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Presented by For the Many Environmental Action Inc: Erin Durkin and Anna Gronewold's must-read briefing informing the daily conversation among knowledgeable New Yorkers | | | | |  | | By Erin Durkin , Anna Gronewold and Julian Shen-Berro | Presented by For the Many Environmental Action Inc | Two presidents joined the parade of Democratic heavy hitters riding to the rescue for Gov. Kathy Hochul ahead of tomorrow’s election. President Joe Biden campaigned with Hochul last night in Yonkers, crediting her for bringing multibillion-dollar Micron and IBM deals to New York. He said Rep. Lee Zeldin is “all talk” when it comes to his pet issue of crime and can’t really be trusted to keep New Yorkers safe. “I’m telling you he won’t, but Kathy will,” he said. A day earlier, it was former President Bill Clinton hitting the trail in Brooklyn . “The whole election could come down to how big the turnout is in Brooklyn,” Clinton said. He mocked Zeldin’s relentless drumbeat on crime, particularly subway crime: “Lee Zeldin, he makes it sound like Kathy Hochul gets up every morning, goes to the nearest subway stop and hands out billy clubs [and] baseball bats.” Hochul’s also got some shout outs from celebrities with New York ties like Cher — “it’s New York, babe, we say gay, loud and proud,” the goddess of pop said in a video — Bravo host Andy Cohen, during a rally at Stonewall , and chef Padma Lakshmi on Twitter. Zeldin, meanwhile, zipped around the Hudson Valley on Saturday, with an evening rally at Sugar Loaf Performing Arts Center with former Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, who encouraged the audience to have “heart to heart” conversations to convince friends to vote for Zeldin. He spent Sunday circling Western New York, and was so unamused by Clinton’s subway crime crack that he’ll be holding a press conference to condemn it today at a Bronx station where a man was recently stabbed . The race is looking to be one of the closest margins in at least two decades, but will it beat Democrat W. Averell Harriman’s 0.22 percent victory in 1954 ? It may actually be good for Hochul that polls have clearly showed Zeldin creeping up on her, as it’s given Democrats time to react to the threat and campaign aggressively. Will it be enough to jolt would-be voters out of their relative indifference this year? That’s what we’ll find out tomorrow night. IT’S MONDAY. Got tips, suggestions or thoughts? Let us know ... By email: EDurkin@politico.com and agronewold@politico.com , or on Twitter: @erinmdurkin and @annagronewold WHERE’S KATHY? With local elected officials visiting the 72nd Street Subway Station, Utopia Diner, Hamilton Housing Development, Goddard Riverside Community Center, ARC XVI A. Philip Randolph Senior Center, Co-Op City and Van Dyke Community Center in Brownsville. She’ll then head home to Buffalo for a pre-election rally. WHERE’S ERIC? Speaking at a clergy roundtable, the iMentor Champions Dinner, and the New York Public Library’s Lions Gala.
| | | | A message from For the Many Environmental Action Inc: For the Many Environmental Action fights for environmental justice for communities throughout New York State. When you vote this year, make sure to flip your ballot over and vote YES on Proposition 1, a historic investment in clean water, green jobs, and climate resiliency for New York. | | | |  | What City Hall's reading | | Buildings commissioner made power grab before resignation , by POLITICO’s Sally Goldenberg and Joe Anuta: Before New York City’s buildings commissioner resigned amid a criminal probe Thursday, he was a rising star in the Adams administration angling to expand his agency’s power and seize responsibilities outside its purview. Now ex-Commissioner Eric Ulrich’s surreptitious plan to subsume certain inspections handled by the FDNY is in limbo, as Mayor Eric Adams figures out who will lead the Department of Buildings going forward. Shortly after being promoted in May from the nebulous role of mayoral adviser to head of an agency with a $239 million budget, Ulrich saw an opportunity to further Adams’ goal of limiting municipal bureaucracy. By the following month, the former Republican City Council member was hatching a plan to assume a host of inspection responsibilities from the FDNY that developers had long complained took so long they slowed down business growth. — Ulrich spent nearly $40,000 in campaign funds at several food businesses with past reported links to mobsters. “ Mayor Eric Adams might be the fall guy for New York Democrats’ potential big losses next week ,” by CNN’s Edward-Isaac Dovere: “Democratic officials and strategists in New York tell CNN they are bracing for what could be stunning losses in the governor’s race and in contests for as many as four U.S. House seats largely in the suburbs. With crime dominating the headlines and the airwaves, multiple Democrats watching these races closely are pointing to New York City Mayor Eric Adams, accusing him of overhyping the issue and playing into right-wing narratives in ways that may have helped set the party up for disaster on Tuesday.” “ New York City Ballot Measures Promise to ‘Attack’ Institutional Racism. What Does That Actually Mean? ” by Mother Jones’ Maggie Duffy: “In the final days of former mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration, he honored a pledge made in his 2021 State of the City address: the creation of a commission to revise the city’s governing charter through amendments, in the form of ballot measures, to ‘uncover and attack’ institutional racism in New York City. On Tuesday, voters will decide whether or not to adopt them.” “ At NYC school with sharpest drop in math scores, high poverty, crowded classrooms and a recent gun scare ,” by Gothamist’s Liam Quigley: “At the Brooklyn school that saw the sharpest drop in math scores in the city since 2019, classrooms are chronically overcrowded, 81% of students have experienced poverty and students recently had to pass through metal detectors before going to class. ... Medgar Evers College Preparatory School in Crown Heights serves as an extreme example of how COVID-19 combined with other ongoing equity, safety and economic challenges to create a particularly difficult learning environment.”
| | | | NEW AND IMPROVED POLITICO APP: Stay up to speed with the newly updated POLITICO mobile app, featuring timely political news, insights and analysis from the best journalists in the business. With a fresh look and improved features, the sleek and navigable design offers a convenient way to access POLITICO's scoops and groundbreaking reporting. Don’t miss out on the app you can rely on for the news you need, reimagined. Already a POLITICO app user? Upgrade today! DOWNLOAD FOR iOS – DOWNLOAD FOR ANDROID . | | | | | | | WHAT ALBANY'S READING | | “ Ronald Lauder: New York’s Billionaire Political Disrupter ,” by The New York Times’ Nicholas Fandos and Dana Rubinstein: “Ronald S. Lauder, a 78-year-old cosmetics heir, philanthropist and art collector who is among the richest men in New York, has become the most prolific state political donor in memory this fall, fueling a Republican’s surging candidacy for governor in one of the country’s most liberal states. Mr. Lauder has long been a gale-force disrupter, throwing millions of dollars behind conservative causes and candidates, including creating term limits in New York City and even his own failed mayoral campaign. Now at the twilight of his public life, he is marshaling his multibillion-dollar fortune behind an extraordinary intervention into this week’s midterm elections.” “ G.O.P. Seeks to Erase Democratic Supermajority in New York Legislature ,” by The New York Times’ Luis Ferré-Sadurní: “For four years, a cycle of victories by progressive-minded Democrats has pushed the New York State Legislature to the left, carrying their party to legislative supermajorities and creating an unfettered path for liberal priorities to be enacted around housing, climate change and abortion rights. But this year, a national Republican wave is threatening to curb those progressive gains and vanquish the Democrats’ veto-proof supermajority, as Republicans seek to expand their diminished foothold in the State Capitol. While the Assembly is solidly in Democratic control, Republicans seem well positioned to make inroads in the State Senate, where competitive races are playing out in about a dozen districts, from western and central New York to Long Island.” “ Crime has become a key issue in the New York governor’s race. Here’s what experts and the numbers say ,” by Buffalo News’ Jerry Zremski: “Two days before Election Day, the crime issue stands as Zeldin's best hope that he can topple Hochul. A recent Quinnipiac University poll of the race ranked crime as the most important issue. That poll also showed Zeldin, who proposes repealing a 2019 state law that bars setting bail for many criminal suspects, within single digits of the incumbent Democrat, who supports keeping that bail reform law. But what should voters think about the crime issue as they head to the polls? ‘I think people are absolutely right to be worried about public safety,’ said Ames Grawert, senior counsel and John L. Neu justice counsel at the Brennan Center for Justice. ‘We saw significant increases in violent crime in 2020 and 2021. But the questions about what caused that increase and what we can do to improve public safety and build a safer society than we had even in 2019? Those are complicated questions, and I would be wary of easy answers.’” FIRST IN PLAYBOOK: The Working Families Party leadership is stressing that progressive ideas remain popular in New York as the party needs to meet a critical vote threshold to retain its ballot line this year. “New York is not facing a right-wing surge or shift, nor are New Yorkers embracing core conservative values or priorities,” NYWFP Director Sochie Nnaemeka wrote in a memo to elected officials and other key figures that shared results from a year-long research project commissioned alongside progressive groups like Citizen Action of New York, VOCAL-NY and Make the Road NY. The project by Topos Partnership used various forms of testing to determine what they call “a cultural common sense." It found more than 7 in 10 New Yorkers believe the economic system is lopsided toward favoring the wealthy and that the government could do more by taxing the rich to invest in services like housing, mental health and health care. “This new research from TOPOS suggests that Democrats can, and indeed must, respond to voters’ very real concerns about the economy and the cost of living with an affirmative vision of the role that government can play in meeting people’s everyday needs and reducing economic unfairness and inequality,” Nnaemeka wrote. “For candidates already running on this message, we suggest continuing to do so, and for those who haven’t been, we suggest a significant pivot towards that direction in this final election stretch.” — Anna Gronewold #UpstateAmerica: Director James Cameron, a native of Niagara Falls, Ont., lit up both sides of the falls in Avatar blue to promote the trailer for the sequel, which some suggest was “long-awaited.”
| | | | A message from For the Many Environmental Action Inc:   | | | | | CAMPAIGN MODE | | Democrats said they’d help NY’s Max Rose get his House seat back. Now he’s flying solo , by POLITICO’s Erin Durkin: Max Rose is on an island. Democrats are clinging to control of the House, but the party has barely lifted a finger to help the Staten Island moderate reclaim his old seat from New York City’s lone Republican member of Congress. Not that he wants to be associated with the Democratic committee, as he courts the city’s most fortified conservative bastion. But like fellow Democrats nationwide, his campaign keyed on abortion in the wake of Roe v. Wade ’s fall — it’s just not resonating with voters as strongly as Republican messaging on crime. That leaves Rose in a familiar place: Trailing Nicole Malliotakis, who unseated him in 2020. — Former President Donald Trump urged support for Malliotakis in a teleconference call with GOP voters, saying she would promote “Judeo-Christian principles” and calling Rose “weak.” All eyes on Long Island: The key House races that may decide the midterms , by POLITICO’s Shannon Young: Nearly two years after President Joe Biden won New York’s 3rd Congressional District by a double-digit margin, his wife, Jill Biden, returned to Long Island this week in an effort to help Democrats retain the seat. There was an important reason for the visit: With three open seats up for grabs — and a competitive race for a GOP-held seat — the outcome of Long Island’s 2022 midterm races could play a deciding role in who controls Congress next year. … Democrats’ decision to deploy Jill Biden to help Zimmerman, a Democrat in a historically blue district — in one of the country’s bluest states — further underscores concerns about the party’s prospects on Long Island.
| | TRUMP'S NEW YORK | | “ Former Trump Adviser Acquitted on Charges of Acting as Emirati Agent ,” by The New York Times’ Rebecca Davis O’Brien: “Thomas J. Barrack Jr., a close friend and adviser to former President Donald J. Trump, was acquitted Friday on charges that he had worked as an agent of the United Arab Emirates and then lied to federal investigators about it. Mr. Barrack’s acquittal on all counts, after a seven-week trial and two days of jury deliberation, deals a blow to the Justice Department, which has sought to root out foreign influence in U.S. politics. As the verdict was read Friday, in a federal courthouse in Brooklyn, Mr. Barrack bowed his head and his family wept in the courtroom benches.”
| | | | DON’T MISS POLITICO’S 2nd ANNUAL DEFENSE SUMMIT ON 11/16: The United States is facing a defining moment in the future of its defense, national security and democratic ideals. The current conflicts and developments around the world are pushing Washington to reshape its defense strategy and how it cooperates with allies. Join POLITICO for our second annual defense summit, “At a Crossroads: America’s Defense Strategy” on November 16 in person at the Schuyler DC or join online to hear keynote interviews and panels discussing the road ahead for America’s national security. REGISTER HERE . | | | | | | | AROUND NEW YORK | | — The Brooklyn director of the Mayor's Community Affairs Unit used illegal license plate covers , lights and sirens on his car. — Kenyans Sharon Lokedi and Evans Chebet won the New York City Marathon . — A Manhattan polling site was temporarily evacuated due to a bomb threat. — At least 38 people were injured in a high-rise fire in Manhattan caused by an e-bike battery. — A former NYPD officer was convicted of murder for forcing his autistic son to sleep in a freezing garage, where he died of hypothermia. — 5G wireless towers have been popping up on city streets. — A man was stabbed in the neck at a Bronx subway station by a MetroCard swipe seller. — An Upper West Side pediatrician is being investigated for allegedly faking vaccination. — This lil November heatwave may break a 145-year-old record . — What happened to 12-year-old Jaliek Rainwalker? Read the TU’s 4-part series on the Capital Region’s coldest unsolved disappearance. — The NYPD acknowledged botching an investigation into a man who killed a woman’s dog in Prospect Park. — Sean “Diddy” Combs is entering New York’s new cannabis industry with a $185 million deal. — A congestion pricing study found a census tract in lower Manhattan has the largest number of car commuters, and a large portion of them are law enforcement. — The Capital Region detention facility where a 19-year-old died last week has struggled with staffing and safety issues for at least the past year.
| | SOCIAL DATA BY DANIEL LIPPMAN | | HAPPY BIRTHDAY: former CIA Director David Petraeus … George Thompson of FleishmanHillard … Michael Kratsios …NBC’s Jen Friedman … Brunswick Group’s Siobhan Gorman … Max Viscio … ABC’s Kaylee Hartung … Kyle Kerchaert … (was Sunday): ABC’s Trish Turner … former Education Secretary Arne Duncan … Sidney Blumenthal … former Rep. Dan Donovan (R-N.Y.) … Dan Senor … Ruth Messinger of the American Jewish World Service … Angelica Peebles … Ashley Lewis of Edelman … Barbara Volsky ... Gregory Singer ... Yanky Lemmer … Joseph C. Shenker … … (was Saturday): Accenture’s Matt Nicholson … John Harwood … NBC’s Ken Strickland and Jason Calabretta … POLITICO’s Katy O’Donnell … Justin Muzinich … Meryl Holt Silverman ... Jeffrey Sachs … James Melcher ... Dana Jacobson ... Jacob Shamsian MEDIAWATCH — Journalists at six New York newspapers owned by Gannett went on a one-day strike over the company’s cuts to staff, salaries and benefits. MAKING MOVES — Jack Marzulli is now assistant secretary for health for New York State. He most recently was a senior manager at Bain. WELCOME TO THE WORLD — Natalie Pahz, a communications director for CBS News' “60 Minutes” and a CNN and Washington Post alum, and Keyvon Pahz, a consultant for Factset, on Tuesday welcomed Fritz Andersen Pahz, who came in at 5 lbs and 15 ounces. Pic ... Another pic
| | | | A message from For the Many Environmental Action Inc: For the Many Environmental Action fights for environmental justice for communities throughout New York State. We urge you to vote YES on Proposition 1 (the Environmental Bond Act).
The Environmental Bond Act is a historic $4.2 billion investment in ensuring all New Yorkers have clean water, safe infrastructure, and are protected from the impacts of climate change. The Bond Act will help advance environmental justice and address inequities by directing 35 to 40 percent of total funding to marginalized communities.
Vote YES on environmental justice - Vote YES on Proposition 1. | | | | | Real Estate | | “ NYC proposes strict Airbnb registration rules to take effect in January ,” by New York Post’s Lisa Fickenscher: “New York City is pressing ahead with a long-anticipated crackdown on Airbnb hosts, with officials on Friday proposing a strict new registration system for hosts that will take effect in January. Proposed rules that were quietly made public on Friday will put more teeth in existing regulations including a prohibition on hosts renting out an 'entire registered dwelling unit.' There are also entirely new rules." “ Nearly 2,600 Apartments for Mentally Ill and Homeless People Sit Vacant ,” by The New York Times’ Andy Newman: “Placing New York’s homeless and mentally ill in housing that comes with social services, a key to keeping people from living in the streets and subways, is proving to be a challenge for the city. Mayor Eric Adams has embraced these projects, and on Thursday announced the opening of two more. But figures the city released this week in response to a Freedom of Information Act request show that despite the intense demand for supportive housing apartments, nearly 2,600 of them are vacant. That is enough apartments to house most of the 3,400 people living in streets or subways as of January.” | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | 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 | | | | |  |
