Coincidence much? Congestion pricing is alive again

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Nov 11, 2024 View in browser   By Jason Beeferman Presented by  Gov. Kathy Hochul is making moves to bring back congestion pricing days after Election Day, after previously saying her decision to pause the program had nothing to do with politics. | Don Pollard/Office of Governor Kathy Hochul NEW YORK MINUTE: Former Republican gubernatorial candidate and Long Island Rep. Lee Zeldin was tapped by President-elect Donald Trump to lead the Environmental Protection Agency. Zeldin, a staunch Trump supporter who earned a low rating from the League of Conservation Voters during his time in Congress, is the second New Yorker in the past 24 hours to be named to a top post in the incoming Trump cabinet. Upstate Rep. and House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik will be nominated to become Trump’s ambassador to the United Nations (more on that below). GREAT TIMING: Gov. Kathy Hochul told New Yorkers in June her congestion pricing pause didn’t have anything to do with politics or elections. Less than a week after Election Day, in an act of awfully convenient timing, Hochul is moving to bring it back. “If that reporting is true, then this very obviously reeks of politics,” said Orange County Democratic state Sen. James Skoufis. Five months ago, Hochul denied reporting in POLITICO that her sudden halt of the congestion pricing toll program was due to political concerns — specifically that the program was paused to avoid a drag on down-ballot Democrats in battleground congressional districts. She said she had a change of heart after hearing the economic concerns of commuters during diner chats. Fast forward to today, with the House election results still being counted and New York Democrats looking poised to pick up three seats, Hochul is rushing to revamp the tolling plan before Trump takes office. The incoming president has made clear he’s no fan of the toll. On Friday, POLITICO reported that Hochul is reaching out to the Biden administration about bringing back the toll program, but lowering the charge to enter parts of Manhattan to around $9, from the planned $15. “Conversations with the federal government are not new,” she told reporters when asked about the report. “We've had ongoing conversations with the White House, the D.O.T, the Federal Highway Administration, since June. That conversation continues.” Now Democrats outside of the transit-rich heart of New York City are blasting the governor and warning her it will bring her the political pain she sought to avoid. Some also allege a reboot undermines her argument that the pause wasn’t political. “We need a permanent end to congestion pricing efforts, full stop,” Democratic Representative-elect Laura Gillen wrote on X, just three days after her tight victory over Rep. Anthony D’Esposito. “Long Island commuters cannot afford another tax.” Skoufis rejected the idea that Hochul’s down-ballot wins would buy her any goodwill. “If she does that, she will have both pissed off the people who thought this was politics and opposed the pause to begin with,” he added. “She will have managed to piss off everybody and in Politics 101, you learn in the classroom very, very early: Pick a side. Pick a side. Stand for something.” The clock to bring back the program is ticking. Beyond finding a solution to the $15 billion congestion pricing revenue hole — which will need to be reworked if the toll is less than $15 — the MTA’s capital plan puts the state on the hook for an additional $33 billion. The transit authority is also looking for an additional $14 billion from the federal government, an ask that could face hostility from a Trump administration — which funded the MTA and New York transit systems at much lower levels than the Biden administration. Rachael Fauss, a senior policy advisor at government reform group Reinvent Albany, said that it’s not a matter of months — but weeks or days — for Hochul to reinstate the program. “This is it for congestion pricing if she wants to get it to be part of the solution,” she said, referencing the MTA’s imminent budgetary crisis. And stalking the governor are also the political implications of a weathering and increasingly malfunctioning transit system. Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who, before his downfall, enjoyed high levels of support from Democrats statewide, saw some of his worst approval numbers during the MTA’s “Summer of Hell.” “It doesn't add up without congestion pricing,” Fauss said of the MTA’s budgetary issues. “This is the week to do it. These are the days. She has days to do this.” — Jason Beeferman   A message from Amazon:   From the Capitol Assemblymember Chris Tague is one potential GOP replacement for Rep. Elise Stefanik. | Hans Pennink/AP Photo GOP JOCKEYING: An unofficial primary is underway among Republicans to replace Rep. Elise Stefanik in a northern New York House district, now that she’s accepted Trump’s offer to become ambassador to the United Nations. Two GOP members of the state Assembly — Chris Tague and Robert Smullen — are eying the seat. Rensselaer County Executive Steve McLaughlin’s name has also been floated, as has state Sen. Dan Stec. And, should he ultimately lose his razor-thin reelection, Rep. Marc Molinaro could run for the seat, according to a person familiar with the conversations. Molinaro trails Democratic challenger Josh Riley by less than 2 points, with ballots still being counted. Molinaro is yet to concede his race to Riley. But a spokesperson for his campaign pointedly did not rule out a run for Stefanik’s current district. “Our race isn’t over,” Molinaro spokesperson Dan Kranz said. “Elise Stefanik is a fighter, delivered big conservative results for the North Country, and will restore America’s credibility at the UN. Her successor has big shoes to fill and must be ready to help advance Trump’s agenda on day one.” Stefanik has represented the area since 2014, flipping the district for her party after Democratic Rep. Bill Owens retired. The sprawling and deeply Republican district stretches from the Albany suburbs to the Canadian border. It encompasses the Adirondack mountains as well as Fort Drum. For years, the district had a libertarian tinge; over the past eight years it has become solidly Trump country. Two Republican strategists told Playbook this morning any candidate would have to demonstrate clear support for the incoming Trump administration’s policies. County chairs will determine the nominees — an arrangement that gives Tague an early advantage. The Assembly lawmaker is the Schoharie County GOP chair, and in an interview with Playbook said he would begin making calls to his fellow county leaders. “I would be a strong voice for this district. We’re considering it,” he said. “The most important objective here is that this congressional seat remains in Republican hands.” Smullen, who has extensive national security experience from his time in the Bush administration, praised the nomination of Stefanik to the United Nation’s ambassadorship. But in an interview he was also reticent about running for her seat and cited the death of his son earlier this year. “It’s a very demanding job, but we’ll see what progresses and what conversations are had,” he said. McLaughlin, a seemingly omnipresent presence on X, would likely be the most aggressive candidate, despite a rather tepid answer when asked about his plans. “We’ll see,” he wrote in a text. Stec did not respond to text messages and phone calls. On the Democratic side, Assemblymember Billy Jones, a moderate from the Plattsburgh area, is under consideration. — Nick Reisman — THE TIMING OF THE SPECIAL: The timing of any special election would be set by a 2021 law dictating a governor must choose a date that’s between 70 to 90 days from the time they’re notified that a vacancy has been created. Three of the past five ambassadors to the UN for new administrations have been confirmed about a week after Inauguration Day. With the Senate firmly under Republican control and Stefanik already well known in Washington, it’s a safe bet she’ll similarly be on a fast track. That would leave three potential Tuesdays. April 15 overlaps with Passover and Holy Week, so any oddsmakers can leave that off the table, leaving only two possible dates — April 8 if Hochul wants to rush the vote, and April 22 if she wants to leave a Republican-friendly seat vacant a little longer and give Democrats a bit more time to campaign. Of course, all that timing is dependent on Stefanik being quickly confirmed and waiting to resign until that happens. And Hochul would need to receive a formal notification that the seat is vacant, something that hasn’t always happened quickly in the past. — Bill Mahoney FROM CITY HALL Alex Spiro, the attorney for Mayor Eric Adams, issued a new request to the judge in Adams' corruption trial today. | Getty Images TIME TRIAL: Mayor Eric Adams appears dead-set on running for reelection amid criminal bribery charges and multiple law enforcement probes into his administration. His lawyer, Alex Spiro, sent a letter to the judge in Adams’ federal criminal case today asking for the trial date to be moved up three weeks from its current start-date of April 21. The reason? In Spiro’s vision of the future, doing so would give Adams more time to campaign after he is exonerated. “An earlier trial date will ensure that Mayor Adams’s speedy trial rights are upheld, that the Mayor will be able to fully participate in his reelection campaign and that this City’s voters can be rid of the distraction of this misguided indictment as they hear from and evaluate the Democratic candidates for Mayor on their merits,” Spiro wrote. As an incentive to fast-track the case, Spiro offered to give up his right to seek additional discovery materials. The unusual move telegraphed both his confidence in the defense and the conviction with which Adams appears to be pursuing a second term. Federal prosecutors accused Adams of accepting bribes from individuals associated with the Turkish government in exchange for trying to fast track the opening of the Turkish embassy in midtown. The case took a sharp turn for the uncertain last week after voters sent former President Donald Trump back to the White House. The mayor studiously avoided criticizing Trump during the campaign. And the president elect has spoken sympathetically about Adams’ legal plight. As POLITICO reported last week, there are several ways Trump could intervene in the mayor’s criminal case, including issuing a pardon if Adams is convicted. — Joe Anuta   A message from Amazon:   From The Campaign Trail Former Rep. Mondaire Jones, who lost his congressional bid against incumbent Republican Rep. Mike Lawler, shared his theorized on why Democrats performed poorly at the top of the ticket. | Courtesy of News 12 SOUR GRAPES: While some of New York’s House Democrats took a victory lap over the weekend, former Congressman Mondaire Jones returned to the perch he took after losing his last House race — the CNN pundit seat — to shed some light on how Trump performed so well in New York’s 17th District. “It speaks to the fact that the Democratic Party’s brand is in shambles in the suburbs because of the issue of immigration, and I’ve criticized my party on this,” Jones said. “We waited way too long to be tough on the border, to take seriously the migrant crisis, and to act to secure the border. And we are paying the price and we are seeing that all throughout the United States” But most other House Democrats didn’t see that in the Empire State last Tuesday. One district to the north, Democratic Rep. Pat Ryan cruised to a decisive 13-point victory on a platform focused on affordability, after taking his seat last cycle by just 1.4 points. On Long Island, Democrat Laura Gillen unseated Republican Rep. Anthony D’Esposito with the help of an ad in which she said, “we’re 2,000 miles from Mexico but we’re feeling the migrant crisis.” Jones came into the race with some baggage on the topic. Just four years ago, he said he supported defunding Immigrations and Customs Enforcement and US Customs and Border Protection. “So long as leaders in the Democratic Party capitulate to extremists who want them to use words like ‘defund the police’ and deny the existence of a border crisis, they will continue to lose tough elections,” Jones posted on X over the weekend. “There’s a reason those extremists never build political power.” During his first bid for Congress in 2020, Jones repeatedly made calls to defund the police. After moving to Brooklyn to lose in a crowded primary in the 10th District, Jones launched his comeback bid in the lower Hudson Valley with an ad in which a police officer claimed he listened and funded the police, but it was not enough to compensate for his past calls for the opposite. Jones did not respond to a request for comment. — Timmy Facciola IN OTHER NEWS... — GETTING TO KNOW ELISE: The three part series on the likely future UN Ambassador chronicles her rise in profile (NY1).... MEET AND GREET: Stefanik is also set to meet with Israeli President Isaac Herzog in the wake of her nomination for UN Ambassador. (Fox News) — DREAMERS CONFRONT TRUMP PRESIDENCY: Undocumented immigrants in New York are processing what a Trump presidency and his mass-deportation plan means for them. (Gothamist) — NYPD BOSS WANTS TO STAY: Tom Donlon, the interim head of the NYPD, wants to stay put in his job, despite his own controversies since taking the post. (The New York Times) — JUDICIAL NOMINEE: Former candidate for Manhattan District Attorney Tali Farhadian Weinstein is set to be named to a seat in the Southern District of New York. (Bloomberg) Missed this morning’s New York Playbook? We forgive you. 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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