| | | | |  | | By Emily Ngo, Jeff Coltin and Nick Reisman | | Presented by |  | | | With help from Shawn Ness
|  Mayor Eric Adams is taking a trip to Vatican City to meet with Pope Francis. | Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office | WHEN IN ROME: Mayor Eric Adams is a spiritual guy, one who regularly discusses how God made him mayor, one who traveled to Ghana for a cleansing ceremony and one who recently was baptized anew at Rikers Island. “Sometimes when we continually talk about the separation of church and state, I don’t think people understand how much God and faith is rooted in the American experience,” Adams said just days ago on the National Day of Prayer. That man of unshakable faith is now set to meet with the leader of the Catholic Church, planning a visit with Pope Francis as part of a days-long trip to Rome and the Vatican beginning this Thursday. City Hall officials said Monday that the trip is sponsored by His Holiness’ Fondazione Fratelli Tutti and that Adams will attend the World Meeting on Human Fraternity — a gathering of international dignitaries — and hold one-on-one meetings with various leaders. But officials haven’t yet disclosed who those leaders are and who exactly will be traveling with him. A spokesperson told Playbook only that there are no plans to send a press aide. Former Adams chief of staff Frank Carone, an influential ally playing a key role in the mayor’s reelection bid, will be at the same events but rejected the idea that he’s traveling with the mayor. Carone told Playbook that he was invited separately, saying in jest, “I’m my own person.” He added that he hoped he also would “have the privilege” of meeting the pope. Adams is not Catholic, but identifies broadly as Christian. He has been unapologetic about his belief system, though his remarks on religion have raised eyebrows over the years. There was the time he challenged a landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling by saying, “When we took prayers out of schools, guns came into schools.” He added in those February 2023 remarks, “Don’t tell me about no separation of church and state. State is the body, church is the heart. You take the heart out of the body, the body dies.” And there are the times, plural, when he says God elevated him to the perch of mayor. “I am mayor because God gave me the authority to be mayor, and he placed in the hearts of the voters to give me that authority,” he said in October 2023 as an example. “Sometimes we miss how God operates, but I am clear when I receive my blessings from God.” (He was less definite when this reporter sat down with him last year and asked if God has since told him that he would win another term.) But being a God-fearing man has connected Adams to a crucial segment of church-going New Yorkers, reliable Black and Latino voters among them, many of whom applaud him loudly during his frequent visits to houses of worship. — Emily Ngo IT’S TUESDAY: Got news? Send it our way: Jeff Coltin, Emily Ngo and Nick Reisman.
| | | | A message from Safety Runs First: ADVANCING EQUINE SAFETY IN HORSERACING: Thoroughbred racing is applying unprecedented resources to protect the wellbeing of our horses. For the first time ever, all horses now run under the same safety and anti-doping rules, overseen by the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA). Advanced diagnostic technologies and big data add a new layer of protection. Combining uniform rules and hands-on care with the latest technologies ensures safety always runs first. To learn more visit SafetyRunsFirst.com. | | | WHERE’S KATHY? In Albany speaking at the New York State Police officers memorial remembrance ceremony, and in New York City. WHERE’S ERIC? Holding a media availability, and appearing live on WNBC’s “News 4 NY.” QUOTE OF THE DAY: “It’s on them to protect their workforce and they didn’t do it.” — John Samuelsen of the Transport Workers Union, charging in a POLITICO story that Columbia University endangered school staffers by waiting too long to authorize the NYPD to clear out Hamilton Hall. Columbia declined comment.
|  | ABOVE THE FOLD | | | 
Assemblymember Inez Dickens said that the Harlem's congressional district is a "Black seat" and that her supporters need to take it back from the Rep. Adriano Espaillat, a Dominican man, who currently holds it. | Screenshot via X obtained by POLITICO | WHAT THE DICKENS?!: Assemblymember Inez Dickens is inflaming racial tension in Harlem, saying that Rep. Adriano Espaillat’s congressional district is “a Black seat” and that her supporters need to “take our seat back” from the Dominican Democrat. “May God continue to bless our community. That we will always have the best to represent us. In the House. In the Senate. And that we take back the Congress, to become a Black seat,” Dickens, who is Black, said in remarks at a fundraiser Sunday caught on video first posted by POLITICO. NY-13, including upper Manhattan, “was carved out to be represented by a Black. Not a person of color. But a Black,” she added. “So I want to say that we will take our seat back.” The whole Squadriano — the elected officials closely aligned with Espaillat — and other Latino leaders denounced Dickens and defended the representative on X. “Comments like that only serve to divide communities that have more in common than differences,” Council Member Carmen De La Rosa, said to Playbook. The district population is actually 52 percent Hispanic and only 23 percent Black. Espaillat, who is Afro-Latino, won the seat over Keith Wright in 2016 after 72 years of African American representation from Reps. Adam Clayton Powell and Charlie Rangel. For years, Wright and Espaillat have been in a power struggle. Dickens has been on both sides, but she’s with Wright in this case — and he sat behind her cheering. In a statement, Dickens said her comments were misinterpreted, claiming she supports Espaillat but hopes a Black candidate will win after his career is over. Dickens was speaking at a fundraiser in her honor at the Frederick E. Samuel Community Democratic Club at The Row restaurant in Harlem. She’s retiring this year, and is backing Wright’s son Jordan to replace her. Espaillat is expected to stay out of that race. And while Dickens talked a big game, she’s not running against Espaillat. In fact, he’s unopposed this year in the primary. — Jeff Coltin COMPUTER GLITCH: Gov. Kathy Hochul was roundly criticized Monday for saying some Black children in the Bronx may not know what the word “computer” means — a comment she now regrets. “Right now we have, you know, young Black kids growing up in the Bronx who don’t even know what the word ‘computer’ is,” the governor said during a fireside chat with MSNBC’s Jonathan Capehart at the Milken Institute Global Conference in California. She was quickly chastised online for the gaffe by members of the state Legislature. “Governor Hochul's remarks regarding young black children in The Bronx were harmful, deeply misinformed, and genuinely appalling,” South Bronx Assemblymember Amanda Septimo wrote in a statement. “The Bronx I know and love is full of children who are smart, curious, and eager for opportunities to learn and grow.” State Sen. Jabari Brisport reacted by just saying, “Ma'am?” State Sen. Kristen Gonzalez and Assemblymembers Karines Reyes, John Zaccaro and Phara Souffrant Forrest also piled on, but Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie defended her. The governor later made clear she misspoke. "Earlier today, while discussing my commitment to expanding economic opportunity for communities of color, I misspoke and I regret it,” she said in a statement Monday. “Of course Black children in the Bronx know what computers are — the problem is that they too often lack access to the technology needed to get on track to high-paying jobs in emerging industries like AI.”— Jason Beeferman
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As the Met Gala was underway, outside were hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters. | Madina Touré/POLITICO | PROTESTERS TARGET MET GALA: Hundreds of Pro-Palestinian protesters circled the streets near the Metropolitan Museum of Art as the swanky gala was underway last night. The demonstrators marched from Hunter College to the area around the museum on the Upper East Side and attempted to get past the barricades the NYPD erected around the streets leading up to the museum. Police started arresting protesters on Madison Avenue. NYPD spokespeople did not immediately respond to a request for comment to confirm arrests were made. The Met Gala drew a number of big-name personalities like Zendaya and Bad Bunny, as well as local politicos including City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams and Council Member Gale Brewer. Within Our Lifetime, a pro-Palestinian organization, urged people to carry out actions on their campuses and participate in a central rally at Hunter. Protesters often marched directly in the streets as cars drove, at many points blocking traffic. They could be heard shouting slogans like “Free, free Palestine!” and “Gaza!” At one point, they yelled “Shame!” at cops stationed by a barricade on 75th Street and Madison Avenue. They also lit an American-Israeli flag as well as an American flag on fire. — Madina Touré More from City Hall: — Adams said the water at NYCHA’s Riis houses was safe after an arsenic scare — but now residents say they’re getting sick. (POLITICO Pro) — The Adams administration is spending $250,000 to sponsor an upcoming tech conference whose organizer recently worked for the mayor’s fixer Frank Carone. (Crain’s New York) —There are 28 city marshalls — and over the last five years, the city Department of Investigation has taken disciplinary action against 11 of them. (THE CITY)
| | | | A message from Safety Runs First:   | | | | | NEW FROM PLANET ALBANY | | |  Gov. Kathy Hochul said that Columbia University's cancellation of its primary graduation ceremony is disappointing. | Photo by Francis Specker | GRAD DAYS: The decision by Columbia University to cancel its main on-campus commencement event in the wake of a days-long demonstration by pro-Palestinian protesters is disappointing, Hochul said Monday at an event in California. Hochul, speaking at the Milken Institute, pointed to the security support state officials had offered to Columbia officials to allow the commencement event to move forward. Instead, the school will hold smaller events at a stadium off campus. “One thing I don’t want to do is have the lives of families and all the young people who worked so hard disrupted,” Hochul said. Hochul has also spoken with college officials at New York University, Cornell and City College to discuss how to hold commencement events amid concerns protesters may seek to interrupt the graduations. “This is a testament to the resiliency of our education system that we can allow these norms to continue,” Hochul said. More broadly, Hochul decried the vitriol in the campus protests. “Unlike protests of the past, 1968 or some of the protests I did on a college campus opposing apartheid in South Africa — that was never student against student,” she said. “That was against a policy, a government, our administration. I never saw the level of hatred in some cases from one student to another because of which side of the issue they are on.” — Nick Reisman SNAP EQUITY: State lawmakers of Puerto Rican descent are pushing federal officials to bolster food benefits for residents of the island. The lawmakers sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Mike Johnson to press for a measure meant to create equity for Puerto Rico residents by allowing them to access the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Legislators sent the letter as Congress is negotiating the next farm bill. “This disparity is a blatantly classist and racist policy, codified to maintain the disparities between the haves and have-nots,” Assemblymember Jessica González-Rojas, a Queens Democrat, said. “Food insecurity is a systemic issue that must be solved by our United States government for all, not just some, of its residents.” — Nick Reisman More from Albany: — Changes to the state’s pension system are politically popular but could cost local governments big. (Newsday) — New York has devised new rules meant to prevent drivers from racking up toll debt. (LoHud) — The new statewide system for public matching funds has no spending limit for participating campaigns, and it threatens to upend the whole system. (Crain’s New York)
| | KEEPING UP WITH THE DELEGATION | | | 
Rep. Tim Kennedy was sworn in as a member of the House of Representatives. | Francis Chung/POLITICO | NEW GUY IN TOWN: New York welcomed a new member of Congress last night: former Democratic state Sen. Tim Kennedy. Kennedy, who served in Albany for more than a decade, was sworn into Congress by Speaker Mike Johnson after winning a special election in New York’s 26th District covering Buffalo and Niagara Falls. The seat was previously held by Rep. Brian Higgins, who resigned earlier this year to become the CEO of a Buffalo performing arts center. “I believe the character traits that define us in the Buffalo-Niagara region are the same ideals held by all Americans,” Kennedy said in his speech to Congress. His addition narrows the Republican majority to just four seats. — Mia McCarthy
| | NEW YORK STATE OF MIND | | — There’s a new class of Asian American elected officials in southern Brooklyn — but that doesn’t mean they all get along. (City & State) — Big changes may be in store for graduation requirements in New York. (Times Union) — Dry towns could be on the way out in New York as state officials consider overturning alcohol bans. (Spectrum News)
| | | | A message from Safety Runs First: BRINGING RACING INTO THE 21ST CENTURY: Three years ago, Congress created the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) to enhance the safety and integrity of Thoroughbred racing. Under HISA, for the first time in the sport’s 200-year history, every horse across the country is now running under the same safety and anti-doping rules. In addition, HISA is partnering with leading technology providers, including AWS and Palantir, to create new data-enabled tools to assist veterinary screenings. These tools add a new layer of protection by helping identify at-risk horses before they reach the starting gate.
The industry is also investing in the latest technologies for diagnostic imaging and wearable biometric devices. Combining enhanced, uniform rules, data analytics and cutting-edge technologies is improving safety outcomes and enhancing the ecosystems of care at every track nationwide, ensuring safety always runs first. To learn more visit SafetyRunsFirst.com. | | | | | SOCIAL DATA | | Edited by Daniel Lippman MEDIAWATCH – “The New York Times and The Washington Post Win 3 Pulitzers Each,” by NYT’s Michael M. Grynbaum … The winners ICONWATCH: NY1 anchor Lewis Dodley is retiring at the end of the month, after working at the station since its founding in 1992. MAKING MOVES: Ravi Mangla has been promoted to national press secretary for the Working Families Party after three years as the communications director for the New York Working Families Party. … Grace Scullion is now a senior press officer at New York City Emergency Management. She was most recently a junior emergency planner with Hagerty Consulting and is a former POLITICO intern. MOVING ON: José Bayona, executive director at the Mayor’s Office of Ethnic and Community Media who was a senior adviser to Adams’ 2021 campaign, is leaving the administration. HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Fox’s Brian Kilmeade … NBC’s Mark Murray … CNBC’s Amanda Macias … Lily Pearson … Scott Conroy … (WAS MONDAY): Benjamin Levine.
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