| | | | |  | | By Jason Beeferman | |  New York City Mayor Eric Adams attends the National Action Network’s annual Christmas Day dinner and toy giveaway on Dec. 25, 2024. | Benny Polatseck/Mayoral Photography Office | FOR WHOM THE BAIL TOLLS: Mayor Eric Adams isn’t waiting for former Gov. Andrew Cuomo to announce a run for mayor — the indicted-Adams is already on the attack. “People who are running — they’re going to have to take claim for the stuff that they did when they were holding office,” Adams said, after a pointed question about Cuomo, who is considering a run for mayor, told POLITICO’s Sally Goldenberg in a scene-setter for the upcoming year in New York politics. “Who was there for the original bail reform? Who signed some of these procedures? You’re going to have to answer these questions,” Adams said. Adams’ decision to bash Cuomo’s loosening of bail laws in 2019 comes as a string of brazen subway crimes has terrorized New Yorkers. The high-profile stabbings, shovings, shootings — and even immolation — is setting the stage for voters to again place concerns about crime top of mind when likely choosing their next mayor in the June primaries. And it’s clear federally indicted Adams will again center his messaging around crime on the campaign trail — as he did four years ago — by bashing his opponents as ineffective on the issue, even though he’s run the city for the last three years. “I have to articulate to New Yorkers how these ideas that are being thrown out — that no one should go to jail, Rikers should be closed, that no one should have to pay their rent, no one should pay for the subway system — these are not real philosophies and they’re not real policies,” Adams told POLITICO, taking liberties to exaggerate some of his opponents’ platforms. “Many people don’t know how to govern a city this complex.” The burgeoning tension between Adams and Cuomo — whose similar outer-borough political bases mean the two men would have to compete for many of the same voters, even in a ranked-choice race — comes as Adams is calling on Albany to deliver for him on a trifecta of public safety issues. The mayor is asking the state Legislature to strengthen bail laws, change the legal discovery process and pass a bill he is championing that would allow the involuntary commitment of the mentally ill to psychiatric facilities. Cuomo, who in 2019 signed the package of bail reform laws that continues to haunt Democrats six years later, fired back at Adams. “This is all premature, but it’s worth noting that in 2023, Mayor Adams dismissed the bail reform debate as a ‘bumper sticker’ slogan, and endorsed Kathy Hochul’s bail reform package,” Cuomo spokesperson Rich Azzopardi said. “Every campaign is an assessment of a candidate’s ability to manage and to match their rhetoric with their performance to improve the lives of New Yorkers and prove they can get things done.” Gov. Kathy Hochul will spend the year positioning herself for a reelection victory in 2026. That also means continuing to distance herself from the Cuomo-era bail reforms and championing her efforts to pare them back. She signaled today she will work with Adams on all three issues — discovery, bail and involuntary commitment. “I just spoke to him yesterday about crime and what we can do to work together, policing the subways, more bodies in the subways,” she told reporters today. “I'm going to be a good partner." Former city Comptroller Scott Stringer, who remains the only candidate to qualify for public matching funds, said the violent incidents in the city are exactly the reason Adams should be ousted. “I’m hearing from people all over the city that they want fundamental change in their governance. They are tired of a corrupt administration that failed on doing the basic policy work to run this government,” he said. “We have corruption at the highest levels. … This is at the top echelon at the NYPD, Eric Adams’ NYPD. And what do we get for it? We get a rolling crime scene on the subways and on the streets.” — Jason Beeferman
|  | From the Capitol | | | |  The Peace Bridge in Niagara Falls, New York, is one of four major crossings into the U.S. from Canada. | John Normile/Getty Images | OH, CANADA: Don’t expect Hochul to leap at sharing state motor vehicle data with President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming administration ahead of an expected crackdown on undocumented immigrants. Trump’s top immigration policy adviser, Tom Homan, did not rule out the possibility of blocking cars with New York license plates from crossing the Canadian border unless the state changes its so-called “Green Light Law,” which allows undocumented immigrants to access driver’s licenses. The law includes privacy protections that limit data sharing with immigration enforcement authorities. License holders are also informed when immigration agencies request data. “There are a number of things that can be done, a number of strategies that we’ll be looking at,” Homan told The Buffalo News in an interview published today. “I’d rather not comment on any specifics right now. I’m certainly not going to get ahead of the president in broadcasting what we might do.” Hochul dismissed the idea of blocking New Yorkers from reentering the country. "That would be bizarre to me that anyone thinks that stopping our vehicles from coming in and out of our country, keeping New Yorkers in a foreign country, is a smart path forward,” she said during an unrelated press conference today. “I’d like to sit down and have that conversation.” Trump spokesperson Karoline Leavitt in a statement to Playbook said Trump will “enlist every federal power and coordinate with state authorities to institute the largest deportation operation of illegal criminals, drug dealers, and human traffickers in American history while simultaneously lowering costs for families.” She added, “The American people re-elected President Trump by a resounding margin giving him a mandate to implement the promises he made on the campaign trail, like deporting migrant criminals and restoring our economic greatness. He will deliver." — Nick Reisman MORE MONEY FOR KIDS: Hochul unveiled a plan to significantly expand the state’s child tax credit today — her latest affordability push following Democrats’ bruising defeat at the polls last year. Under the proposal, the second of several the governor will announce as part of her State of the State address next week, 1.6 million families would qualify for an annual tax credit of up to $1,000 per child under the age of 4. Families with kids from the age of 4 to 16 would be eligible for up to $500. The current rate, which applies to children under the age of 17, is $330 per child. More than 2.75 million children would benefit from such an expansion, according to the governor. Families who earn up to $170,000 annually would be eligible for the credit. Hochul faces a tough reelecton bid in 2026, and Trump clinched victory in November amid voters’ dissatisfaction with the high cost of living — and Democrats’ failure to proffer solutions to address it. “It’s the right thing to do,” Hochul said during an event at the Vanderbilt YMCA in Manhattan. “People are hurting right now, and we cannot be tone deaf as a party, as a nation or as a state. To those cries for help, this is how I respond to them.” — Madina Touré
| | FROM CITY HALL | | | | 
Recently installed toll traffic cameras hang above West End Avenue near 61st Street in the Manhattan borough of New York on Nov. 16, 2023. | Ted Shaffre/AP | VICKIE’S LASER: It’s just a joke! Republican City Council Member and staunch congestion pricing critic Vickie Paladino has a cheeky — and very illegal — suggestion for her fellow congestion pricing foes. “Important warning: A high-powered green laser pointer like the ones you find on Ebay for under $30 can destroy a camera sensor,” Paladino wrote on X the same day cameras began charging drivers $9 to enter Manhattan’s Central Business District under congestion pricing. “So if you buy one of these lasers, be sure to NOT point them at any cameras, because they could be permanently damaged!” Her colleagues across the aisle chided her for the remark, especially as she champions a conservative brand of politics where “law and order” reigns supreme. Reached by phone, Paldino said people shouldn’t take the social media post too seriously. “It’s a PSA announcement, how ‘bout that. You got a sense of humor?” she asked Playbook. “What I put out was an important warning. Chuckle, chuckle. It’s a joke, OK? And that’s it. And I find it rather funny actually.” But, Playbook asked, if someone didn’t get the apparent joke, and instead really did damage the congestion pricing cameras with an EBay-purchased high-powered laser, and was then arrested for it, would she call for their freedom? “I don’t make any statements like that,” she said. — Jason Beeferman
| | FROM THE DELEGATION | | | | 
New York’s Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand. | Francis Chung/POLITICO | NEW DSCC CHAIR: New York’s Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand will chair the Senate Democrats’ campaign arm this cycle as the party attempts to regain the majority in 2026. Senate Democrats will have critical races next year in Georgia, Michigan and Maine. They will also have potential pickup opportunities in Texas and North Carolina, though those states have proved tricky for Democrats in the past. While the 2026 map is not favorable for Senate Democrats, it’s far friendlier than the 2024 map that had them on defense in virtually every race. “Over the course of my career, I’ve won in red and purple places, and I look forward to helping the next generation of Senate candidates do the same,” Gillibrand said in a statement. Gillibrand started her political career in 2006, when she was elected to Congress in a right-leaning upstate district. Gillibrand was a Blue Dog Democrat then, with an A rating from the NRA, and has since shifted her views to the left to reflect more of the state. The senator, who ran for president in 2019, was central to New York Democrats’ coordinated campaign last year, when they bucked national trends to snatch three House seats from the GOP. — Ursula Perano and Emily Ngo ANTI-TERROR PUSH: U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer will push for $615 million in anti-terror funds as part of the March budget negotiations with Trump’s administration, Schumer’s team told Playbook today. The federal dollars from the Urban Area Security Initiative, or UASI, account — which is administered by FEMA — are necessary to protect New York City and Long Island, especially in light of the recent attacks in New Orleans and Las Vegas, Schumer said. “This amount will help New York City and the region tap federal dollars that help prevent, protect against, mitigate, respond to, and recover from acts of terrorism,” the New York senator said in a statement. UASI funds should also be used to secure Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration in Washington, said Schumer, who is expected to attend the event. — Emily Ngo
| | IN OTHER NEWS... | | — FOR YOUR RADAR: Five things to watch for the upcoming legislative session in Albany. (New York Post) — HOMELESSNESS: There are thousands of vacant units in supportive housing, but just 18 percent of homeless individuals who applied for a spot actually got one. (The City) — DELGADO WATCH: The Daily News’ editorial board says Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado’s blatant disloyalty to Hochul is yet another reason why his position should be appointed, not elected. (Daily News) — MR. INDEPENDENT: Long-shot mayoral candidate Jim Walden is suing to run for New York City mayor on the Independence Party line. (New York Times) Missed this morning’s New York Playbook? We forgive you. Read it here. | | | | 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 | Brussels Playbook | London Playbook View all our political and policy newsletters | | Follow us | | | | |
