Pro-Israel donors prep for the primaries

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Mar 28, 2024 View in browser   By Bill Mahoney, Jeff Coltin, Emily Ngo and Nick Reisman Presented by Flavors Hook Kids NY With help from Shawn Ness The New York Solidarity Network is creating a new PAC that is working on raising money for nine pro-Israel state legislators. Among them are Assemblymembers Michael Benedetto and Stefani Zinerman. | Hans Pennink/AP NEW YORK MINUTE: The state budget is going to be late. Most lawmakers will depart Albany for the Easter weekend today without inking a deal by Monday when the state’s fiscal year begins. Gov. Kathy Hochul will send a temporary stop-gap spending bill to lawmakers funding the state government until April 4. The Assembly and Senate today will approve the debt service bill, the first of 10 budget measures needed to get a spending plan in the books. — Nick Reisman MORE THAN JUST BOWMAN: Groups with pro-Israel messages have been preparing to play an outsized role in New York’s congressional races this year. Now, they’re also making clear they’ll be spending in state-level primaries. The New York Solidarity Network debuted in 2022 with plans to act as a state-level AIPAC. Individuals involved with the network filed to create “Solidarity PAC” last month, New York Focus first reported, and it’s now raising money for nine Assembly candidates who are facing opponents to their left. It plans to support candidates “who value the American alliance with Israel, and the tight-knit relationship the majority of New Yorkers, including Jewish New Yorkers, have with Israel,” the group’s website says. Among its preferred candidates are Assemblymembers Michael Benedetto and Stefani Zinerman, who are both facing opponents endorsed by NYC-DSA. (The political entity has been vocal in its call for a cease-fire in Gaza.) The network’s political role has been limited so far to coordinating super PAC efforts, such as an aborted $400,000 spend against then-City Council Member Kristin Richardson Jordan last year. It has worked with Voters of NY Inc., the big business funded independent expenditure committee endorsing moderate Democrats last cycle. This year, consultant Jeff Leb has renamed Voters of NY “Defeat the DSA” to make its focus clear. And he told Playbook he’s open to working with the New York Solidarity Network again this year. The Solidarity Network didn’t return a call for comment earlier this week, but its targets were eager to speak on its efforts. “A Republican dark money group coming in to support my opponent does not seem like the answer that voters in Morningside Heights and the West Side need or deserve,” said Eli Northrup, who has the Working Families Party’s backing for an open Assembly seat in Manhattan. Several of the targets of these groups noted their ties to real estate figures who have spent against progressives in recent elections when Israel was not a leading campaign issue. Solidarity was founded with the help of hedge funder Daniel Loeb, who has spent over $9 million in recent years boosting state moderates and Republicans and once compared Senate Democratic Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins to the KKK. “We’re fully expecting GOP operatives and real estate executives to spend against us, but they’re doing that because they know we’re going to stand up for tenants and working families,” said Claire Valdez, a DSA-backed challenger to Assemblymember Juan Ardila in Queens. Meanwhile, the spending by groups with pro-Israel messages will continue to ramp up in congressional races. The Jewish Democratic Council of America announced a round of endorsements this morning. It includes George Latimer in NY-16, in what the seven-year-old organization said is its first endorsement against a sitting Democratic incumbent — Rep. Jamaal Bowman, whom POLITICO reported this week had called reports of sexual assaults in Hamas’ attack “propaganda.” (In a cleanup statement he noted, “the UN confirmed that Hamas committed rape and sexual violence, a reprehensible fact that I condemn entirely.”) But JDCA’s money is a tiny fraction of the tidal wave Bowman’s team expects to be spent against him. The AIPAC-affiliated United Democracy Project is widely expected to drop some of its $40 million in the race. “You don’t need the ability to see into the future,” Bowman campaign spokesperson Bill Neidhardt told Playbook, “to know for a fact that come very soon, there will be millions and millions from Republican mega-donors spent on New York airwaves to attack Jamaal Bowman on behalf of George Latimer.” — Bill Mahoney and Jeff Coltin HAPPY THURSDAY: Got news? Send it our way: Jeff Coltin, Emily Ngo and Nick Reisman.   A message from Flavors Hook Kids NY: Kid-friendly flavored e-cigarettes can be found in retailers across New York State. 89.4% of kids who use e-cigarettes are hooked on these flavored products. Let’s close the enforcement loopholes to keep these kid-friendly flavored tobacco products off our store shelves. Let’s pass Assembly Bill A9110 and Senate Bill S8531 sponsored by Assemblymember Rosenthal and Senator Hoylman-Sigal.   DO WE HAVE A BUDGET YET? No. WHERE’S KATHY? In Albany with no public schedule. WHERE’S ERIC? Making a public safety announcement with the NYPD commissioner, attending the wake for NYPD officer Jonathan Diller, appearing live on WNBC’s “News 4 New York,” and hosting a reception for Women’s History Month. QUOTE OF THE DAY: “So my constituents can drive to Manhattan and give the @mta $15 or they can take the X bus to Manhattan and give the MTA $14.” — Staten Island City Council Member Joe Borelli after MTA board approval of congestion pricing. ABOVE THE FOLD Assemblymember Jake Blumencranz is promoting legislation that would significantly limit squatters' rights in New York. | Courtesy of the office of Assemblymember Jake Blumencranz SQUAT THRUST: Lawmakers in Albany are responding to a little-discussed housing issue that has become the subject of heightened media attention — squatters’ rights. Right-leaning news organizations have prominently featured stories of rogue squatters seizing homes and apartments. The topic has presented a unique opportunity to intersect an attention-grabbing issue with fears of crime and a growing migrant population in New York City. In the last month alone, the New York Post published at least 17 different stories on squatters seizing properties. One incendiary story featured a “migrant TikToker” who encourages fellow immigrants to “invade” houses by taking advantage of squatters’ rights laws. Now, in a GOP-led effort, state lawmakers are working to close the “legal loopholes” that would make it difficult for property owners to evict squatters. Assemblymember Jake Blumencranz and Sen. Patricia Canzoneri-Fitzpatrick are sponsoring a bill that would significantly curtail squatters’ rights. The measure has the support of at least 10 Democrats and would change the legal definition of "tenant” to exclude squatters. It would also allow prosecutors to charge squatters with criminal trespass in the third degree. “We have a housing crisis right now, and we need as many units on the market as possible,” Blumencranz said. “And right at this moment, we have so many instances of squatters.” The Nassau County lawmaker told Playbook he’s had “scores” of individuals contact his office because their property has been taken over by squatters. One Bronx nurse, Doris Oppong, told Playbook she’s been trying to evict a squatter from her property since 2021. And for the last three years, taxpayers have been footing the bill for the squatter’s court-appointed lawyer. The group Small Property Owners of New York and others are also pressing lawmakers this year to limit squatters rights, and they appear to be listening. In a press conference Wednesday, Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins said the unruly squatters are “a concern for all of us.” “If there are loopholes in the law that prevent people from getting the rights to their property back, we are certainly interested in making sure those loopholes are closed,” she said. But tenant rights activists say the topic is exaggerated and serves as a distraction from more important issues at stake. “It’s an overly publicized, but extremely rare occurrence,” said Rebecca Garrard, a housing advocate and deputy executive director at the left-leaning Citizen Action of New York. — Jason Beeferman   A message from Flavors Hook Kids NY:   CITY HALL: THE LATEST The City Council and Legal Aid Society are upset over the Adams administration's arguments towards housing vouchers. | Mark Lennihan/AP VOUCHER FIGHT: The City Council and the Legal Aid Society pushed back Wednesday against arguments the Adams administration made in the court fight over a crucial rental voucher program, with the local lawmakers and public defenders saying the council is not preempted by state law and has legislated CityFHEPS in the past. The case is playing out in Manhattan State Supreme Court over Mayor Eric Adams’ refusal to implement the council’s expansion of CityFHEPS. He vetoed the housing assistance package citing cost concerns; the council overrode him in July. In new filings this week, Adams’ attorneys wrote in part, “The petitioners and the City Council seek to rewrite the State’s delegation of authority, arguing that the term ‘social services district’ means ‘the City’ as a political entity, including the Council.” A council spokesperson responded, “The executive branch may disagree with the policy, but that does not constitute a valid legal reason to violate duly enacted laws by not providing New Yorkers experiencing homelessness and at risk of eviction with relief for which they are eligible.” — Emily Ngo MERCH WATCH: Assemblymember Jenifer Rajkumar donned a “stay focused, no distractions and grind” cap to match the mayor’s at his town hall Wednesday night. But her red version with white letters looked curiously like another political hat. “I thought it was going to say Make America Great Again,” Adams quipped, per POLITICO’s Joe Anuta. — Emily Ngo ARTS FUNDING IN JEOPARDY: American ballet dancer Misty Copeland is lending her voice to the effort to preserve funding for arts education in the city amid impending cuts. “By being exposed to dance, I was given the skills and tools that being part of an art form can give you,” Copeland said in a statement provided to Playbook by New York City Arts in Education Roundtable, a community of organizations and practitioners. “I feel that it’s my duty, and all of ours, to support bringing arts education to children.” The coalition is urging Adams and the City Council to save $41 million in expiring federal Covid-19 stimulus funding for arts education. All students stand to lose arts programming if that money is not restored, said Kimberly Olsen, the roundtable’s executive director. “Any cuts to the city’s arts budget will have a dramatic effect on NYC’s ability to serve its students, and will only worsen the gap for underserved students,” Olsen said in a statement. A schools spokesperson has said in response,“We continue to advocate with our city, state and federal partners to help fund these initiatives and support our young people.” — Madina Touré  More from the city: — A pro-charter school group with ties to Adams warned state lawmakers ahead of negotiations on mayoral control: Do not bring back the old school board system. (POLITICO Pro) — The city’s new campaign finance watchdog takes the helm as the mayor’s 2021 bid is probed. (Gothamist) — The consultant who failed to report a City Hall meeting he attended with top officials in Adams’ administration and Azerbaijan’s deputy foreign minister has filed an amendment. (Daily News) NEW FROM PLANET ALBANY Mayor Eric Adams blamed state-level criminal justice law changes for the ongoing problems with crime in New York. | Benny Polatseck/Mayoral Photography Office SAFETY FIRST: The murder of an NYPD officer has reignited the debate over public safety and how to curtail crime. And the spotlight is once again on Albany. Adams blamed state-level criminal justice law changes for the ongoing problems with crime in New York after the shooting death of Officer Jonathan Diller. Republican lawmakers in a fiery and impromptu news conference urged Democrats to take on crime concerns more aggressively or face political ramifications. “I would say to those members, especially in the majority, that are in swing districts or very, very close districts: Watch how you vote. Let’s start putting action into what we’re talking about,” Republican Assemblymember Michael Durso said. But Democrats in the Legislature have shown little inclination to take up additional changes to the state’s controversial law that limits when cash bail is required. Similarly, there’s been little desire to change the discovery law that requires when prosecutors must make evidence available to defendants. Democrats, rather, want to take a broader approach to the root causes of crime. “We all want to curb crime,” Stewart-Cousins said Wednesday. “We all want to figure out ways that we can make for all of us a more civilized society.” — Nick Reisman More from Albany: — Congestion pricing lawsuits are testing the limits of New York’s “green amendment.” (POLITICO) — Drug treatment providers are urging New York to declare an addiction emergency. (Times Union) — Lawmakers are pledging support for the so-called Empire AI plan. (Buffalo News) NEW YORK STATE OF MIND — Former President Donald Trump is planning to attend the wake of the NYPD officer who was killed during a Queens traffic stop. (NBC New York) — … But an NYPD union boss warned the City Council speaker and the public advocate to stay away from the officer’s funeral because they “detest cops.” (New York Post) — Officers fatally shot an emotionally disturbed teen wielding scissors in his Queens home after he called 911 on himself, according to police. (Daily News)   A message from Flavors Hook Kids NY: Bubble gum, mango, and strawberry-banana are just some of the kid-friendly flavored e-cigarette products that can be found in retailers across New York State. These products are still widely available due to enforcement loopholes that retailers use to keep hooking our kids. 81% of youth who have ever used a tobacco product started with a flavored product and our kids are getting hooked on a lifetime of nicotine addiction. We can’t wait any longer to close the enforcement loopholes to keep these kid-friendly flavored tobacco products off our store shelves. Let’s pass Assembly Bill A9110 and Senate Bill S8531 sponsored by Assemblymember Rosenthal and Senator Hoylman-Sigal.   SOCIAL DATA Edited by Daniel Lippman WEDDING — Ebony Bowden, founder of PR firm Eden Communications and former Washington correspondent for the New York Post, and Adam Lewkovitz, a senior product manager at Google, recently got married at Flora Farms in San José del Cabo, Mexico. The two first met at a Passover Seder in NYC in 2018. Pic ... Another pic. HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Reps. Nydia Velázquez (D-N.Y.) and Pat Ryan (D-N.Y.) … CBS’ Ed O’Keefe and Bob Kovach … Fox News’ Todd Piro … Tevi Troy … Hank Paulson … Lena Gaviria … Graham Stone … (WAS WEDNESDAY): Annie Polland. YOUR NEW YORK NUMBER OF THE DAY 0.02 percent Share of the 2021 mayoral vote won by Skiboky Stora, a third-party candidate just arrested for sucker punching a woman in Manhattan, amid a spate of similar assaults, via the New York Post.   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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