Support for Hochul flags with this key group

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Aug 07, 2024 View in browser   By Jason Beeferman Gov. Kathy Hochul speaks at an NYU Real Estate conference last year. Donations from real estate groups to the governor have slowed. | Susan Watts/Office of Governor Kathy Hochul FOLLOW HOUSING MONEY: Gov. Kathy Hochul’s support from big real estate players may be waning after a housing deal and congestion pricing cancellation soured some developers on the governor. An analysis this morning by our colleague Bill Mahoney on POLITICO Pro found contributions from Manhattan developers to the governor have decreased by more than 80 percent in the half first of 2024 compared to the same time last year, and fewer big name real estate donors are contributing. “There's been a deterioration of enthusiasm,” one person in the real estate industry told Playbook, who requested anonymity to speak frankly about the situation. “The housing deal left people with a bad taste in their mouth and the abrupt change on congestion pricing did not go over well,” the person said. It’s not as if Hochul is hurting for cash, though. The first female governor of New York has broken fundraising records heading into her reelection in 2026. She’s raised more than $5.9 million this year already, the most impressive haul ever reported by a governor at this point in the cycle. Still, the real estate industry — which has historically served as the lifeblood of every high-dollar campaign in New York state — has slowed their roll. In the first half of 2023, 33 contributors who are REBNY members or executives at the top of Manhattan development firms donated $10,000 or more. Combined, they gave $631,000. But in the first half of 2024, only seven real estate bigwigs donated to Hochul, a combined haul of $102,000. The drop corresponds with the industry’s disappointment with this year’s budget, which included a historic housing deal that provided a tax incentive for new housing construction, called 485x. The arrangement did not sit well with developers who were upset over some of the particulars. “There's gonna be a decrease in income for developers and an increase in expense,” said Brett Gottlieb, a partner at the Herrick law firm’s Real Estate department, when asked to compare the program with 421-a, the old tax break plan. (Tenant advocates were also left unhappy with the housing deal, which “is generally a good sign of consensus,” one lawmaker said.) Others in the industry said the 2026 election is too far away to decisively say that fundraising habits or attitudes of the real estate industry have shifted. “Generally, any industry supports the incumbent until they have a reason not to,” Jay Martin, executive director of the Community Housing Improvement Program, told Playbook. “It’s really difficult to speculate where the support is when there's no alternative right now.” But the source who spoke with Playbook anonymously said there have been fundraising meetings in the last few months where donors in the real estate industry directly expressed their concern to Hochul. “Honest conversations were had where people expressed their disappointment,” the source recalled.  Hochul’s campaign declined to comment on this story. — Jason Beeferman   Breaking News Briefing: Where Tim Walz Stands on the Issues — The Democratic ticket is set now that Vice President Kamala Harris has named Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate. Join POLITICO Pro on Friday Aug. 9 for a detailed discussion with specialist reporters on what Walz's track record says about the policies he and Harris will embrace in the final stretch of the 2024 presidential campaign. Register for the Briefing     From The Campaign Trail Rep. Pat Ryan (D-N.Y.) speaks about politics and Social Security at a POLITICO Live event sponsored by the AARP. | Christine Keeley WEIGHING IN ON WALZ: New York Reps. Pat Ryan and Andrew Garbarino on Wednesday welcomed the news that Tim Walz is Kamala Harris’ running mate pick — though for different reasons. Ryan, the state’s most vulnerable House Democrat, said he sees in the Minnesota governor a fellow military veteran and elected official who knows how to campaign on the nation’s stark wealth gap. “It’s out of reach but right in front of us,” Ryan said, describing the contrast of the working-class in his Hudson Valley district and the wealth of Wall Street. Garbarino, a Long Island Republican, said he and House Speaker Mike Johnson both view Walz as a “gift to Republicans.” Ryan and Garbarino, who represent purple parts of New York, faced questions today about the presidential election as part of a POLITICO Live event titled “Finding the Balance: What’s Next for Social Security.” The two members of Congress attested to how the earned benefit program’s solvency is critical to the well-being of their New York constituents and Americans at large. And they acknowledged that gridlock in Congress would delay a solution. Walz, who hails from the rural Midwest and is being targeted by Republicans for his progressive policies, knows a social safety net and Social Security are a life raft for the working- and middle-class, Ryan said. But is Walz too liberal? Or does he at least make it too easy for the GOP to tag the Harris-Walz ticket as “far left”? No, said Ryan, a moderate Democrat who was among the first in his party to call on President Joe Biden to withdraw his reelection bid. “I saw the same attack on me,” the House member said. “Google ads popped up saying the same attack that they do on every Democrat, which is just intellectually lazy and not factually correct. I think people can see through that.” Speaking after Ryan via remote link, Garbarino said he was “thrilled” with Harris’ choice. “I think it’s going to help Republicans win seats up and down the ballot this November,” the House member said. “Kamala Harris doubled down on going with an ultra-liberal pick.” — Emily Ngo From the Capitol Gov. Kathy Hochul is pushing for a floating pool in New York City. | Don Pollard/Office of Governor Hochul DIPPING A TOE IN: The state is still vetting the safety of a proposed “floating pool” in New York City, despite support from Hochul and New York City Mayor Eric Adams. Hochul is using discretionary capital funds to support a three-month water filtration testing process this summer at Pier 35 for Plus Pool, branded “+ POOL.” The Plus Pool concept has been floating around for years, with backers hailing the idea of expanded access to swimming in the waterways around the city. If all goes to plan, a pilot would be launched next summer for final testing. “Through innovative solutions like + POOL, we are providing children and their families with safe spaces to swim in New York City,” Hochul said in a statement announcing the testing pilot and future location in the East River today. DOH experts raised many concerns with the viability, safety and practicality of the Plus Pool idea before Hochul publicly announced she wanted to provide $12 million in state funding in January. The concerns were detailed in emails from the fall of 2023 obtained by POLITICO through a public records request. Health officials asked about the shape of the pool creating dead spots, the energy consumption and viability of the filtration technology, the costs (an estimated two to three times a typical pool) and compliance with standards that apply to pools on land. Micah Lasher, then the policy director for Hochul, coordinated meetings and pushed for the project to move forward. Lasher is now the Democratic nominee for a New York City Assembly seat. — Marie J. French A NEW SUPER PAC: An independent expenditure committee that registered last month to spend on state and local elections in New York is starting off with nearly seven figures in the bank. “Ending Homelessness and Building a Better NYC” has filed paperwork with the state Board of Elections disclosing a $950,000 contribution from a Manhattan resident named Mike Jenkins. The committee hasn’t started to spend in any races yet and it’s unclear what its focus will be. Its treasurer identified himself as an employee at supermarket cooperative Wakefern; a spokesperson for that company said it was unaware of the super PAC and not involved with it at all. An individual with the same name and zip code as Jenkins has previously identified himself in federal filings as being employed at property management and trading firms. — Bill Mahoney HALF A MILL: Nearly 80 former public employees are eligible for more than $200,000 in pensions from the New York State and Local Retirement System this fiscal year, according to the Empire Center for Public Policy. One of those retirees is eligible to collect half a million dollars, a first since the think tank started collecting data 16 years ago. A former communications executive at the Westchester Health Care Corporation, Kara Bennorth is eligible for $503,128, more than half of which came from an excess benefit plan. The top six earners all retired from the healthcare industry, with the second-highest pension going to Dr. Shashikant Lele, who was the clinical chief of gynecologic oncology with the Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center in Buffalo. Other top pension earners included firefighters, police officers, a psychiatrist and a department chair at Stony Brook University enrolled in New York’s Police and Fire Retirement System and the state’s Employees Retirement System respectively. — Rich Mendez. AROUND NEW YORK — AN AZERBAIJANI ADVENTURE: The foreign government of Azerbaijan paid for two aides of Adams to visit the country on an economic development trip. (POLITICO) — LABOR SPLITS OVER HOTEL LEGISLATION: A City Council push to tighten hotel regulations continues to roil the city’s hospitality industry and has exposed divisions within the orbit of the powerful labor union backing the bill. (Crain’s New York Business) — 20 WEEK ABORTION: Planned Parenthood’s Manhattan location said it would stop offering abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy. (The New York Times) Missed this morning’s New York Playbook? Read it here.   Follow us on Twitter Jason Beeferman @JasonBeeferman   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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