time when more investment is needed. Currently, at least 18,000 aging New Yorkers are waiting to receive crucial services like Meals on Wheels, transportation or case management services, and an immediate investment of $51 million is needed to make those support services accessible, the organizations wrote. In New York, about 1 in 5 residents are above the age of 65. That population is expected to grow significantly over the next decade. “The state really cannot move forward unless it is addressing the issues of older adults,” Nickerson said. — Jason Beeferman FROM CITY HALL Deputy Mayor Meera Joshi has long worked on street safety initiatives. | AP Photo MTA RECOMMENDATIONS: Mayor Eric Adams has recommended Deputy Mayor Meera Joshi and Dan Garodnick, a former City Council member and now city planning commissioner chair, to serve on the MTA Board. The nominations will need state Senate approval. “Deputy Mayor Joshi and Director Garodnick are the perfect people to help secure the MTA’s future and deliver a world-class, safe, reliable, and accessible transportation system to all New Yorkers,” Adams said in a statement. The nominations drew support from transit advocates for the nation’s largest system. “Riders can count on Deputy Mayor Joshi and Planning Director Garodnick to stick up for fast, frequent, accessible, affordable, reliable, and resilient bus, train, and paratransit service,” Riders Alliance spokesperson Danny Pearlstein said. — Shawn Ness ‘FOCUSED ON OUR EXITS’: About 7,800 notices have been served to migrant families with children living in city shelters telling them they will be required to move within 60 days, and about 4,800 individuals have seen those notices expire, Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services Anne Williams-Isom announced today. Of those, over half have left the shelters without reapplying “and have continued on their journey,” she said. Standing outside the Roosevelt Hotel, which the city has used to house migrants, Williams-Isom called the new data “promising.” She reaffirmed that the city is “very, very focused on our exits right now.” About 1,500 migrants made their way to the city last week, Williams-Isom said, continuing a downward trend from previous highs of up to 4,000. Adams announced that migrant families would begin receiving the 60-day notices in October. “For the past couple of weeks I would say that our exits have been higher than our entrances, which is good for everybody in our system,” Williams-Isom said. — Irie Sentner VOUCHER FIGHT: The City Council moved today to authorize legal action against the Adams administration over the city’s failure to implement a series of bills expanding access to housing vouchers known as CityFHEPS. But what form a prospective lawsuit will take remains unclear. Council Speaker Adrienne Adams cautioned today that the body is simply authorizing a potential suit but has “not gone any further than that.” The Council voted last July to override Mayor Eric Adams’ veto of the legislative package — which he staunchly opposed — but the administration told the Council late last year it would still not implement it. The goal of today's resolution is to “authorize our ability to take some type of legal action to ensure that our laws can help New Yorkers facing the twin crises of rising evictions and homelessness, and that the laws are actually implemented,” Speaker Adams told reporters before the Council’s stated meeting. “There has been no final decision yet on any legal action, but this maintains our ability to keep our options open.” — Janaki Chadha ON THE BEATS Good government groups asked Gov. Kathy Hochul and state Senate and Assembly leadership to ensure ethics oversight agencies receive full funding. | Darren McGee/Office of Governor Kathy Hochul WATCHDOGS WANT TO BE ABLE TO WATCH: Several watchdog organizations sent a letter to Hochul and legislative leaders asking for ethics oversight agencies to receive full funding in the budget. The letter was signed by Reinvent Albany, Citizens United, Common Cause New York, League of Women Voters of New York State, NY Public Interest Research Group and Sexual Harassment Working Group. They are requesting to maintain a minimum of the proposed $8.1 million from the executive budget for Commission on Ethics and Lobbying in the Government; increase the Commission on Judicial Conduct’s budget from $8.3 million to $8.9 million, as well as enact independent budgeting mechanisms to ensure both agencies’ needs are met. The Committee on Judicial Conduct, which investigates misdeeds by judges, requested the $8.9 million to assist with its increased caseload. They received a record high of processed complaints at 2,800 last year, over 200 full investigations — the most since 2010, which was a 28 percent increase over the last decade. “It is crucial that they [oversight agencies] have the resources to not only ensure compliance with reporting requirements and hold mandated training sessions, but also proactively enforce the law, conduct investigations, ensure full public transparency of disclosures and generally increase awareness of their activities,” the letter stated. — Shawn Ness Cortland and Otsego counties supply the most jobs, at 24 percent and 15 percent, respectively. | Fiscal Policy Institute SUNY JOBS: A report from the Fiscal Policy Institute found the SUNY system has helped to sustain the economies of counties across the state. It looked at the number of jobs created, wage share of those positions and regional location. The report said that SUNY supplies the most jobs in Cortland and Otsego counties at 24 percent and 15 percent of the total in the communities, respectively. The next highest counties in both jobs created and percentage of wages were Broome, Onondaga, Suffolk, and Erie counties. "In addition to providing high-quality, affordable education, the SUNY system is a critical economic engine for New York — generating hundreds of thousands of jobs and billions in wages across the state,” Nathan Gusdorf, the director of the Fiscal Policy Institute, said in a statement. — Shawn Ness PIPELINE BATTLE: The days of brand new pipelines being proposed — and ultimately rejected — by New York regulators are over. But there’s still a new source of more natural gas coming into the state that environmental groups, joined by some Democratic lawmakers, are pushing to block. The Iroquois “ExC” Enhancement by Compression project involves increasing the pressure on an existing pipeline to flow more gas down to New York City and Long Island. The project would supply Con Edison and National Grid customers. Grid in particular is relying on it to be in service to avoid potential shortfalls of gas supply to meet demand in the coming years. The project requires upgrades to compressor stations in upstate, in Athens and Dover, which require air permits. The Department of Environmental Conservation declared Iroquois’ application complete more than a year ago, but hasn’t issued a decision. DEC Commissioner Basil Seggos told Sen. Michelle Hinchey, a Democrat who opposes the project, that the DEC has asked the Department of Public Service whether the project is needed for reliability. If DPS indicates it is needed, that could provide a rationale to approve the project. “We put every application through every filter,” Seggos told POLITICO after the budget hearing Wednesday. “When it comes to reliability, obviously that’s the big concern. There’s some concern downstate with a gas shortage… We hear anecdotally from other states about their concern as well.” “We’re closer to a decision. What the applicant says is they need a decision sooner because of the forecast of demand,” Seggos said. “We put in our rigorous analysis and then groundtruth what we’re told about demand.” DEC previously delayed a decision on a National Grid liquified natural gas project until the Public Service Commission made its call. When the PSC rejected the project, Grid withdrew its permit application. — Marie J. French FOOD FOR THOUGHT: More than 320,000 children are unable to access free school meals, according to The Healthy School Meals for All New York Kids Coalition. The report detailed over 660 schools, most of them with high levels of income inequality and high costs of living. Hochul’s budget included $134 million for increased access to school meals for over 347,000 students. The group believes that it is not enough and that an additional $90 million could provide all New York children with free school meals. “This map is a wake up call. But with one in six New York children experiencing hunger, the current program leaves hundreds of thousands students behind,” Liz Acles, the executive director of Community for Food Advocates, said in a statement. Students in areas that have benefited from free school meal programs have yielded higher test scores, as well as improved mental and physical health, the group said. — Shawn Ness ANOTHER MOVE AT THE BOARD OF ELECTIONS: There was a shake-up in the state Board of Elections in December when Democrats in the state Legislature replaced long-time co-chair Doug Kellner with attorney Henry Berger. There’s now been changeover in the other Democratic spot on the board. Andy Spano, Westchester County’s former executive, recently stepped down from his role as a commissioner after a decade. He was replaced at a Tuesday meeting of the board by Essma Bagnuola, a former clerk for the Nassau County Board of Elections. That spot is filled by state party chair Jay Jacobs. “During my tenure with the Nassau County Board of Elections, I oversaw the core functions of election administration,” Bagnuola said in a statement formally announcing the move on Thursday. “This experience will be invaluable in my new role as Commissioner, and I look forward to assisting in the implementation of new legislative changes before the Board.” — Bill Mahoney CUNY CASH: CUNY Chancellor Félix Matos Rodríguez testified at a budget hearing today that he's encouraged by additional funding in Hochul’s budget, but signaled the university needs more help. The governor’s proposal includes an increase of $36 million in operating support for four-year colleges, $69.5 million more for fringe benefits like health insurance and $441 million in capital funding for four-year and community colleges. The university has cut its structural deficit stemming from many factors, like enrollment declines, by nearly half and has seen a 2 percent increase in enrollment. But enrollment is still “far below pre-pandemic levels,” he said. “While we have made great strides, there’s still more work to be done,” Matos Rodríguez said during the hearing. — Madina Touré  AROUND NEW YORK — Navient Corp, a financial support service in Western New York, is poised to cut nearly 1,000 jobs in Wyoming County due to potential cuts to the Affordable Connectivity Program. (Buffalo News) — Rudy Giuliani discussed his financial troubles with federal officials in regards to his bankruptcy case. (New York Daily News) — Columbia University tried to limit student protests after a string of pro-Palestinian protests happened on the campus. Students have now been taking to the streets in larger numbers. (The New York Times)   Follow us on Twitter Joseph Spector @JoeSpectorNY   Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook family Playbook  |  Playbook PM  |  California Playbook  |  Florida Playbook  |  Illinois Playbook  |  Massachusetts Playbook  |  New Jersey Playbook  |  New York Playbook  |  Brussels Playbook  |  London Playbook View all our political and policy newsletters Follow us

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