Taxing times for Hochul

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Jan 15, 2025 View in browser   By Nick Reisman, Emily Ngo and Jeff Coltin Presented by  Gov. Kathy Hochul's 2025 agenda includes rebate checks, tax credits, free tuition and school lunch and support for daycare costs. | Mike Groll/Office of Governor Kathy Hochul NEW YORK MINUTE: It’s filing day! Campaign financial disclosures are due today for all New York City candidates, as well as all active state campaign committees. We’ll be digging into the reports, and already have some fundraising news in Playbook today from Mayor Eric Adams — and Anthony Weiner. POLITICS AND TAXES: Working-class voters deserted Democrats for President-elect Donald Trump. Gov. Kathy Hochul wants to lure them back with a $1 billion tax cut. Hochul’s 2025 agenda, rolled out Tuesday in her State of the State address, includes rebate checks, tax credits, free tuition and school lunch and support for daycare costs. Central to her mission: a proposal to cut New York’s notoriously high income taxes. Details are scant, but if approved the plan would be phased in over two years and affect joint filers earning less than $320,000. Some moderate Democrats offered qualified support for the idea, which is expected to be fleshed out when Hochul releases her budget plan next week. “We have to be honest with ourselves — we live in a high-tax state,” state Sen. James Skoufis, a longshot candidate for DNC chair, said. The second year of the tax cut would take effect in 2026, as Hochul runs for what’s shaping up to be a competitive reelection. Democratic Rep. Ritchie Torres is gearing up for a primary challenge; Republican Rep. Mike Lawler is also likely to run. Both expect to announce their plans later this year. The governor will have a large war chest she can draw from to remain competitive. Beyond the campaign money and the policy, Hochul used the speech to sell her biography. A former House member from a conservative district, she pointed to her family making spam sandwiches on expired bread and buying clothes on layaway. Authenticity is the coin of the realm as populist politics take center stage. “She spoke from the heart,” New York State AFL-CIO President Mario Cilento told Playbook. “The general public wants to see a public official to see what they are experiencing now.” Whether the proposals will move the needle for the governor remains to be seen. Her favorability rating among New York voters has been abysmal for months. New York Democrats also acknowledge action is needed on taxes: Adams — facing an even tougher reelection this year — wants to end the city income tax for people earning less than $45,000. Speaker Carl Heastie has called to kill the state income tax for low-wage earners as well. (He has not specified a number.) Left-leaning advocates and lawmakers, meanwhile, acknowledge the tax cut talk from Hochul and others is good politics. “She realizes like many Democrats after the last election cycle that working-class people feel isolated or not taken care of by the Democratic Party and she’s attempting to make a bridge and show up,” Working Families Party Co-Director Jasmine Gripper said. Like-minded lefties will concurrently push the moderate governor to raise taxes on the richest New Yorkers — mainly people who earn more than $5 million. These filers are the state’s most important financial resource and provide an outsized share of revenue. “New Yorkers don’t want you to cut their taxes here and then cut their services someplace else,” Gripper said. Albany’s powerless Republicans, meanwhile, are eager to advance Hochul’s effort to cut taxes. “Her problem is she has a Legislature that I don’t think necessarily agrees with that,” Assembly GOP Minority Leader Will Barclay said. “We’ll see how she’s able to overcome that.” — Nick Reisman HAPPY WEDNESDAY: Got news? Send it our way: Jeff Coltin, Emily Ngo and Nick Reisman.   A message from RHOAR NYC: Help Make NYC Homeownership Affordable. Pass Bill 1107 to restore short-term rental rights to small, neighborhood homeowners. NYC neighborhoods thrive through the stability of owner-occupied homes. Bill 1107 will restore short-term rental rights to one- and two-family homeowners who live in their homes and relied on short-term rental income to maintain and stay in their homes. Learn more at www.rhoar.org.   WHERE’S KATHY? In Troy, visiting a child care center to highlight the 2025 State of the State affordability agenda. WHERE’S ERIC? Making an announcement at Bellevue Hospital on severe mental illness and homelessness, then hosting an older adult town hall at Grand Street Settlement in Manhattan. QUOTE OF THE DAY: “The overtime [abuse] is just one element of the kind of mismanagement and disrespect for the chain of command.” — Retired NYPD executive George Grasso, via Gothamist, on police overtime reaching record highs under Adams. ABOVE THE FOLD Mayor Eric Adams dined Tuesday night on Long Island with Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman. | Emily Ngo/POLITICO ADAMS AND THE TRUMP ALLY: Adams dined Tuesday night on Long Island with Trump surrogate and Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, discussing politics and regional affairs over Italian fare at a meeting arranged through mutual friends, Playbook has learned. The mayor was seen at Cipollini in Manhasset seated alongside Blakeman and attorney Howard Fensterman several hours after Adams attended Hochul’s State of the State in Albany. The mayor had the branzino (yes, yes, we know) and Blakeman the chicken at the two-hour meeting. City Hall spokesperson Kayla Mamelak Altus told Playbook that the party of three discussed neither Trump nor a potential Trump pardon of the mayor, who has been federally indicted on fraud charges. The mayor meets regularly with other elected officials and long ago scheduled the dinner with Blakeman to discuss migrant gang violence, Mamelak Altus said. But Blakeman, a Republican in regular touch with Trump and who was instrumental in getting him to rally on Long Island last year, is certainly a conduit to the White House. Indeed, Adams has sought to turn over a new leaf with the incoming Trump administration after clashing with the outgoing Biden administration over resources to care for an influx of migrants. The mayor — running for reelection as a Democrat — has said he is “part of the American party” and dared critics to “cancel me.” Fensterman was law partners with former Adams chief of staff Frank Carone, who remains close to the mayor. Blakeman formerly worked for their firm. Adams has not yet confirmed whether he will be at Trump’s inauguration on Monday, saying he would be willing to attend. Blakeman will definitely join the festivities, according to a spokesperson who declined to comment on the Tuesday dinner. — Emily Ngo CITY HALL: THE LATEST Anthony Weiner has raised money for a comeback bid for New York City Council. | Joe Raedle/Getty Images | Getty WEINER IS ALMOST IN: Former Rep. Anthony Weiner has raised about $30,000 for a City Council campaign and is “seeing green lights” to actually launch a second comeback attempt to local office, he posted on X Sunday. But “I am not announcing anything yet” as far as actually committing to running for term-limited City Council Member Carlina Rivera’s seat on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, he told Playbook in a phone call. Three other candidates for the seat — Sarah Batchu, Andrea Gordillo and Harvey Epstein — have already effectively maxed out fundraising. Weiner sure looks like a candidate, with “25 ideas for ‘25” on his campaign website including a single-payer health care system. The one-time mayoral contender served prison time for sending sexual messages to an underage girl. Weiner said he didn’t think that a recent poll showing voters open to a comeback by former Gov. Andrew Cuomo meant anything for his race — but admits a connection to his fellow resignee. “My son picked up Wingstop the other day and the guy saw my name on the receipt and said ‘tell your dad to run for governor, we miss him in Albany,’” Weiner shared. “And I’m like ‘no that’s the other scandal-scarred guy.’” — Jeff Coltin FIRST IN PLAYBOOK: Adams resumed fundraising for reelection after getting denied matching funds in December and brought in more than $250,000, his campaign told Playbook ahead of today’s filing deadline. That’ll bring him close to $4.5 million raised in total — keeping him at or near the top of the money race, at least for now. “We expect that number to grow significantly in the near future and are well-positioned to have the maximum amount to spend,” Adams campaign attorney Vito Pitta said. That means Adams will keep raising, even as Pitta tries to convince the Campaign Finance Board to reverse its decision and cough up millions in matching. Adams held a December fundraiser in Puerto Rico, Playbook first reported, after slowing down fundraising significantly in the preceding months. A financial disclosure for the indicted mayor’s legal defense fund is also due today, but Adams’ team set expectations low, saying he hasn’t been actively fundraising for it. — Jeff Coltin BRAGGING RIGHTS: Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg raised $406,223 in the last six months, and may be looking at a smooth path to reelection in 2025, with more than $1.3 million cash on hand and no serious primary challengers. His campaign shared the fundraising numbers with Playbook ahead of the state campaign finance filing deadline today. While Bragg has been sharply criticized around the country for saying he wouldn’t prosecute some low-level crimes and for charging Trump, only one candidate has filed to challenge him in the Democratic primary: Patrick Timmins, a trial attorney focused on mesothelioma cases. The first-time candidate isn’t raising money yet and hasn’t launched a campaign, but told Playbook Bragg should focus more on deterring fare evasion. Anti-transgender activist Maud Maron has filed to run as a Republican but faces long odds in the deeply blue borough. — Jeff Coltin More from the city: — Former Mayor Bill de Blasio can’t erase a $475,000 fine for using an NYPD security detail during his presidential campaign, a civil court judge found. (New York Law Journal) — Hochul backed key public safety reforms supported by the mayor — but not bail reform — in her State of the State. (Daily News) — Mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani raised $642,339 in the last three months, bringing in cash from more donors than any candidate since Andrew Yang. (Hell Gate)   A message from RHOAR NYC:   NEW FROM PLANET ALBANY Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado’s campaign will report nearly $1 million in cash on hand. | Seth Wenig/AP Photo FIRST IN PLAYBOOK: Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado’s campaign will report nearly $1 million in cash on hand — a fundraising haul that coincides with an expanded political profile. Delgado’s campaign today will report having raised $856,103 in the last six months, according to topline numbers shared with Playbook. The vast majority of that money — some $815,788 — was raised between Dec. 1 and the Jan. 11 reporting deadline, his campaign said. The Democrat’s fundraising activity picked up after he published a New York Times op-ed in November that called for a new generation of elected leaders. Delgado has pointedly not ruled out a campaign for governor in 2026, a posture that put him at odds with Hochul — and raised eyebrows in Albany. The governor, a prodigious fundraiser who is running for a second full term, insisted late last year has a good relationship with her lieutenant governor. But Delgado, a former battleground House lawmaker, has signaled an unusual degree of independence in an overlooked job with few official duties. He formed an independent expenditure committee and raised $235,000 for swing seat candidates last year to turn out young voters. “Antonio has been overwhelmed by the support he has received from New Yorkers from all walks of life,” said Delgado adviser Peter Kauffmann. “Since he burst onto the political scene by winning a Trump +7 district, he has always been an independent voice — and he will continue to speak truth to power on behalf of all New Yorkers.” — Nick Reisman More from Albany: — A campaign contribution made under a lewd name is being investigated by the state. (Times Union) — Hochul is trying to kindle the growth of the semiconductor industry in New York. (Buffalo News) — The governor’s plan to expand the forced hospitalizations of people with severe mental illnesses offers a lifeline to Adams. (POLITICO Pro) KEEPING UP WITH THE DELEGATION House Republicans bill seeks to restrict trans students from playing on girls’ sports teams | Angelina Katsanis/POLITICO TRANS BAN ADVANCES: House Republicans on Tuesday passed a bill restricting transgender students from playing on girls’ sports teams, advancing the measure with help from two Democrats who approved it and one who voted present. The barring of transgender women from competing on teams consistent with their gender identity was a key front in the culture wars of the recent elections, including in New York House races with Proposition 1 on the ballot, as POLITICO reported. GOP Rep. Nick LaLota, whose lawn signs had featured the flashpoint issue, applauded the measure, posting, “As a dad of three girls and husband of a former D1 athlete, I know firsthand the importance of protecting fair competition.” But Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez assailed the GOP as hypocrites. “Republicans who have voted against — consistently against — the Violence Against Women Act, who have taken away the right of all women to choose and have control over their own body … now want to pretend today that they care about women,” she said on the House floor. “And why? To open up gender — and yes, genital — examinations into little girls in this country in the so-called name of attacking trans girls.” The legislation would amend Title IX, the federal education law that bars sex-based discrimination, to define sex as based solely on a person’s reproductive biology and genetics at birth, POLITICO’s Bianca Quilantan reported. — Emily Ngo More from Congress: — Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand grilled Trump’s pick for defense secretary over his comments about women. (CNN) — New York’s newest House members — Reps. George Latimer, Laura Gillen, John Mannion and Josh Riley — learned their committee assignments on Tuesday. (NY1) — Ocasio-Cortez said she is seeking a waiver to continue on the House Oversight Committee. (POLITICO) NEW YORK STATE OF MIND — The MTA has not provided details on congestion pricing revenue. (Crain’s) — New York City subways are steered by 1930s tech, paper maps and a lot of hope. (Gothamist) — State officials want to make sure older New Yorkers are receiving emergency notifications. (Spectrum News)   A message from RHOAR NYC: When New York City passed and began enforcing its overly strict short-term rental law, many hard-working families who relied on income from sharing their homes were financially devastated. After a year of advocacy and thousands of letters into City Hall from homeowners across NYC’s five boroughs, the New York City Council recently introduced Bill 1107 to restore short-term rental rights to registered one- and two-family homeowners who live in their homes. Passing Bill 1107 will mean increasing the economic tools available to everyday New Yorkers to maintain and stay in their homes, creating stability for the city’s most vulnerable homeowners and the local communities and businesses that depend on them. Learn more at www.rhoar.org.   SOCIAL DATA MAKING MOVES: Citizen Action of New York Executive Director Rosemary Rivera is stepping down to focus on her health. Citizen Action’s Carolyn Martinez-Class and Rebecca Garrard will take over as interim co-executive directors. MOVE OUT DATE JAN. 20: Vice President Kamala Harris is considering moving to New York, and her husband toured the Park Loggia on the Upper West Side last week. (Page Six) HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Warner Bros. Discovery’s David Zaslav … Mark Penn of the Stagwell Group … Dan Scavino … New York City Council Member Alexa Avilés … WCBS legend Rich Lamb … AD Global’s Alex Voetsch … Former Assemblymembers Joe Lentol and Bob Oaks … AJW’s Rich Kassel … John Ryan, former acting Queens DA… Airbnb’s Christopher Nulty … Carol Kellermann … NYT’s Sarah Kliff … Stuart Eizenstat of Covington and Burling … CNN’s Jeremy Diamond … The New Yorker’s Jon Lee Anderson … Chuck Babington … Scott Stanzel of Truist … Brooks George … (WAS TUESDAY): Peter L. Malkin Missed Tuesday’s New York Playbook PM? We forgive you. Read it here.   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

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