Suozzi on ‘clueless’ calls to limit Israel aid

By Nick Reisman, Jeff Coltin and Emily Ngo

Presented by Healthcare Education Project

With help from Jason Beeferman

Democrat Tom Suozzi, a candidate for New York's third congressional district, said the election of pro-Israel Democrats will help affirm bipartisan support for Israel. | Bebeto Matthews/AP

New York Minute: Attorney General Tish James’ corruption trial against the National Rifle Association starts today in Manhattan. And she’s already hit one target: Longtime NRA leader Wayne LaPierre said Friday he’ll resign. James accused LaPierre of using the nonprofit’s funds for personal gain way back in 2020.

James, who needless to say is a Democrat, is also twisting the knife she’s got in the Trump Organization. While waiting for the judge to rule in the civil fraud trial, she increased her requested penalty from $250 million to $370 million.

SUOZZI ANSWERS: Democrat Tom Suozzi has a message for the Nassau County and Queens voters who could determine whether he returns to Washington: He’ll be a steadfast supporter of Israel.

Suozzi, competing in a Feb. 13 special House election against Republican-backed Mazi Melesa Pilip, traveled to Israel in December and visited a kibbutz that was targeted in the coordinated Hamas attack on Oct. 7. He viewed videos of the attacks and saw photos of victims.

Suozzi also takes a dim view of calls to place limits or conditions on U.S. support for Israel by those in his own Democratic Party as Israel’s bombardment of Gaza continues.

On Monday, Suozzi will be endorsed by DMFI PAC, which backs pro-Israel Democrats in closely watched House and Senate races. The district has among the largest Jewish populations in the nation, and Pilip is an Israeli-American and former Israeli Defense Forces member.

Suozzi spoke with Playbook about the issue. The interview is edited for length and clarity.

What did you learn from your trip to Israel?

Hamas is not some loose confederation of folks, of desert soldiers. It’s a sophisticated, disciplined, terror army that has a mission to destroy Israel and kill Jews.

Israel is very united. There are signs everywhere; everyone knows someone who is either a soldier or someone who has been killed or kidnapped. Everyone is attuned.

And third, they’re very supportive of President Biden, and they’re very grateful to him for the fact that he came out as strong as he did, as quickly as he did – the fact that he traveled there, sent aircraft carriers there.

Can Israel effectively oust Hamas from Gaza?

Yes. It’s just very hard and it’s very difficult and it’s going to take time. But you know, much like we finally got Osama bin Laden, much like after the Munich attacks during the Olympics, it took them years, but they found everybody.

I’m the biggest advocate for peace, for diplomacy, for negotiating. Some people are just evil. They have to be stopped. They have to be; there’s no choice.

There are members of your own party calling for limiting U.S. aid to Israel. What do you make of the calls?

They’re clueless. They don’t understand what a serious threat this is to not only Israel and Jews throughout the world, but to America and our allies. They’re just not educated about the issues.

Are you surprised at all by the shift among some Democrats on the left when it comes to support for Israel?

When everything is said and done, 95 percent of the Democratic elected officials in Washington are pro-Israel. It’s unfortunate, but the small percentage that’s not aligned with Israel are getting a lot of attention. They’re loud voices. But the overwhelming majority of Democrats are pro-Israel.

One of the points I make in my race that I’m in now, you need in Congress strong, outspoken, unequivocal, pro-Israel voices. That’s what I am.

Why should voters, especially Jewish voters, voters concerned about Israel, why should these voters consider you in this election?

Another pro-Israel Republican doesn’t add anything to the equation. If you care about Israel and you want bipartisan support for Israel to continue into the future, you need strong, outspoken pro-Israel Democrats. — Nick Reisman

Coming later this week: Playbook interviews Republican House candidate Mazi Melesa Pilip.

ENJOY OUR NEW PLAYBOOK!!!

Welcome to our revamped Playbook, which we are excited to unveil as New York’s political world kicks into high gear ahead of Gov. Kathy Hochul’s State of the State address Tuesday. We are also thrilled to launch our redesigned hub page — your landing site for up-to-date, scoop-driven coverage of the politicians and policy-makers shaping New York. Learn more here about our renewed efforts to bring you hard-hitting political news and analysis in 2024. — Sally Goldenberg and Joe Spector

HAPPY MONDAY: Got news? Send it our way: Jeff Coltin, Emily Ngo and Nick Reisman.

A message from Healthcare Education Project:

All New Yorkers deserve equal access to quality healthcare, no matter their income or ZIP code. Yet today, Medicaid pays New York’s hospitals 30% less than the actual cost of care. Medicaid underpayments have already caused deep cuts to mental health services and maternity care. It’s an injustice. Families just want care and fear that this crisis could force their hospital to close. Albany: It’s time to step up and end the Medicaid funding crisis.

WHERE’S KATHY? In Albany with no public schedule.

WHERE’S ERIC? Holding a media availability session in City Hall.

QUOTE OF THE DAY: “I have concerns about the treatment of Jan. 6 hostages.” — Rep. Elise Stefanik on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” also declining to commit to certifying the 2024 election results

City Comptroller Brad Lander is holding a rally today to protest the city's 60-day migrant shelter rule. | Andres Kudacki/AP

DAY ZERO FOR 60-DAY RULE: Time is up this week for the first round of migrant children and parents to get “60-day notices” to leave city shelters and reapply if they want to have housing.

But City Comptroller Brad Lander is vowing to “throw everything we can at stopping it before it happens,” he told Playbook.

“To me, evicting immigrant families from shelter in freezing cold temperatures and displacing their kids from their public school midyear will be one of the worst things that New York City government has done in generations,” Lander said.

He’s helping lead an 11 a.m. rally today at Foley Square against the policy. Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, progressive City Councilmembers, the United Federation of Teachers and the New York Immigration Coalition are among those joining.

NYIC and others have protested the 60-day rule before, including at a City Hall Park rally last month, but this week the batch of notices are coming due — after a holiday season delay.

The policy is meant to push asylum-seekers out of shelter and into finding more permanent housing, and a City Hall spokesperson says the policy is coming with case management to help them.

The administration is doing “everything in our power to minimize impacts as they take the next steps in their journey,” they said in a statement, “especially for children already enrolled in our schools – and provide opportunities to re-apply for shelter if needed.”

But Lander is skeptical, posting on X that migrants were just given a “deceptive” letter.

“I don’t have any confidence that they have a solid plan to implement this horrible thing that they’re planning to do,” he told Playbook. — Jeff Coltin

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Mike Johnson struck a deal to set topline totals for the federal budget, but many New York City political players say more federal migrant aid is needed. | Francis Chung/POLITICO

FIRST IN PLAYBOOK: A deal struck Sunday between Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Mike Johnson set topline totals for the federal budget, but a New York City-based coalition will push today to ensure that the details don’t include the stripping of protections for migrants.

City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams and New York Immigration Coalition executive director Murad Awawdeh are framing the proposal as playing asylum-seekers off of aid for Ukraine, according to statements that were first shared with Playbook.

“It is appalling to pit asylum-seekers escaping dire humanitarian conditions, including people from Ukraine against aid for the country, presenting a manufactured and false dichotomy,” Adams said.

“MAGA Republicans continue to hold our country captive for an extremist agenda that will gut our asylum system in exchange for aid to Ukraine,” Awawdeh said, calling on Schumer, President Joe Biden and Congress to stand up to Trump-era policies.

Public Advocate Williams, who joins in the pressure campaign against what the group says would be harmful changes to the immigration system, will appeal to the federal government for aid to help the city support migrants — not unlike the drum being beaten by Mayor Eric Adams, with whom Williams is beefing.

But Williams added that federal leaders in the negotiations should “refuse to trade away the rights of people most in need or the values that guide us to provide safety and support.” — Emily Ngo

More from the city:

— EmblemHealth, as it vied for city contracts, donated $550,000 on union leader’s behalf to nonprofits. (POLITICO)

— Saturday’s snowstorm missed New York City, continuing its streak of snowlessness. It did leave the city very wet, though. (Gothamist)

— Adams’ messaging on the migrant crisis might be playing into Republicans’ hands in a key election year. (POLITICO)

A message from Healthcare Education Project:

Frank Carone’s firm Oaktree Solutions is getting a new managing director of policy & strategy — Gov. Kathy Hochul’s former chief of staff. | Courtesy of Frank Carone

A STAFF OF CHIEFS: First in Playbook, Gov. Kathy Hochul’s former chief of staff Jeff Lewis — who first worked with Hochul in 2009 — is joining Frank Carone’s firm Oaktree Solutions as managing director of policy & strategy. Carone is Mayor Eric Adams’ former chief of staff, so closeness to the state’s two top executives will be a selling point.

Lewis’ two-year lobbying ban expires in March. For the past two years, he’s been advising Hochul’s political team and the New York Democrats. The consulting firm also recently brought on Jason Goldman, former chief of staff to City Council Speaker Corey Johnson. — Jeff Coltin

NY SECOND IN NATION FOR STRONG GUN LAWS: Everytown for Gun Safety released its updated gun law rankings for 2024. New York continues to rank second in the nation for its comprehensive gun laws.

“New York has the second-strongest gun laws in the country, with one of the lowest rates of gun violence and gun ownership,” Everytown wrote, noting the Empire State’s requirement that all handguns sold here be equipped with microstamping technology. The state has also taken action on regulating ghost guns, which are untraceable and unserialized, according to a release from the organization.

“This year’s ranking highlights the work that our volunteers and lawmakers have done over the last decade to make — and keep — New York one of the national leaders in the fight against gun violence,” said Alexis Gevanter, a volunteer with the New York chapter of advocacy group Moms Demand Action. — Shawn Ness

OPIOID CRISIS: More than 100 organizations are pressing Hochul to reverse her stance on providing funding to supervised injection sites in order to address overdose deaths in New York.

The groups, in a letter to the governor to be released today and obtained by Playbook, point to the effect overdoses have had disproportionately on Black and Latino communities.

Backing the effort to fund the sites are progressive groups like VOCAL-NY and Citizen Action as well as health care organizations.

“Safe and supportive spaces to prevent overdose death must be available and promoted throughout the entire state as diligently as other crucial public health programs such as cooling centers on hot days or vaccines,” the organizations wrote in the letter.

Hochul last year rejected recommendations to use opioid settlement funds for overdose prevention centers. The facilities allow people to use drugs under staff supervision.

The governor has questioned whether funding the centers would withstand legal scrutiny. — Nick Reisman

EV PROGRESS: See yourself in an electric car? New York state may soon be keeping track of the purchase.

State Sen. Peter Harckham wants state regulators to provide reports on the sale of zero-emissions vehicles by new car dealers in New York. If approved, reports would be issued beginning at the end of December 2024 and twice yearly until December 2034.

And if the report finds less than 35 percent of vehicle sales in 2026 are zero-emission vehicles, the Department of Motor Vehicles would be required to issue 10 registration certificates for the manufacturing or assembly of the vehicles without a franchised dealer in the state.

The measure is meant to keep the state on track with its climate goals heading into the next decade.

“The only way we are going to meet our climate goals is by paying attention to the data. This bill will give legislators actionable data to effectively adjust policy and get more EVs out on our streets,” Deb Peck Kelleher, deputy director of the Alliance for Clean Energy New York, said. — Nick Reisman

More from Albany:

— A weakened Adams will face a tough time this year with his Albany priorities. (POLITICO)

— Southern Tier Solutions, a Texas-based company, wants to lease 100,000 acres from landowners in three southern NY counties to build power plants. (State of Politics)

— Yves Filius, a NYCLU lobbyist, may be the leading contender to replace Assembly Member Latoya Joyner after her abrupt resignation. (City & State)

PINING FOR THE PINES: Saving Fire Island Pines from coastal erosion isn’t just a local concern to Suffolk County, but a cultural concern for the whole LGBTQ community.

So wrote the seven out LGBTQ state legislators, who all signed a letter — first in Playbook — urging the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to reconsider its rejection of a beach repair to the iconic gay vacation destination. — Jeff Coltin

— An upstate town judge awarded his own company a no-bid contract for courthouse improvements and then falsified the invoice, a new state report finds. (Times Union)

— Suffolk County elected officials — like County Executive Ed Romaine — can collect both a county salary and pension at the same time, raising questions about the efficacy of the Suffolk’s pension system. (Newsday)

— Queens Assemblymember Jessica González-Rojas was struck by a car in Jackson Heights Thursday and is now renewing her calls for a street safety plan. (AMNY)

A message from Healthcare Education Project:

Mental health services closed. Maternity wards shut. It’s happening across New York, and one of the reasons is that Medicaid underfunds hospital care by 30%. Hospitals and caregivers give all of their patients 100%, each and every day. But if Albany doesn’t fix Medicaid underpayments to hospitals, the crisis will get worse – some hospitals may not survive.

Albany can end this injustice: Stop Medicaid underpayments and help hospitals stay open. The federal government will pay more than half the cost of closing the Medicaid funding gap, so it’s a savings for New York. Albany: It’s time to step up and end the Medicaid funding crisis now. All New Yorkers need equal access to quality healthcare, no matter their income or ZIP code.

FOR YOUR RADAR — “Colleges under siege over Israel, Hamas and antisemitism, look to PR giants for help."

MAKING MOVES — Leigh Farris is joining BlackRock as global head of communications. She’s currently global head of corporate communications at Carlyle Group.

IN MEMORIAM — “Joseph Lelyveld, Former Top Editor of The New York Times, Dies at 86,” by NYT’s Robert McFadden

MEDIA MOVES — Sarah Personette is now CEO of Puck, WSJ’s Alexandra Bruell reports. She previously served as Twitter’s chief customer office officer. … Miguel Almaguer has left NBC, Fox News’ Brian Flood reports. … PIX11 reporter Mary Murphy is retiring after 40 years on the air.

WELCOME TO THE WORLD — Jennesh Agagas, an associate producer for Fox News’ “Your World with Neil Cavuto,” and John Davies, a senior auditor for the Research Foundation of CUNY, recently welcomed Mia Davies. Pic … Another pic

HAPPY BIRTHDAY: White House’s Anita Dunn … Heather Podesta … David Chavern … Fox News’ Casey Stegall 

(WAS SUNDAY): Katie Couric … POLITICO’s Claire Barkley … Jann Wenner ... Ivan Glasenberg ... Zoya Raynes ... NBC’s John Reiss … Linda Douglass … Megan Clarke of Fox News … Britta Ritter-Armour

(WAS SATURDAY): Olivia Nuzzi … WSJ’s Kate O’Keeffe and James Taranto … MSNBC’s Shaquille Brewster … Eric Trump (4-0) … Stuart Siciliano of Penta … Alexandra Dakich ... Julia Blakeley 

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