Why Hochul misses the tea party

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

Feb 22, 2024 View in browser   By Nick Reisman With help from Irie Sentner Gov. Kathy Hochul spoke to Playbook's own Nick Reisman today at the POLITICO Governors Summit. | Rod Lamkey for POLITICO When Kathy Hochul was in Congress, the right-leaning Tea Party was flexing its power and John Boehner was speaker. Compared to today’s Congress, Hochul longs for those days. “I miss people who want to get things done,” Hochul said at the POLITICO Governors Summit in Washington on Thursday. “I still believe that the possibility lies there to solve our most difficult problems. But it comes down to the personalities involved.” Hochul’s appearance comes as she is taking on an increasingly prominent role as her party’s leader in New York. It’s a job with a high risk and reward: Control over the House is on the line this November and a half dozen battleground seats reside in New York. The political season this year will play out against the backdrop of a mounting migrant crisis New York is spending billions of dollars to address: More than 175,000 migrants have entered the state over the last two years. Democrats are campaigning more confidently on the migrant issue, as underscored by Democrat Tom Suozzi’s win this month in a special election for a swing House district. He got especially aggressive after Republicans flubbed their impeachment attempt of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and walked away from a border deal in D.C. Hochul pointed to Suozzi’s combined support for abortion rights as well as stronger border laws. “Those were issues Tom could run on and say, ‘This is why Republicans are incapable of leading and we need to start winning these House races back’,” she said. “I feel very optimistic with that as the bellwether with what will happen in other seats in the state and the nation.” The governor once again blasted House Republicans for not backing a Senate-negotiated border security bill and called it “malpractice of governance.” “Our state needs the help,” she said. “Our state needs the relief, we need the financial support, we need more protections at the border.” But she has also been a staunch ally of President Joe Biden, who faces an uncertain path to a second term and a relatively low approval rating in the Democratic-heavy state of New York. Hochul is supportive of Biden using executive action to address immigration, including a move that could restrict the number of people entering the U.S. seeking asylum. “I’m glad he’s doing it. I don’t know the details yet,” she said. “But yes, we have to look at the conditions that are being used for asylum now because they’re more expansive than they have been in past.” She is not embracing calls from Republicans to roll back policies that have restricted local law enforcement from working with federal immigration authorities and called Republican claims that sanctuary policies are leading to problems a “false narrative.” And she won’t meet with House Republicans from New York to discuss the migrant issue until they support the Senate’s border bill. Rep. Mike Lawler, a Hudson Valley Republican, scoffed at the position. He pointed to the House GOP’s own immigration bill. “Gov. Hochul has refused to support it and never called on Biden and Chuck Schumer to act on it,” he said. From the Capitol There’s been some momentum against New York’s new proposed distract map over the past week, but there’s not yet a clear plan for how the maps might change if they’re voted down. | Hans Pennink/AP Photo NEXT UP ON REDISTRICTING: Democratic conference discussions on New York’s new proposed district maps are expected to pick back up on Friday, and it’s likely the path forward will be clearer sometime before the end of the day or weekend. Lawmakers in each house still need to decide if they’ll approve the maps released by the Independent Redistricting Commission last week — and if they don’t want to approve them, what exactly they would do to make tweaks. There’s been some momentum against the lines over the past week, but there’s not yet a clear plan on how the maps might change if they’re voted down. — Bill Mahoney GOODELL GONE: Jamestown Republican Andy Goodell won’t be seeking an eighth term in the Assembly, he announced on Thursday. Goodell has spent recent years as the GOP’s floor leader, hammering on scores of Democratic bills every year and questioning anything that doesn’t strictly adhere to the state constitution. That’s made him the one person most familiar to anybody who watches Assembly debates — the 300,000 words he uttered in the most recent two-year legislative session more than doubled the runner-up’s loquacity. “His unwavering commitment and dedication to serving his constituents has left a lasting impact,” Minority Leader Will Barclay said in a statement. Goodell is from the most prominent political family in the southwesternmost corner of New York. His uncle Charles finished off Bobby Kennedy’s term in the United States Senate, and his cousin Roger is the NFL’s commissioner. — Bill Mahoney FROM CITY HALL Over 178,000 migrants have come to New York City, nearly 65,000 of whom are currently in the system, Deputy Mayor for Health & Human Services Anne Williams-Isom said. | Jason Beeferman/POLITCO MIGRANT NUMBERS: City Hall is “excited” about reports that Biden intends to take executive action at the border, Deputy Mayor for Health & Human Services Anne Williams-Isom told reporters today, calling the migrant crisis “a national problem that has to have a national solution.” “We will look at what the White House wants to do, but it would certainly be welcomed to New York City and other localities who never ever, ever, ever should have been dealing with this migrant crisis on our own,” she said. “Everybody knows it doesn’t make any sense.” Mayor Eric Adams has long been critical of the Biden administration’s response to the border, at one point saying he “failed” the city on immigration. “Don’t get me too excited,” Williams-Isom said, since Biden has yet to announce executive actions. But she said the reports were a step in the right direction. Over 178,000 migrants have come to New York City, nearly 65,000 of whom are currently in the system, Williams-Isom said. Last week saw about 1,300 entries, continuing a downward trend from highs of 4,000. The city’s legal clinic has completed over 35,000 asylum applications and work authorizations, she said. — Irie Sentner On the beats Dignity in Schools Campaign-NY blasted Mayor Eric Adams' proposed budget, arguing it puts students’ safety at risk and fails to tackle their mental health challenges. | William Alatriste/NYC Council EDUCATION: A coalition of New York City public school students, parents, educators and advocates launched a campaign Thursday to urge the mayor to expand restorative justice and mental health supports in schools. Dignity in Schools Campaign-NY blasted the administration’s proposed budget, arguing it puts students’ safety at risk and fails to tackle their mental health challenges. They assailed the mayor for prioritizing funding for the NYPD, bulletproof vests for school police and pricey high-tech school surveillance systems in the spending plan to take effect July 1. Their demands include ending all NYPD recruitment, hiring and training of school cops as well as halting NYPD-involved programming during or after-school. They also called for ceasing funding for new or existing student surveillance and scanning equipment. Other demands include: — $75 million to 500 high schools to hire school-based restorative justice coordinators — $75 million to schools to hire 500 individuals who come from directly from students’ neighborhoods like parents who can engage youth in a friendlier way, including greeting them when they arrive at school — $10 million to schools to access ongoing restorative justice training for school staff; restorative justice electives, clubs or advisors; and paid school-based opportunities and work-based learning internships for young people to lead restorative justice practices — $21 million to safeguard and baseline funding for restorative justice in schools and $5 million in baseline funding for a program that helps students with mental health needs — $77 million for counselors, social workers and mental health professionals “Public schools should support all youth to not only achieve academically but also to learn to be leaders and to take care of themselves and each other,” Andrea Ortiz, membership and campaign director for Dignity in Schools Campaign-NY, said in a statement. — Madina Touré On the campaign trail The New York GOP picked Mike Sapraicone to run against Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand. He's personally contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to Nassau County Republicans and their candidates. | Sapraicone for Congress GOP MAKES A PICK: The New York Republican State Committee selected Mike Sapraicone to run a longshot campaign against Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand today — but he might face a primary from contenders who say he’s not a MAGA loyalist. Josh Eisen and Cara Castronuova failed to secure the votes at the NY GOP convention in Binghamton to automatically make the ballot, but both say they’re planning to petition, and hope to take on Sapraicone, who runs a corporate security company. At issue is Sapraicone’s contributions to Democrats: He has given tens of thousands of dollars to the Nassau County Democratic Committee, as recently as April 2023. And most offensive to supporters of Donald Trump, Sapraicone’s company Squad Security reported giving $1,000 to Attorney General Tish James’ campaign in March 2022. Yet state records show he’s also a prodigious contributor to the Nassau County Republicans and their candidates, personally giving hundreds of thousands of dollars in the past decade. “I’m a businessman,” Sapraicone said today about the contributions. “And anybody who does business in this country, and (New York City) donates to both sides of the aisle. I’ve never taken a local contract from county, city, state or country. But I donate. That’s what you do as a business person.” — Jeff Coltin AROUND NEW YORK — Advocacy groups are pushing for tipped employees to make minimum wage before tips. (State of Politics) — The man accused of negligence by Adams in the Bronx building collapse reached a deal with the city. He owes $10,000 in fines and a suspension in inspection authority. (Daily News) — Two MTA contractors underpaid workers hired to clean subway cars and stations during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the New York City comptroller’s office charged in a lawsuit filed today. (Gothamist)   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

To change your alert settings, please log in at https://login.politico.com/?redirect=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.politico.com/settings This email was sent to rouf@idiot.cloudns.cc by: POLITICO, LLC 1000 Wilson Blvd. Arlington, VA, 22209, USA Unsubscribe | Privacy Policy | Terms of Service