| | | | |  | | By Jeff Coltin, Nick Reisman and Emily Ngo | Presented by Healthcare Education Project | With help from Jason Beeferman
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New York City Mayor Eric Adams and staffers visited the U.S. Capitol on Thursday to ask for more aid to deal with the city's migrant crisis. | Jeff Coltin/POLITICO | Eric Adams isn’t known for his humility. (This is the guy whose office put out a press release Thursday quoting 11 allies saying don’t believe that bad poll, the mayor is doing great.) But Adams humbled himself on his visit to Washington on Thursday — his 10th capital trip in which he’s lobbied for migrant funding since taking office, City Hall said. Or 11, if you count last month when Adams had to bounce following an FBI raid on his staffers and donors. He flew down for short meetings with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries on their turf. And we do mean short — Adams was in and out of Jeffries’ D.C. office in 18 minutes. “I have faith in the congressman and senator,” Adams said in a brief press gaggle before getting in his SUV, which was driven down from the city for the day. Adams isn’t the King of New York, but a supplicant, asking the more powerful figures for more money and, somehow, fewer asylum seekers. Adams met with FEMA administrators and members of President Joe Biden’s team too, but not the president himself — instead angling for more conversations at a White House holiday party for local officials from around the country. Congress is in the midst of negotiating a supplemental spending plan that could bring money to local governments serving migrants like New York City. It could also enact some stricter immigration policies favored by Republicans that Adams would likely agree with. And Adams’ visits do help his cause, a senior Hill staffer from New York told Playbook, saying, “It puts the issue at the forefront of everybody’s mind. It gets this delegation focused and talking.” A little humility can make the difference. “All politics is the same. Everyone thinks they’re more important than they are,” including Eric Adams, a senior city agency staffer said. “And if you don’t show up, then they’re just going to ignore you.” — Jeff Coltin IT’S FRIDAY. Happy Hanukkah and have a great weekend. Thanks for reading. Got news? Send it our way: Jeff Coltin, Emily Ngo and Nick Reisman.
| | | | A message from Healthcare Education Project: Imagine. Less hospital staff. Services cut. Packed ERs. Well, it’s a reality for many in New York. If we don’t fix Medicaid underpayments to hospitals, the crisis will get worse – some hospitals may not survive. Medicaid underfunds hospital care by 30%, already causing deep cuts to mental health services and maternity care. All New Yorkers need equal access to quality healthcare, no matter their income or zip code. Tell Albany: End the Medicaid Funding Crisis. | | | WHERE’S KATHY? Attending Shabbat services at Temple Israel in Albany, one day after shots were fired just outside the synagogue. WHERE’S ERIC? Calling for “Unity, Peace and Safety” with religious leaders in the City Hall Rotunda, making an appointment-related announcement and speaking at a New York City Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Hispanic Business Award Ceremony. QUOTE OF THE DAY: “We have no tolerance for the forces of evil who are trying to tear our communities apart” — Gov. Kathy Hochul in response to the gunshots outside Albany’s Temple Israel.
|  | ABOVE THE FOLD | | | | 
Former state Sen. Anna Kaplan dropped her bid to represent New York's third congressional district in congress on Thursday. | Hans Pennink/AP Photo | SUOZZI BEAR HUG: Democrats are falling in line behind former Rep. Tom Suozzi’s candidacy in the Feb. 13 special election to fill the former seat of disgraced ex-Rep. George Santos. Suozzi’s selection by Democratic leaders, including Rep. Greg Meeks and Nassau County/State Democratic Committee Chair Jay Jacobs was of little actual surprise. But Democrats are clearly trying to demonstrate something for which they haven’t typically been known: Unity, heading into what will be a pivotal election. The field had all but cleared for Suozzi leading up to this moment, with former rivals for the nomination dropping their bids and endorsing him. On Thursday, former state Sen. Anna Kaplan, who has been questioning Suozzi’s commitment to abortion rights, suspended her campaign and gave him her approval for the special election. “We need to start 2024 off right, and that means electing Tom Suozzi to flip this seat and get Democrats closer to the majority,” she said. And even Gov. Kathy Hochul, who remained miffed by Suozzi’s ill-fated bid for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination last year, gave her blessing after meeting with the Long Islander (and extracting an apology). “I think it’s very important to her that we have candidates who certainly represent the Democratic Party well and will have the best chance of winning,” Jacobs told Playbook in an interview this week. “She’s been clear she wanted due diligence done on any candidate under serious consideration in this race.” Winning is the key word for many New York Democrats heading into 2024 with an estimated six battleground House seats in the state and five of them are held by freshmen Republican lawmakers. The road to the House majority is expected to run through New York given the razor-thin control for the GOP. Republicans, meanwhile, are yet to name a candidate, but have pledged a rigorous vetting process after the Santos debacle. “Voters will reject Suozzi just like they did in his failed bid for governor last year,” National Republican Congressional Committee spokesperson Savannah Viar said. — Nick Reisman
| | WHAT CITY HALL IS READING | | |  Ana María Archila, co-director of the New York Working Families Party, said the ongoing FBI investigation into the mayor's campaign and his record low approval rating may bring about political opportunity. | Jacquelyn Martin/AP | ON YOUR LEFT: The political left is ready to pounce on Adams, emboldened by the Quinnipiac University poll showing him with historically abysmal job approval numbers, POLITICO reports. Some liberals are casting about for a viable challenger to the moderate mayor in 2025. Others are preparing for the more immediate battle against his local budget cuts. Both groups see an opening. “That opening has become wider and wider,” Ana María Archila, co-director of the New York Working Families Party, told Playbook. “The last several weeks have shown that this mayor is not only not strong and not popular but he might not be the mayor for his whole term.” It was a reference to Adams’ campaign being federally investigated, though he has not been charged. The mayor finds himself weakened as the left-leaning WFP reorganizes under the new leadership of Archila and Jasmine Gripper. In 2021, the establishment left was divided among three mayoral candidates, helping Adams clinch victory with his working-class, multiracial support. “The Working Families Party will not allow that scenario to repeat itself,” Gripper said. Adams’ team questioned the poll’s validity and called it misleading. And they rallied several allies to commend him. Manny Pastreich, president of the influential building workers union, said, “Working people have a true ally in Mayor Eric Adams.” — Emily Ngo More from the city: — An Adams campaign donor said their boss reimbursed them for a contribution recorded at the KSK Construction event being federally probed. (The City) — Adams’ budget approach is misguided and shortsighted, Council Speaker Adrienne Adams and Finance Chair Justin Brannan write. (am New York) — City Council members are calling for the outgoing correction commissioner to be investigated over an alleged cover-up. (Gothamist)
| | | | A message from Healthcare Education Project:   | | | | | WHAT ALBANY'S READING | | |  Migrants wait in the cold as they are look for a shelter outside an East Village assistance center. A new study suggests the recent influx of undocumented immigrants to New York City may be on par with city immigration rates during the 1990s. | AP | MIGRANT MATH: A coalition of progressive advocacy organizations in a white paper released this week argues the surge of newly-arriving migrants isn’t really much of a surge at all. The study from Make the Road New York, the Community Service Society, Immigration Research Initiative and Strong Economy for All, found the pace of migrant arrivals to more or less match past annual rates of immigrants coming to New York City. The report says the approximately 130,000 migrants who have arrived in the city over the last 18 months — amounting to about 85,000 annually — is not dissimilar to the more than 78,000 coming each year during the final decade of the 20th Century. “This is not an apples-to-apples comparison — for instance, we don’t know how many of the 130,000 new arrivals today have stayed in New York City. But it gives some perspective,” the report adds. The numbers aren’t merely academic. A budget debate ahead of next year is already brewing as Hochul has signaled the state will curtail spending for housing migrants at hotels, and as Adams contends the city’s financial health has worsened as a result of the migrant crisis. — Nick Reisman SCHOLARSHIP FUND: Alums and allies of former Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration are being urged to help raise money for a scholarship fund in honor of the late Letizia Tagliafierro, a former state inspector general who died earlier this year following a battle with cancer. The scholarship fund is meant to help students at SUNY Albany, Tagliafierro’s alma mater. “Our goal is to nurture Letizia's spirit of public service, optimism, and goodwill in these young individuals who will carry her legacy forward,” Cuomo wrote in a letter obtained by Playbook. An event on Monday at the Albany Hilton will also be held to kick off the scholarship fund. Donations can be made on Cuomo’s website. — Nick Reisman More from Albany: — Donald Trump’s name should be excluded from New York’s ballot next year for his alleged incitement of the 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol, a group of state senators urged election officials. (New York Daily News) — A federal judge overseeing the fate of congestion pricing is married to an ally of New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, so a state senator says he should recuse himself. (POLITICO Pro) — Cuomo, who was raised Catholic, will start attending Friday night Shabbat services as an act of solidarity with the Jewish people amid rising antisemitism. (NY Daily News)
| | FROM THE DELEGATION | | | | 
The House voted Tuesday to censure Rep. Jamaal Bowman, but his primary challenger Westchester County Executive George Latimer said the move was more about politics than important issues. | Francis Chung/POLITICO | BOWMAN’S CENSURE: Democratic Westchester County Executive George Latimer is not sounding much of an alarm over the House’s move to censure his primary opponent, Rep. Jamaal Bowman. The House on Thursday approved the reprimand of Bowman after he pulled a fire alarm during a key vote earlier this year. But while the notoriety for Bowman was followed by a competitive primary challenge, Latimer in a statement cited bigger issues at hand, like funding for Ukraine and Israel. "What the Congressman did was an unfortunate incident, but with the unfinished work at hand before the House of Representatives, the motion to censure was about putting politics first,” Latimer said. — Nick Reisman FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), who has a reputation as a very MAGA Republican, is generally unpopular on the other side of the aisle. But she’s received a burst of public and private praise this week from some Democrats for how she interrogated three top college presidents about antisemitism in a moment that went viral. The exchange showed the heads of Harvard, UPenn and MIT waffling on whether calling for the genocide of Jews would violate codes of conduct at their universities. Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.), former Rep. Ted Deutch (D-Fla.), who is now CEO of the American Jewish Committee, and major Democratic donor Bill Ackman have reached out to Stefanik to express their gratitude to her for shining a spotlight on the issue, according to a person familiar with the matter. ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt and Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Herzog have also contacted Stefanik to thank her for pressing the three presidents. UPenn president Liz Magill released a video walking back her comments, and Harvard president Claudine Gay issued a statement condemning calls for violence against Jews on campus. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) said on Fox News on Thursday that the three should be fired, calling their statements “abhorrent,” Democratic Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro urged UPenn to “meet soon” about Magill’s leadership, and White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates said “calls for genocide are monstrous and antithetical to everything we represent as a country.” Major figures ranging from Elon Musk to Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen to numerous senators to anti-Trump former Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) also either thanked Stefanik or highlighted the moment online. When POLITICO asked Schumer about Tuesday’s hearing, he said in a statement: “There is far too much antisemitism on college campuses and administrators must be more vigilant and proactive in curbing it.” Schumer himself has talked about the scourge of anti-Semitism in a recent major floor speech and a Times op-ed. — Daniel Lippman More from the delegation: — A longshot candidate for George Santos’ NY-03 seat, Philip Grillo, was convicted for storming the Capitol on Jan. 6. (The Guardian) — George Latimer says Rep. Jamaal Bowman’s allies have attempted to paint him as “white,” “old,” “part of the establishment” and “kind of out of it.” (City & State)
| | | | 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 provides New York’s hospitals 30% less than the actual cost of care for the low-income individuals the program covers, including children, the disabled, and seniors. But hospitals and caregivers give all of their patients 100%, each and every day. Medicaid underpayments have already meant cuts to mental health services and maternity care. If we don’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 half the cost of closing the Medicaid funding gap, so it’s a savings for New York. Tell Albany: End the Medicaid funding crisis now. | | | | | AROUND NEW YORK | | — Northwell Health is facing at least 20 lawsuits after about 4 million current and former patients were affected by a massive data breach. (Newsday) — Donald Trump was back in court today defending his valuations of his New York real estate portfolio against AG Tish James. (CNN) — A $1 million armed jewelry heist occurred in the city’s diamond district early Thursday morning. (New York Post)
| | SOCIAL DATA BY DANIEL LIPPMAN | | MAKING MOVES — Liberty Aldrich is now executive director of the Children’s Law Center. She most recently was a Bronx-based Family Court judge. HAPPY BIRTHDAY: WSJ’s Sabrina Siddiqui … artist Sophia Narrett … Kerri Kupec … AP’s Pablo Martínez Monsiváis … Artemis Strategies’ Brooke Lorenz … NBC’s Cesar Conde, Tom Mazzarelli and Elyse Perlmutter-Gumbiner … ABC’s Marc Burstein … Reuters’ Scott Malon … former World Bank President Jim Yong Kim … Semafor’s Joseph Zeballos-Roig (WAS THURSDAY): Jonathan M. Tisch ... Michael Steinhardt ... Hannah Goldfield
| | Real Estate | | — Creedmoor Psychiatric Center in Eastern Queens is the site of a Hochul plan to create 2,800 homes. (The Real Deal) — Converting office buildings into apartments could bring remarkable cuts to the city’s carbon emissions, a new report found. (New York Times) | | | | 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 | | | | |
