A criminal justice debate as session ends

May 23, 2024

By Nick Reisman, Emily Ngo and Jeff Coltin

Presented by

With help from Irie Sentner

Harvey Weinstein arrives at a Manhattan courthouse.

The Democratic-led state Senate approved a measure meant to address an issue raised by the Harvey Weinstein case and give prosecutors a statutory power to submit so-called Molineux evidence in sex crimes cases. | John Minchillo/AP

NEW YORK MINUTE: Former President Donald Trump is planning to rally in the South Bronx at 6 p.m. this evening in Crotona Park — and the Biden campaign is taking the opportunity to release TV and radio ads with “receipts of Trump’s racist record” in an effort to keep Black voters with President Joe Biden.

Backing up Biden? New York City Council Member Yusef Salaam released a statement with the campaign recalling Trump’s attacks on the Central Park Five.

South Bronx Assemblymember Amanda Septimo has also organized a counter-rally. “It’s existential,” she told Playbook. “Trump doesn’t get to come to the Bronx and not get a response.” — Jeff Coltin

PROSECUTOR POWER: A bill under consideration in the wake of disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein’s New York sex crimes case being overturned faces an uncertain path.

And negotiations around the proposal highlight the divide over broader criminal justice policy in the state Legislature, which has been a sticky wicket for Democrats.

The measure is meant to resolve the issue raised by the state Court of Appeals in the Weinstein case: Prosecutors called witnesses who had accused Weinstein of sexual assault, but those allegations were not related to the criminal charges he faced.

The Democratic-led state Senate on Wednesday approved the measure. Backed by state Sen. Mike Gianaris, it is meant to address the issue raised by the court and give prosecutors a statutory power to submit so-called Molineux evidence in sex crimes cases.

Gianaris said Wednesday the bill brings the state into alignment with federal rules of evidence and enables sexual assault victims to share their experiences.

But there are questions being raised in the Democratic-controlled state Assembly in the waning days of the legislative session.

Some lawmakers at the very least want to pump the brakes.

“We should take our time to talk to legal experts, understand what other states have,” Assemblymember Ken Zebrowski told Playbook. “There’s long-standing legal precedent that you want to convince someone based on evidence they committed a crime, not because they might be an otherwise unsavory individual.”

Assemblymember Amy Paulin, the bill’s sponsor, said in an interview she nevertheless plans to convince her colleagues to get the measure over the finish line.

“I think the arguments are very strong to do the bill,” she said. “I’m hoping we persuade the conference to go along with that.”

The fate of the complicated legislation underscores how the Assembly has been historically cautious with the impact of criminal justice policy.

Some lawmakers in the chamber have worried about the effect of laws that tilt toward the prosecution in criminal cases, part of a broader debate among Democrats over how to address crime and public safety.

Provisions meant to crack down on retail theft in the state were approved in the final budget agreement, but not before Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie signaled he was skeptical of the approach to increase penalties.

But the stance has also led to political complications for Democrats in New York.

Limiting cash bail requirements, as well as changes to evidence procedures and the juvenile justice system have all created blowback for Democratic candidates running at state and federal levels in New York over the last two years.

Gov. Kathy Hochul has sought to make crime and public safety a cornerstone issue in the wake of her relatively narrow election in 2022 in which her party’s criminal justice law changes were turned into liabilities by Republicans.

Hochul, who has not taken a public position on the sex crimes bill, believes Democrats are more willing to take a firm approach to public safety than the soft-on-crime caricature.

“We have to protect everyone — protecting people from hate crimes, protecting people from gun violence,” she said. “To me, it’s not a complicated issue.”

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

A message from Safer Roads For All:

New York State has the potential to pave the way to a cleaner, safer, and more accessible future with autonomous vehicles. Using real-world data from over 7 million rider-only driving miles in 3 major cities, studies have shown that autonomous vehicles (AVs) can avoid injury-causing and fatal crashes better than human driver benchmarks.

WHERE’S KATHY? In Albany, Suffolk and Nassau counties, New York City and Erie County; signing Suffolk County water legislation and making a summer recreation announcement.

WHERE’S ERIC? Hosting a reception to kick off Fleet Week and make a military- and veterans-related announcement, delivering remarks at the grand opening of HSBC’s new headquarters, making a mental health- and youth-related announcement, speaking at the ribbon-cutting ceremony for Atrium at Sumner, a new mixed-use housing development for older adults, meeting with Shanghai Mayor Gong Zheng and appearing live on News12.

QUOTE OF THE DAY: “After a marathon 3 weeks, May Madness comes to an end.” — City Council Finance Chair Justin Brannan in a faux post-game interview capping 82 total hours of executive budget hearings.

ABOVE THE FOLD

Rep. Jamaal Bowman (center) greets residents as he campaigns for reelection in the Bronx.

“It’s a well-known, well-liked, well-respected opponent, been around a long time. Congressman Engel was 30 years, this guy’s 35 years,” Bowman told Playbook of former Rep. Eliot Engel and Westchester County Executive George Latimer. | Emily Ngo/POLITICO

NY-16 FLASHBACK: Rep. Jamaal Bowman and George Latimer each see parallels between their bitter primary and the 2020 contest that ushered Bowman into Congress.

“It’s a well-known, well-liked, well-respected opponent, been around a long time. Congressman Engel was 30 years, this guy’s 35 years,” Bowman told Playbook of former Rep. Eliot Engel and Latimer. “Backed by the same kind of people, like the AIPAC lobby.”

Latimer, the Westchester County executive who formerly served in the state and county legislatures, is indeed supported by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, whose super PAC United Democracy Project has announced $5.6 million in spending on this primary as of Wednesday, according to AdImpact.

But Latimer also boasts local support. The mayor, council president and council majority leader of Yonkers were among those who endorsed him on Wednesday, a telling decision because they represent the city Bowman lives in. Engel has endorsed Latimer, too.

“I think the simple parallel is this,” Latimer told Playbook, saying of Engel and Bowman: “There was an incumbent congressman that he felt — and he said this at the time — was too focused on international affairs and did not know his district well enough.”

Latimer said his two-term opponent “has been much more focused on things outside the district and not focused locally.”

At their barbfest of a first televised debate, Latimer criticized Bowman for focusing more on rhetoric than results. Bowman responded that rhetoric leads to organizing, which leads to revolution. — Emily Ngo

RELATED: AIPAC has released a new digital ad against Bowman, based on POLITICO’s scoop on how he called the reports of rape in Israel by Hamas on Oct. 7 “propaganda.” (He later backtracked.)

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CITY HALL: THE LATEST

Mayor Eric Adams delivers remarks and present a proclamation at the NAACP’s 110th Anniversary of the Freedom Fund Dinner at Antun’s in Queens on Friday, 24, 2022.

Mayor Eric Adams announced his plans to create a Charter Revision Commission on Tuesday night. | Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office

ADAMS ALL-STARS: Mayor Eric Adams pulled from his longtime allies — some, a VERY long time — to fill out membership on his surprise Charter Revision Commission.

The list of 13 announced Wednesday includes 93-year-old Rev. Herbert Daughtry, who encouraged Adams to join the police department 40 years ago, and 92-year-old NAACP leader Hazel Dukes.

Former Bronx BP Ruben Diaz Jr. and ex-32BJ President Kyle Bragg were key Adams campaign boosters. Now both lobby City Hall for private clients — as does former Rep. Max Rose, partnered with Adams’ one-time chief of staff Frank Carone.

As the Times’ Dana Rubinstein pointed out, anti-violence advocates Jackie Rowe-Adams and Stephanie McGraw were among the few supporters who gave City Hall statements defending the mayor after he was sued for sexual assault, which he denies.

And it’s chaired by the New York Building Congress’ Carlo Scissura, who wasn’t appointed to the Adams administration after THE CITY wrote about what appeared to be his unreported lobbying on real estate deals with the city.

The council and mayor are trying to exert power over each other, but a senior council staffer told Playbook the list of appointees proved Adams wasn’t serious.

It’s a “24-hour baked Charter Revision Commission, chaired by someone who couldn’t ethically become a commissioner, filled with members that demonstrate why advice and consent of commissioners is needed,” the staffer quipped. “Everything is a family and friends plan with this administration.”

Adams spokesperson Fabien Levy fired back, straining the definition of “working class” in the process. He said he “wouldn’t disparage any working-class New Yorker who cares about transparency and their community’s safety, but if that is the route a ‘City Council source’ wants to go, I guess we know the opinions of constituents are not something this unnamed individual cares about.” — Jeff Coltin

THEY ASKED, CITY HALL LISTENED: Levy also offered Playbook documentation to back up his claim that the mayor wasn’t exclusively motivated in calling the Charter Revision Commission by a desire to block the council from growing its oversight of city agency heads. (Although that remains the prevailing theory behind the surprise announcement this week.)

It was a quick turnaround from an administration that readily withholds information from reporters.

Rowe-Adams and other community safety activists sent a letter to City Hall on April 10 saying their voices were drowned out by “special interest social media advocates and their captives on the City Council” — language notably similar to the mayor’s frequent rebuttal to critics.

Like Adams, the signees opposed a bill requiring cops to provide more information on even low-level stops — which the council had passed into law over the mayor’s veto.

City Hall set up a May 2 meeting with the signees and Adams. There, school safety activist Mona Davids “stated that she would like for the Mayor to look into convening a charter revision to ensure that something like this doesn’t happen again where the community is not heard,” according to meeting notes Levy shared with Playbook.

Davids is also the founder and publisher of Little Africa News, where she covers City Hall and other news for the African diaspora.

Rowe-Adams backed her up, arguing for a charter revision “that would require the council allow for public comment in the form of public hearings before any legislation that impacts public safety is voted upon.”

The council did take public comment on the police reporting bill, at a hearing lasting nearly five hours.

The May 2 meeting was two weeks before the Daily News reported the council was considering a bill to expand its powers of advice and consent, and Levy said the council didn’t give Adams’ team a heads up about it.

Rowe-Adams, Dukes, McGraw, Rabbi Chaim Steinmetz and Bishop Gerald Seabrooks all signed the letter and attended the roundtable, and have now been appointed to Adams’ commission. — Jeff Coltin

DANCE BREAK: Small Business Services Commissioner Kevin Kim is resigning June 21 — but not before he dropped a super-catchy jingle promoting the agency’s hotline.

It even got council members bopping at a recent hearing.

Kim is still talking with Carone about working for his lobbying firm Oaktree, he told Playbook, while weighing other opportunities as well — including joining an over-50 K-pop boy band, he joked. — Jeff Coltin

More from the city:

— Adams’ brother’s paid involvement with a charity gala where the mayor spoke has raised concern among watchdog groups that it could become a legal backdoor for currying favor with the mayor. (Daily News)

— Kathryn Garcia, who was runner-up to Adams in 2021, is reaching out to labor unions in what’s being viewed as the groundwork for a potential City Hall run. (Daily News)

— The council advanced Adams’ City of Yes business-boosting zoning plan, making relatively modest changes to appease wary lawmakers. (POLITICO Pro)

— NYPD officers wrote 467 summonses for crossing mid-block or against the light last year — and 92 percent went to Blacks or Latinos, data shows. (Streetsblog)

A message from Safer Roads For All:

NEW FROM PLANET ALBANY

NYPD officers in uniform stand around Assemblymember Ron Kim in a campaign ad stating that he is "serious about our safety."

Progressive Assemblymember Ron Kim stands among five cops in the ad — which could get them in trouble, given the rules against appearing in political communications in uniform. | Photo obtained by POLITICO

KIM COPS COPS: Progressive Assemblymember Ron Kim embraced defunding the police in 2020, but now he’s papering his Queens district with posters and mailers standing with police officers, to defend against his more conservative primary opponent Yi Andy Chen — who’s also got a cop ad.

Kim stands among five cops in the ad — which could get them in trouble, given the rules against appearing in political communications in uniform.

It’s part of his pro-cop rhetorical shift the Post wrote about, just four years after tweeting posts like “Reforming the police is like trying to tame capitalism. It doesn’t work. … #DefundPolice to invest in care work.”

A Kim campaign spokesperson said he “has always been an ardent supporter of law enforcement” saying he fought for a new police precinct, and more funding for the current one, and added he’s been endorsed by the Auxiliary Police Benevolent Association.

That’s notable since his opponent Chen was a member himself through 2022 — hence, his own photo in uniform in the ad. But Chen got the larger Police Benevolent Association endorsement over Kim.

Money is pouring into both candidates’ coffers, and Chen has benefitted from the Republican-funded super PAC Committee for Sensible Government too, which is running ads claiming Kim will defund the police. — Jeff Coltin

FIRST IN PLAYBOOK: The five New York City district attorneys and a coalition of non-profit organizations are putting their muscle behind a state-level bill to end the statute of limitations for sex trafficking offenses.

The measure, backed by Assemblymember Jeff Dinowitz and state Sen. Cordell Cleare, would also extend the window for victims and survivors to file lawsuits.

“Victims of sex trafficking are often preyed upon by multiple traffickers before they are able to report to law enforcement,” a letter to legislative leaders and Hochul from the district attorneys and the non-profits, including the Met Council and the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women, stated.

“The existing statute of limitations severely curtails the ability to secure justice for them.”

The letter, obtained by Playbook, comes as lawmakers are set to conclude the legislative session in the coming weeks.

But it also comes as the Legislature has sought ways to address human trafficking in New York, and Hochul has signed laws to boost awareness of the issue. — Nick Reisman

More from Albany:

— Hochul’s nominee to lead the Dormitory Authority faced stiff questioning from lawmakers over the rollout of the cannabis marketplace. (New York Public Radio)

— The Legislature’s “Moms Squad” says it won victories this year. (Spectrum News)

— Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez endorsed Jonathan Soto’s challenge to Assemblymember Michael Benedetto. (City & State)

NEW YORK STATE OF MIND

— The Republican-aligned Congressional Leadership Fund is reserving $28.7 million in ads across New York state ahead of the fall elections. (State of Politics)

— Ocasio-Cortez and Bowman are encouraging young voters to back Biden. (NY1)

— Train service along the Northeast Corridor south of New York City ground to a halt last night because of fallen overhead power cables in New Jersey. (New York Times)

A message from Safer Roads For All:

Autonomous vehicles are never distracted, intoxicated, or tired. Whether from drowsy, distracted, or drunk driving, human error is to blame for many of the 1.36 million traffic collisions in the U.S. each year. Even on their best days, people are prone to making mistakes - and every New Yorker has been impacted in some way by car crashes. Deploying a framework to allow AV expansion in New York will have a life-saving impact in stopping the avoidable traffic deaths on our roads.

SOCIAL DATA

Edited by Daniel Lippman

ABOUT LAST NIGHT: Yes, there’s something to do in Albany.

The 122nd LCA Show, the oldest political gridiron in the country, included plenty of jokes about Hochul, the Legislature and the last few months of gaffes and pratfalls in Albany.

Rebuttals included Rep. Mike Lawler’s Daily Show-inspired bit that poked fun at how he’s become a mainstay on cable news.

Assembly Minority Leader Will Barclay took a tour of Albany to prove the state’s capital has plenty of fun stuff to do.

And Hochul made some playful self-digs at her exercise routine that resulted in an arm injury earlier this year with a spoof '80s workout video. Her presentation also included a cameo from her erstwhile Democratic primary rival Tom Suozzi. — Nick Reisman

MEDIAWATCH: New York Focus editor Maia Hibbett is joining WNYC and Gothamist as politics editor.

MAKING MOVES — Erika Masonhall is now managing director of the new LA office of strategic comms firm Risa Heller Communications. She most recently was director for entertainment and studio communications at Netflix and is a Facebook and NBC News alum. … Monika Tashman is now a partner in the entertainment department of Loeb & Loeb. She most recently was a partner in the music and entertainment department at Manatt, Phelps & Phillips.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY: former AG Bill Barr … ABC’s Mary Bruce … NBC’s Danielle Dellorto … BBC’s Adam Levy … Jerry Goldfeder … Matthew Nussbaum … Anna Gohmann … (WAS WEDNESDAY): Connie Bruck ... Noah Feldman ... J. Michael Schell ... Peter Walker Kaplan … (WAS TUESDAY): Newsmax’s Nicole Ginis

POLITICO invites you to learn more about POLITICO's coverage of politics, policy and power in Albany. Join us on Wednesday, May 29 to connect with fellow New Yorkers over drinks and appetizers. RSVP HERE.